THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL

The effect of social media in improving students’ writing skill is investigated in this paper, which can be used to improve students’ creativity in writing. This paper takes covering of second semester English education students of Universitas Negeri Medan that study written language skills. The method used in this research is the development research aims to produce written language skills learning materials using social media (instagram, facebook & whatsapp). Its intention to answer the students’ need of the innovated material and to find out the level of students creativity after using such materials. Further, this paper gives a simpler and practical method to develop learning material using social media to improve students’ creativity in writing.

PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS WITH NON-EDUCATION BACKGROUND: THE CASE OF A LARGE UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION IN INDONESIA

Pedagogical competence of university teachers or lecturers has lately gained much attention from researchers; however, no research has specifically examined the pedagogical competence of lecturers with non-education background. Herein, drawing upon Olsson et al. (2010) pedagogical competence development and under the Indonesian legislation of lecturer pedagogical competence, we investigated the efforts made by lecturers with no education background in a large Indonesian university of education to develop their pedagogical competence. As many as 40 lecturers took part in our preliminary survey of lecturer pedagogical development, and 20 of them joined our interviews and focus group discussion. Based on the results of the survey and focus group discussion, we gain a description of the efforts made by the lecturers in developing their pedagogical competence, their perceptions of the extent to which their university has facilitated their pedagogical development, and the perceived challenges. Recommendations are drawn based on the results of the research to create a model of pedagogical content knowledge development that is suitable for the lecturers and other non-education lecturers.

SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ATTITUDE TOWARDS JUNIOR SCHOOL CERTIFICATE (JSC) EXAMINATION IN BANGLADESH

The study investigates secondary students’ attitude towards junior school certificate (JSC) examination in Bangladesh. The study is mainly quantitative and data was collected in a computable manner through questionnaires. Secondary students who would take the JSC examination were the main data source of the study. Two hundred fifty students (120 male and 130 female) were chosen randomly from ten secondary schools (five private and five government) in Dhaka. The study revealed that secondary students’ have a positive attitude towards JSC examination. There was no significant difference between male and female students attitude towards JSC examination. JSC exam had increased students both quality of study and study time, enhanced students’ creativity and reduced the fear of examination. On the contrary, JSC examination had hampered students’ normal life by extra stress, reduced their playtime and made them dependent on guidebooks for better grades. Therefore, the study suggests changing current JSC examination systems by creating test items focused on creativity and problem-solving tasks to ensure the quality of education in Bangladesh. These findings can inform the government as well as o relevant stakeholders in making necessary changes in the JSC examination in Bangladesh.

Exploring the Use of Learners’ First Language in English as a Foreign Language Classroom

The use of learners’ first language has been debated for years. Some of the researchers think that using learners’ first language can be a help for foreign language learning while others argue that it can be hindrance. Therefore, this study focuses on investigating students’ and teachers perceptions on the use of learners’ first language (L1) and problems they encountered in using English in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom context. The study involved 150 students of grade X and grade XI and two English teachers in a high school in rural Karawang, West Java. The data were collected through questionnaire, interviews, and classroom observation and were analyzed using mixed methods approach. The findings of the study reveal that the participants showed various responses related to the use of L1. The result of the study indicates that the participants perceive L1 as facilitating learning tool that can help both teachers and students in learning process. Thus, it is suggested that teachers should be able to not only use L1 wisely but also encourage their students to use more English in the classroom.

SOURCE-BASED WRITING AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: PERSPECTIVE AND CHALLENGES

The level of scientific publications of Indonesian students at the international level is still very minimal. Even when compared to Malaysia and Thailand, Indonesia is still lagging behind. The Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education targets that in 2019 Indonesia will reach 30,000 international publications. Therefore, students' interest in writing must be increased, especially writing based on sources. Therefore, this study would like to find students' perspectives and perceived challenges in writing based on sources. This research was based on a case study. The research involved 68 students from one of the state universities in Bandung, and it analyzed 20 selected scientific papers written by students. The instruments for data collection included questionnaire and observation. The results of this study found that 59% of students perceived that writing scientific papers is very difficult. The students found it difficult to find suitable sources for writing material and develop their ideas. They tended to use articles as the sources from the internet whose originality is unclear. One reason this happens was because 80% of students did not know where to find or get indexed journals to use as references for their writing. In addition, many students also preferred not to use journals that were majorly English-based because of their limitation of English skills. The implication is that students should be given further understanding of how to access journals and use reference sources in writing. It is expected that every lecturer will give more source-based writing assignments so that the ability of students to write and develop ideas based on existing sources can be further improved.

