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This research was designed to investigate the strategies used and challenges faced by lecturers in managing EFL speaking classes. The researchers used both classroom observation and semi-structured interviews in collecting the data. The participants of this research were three EFL lecturers teaching English Speaking classes at the English Department of Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. These lecturers were selected purposively; all of them were those assigned to teach the speaking class. Insights of the lecturers on their experiences in managing speaking classes were investigated to examine strategies and challenges they faced. The findings suggest that the lecturers utilized several strategies such as setting the classroom, determining seating arrangements, fostering discipline, applying certain speaking activities, and providing interesting topics to discuss. The data also indicated that the lecturers faced challenges in managing their teaching. Issues such as lack of equipment or teaching media to support speaking activities, students’ lacked self-confidence, and lack of vocabulary were among the challenges faced by the lecturers. ABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan mendapat informasi tentang strategi dan tantangan yang dihadapi dosen di dalam mengelola kelas. Metode pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah observasi dan wawancara semi-terstruktur. Sumber data atau partisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah 3 dosen yang mengajar kelas Speaking di Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, UIN Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh. Para partisipan itu direkrut mengunakan teknik purposive sampling, dimana partisipan yang terlibat adalah yang sudah mengajar speaking selama beberapa semester. Hasil obssrevasi dan wawancara diperoleh informasi bahwa terdapat beberapa strategi dosen di dalam mengelola kelas, diantaranya: menyusun tempat duduk sedimikian rupa, menegakkan disiplin, mengunakan berbagai teknik pembelajaran speaking, dan memberikan topik yang menarik untuk didiskusikan. Penelitian ini juga memperoleh beberapa temuan yang berhubungan dengan tantangan dosen, diantaranya, tidak mencukupi fasilitas yang memadai yang dapat mendukung aktivitas pembelajaran speaking, kurangnya rasa percaya diri dari mahasiswa itu sendiri, dan tidak memadainya kosa kata yang dikuasai mahasiswa juga merupakan tantangan tersendiri dalam pengelolaan kelas speaking.

An evaluation for the development of a paper-based test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) for English Education Department students at one of the colleges in Langsa, Aceh, Indonesia, is necessary, considering their unsatisfactory scores even though the preparation program has been conducted. This research employed context, input, process, and product (CIPP) model developed by Stufflebeam upon the program. Methodologically, interviews, questionnaires, and observation were executed to five TOEFL lecturers and 34 students, while the data obtained were analyzed with the qualitative analysis method of Miles and Huberman. Based on the evaluation of context, the program had an appropriate background, goals, and objectives. Regarding the input, it still had problems related to the availability of resources and facilities. There were no standardized learning materials available, including the broken language laboratory. It affected the process since the lecturers could not maximize the facilities to create an effective learning environment. Eventually, it affected the product since most students could not reach an expected score. Most of the participants agreed that the program needed to be improved. Several improvements can be made to overcome these problems by providing required learning facilities, designing standardized learning materials, and clustering classes in accordance with students’ abilities.

This descriptive qualitative study was aimed at discovering English language teachers’ challenges in teaching TOEFL preparation for senior high school students. The data were collected by using an in-depth interview with six experienced and qualified English language teachers teaching TOEFL in the three-state and private senior high schools in Aceh province, Indonesia. Open, axial, and selective coding techniques were used to analyze the data from in-depth interviews. The results show that teachers faced some challenges during teaching TOEFL preparation for senior high school students including students’ different language proficiency, their lack of vocabulary mastery, their fatigue, their passive attitude, class size, and time limitation. The findings recommend the further idea to organize a more organized preparation TOEFL program for high school students that can be integrated into the existing curriculum, and thus it will no longer be viewed merely as an extracurricular program.

