Studies in English Language and Education
Studies in English Language and Education (SiELE) is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Department of English Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The journal presents research and development in the field of teaching and learning of English language, general linguistics and literature. Authors must register to this journal before submitting their work and they must follow the Author Guidelines of the journal. Submissions that do not adhere to the guidelines provided will be rejected. Please submit your article through the online submission of this journal. You may address further inquiries to the Editor at sielejournal@usk.ac.id. From 2014-2020, SiELE Journal published twice a year, in March and September. From 2021 onwards, it publishes three times a year in January, May, and September. The journals have a policy of “Zero Tolerance on Plagiarism”. We recommend that authors check their articles with plagiarism prevention tools (ithenticate.com, turnitin.com, etc.) before submission.
Articles
954 Documents
<![CDATA[Revisiting the implementation of active learning pedagogy in EFL classrooms ]]>
<![CDATA[Merina Devira]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 7, No 1 (2020) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v7i1.15089
<![CDATA[The present study investigated the current development of active learning pedagogy implementation, focusing on the English subject, at high school classrooms in Langsa, Aceh, Indonesia. It focused on English teachers’ pedagogical practices undertaken at the classrooms during the lessons and the factors impeding the construction of active learning methodology. A qualitative method was used, which employed the instruments of classroom observations, interviews, and lesson plan reviews. It was conducted in four lessons at three different high schools located in eastern Aceh, Langsa. The participants of this study were four English teachers and eleventh grade students who were actively involved in the observed English lessons. The findings showed that the dominant teachers’ role and students’ engagement in the class teaching-learning practices were not yet incorporated as active learning principles. Then, there was a lack of teachers’ understanding on the concept of active learning pedagogy, less provided trainings on active learning methodology, no provision of teaching-learning media at classrooms, and individual students were considered as influential factors in implementing an active learning pedagogy in these classrooms. Hence, future researchers are recommended to conduct an adaptation or re-evaluation to the active learning methodology that has been used all these times in order to be more practical and appropriate with Indonesian classroom contexts.]]>
<![CDATA[The language contact phenomenon in Thailand: English borrowing, comprehension, and public attitudes ]]>
<![CDATA[Whanchit, Wararat]]>;
<![CDATA[Sukkaew, Nootchanat]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 10, No 2 (2023) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v10i2.26277
<![CDATA[As the English lexicon has become more frequently borrowed and used in Thai mass media and social media, Thais are quickly adapting to such foreignness and are open to language contact-induced change. The current study explores the extent of the publics familiarity with borrowed words in contemporary Thai public media and attitudes toward language borrowing. The study participants comprised 120 Thais who voluntarily completed a questionnaire. They were from different age groups and were relatively highly educated. The instrument for the data collection was an online three-part questionnaire probing demographic information, an individuals comprehension of the borrowed lexicon as tested via 15 questions of lexical borrowing in context, and personal views probed in the questionnaire questions about English lexical borrowing. Follow-up interviews with six selected respondents according to age groups verified and elicited attitudes toward lexical borrowing. The findings revealed that high exposure to English resulted in a high level of comprehension, especially when words were transcribed in the Thai script with tone markers. If the borrowing was in Romanized script, it was less likely to be understood. The majority of the respondents recognized the need for English language borrowing in Thai communication, especially for terminology. They also expressed positive views toward the adoption of the practice. English was perceived as necessary for effective Thai communication, particularly among acquaintances and professionals. The ubiquity of English in Thai society today has led to general adaptability and acceptance of borrowing as part of language evolution; such practices are no longer a sign of prestige. The study suggests that language classrooms should consider using borrowed English lexicons to assist Thai EFL learners in developing English proficiency.]]>
<![CDATA[Efforts to Improve Writing Skills of High School Students ]]>
<![CDATA[Nurul Inayah]]>;
<![CDATA[Rizki Putri Nanda]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 3, No 1 (2016) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v3i1.3388
<![CDATA[Writing in English is one of the language skills that are taught in the context of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Indonesian senior high schools. According to previous studies, most of the students consider writing is the most difficult of the four skills. This research was aimed at finding out the main difficulties in writing faced by the grade XI students at SMA Negeri 10 Fajar Harapan, Banda Aceh, and the efforts made by their teacher to overcome those problems. The design of this study was a descriptive qualitative study. To obtain the data, the writers used document collection and interviews. The results from the document collection showed that the highest percentages of problems faced by the students were in the aspect of language use and the least problems were in the aspect of content. The results from the interviews showed that the most common correcting efforts made by the teacher were giving written feedback for all aspects of writing i.e. language use, mechanics, vocabulary, organization, and content. Likewise, teachers need to develop systemized forms of feedback and make it clear to students what the feedback means and what they are to do with them to assist students in improving their writing skills.]]>