THE INFLUENCE OF INTEREST AND MOTIVATION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE AND ART APPRECIATION LEARNING OUTCOMES

A good and appropriate learning process will motivate learners, and will eventually have an impact on improved learning outcomes. The researchers conducted an investigation into the influence of interest and motivation on learning outcomes of Korean Education Study Program students in a state university in Indonesia in the particular subject of Language and Art Appreciation. The compulsory subject is part of the faculty’s mission to cultivate literary and art appreciation of its students. A survey employing a Likert-based questionnaire consisting of 60 items was carried out, and documentary analysis was conducted to the students’ final exam grades in the subject of Language and Art Appreciation. The results show that interest and motivation had significant influence on students’ learning outcomes, as shown by their final exam grades in the subject. It can be concluded then that high level of interest and motivation determined the success of learning outcomes, especially in the subject of Language and Art Appreciation.

EFFICACY OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUE AND PARENTAL SOCIAL CLASS IN FOSTERING VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN GOMBE STATE, NIGERIA

This study focused on efficacy of emotional intelligence technique and parental social class in fostering vocational development of secondary school students in Gombe State, Nigeria. Pretest-posttest, control group quasi-experimental design with a 2x3 factorial matrix was used in the study. Multi-stage sampling technique was used in sampling 117 participants from 3 local government areas (12 schools) in the state. The respondents were measured with validated scale of 0.79 reliability coefficient and the data obtained was analyzed using T-test and Analysis of Variance statistical analysis. Two (2) research hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that there was significant difference in the vocational development of secondary school students exposed to emotional intelligence technique and those in the control group (t= 57.64; p<0.05) and there was significant difference in the vocational development of secondary school students with high, moderate and low parental social class (t= 27.51; p<0.05). In view of these findings, the study recommended that educational stakeholders should intensify their effort to organize conferences on the implications of emotional intelligence technique and parental social classes on effective re-orientation of youths towards improving vocational development.

APPRAISING FABRICATION AND WELDING STUDENTS’ EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS IN OGUN STATE TECHNICAL COLLEGES

This study appraised fabrication and welding students’ employability skills in Ogun State technical colleges. Two research questions were raised in relation to the focus of the study. A structured Questionnaire containing 15 items was developed and used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated by 3 experts and tested for reliability using Cronbach Alpha Coefficient at 0.96. The questionnaire was used for collecting data from 57 respondents made by fabrication and welding industrial-based supervisors in Ogun State. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions raised in the study. The study affirmed that fabrication and welding students in Ogun State technical colleges possessed sheet metalwork skills and gas welding skills. The study recommended among others that adequate supervision and monitoring of TVET institution’s students on industrial attachment should be ensured by TVET institution’s administrators and that industrial-based supervisors should be objective in discharging their duties during students’ industrial attachment period.

THE INFLUENCE OF LEARNING STYLES AND METACOGNITIVE SKILLS ON STUDENTS’ CRITICAL THINKING IN THE CONTEXT OF STUDENT CREATIVITY PROGRAM

Improving students’ critical thinking is very important in learning process because one of the goals of critical thinking is to develop students ' critical thinking in the perspective of collectable information. The approach used to address the problem of critical thinking is through learning style and metacognitive skill. The Student Creativity Program is a great way to hone critical thinking at the university level. This research is intended to find out the level of metacognitive skills, learning style, and critical thinking and the influence of metacognitive skills and learning styles among a total of 55 students of a Korean Education Study Program at a state university in Indonesia in the context of Student Creativity Program. This research used survey to find about students’ learning styles and their level of metacognitive skill. A test was also conducted to find out the level of students’ critical thinking. The data were calculated by the SPSS to test the hypothesis. The research results for learning styles show that 33 (60%) of the students were in the “medium” category and 22 (40%) were in the “high” category, and there was no student categorised into the “low” category. In terms of metacognitive skills, 53 students (98.2%) were in the “high” category and 2 (1.8%) in the “medium” category, and no one was in the “low” category. All students were identified to have “high” level critical thinking. Based on the significance test, there learning style had no significance influence on critical thinking; however, there metacognition skills had significant influence on critical thinking because.

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS AND TEACHERS’ GUIDANCE TOWARDS STUDENTS’ ADVERSITY QUOTIENT

This paper aims to report results of research on the association between sociodemographic indicators and teachers’ efforts to help students cope with problems and help build students’ Adversity Quotient. A questionnaire in the form of self-report inventory was distributed to 102 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students of A- and C-accredited primary schools in Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Multiple regression and inductive reasoning were used for analysis. FGDs with teachers were conducted in order to explore teachers’ efforts in helping improve students’ adversity quotient. Research results showed that students who were middle child had significantly lower AQ compared to those of first-born or earlier-born child, while sixth-graders had significantly higher AQ scores compared to fourth graders, and children whose fathers were skilled workers had greater odds of having high AQ. Teachers had already done some LEAD sequence, but had not guided students to explore and analyze the problem by themselves. The results have some implications for the education policy to integrate religious teachings into the curriculum that can facilitate the improvement of students’ Adversity Quotient.