The implementation of Sharia law in Aceh in 2001 has ignited various reactions from both national and international communities. Some argued that this Sharia law could have a detrimental effect on human rights issues. Others claimed that as a province populated by the Muslim majority, Aceh should be given an opportunity to legalise its own legal product, ensuring that Sharia law is part of Acehnese religious values. This paper is primarily concerned with analysing the texts taken from The Jakarta Post newspaper’s article regarding the formal implementation of the local Sharia law in Aceh. The article is examined by means of various tools in Discourse Analysis method, including social identity, speech acts and implicature, genres and register. The findings elucidate that the speech and discourse of the participants and their interpretation are highly influenced by identity and community ideology of the speakers.

Learning style is one of the significant elements in learning process that helps students achieve their learning goals. Nevertheless, students should be aware of their own style in learning which make them maximally enhance learning. Therefore, in study, the researcher examined students’ awareness of learning styles and their perception of their learning style s . A quantitative descriptive research was used in this study. Then, the data was collected through online questionnaire distributed for 100 students of fifth semester of English Language Education Department by using random sampling technique. VARK (Visual, Auditory, Reading, and Kinestetic) questionnaire created by Fleming and Likert scales were used to explore the issue under investigation. F inding s of the research showed that students had moderate to high awareness of their learning styles. Within the context of this study, this findings were new in a way that it showed students’ perception on learning styles and how it affected their learning experiences. the Moreover, research findings also indicated that students believes that the learning style s they adopted helped them in achieving their learning goals supported by their learning environment . The result of the study indicated that students preferred visual learning styles .

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify skills and attributes that should be included in developing curricula, especially in the area of education. In this case, English Education Department of Ar-Raniry State Islamic University, Banda Aceh, is in charge of the preparation of English language teachers and English language professionals exceeding required standards and be competitive in the labour market.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research involved 38 research participants consisting of government authorities, academics and students. Interviews and focus group discussions were employed to collect the data. Both interview and FGD results were analysed through thematic analysis.FindingsThe findings indicate that among the generic skills that need to be incorporated into the department curriculum in order to improve graduates’ quality and meet the requirements of the labour market are: information and communication technology (ICT), leadership, religious competencies, entrepreneurship and communication skills.Originality/valueThe paper has been developed through research conducted by the authors. Therefore, the authors confirm that the paper has been written according to the academic standard and is free from plagiarism.

Cheating has been a significant issue over the years throughout the world, including in Indonesian Higher Education. In this study, we aimed to explore students’ perceptions of cheating, the practices they engage in when they cheat, the factors influencing their behavior, and possible solutions to stop cheating in the context of Islamic Higher Education. This mixed methods research involved 43 undergraduate students in the Department of English Language Education of two Islamic Higher Education institutions: The University of Muhammadiyah Aceh and Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Ar-Raniry Darussalam, Banda Aceh - Indonesia. A questionnaire comprising demographic and cheating related questions was emailed to students taking the subject, Ilmu Akidah (Theology). This subject is a third-semester optional subject offered to students at both universities. The subject covers issues about ethics, morals, good Muslim citizenship, and other universal Islamic values. Eight students were interviewed to seek their opinions about cheating in the context of Islamic education and to suggest ways to stop cheating at their university. Survey findings indicated the prevalence of cheating among these Islamic university students during their studies reached 84%, with the most common cheating practices including requesting/exchanging answers with friends during exams, duplicating texts from the internet/books and then submitting them, and cooperating with friends in doing individual assignments. The underlying issues involved external factors (i.e., exam difficulty, overloaded assignments, inadequate time for finishing assignments, and assisting friends) and internal factors (i.e., fear of low grades and failure in exams, and motivation for gaining high scores). Sixteen percent of the students claiming that they never cheated because of their religious/moral awareness, a sense of accomplishment in their own ability, and fear of academic sanctions suggestions for preventing cheating are shared along with a discussion of cheating within Islamic higher education. An important finding from the interviews was many students believed cheating was sinful and those who cheat must repent. The paper concludes with a discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of conducting mixed methods research to answer these questions and adding a set of interviews to the survey instrument.