<![CDATA[Looking into EFL students’ perceptions in listening by using English movie videos on YouTube ]]>
<![CDATA[Tengku Maya Silviyanti]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 1, No 1 (2014) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v1i1.1119
<![CDATA[This study investigated students’ interest in using YouTube movie videos in practicing their listening ability either inside or outside of class. This study used a mix of open and closed questionnaires adopted from Kelsen (2009) on the motivation of using YouTube for listening. 45 students enrolled in a Listening III class were taken as the sample. The findings showed that the highest motive for students to use it was because ‘using YouTube has been beneficial to their English, followed by ‘using YouTube is interesting’, then, ‘using YouTube motivated them to study English’ and ‘the YouTube material was relevant to what was studied in class”. The lowest motive included ‘using YouTube in class motivated them to use it to themselves to study English outside of classes. Furthermore, some students’ open responses to YouTube were: they can practice their English by watching native speakers; it has pictures so it is easy for students to understand the topic, and the materials were relevant since they were practicing listening. Yet, negative responses were also found such as they did not have internet connection at home, were not motivated to do it alone and were not assigned homework to use it. Thus, YouTube can be considered to be used as a material in listening class because it is found to provide many benefits for students.]]>
<![CDATA[Negotiating the challenges in speaking English for Indonesian undergraduate students in an ESL university ]]>
<![CDATA[Winnie, Winnie]]>;
<![CDATA[Leong, Hugh John]]>;
<![CDATA[Badiozaman, Ida Fatimawati]]>;
<![CDATA[Yap, Alyssa]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 10, No 2 (2023) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v10i2.26563
<![CDATA[In Indonesia, English is not widely used for communication. Hence, Indonesian high school graduates who desire to study abroad may encounter difficulties communicating in English. One of the destination countries Indonesian students choose to study in is Malaysia. When studying in Malaysia, some may transition from EFL (English as a Foreign Language) to ESL (English as a Second Language) speakers as they are required to speak English more frequently, especially in academic contexts. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the challenges of speaking English for Indonesian undergraduate students, the contributing factors to the challenges, and the strategies used by the students to navigate the challenges. A number of 15 Indonesian EFL undergraduate students still registered as active students in an ESL university in Malaysia participated in this study. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews, transcribed, and thematically analysed. The findings were presented thematically with narrative excerpts to support them. The results indicated some challenges faced when students adjusted themselves in their higher education institution, including their psychological reactions, speaking academic English, and online learning. Therefore, to help EFL students be more prepared to speak English for academic contexts in an ESL environment, stakeholders in the education sector in Indonesia should consider providing more actions to focus on improving the English-speaking skills of students.]]>
<![CDATA[Problems faced and strategies applied by test-takers in completing the TOEFL iBT Test ]]>
<![CDATA[Imam Wahyudi Karimullah]]>;
<![CDATA[Nur Mukminatien]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 9, No 2 (2022) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v9i2.23129
<![CDATA[The present study aimed at exploring strategies applied and the problems test-takers faced before, during, and after working on an integrated reading-listening-writing (IRLW) task. This narrative inquiry research employed 23 students taking a TOEFL iBT test in the Indonesian context using the purposive sampling technique. The respondents answered a questionnaire and written questions related to the problems they faced during the test and their strategies to solve the problems. The test-takers’ responses from the interview were used to confirm the data from the responses to written questions. The researchers used an in-depth interview protocol to explore the test-takers’ strategies to solve the problems they faced when doing the test. The interview process was conducted right after they finished the test. The data from the questionnaire, written questions, and interviews were further analyzed descriptively. The findings showed that the test-takers encountered internal and external problems in completing the IRLW of the TOEFL iBT test. They used different integrated writing strategies, depending on their learning styles, cognitive levels, experiences, abilities, levels of anxiety of each test-taker, and the environment of the test. The affective, cognitive, metacognitive, and test-wiseness strategies were all used in their own way to solve their problems. It implies that future test-takers need to learn and apply all positive strategies based on their learning styles. English teachers, therefore, should teach positive strategies of IRLW because students might not know the importance of the strategies and how to use them in the test.]]>
<![CDATA[Digital literacy practices in tertiary education: A case of EFL postgraduate students ]]>
<![CDATA[Aji Budi Rinekso]]>;
<![CDATA[Rojab Siti Rodliyah]]>;
<![CDATA[Intan Pertiwi]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 8, No 2 (2021) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v8i2.18863