Purpose The purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, this research aims at helping countries implement an equitable, innovative and context-appropriate stay-home game plan for the millions of disadvantaged and under-privileged students severely affected by the forfeiture of school closures; and secondly, this study proclaims that the burgeoning popularity of gamification has the potential to lay the bedrock foundation for ‘Literacy in the New Norm’. Design/methodology/approach The temporal closure of schools around the world to limit the spread of the COVID-19 has resulted in massive educational disruptions triggering adverse effects and bringing much of education under grave threat. Through a review of the current empirical and conceptual literature, this study proposes a new gamification concept in a non-technology environment. Findings Well underway are global dialogues that hold conversations on implementing mitigation strategies to counter the looming global health crisis. This has generated the impetus for a more concerted effort by concerned governments and international organizations to identify appropriate solutions for the continuity of learning so that the learning never stops. While educators and learners plunge further into the core of reconstructing education, the authors recognize that the fundamentals of technology and virtual connectivity have all along contributed to the multi-faceted e-learning stage set. However, concerns regarding the paradigm shift to remote online learning would certainly exacerbate inequalities cardinally felt across disadvantaged communities around the globe. Originality/value As the world is currently bound by strict isolation measures, learners of all ages have been relegated to the confines of their homes. For the most part, the stark realities of technological mishaps that have befallen underprivileged school children, serve as a reminder to help target children all over the world who are in most peril of losing ground in terms of continued education. It is on these grounds that the criterion set out in this article elucidates the nature and scope of a supplementary stay-home game plan detailing the use of game affordances that bear intelligently in the creation of home-based activities for parents to give it their best effort in fostering a collaborative and meaningful parent-child relationship that spawns the new language of literacy in the new norm.

The study of this article was set out to identify the use of the language of propaganda in Bush’s political speech. It was purposed to clarify the propaganda techniques applied by Bush in order to have one point of view among the audiences. The study focused on how the techniques of propaganda occurred within Bush Jr.’s speech in which he attempted to explain the different sides of who is combating terrorism and who is performing terror. The material of analysis was the speech delivered by Bush Jr. in front of the Military Officers Association of America Meeting in 2006. This article then found that the propagandist tries to control the relationship between information and audiences’ mind through the usage of language in their political speech. It was argued that propaganda can also effectively work toward almost all types of audiences, whereas the strategy of propaganda was mostly creating a fallacious reasoning connection concerning the topics being discussed.

In this study, we analyzed the effects of speaking anxiety of Acehnese students in English learning classroom by looking at the causes of students’ speaking anxiety and their strategies in coping with it. The researchers used purposive sampling to select the participants of this research. Ten respondents from sophomore students of Department of the English Education at Teacher Training Faculty of Ar-Raniry State Islamic University in Aceh, Indonesia were selected by identifying their answers of Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety questionnaires developed by Horwitz et al. (1986). To have in-depth information on the subject matter, a semi-structured interview was employed. The results of this research showed that speaking anxiety caused some negative effects to Acehnese students’ speaking ability, which could be observed through the difficulties in constructing sentences and expressing the idea when they spoke in the target language. Low self-confidence, lack of competency, and being afraid of making mistakes were some of the factors considered as the major causes of speaking anxiety that could debilitate students’ classroom participation.

This study was aimed to examining EFL students’ perception towards plagiarism, factors triggering students to plagiarize in completing their undergraduate theses and their strategies in avoiding plagiarism. The study, conducted at English Language Education Department, in one of the universities in Indonesia, employed a qualitative method approach aiming at getting more information and a detailed description of social or human issues. Ten alumni who were randomly selected agreed to participate in this study. Selected participants were interviewed to collect required information needed to address research questions of this study. Besides interviewing the students, the researchers also analyzed their theses in order to examine the level of plagiarism by using Turnitin software, the result of which showed that the range of similarities index in students’ theses varied from 16 to 36 %. The findings of the study revealed that there were three strategies that students implemented to avoid plagiarism; paraphrasing and quoting others' ideas, understanding the meaning of plagiarism, and using the lectures' particular method and online plagiarism detection software. Furthermore, the study found that the factors influencing students to plagiarize were related to time limitation on an assignment and poor time management, ease of using online sources, lack of understanding to plagiarism, and poor understanding of plagiarism acts.