<![CDATA[Over the past few decades, technologies grew rapidly, transforming traditional instructions to be more digitalized and stimulating many researchers to study digital literacy practices in a school-educational context. However, studies exploring digital literacy practices in the context of tertiary education are still scarce. Within the qualitative approach, this study investigated digital literacy practices by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) postgraduate students. Moreover, it intensively discusses the kinds of digital tools used by the participants and the purposes of using them. Additionally, the way the participants conceptualized digital literacy was also elaborated. Thirty-four EFL Master students of a public university in Bandung, Indonesia, participated in this study. An online open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were applied in data collection. Meanwhile, eight dimensions of digital literacy in the Hague and Payton’s frameworks were used as the basis of the thematical analysis of the interview data. Results showed that the participants conceptualized digital literacy as soft skills for managing digital information covering the acts of searching, comprehending, evaluating, creating, and sharing. The prominent result of this study relates to how the participants used digital tools for academic/research and general purposes. Subsequently, this study recommends that tertiary education institutions provide more training on maximizing digital tools for academic writing and broader access to prepaid journal articles. Further exploration of lecturers’ digital literacy practices is highly recommended. ]]>
<![CDATA[Developing English modules with integrated Islamic values and the Jambi local wisdom ]]>
<![CDATA[Uyun Nafiah]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 7, No 1 (2020) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v7i1.15138
<![CDATA[Since studies about integrating Islamic values and local wisdom, especially in the Jambi context, have been scarcely found in the literature, this research is aimed to investigate the integration of such values in the English module that is suitable and practical for high school students. This developmental research used ADDIE approach which consists of five stages: analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate. The sample for this study was an English teacher and 38 students of class IX of at one of the Islamic junior high school in Jambi by using instrument interviews, observation, and questionnaires. Based on the result of the validity questionnaire by two expert validators, a mean percentage of 82.07% is obtained and categorized as very valid. The result of students’ practicality questionnaire shows a percentage of 83.86% and categorized as very practical. Meanwhile, the result of teachers’ practicality is 87.50%, and also categorized as very practical. It could be concluded that the integrated Islamic values and Jambi local wisdom on the English module is suitable, practical and beneficial for both students and teacher. The researcher further recommends using this module for teaching English, especially for the procedure text type as discussed in the paper.]]>
<![CDATA[The (in)visibility of Torajan language: A study on linguistic landscape in South Sulawesi, Indonesia ]]>
<![CDATA[Halim, Suwarni Wijaya]]>;
<![CDATA[Sukamto, Katharina Endriati]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 10, No 3 (2023) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v10i3.27931
<![CDATA[The Torajan language is the heritage language of the Torajan people, which reflects the local wisdom and identity of the people. Yet, with the popularity of Indonesian and English as the lingua franca, there is a concern for the domain, status, and vitality of the Torajan language within the society. Therefore, this study aims to study the visibility of the language. This study offers a novel approach by looking at the use of the Torajan language in the linguistic landscape in two regencies, Tana Toraja and Toraja Utara, to determine its position in the community. The research utilized a case study design, and the source of data is linguistic landscapes found along Jalan Poros RantepaoMakale which connects the two regencies. The images of linguistic landscapes were collected by viewing the Google Street View facility provided by Google Maps, and the languages in those linguistic landscapes were noted. The findings show that Indonesian and English dominate the linguistic landscape in Tana Toraja and Toraja Utara, and the Torajan language is minimally represented in the public space of these two regencies. The lack of visibility of the language in the public space might be caused by the restricted use of the language for familial talks at home and oral indigenous rituals. However, the Torajan language needs to be used more frequently in public spaces since it could promote a positive attitude of the people, which would in turn solidify the position of the language in the society.]]>
<![CDATA[“That’s the biggest impact!” Pedagogical values of movies in ELT classrooms ]]>
<![CDATA[Nyak Mutia Ismail]]>
<![CDATA[ Studies in English Language and Education Vol 4, No 2 (2017) ]]>
Publisher : <![CDATA[Universitas Syiah Kuala ]]>
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DOI: 10.24815/siele.v4i2.6351
<![CDATA[Since many say watching movies can have a positive effect on language learning outcomes, this research was done to find out which skills movies can contribute most to, whether speaking, listening, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar or cultural aspects. A qualitative research method was used for this study. This study was done to find out the teachers’ perceptions of using English movies in English Language Teaching (ELT) processes. Teachers from three different levels: primary, secondary, and senior high-school teachers were asked to answer a questionnaire set in accordance with the research topic. Five of them were senior high school teachers, two of them were junior high school teachers, and three of them were elementary school teachers. Creative interviews were also used as an additional data source. The results showed that most of the teachers agreed that movies play their biggest role and considerable advantages in developing cultural aspects and listening skills. Furthermore, some integration is possible between listening and speaking as well as with reading and writing because watching movies works better with integration of skills. Apparently, even though vocabulary can develop with this technique, grammar is not enhanced alone without being accompanied by writing.]]>