Issues and incidents of bullying may take place, regardless of time and place, notwithstanding at Islamic education institutions. This study is aimed at finding out types of bullying and their triggering factors taking place in the university classroom; examining steps taken by lecturers to anticipate and prevent classroom bullying; and analyzing the impact of bullying on EFL students’ academic achievement. This mixed-methods study involved 546 students and 30 lecturers of the English Language Education Department at three state Islamic universities in Indonesia; Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah in Jakarta, Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga in Yogyakarta, and Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry in Banda Aceh. Both surveys and interviews were employed to collect the required data. The findings elucidate that physical, social, verbal, and racial are among the most common emergent bullying incidents the students experienced. Revealing the triggering factors of bullying, the data show that competition in academic and social life, differences in thoughts and appearances, lack of understanding of bullying meaning, and lack of regulation are pointed as the source of bullying. The findings also indicate that bullying influences students’ academic achievement; bullying incidents have driven their victims into four pathetic conditions: less confident, stressed, anxious, and passive. Some steps are applied by the lecturer to prevent and handle bullying; they are: providing classroom regulation, being a counselor for students, enforcing the regulation, and massive socialization.

This study aims to provide a design of the flipped learning instructional model for teaching a Cross-Cultural Understanding course for EFL students. A bottom-up of flipped learning model based on Blooms' taxonomy of cognitive domain has been produced. A Learning Management System (LMS), known as ‘Schoology’ adopted as a platform to share the recorded video lectures for students' learning before attending class. Three main activities are proposed and recommended for students' learning outside of the class, namely, ‘Watching’, ‘Note-taking’, and ‘Quiz’ (WNQ), while group discussions and peer-evaluation are two mains activities practiced in the class. This study suggests that a bottom-up of flipped learning model based on Blooms' taxonomy is potentially implemented not only for teaching a Cross-Cultural Understanding but also other subjects. Finally, this study recommends that the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher education or policymakers in Indonesia, including instructors, students, and community members, must be actively involved in developing, supporting, and maintaining a transformed learning culture, from being traditional to a technology-based learning environment.

This explanatory quantitative study aimed to identify the correlation between the students’ Micro Teaching and Field Pre-Service Teaching courses. The population of the study was the students of English Education Department of the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia, who had taken micro-teaching class and had conducted field pre-service teaching, a total of 141 students. Then, 43 students were selected as the sample of this study. Data came from these students’ scores in Micro Teaching class and in Field Pre-Service Teaching. The data were analyzed by using Pearson Product Moment with the SPSS 16.0. The findings indicated that there was no significant correlation between micro-teaching and field pre-service teaching (p-value = .196; p>.05). In addition, the strength level of the Pearson correlation coefficient between the two variables was negative and weak (r = -0.201). It can be interpreted that the students’ teaching ability was not dependent upon their micro-teaching scores.

The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of implementing a Learning Management System (LMS) ‘TES BlendSpace’ to promote students’ self-directed learning in EFL flipped-class instruction. For the data collection procedure, an individual interview with ten undergraduate students from an Indonesian college was conducted to demonstrate the potential impacts of the LMS in students’ self-directed learning abilities. The observation of students’ learning activities on the TES BlendSpace was also recorded to support the interview data. The LMS was adopted to distribute and receive information. Thus, the students were able to monitor learning activities, learn the contents before coming to class, evaluate the learning process, and interact with others outside of class hours. The finding of this study suggests that the LMS TES BlendSpace is recommended to be performed in teaching EFL for higher education in Indonesia. It offers students’ occasion to practice and enhances their listening, writing, reading and vocabulary skills in and out-of-class times. It also prepares students to get ready for classroom activities in terms of conversations and speaking skills. The further use of the LMSs should become often-visited sites by students for learning activities and replacing other non-educational favorite websites. The finding of this study indicates that the students’ online culture was predominantly formed by the interesting contents posting on the LMS, especially the video lectures and an easy way to use. Additionally, instructors should develop activities in and around the LMS with a number of benefits and rewards. Hence, the students will be motivated to log in the LMS for learning purposes.