Indonesian English As A Foreign Language Research Articles

Exemplar of Micro Strategies in Teaching Speaking in Indonesian Context

The post-method era is currently experiencing a surge in popularity within the realm of English language teaching, particularly in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), such as in Indonesia. Given the crucial role of Speaking as a central element in communication, it requires meticulous attention and instruction in an EFL setting. Teachers play a pivotal role in preparing effective strategies to assist learners in achieving fluency and accuracy in spoken English. Consequently, this paper aims to expound on the recommended micro strategies derived from Kumaravadivelu's post-method framework. It delineates the macro strategies of post-method in English Language Teaching (ELT) as the foundational elements for creating micro strategies tailored to the teaching of Speaking in the Indonesian context. The article outlines ten macro strategies, which include increasing learning opportunities, facilitating negotiated interaction, minimizing perceptual mismatches, activating intuitive heuristics, fostering language awareness, contextualizing linguistic input, integrating language skills, promoting learner autonomy, ensuring social relevance, and raising cultural consciousness. Drawing on this strategic framework, the article gives illustrated instances of classroom activities and instructional tactics, dubbed micro strategies, that have been utilized to improve Indonesian learners' EFL Speaking competency.

Indonesian English language teachers’ conceptions of critical thinking: challenge and strategy

<span lang="EN-US">Critical thinking (CT) has already been acknowledged as a significant skill in education, including in the field of English language learning. However, very few studies have investigated the challenges and strategies in enhancing students’ CT skills in English language subjects. This qualitative research aims to investigate the Indonesian English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ conception of the necessity of implementing CT in EFL subject. This research is also intended to find out the challenges and strategies in encouraging students to use CT in their learning process. This research employed two research tools for data collection: questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The study revealed that EFL teachers believe in the value of promoting CT in their teaching classroom activities. However, CT has been practically rarely unnoticed in the implementation of English language classes due to the EFL teachers’ concentration on linguistic skills, grammar instruction, and English communicative skills. The findings also found some challenges faced by the EFL teachers in implementing CT, as well as some strategies in promoting the skill. This research recommends the importance of involving Indonesian EFL teachers in a training on CT to enhance their understanding and allow them to stimulate CT among their students.</span>

AI AS CO-CREATOR: EXPLORING INDONESIAN EFL TEACHERS’ COLLABORATION WITH AI IN CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

This research explores the collaboration between Indonesian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) educators and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in content development. Employing a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted to delve into the perspectives, experiences, and interactions of educators in the realm of AI-enhanced content creation. The study adopts a phenomenological approach, seeking to uncover the underlying essence of the evolving educator-AI relationship in content development. The findings reveal a spectrum of AI integration among educators, from heavy reliance to a balanced approach. Educators demonstrate adaptability and resourcefulness, combining school textbooks with AI-powered tools, such as ChatGPT, magicschool.ai, and you.com, creating dynamic and engaging instructional strategies. Their approaches to lesson planning, content development, presentation, teaching methods, and assessment display a diverse range of AI incorporation, emphasizing flexibility and student-centred learning. Educators are blending textbook analysis, AI tools, and multimedia resources to enhance learning environments. Interactive and student-centred teaching methods, such as pair work, role-play scenarios, and dialogue practice, foster language acquisition, communication skills, and student confidence. In assessment and evaluation, the integration of AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Twee, and Questionwell is emerging, enriching evaluation methods and promising improved student learning experiences. This research sheds light on the dynamic nature of AI-augmented content development in Indonesian EFL education, highlighting educators’ adaptability and resourcefulness in embracing technology to enhance pedagogical practices and foster enriched language acquisition experiences for their students. Keywords: AI integration; content development; EFL education; Indonesian educators; pedagogical innovation

Indonesian EFL students’ perceptions of TikTok utilization in EFL learning

Despite its increasing popularity among young adults, TikTok has been very slow in finding its way into the English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching profession. Yet before introducing the application into the EFL classrooms, it is no doubt imperative to discern what is preferable among EFL learners. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which EFL learners perceive TikTok as facilitating their learning. To this end, the participants (N = 31) were asked to fill out a short, online questionnaire to gather information about (i) whether they utilized TikTok as an affordance for their EFL learning and (ii) whether they perceive its integration into the EFL classrooms as facilitative of their learning. The findings revealed that although they did not explicitly mention that they used TikTok as an affordance for their EFL learning, they held a belief that TikTok is effective in promoting their English proficiency. According to the students, there were three factors of note which contribute to the effectiveness of TikTok, namely abundant authentic input availability, easy-to-grasp information and availability of free tuition related to English language learning. Pedagogically, it implies that TikTok is worth integrating into the EFL classrooms.

Practice and barriers of technology integrated pedagogy in teaching EFL young learners: A critical analysis

Young learners' characteristics, which differ from those of young adolescents, adolescents, and adults, encourage EFL instructors to implement technology-based learning strategies with high consideration. If EFL teachers fail to implement the appropriate strategy for teaching English, young students may likely encounter academic difficulties in subsequent years. Teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) have implemented technology-based learning strategies to improve students' literacy, vocabulary, and critical thinking abilities. There are also implementation obstacles. This article aims to identify the types of digital-based learning strategies implemented by Indonesian EFL teachers for teaching English to young learners, as well as to identify the challenges faced by Indonesian EFL teachers when implementing digital-based learning strategies for young learners.The findings indicated that EFL teachers in Indonesia employed a variety of technological approaches to develop their students' language and critical thinking skills. EFL teachers utilized multimodal e-books to improve reading skills; animated e-books were employed to enhance literacy skills; flipped classroom was utilized to augment vocabulary; and digital folklore was used to foster analytical and critical thinking skills among EFL young learners.

LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE PORTRAYED IN INDONESIAN EFL TEXTBOOKS: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

This research examines the linguistic landscape within 4 (four) English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks in Indonesia, employing Cenoz and Gorter's theoretical framework. The primary objectives of this study are to categorize the various linguistic landscape elements present in Indonesian EFL textbooks and provide a comprehensive description of the characteristics of these linguistic landscapes. The analysis was conducted through a descriptive qualitative methodology, focusing on linguistic landscape items within EFL textbooks used in Grades I, II, IV, and V, comprising a total of 116 images. These items encompassed monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual components. Specifically, 100 images featured English-only elements, establishing English as the dominant language in these instances, while 3 images were exclusively in Bahasa Indonesia, 1 in Arabic, and 12 incorporated both English and Indonesian. Including these linguistic elements is intended to familiarize students with English sentence structures in the textbooks, as English holds a prominent status as an international language.

Maintaining Students’ Emotional Engagement Amid Emergency Remote Teaching: Spotlighting the Indonesian EFL Teachers’ Perspectives

Language learning engagement has awakened interest in recent decades. This has taken place because engagement enables students to perform physical and mental, goal-directed, and purpose-driven activities. Unfortunately, keeping students emotionally engaged during Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) remains under-researched. Therefore, this study focused on scrutinizing how teachers maintained the students' emotional engagement during Emergency Remote Teaching, especially in the Indonesian English as a foreign language (EFL) context. English Education Department teachers at a state-owned university in Indonesia were involved as the research participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two teachers during the data collection. The data were analyzed with Thematic Analysis (TA) (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The findings reported six main themes, namely (1) implementing proper teaching materials and instructional platforms during emergency remote teaching, (2) actualizing tolerance-based learning activities, (3) performing self-adaptation to technology-enhanced language teaching, (4) deploying contextualized teaching methods during emergency remote teaching, (5) applying eclectic instructional media during emergency remote teaching, and (6) utilizing constructive and humanizing online learning monitoring. Practically, TESOL practitioners, students, and policymakers can benefit from this study to realize how to maintain students' emotional engagement while performing teaching and learning activities during ERT.

Enacting Paulo Freire’s Thoughts in the University English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Classroom Through the Analysis of Mo Salah Phenomenon in the UK

In this paper, we present an example of how the selected texts (on the footballer Mo Salah) can potentially be discussed in the university EFL classroom especially (Critical) Discourse Analysis course using Freire’s seminal work on Critical Pedagogy (CP). We do it by firstly introducing Freire’s concept of CP which includes problem posing education and dialog as elaborated by Durakoglu et al. (2013). Then we move on to highlight the previous works conducted on CP in Indonesian EFL contexts and provide critical analysis of how the particular texts drawn from Anwar’s (2016) unpublished thesis on Mo Salah's phenomenal career could be analyzed using Freire’s concepts. Closing this reflection, we locate this paper within critical approaches to English Language Teaching such as post-method pedagogy and post-structural and post-colonially informed teaching.

CONVENTIONAL WRITTEN CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK FOR EFL LEARNERS' WRITING SKILL ENHANCEMENT

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners around the world have access to various tools for their writing skill enhancement. Those tools are commonly accessed with automated written corrective feedback to help them minimize the errors in writing due to its time efficiency. Additionally, the examples of the written corrective feedback used by EFL learners are commonly Grammarly, Hemingway app, and AI grammar checker. However, they fail to address the pointed needs of EFL learners in writing skill enhancement where English is not the native language, such as the practices in non-native developing countries. Due to writing skill enhancement as the aim of this study, the EFL learners' participation is crucial to its efficacy by conventional model, instead of the automated one. To answer this issue, this study presents a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) analysis of conventional written corrective feedback as learning as the appropriate model for EFL learners' writing skill enhancement as the reflective practices in light of the shortcomings for EFL learners' writing skill enhancement in Indonesia. This SLR study demonstrates that the conventional written corrective feedback has the potential to support the Indonesian EFL learners' writing skill enhancement by comparing current practices of the corrective feedback as learning for EFL learners in Indonesia with national practices and international ones dealing with non-native developing countries reported in the literature. The conventional written corrective feedback is expected to be an efficient sustainable model to enhance the EFL learners' writing skill because of its empowering organic form.

A Closer Look on Indonesian EFL students’ Writing Process: The Application of Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies

Cognitive and metacognitive strategies have been researched to find an effective strategy in teaching writing. However, little attention has been given to investigate what is on the students’ minds while applying those strategies in the writing process. This descriptive qualitative study aims to investigate the process of applying the cognitive and metacognitive strategies by EFL students while performing argumentative essays. Three university students of the English Department taking the Essay Writing subject were invited to record the process of authoring argumentative essays using Zoom recording to display full audio and video on screen. Their writings were checked and the students were interviewed. This process used think-aloud protocols (TAPs) completed with the screen recording method (SRM) to record all activities on the computer screen, students’ work, and the interview explored the learners’ perception towards particular situation in their writing process. The data were categorized and analyzed using English as a foreign language (EFL) writing strategies as a framework for narrative analysis. This study found that both cognitive and metacognitive strategies helped all participants complete their essay through the thinking process and decision making of each step and strategy. While cognitive and metacognitive were applied distinctively in each participant’s writing processes, it produced the internalization of writing steps critically in self-regulated learning. This study demonstrates that cognitive and metacognitive processes are effective in promoting varied writing strategies and self-regulated learning for EFL learners. To get a thorough application of cognitive and metacognitive strategies in writing activity, future research can use other genre for students at different age or level of education.

The Use of Facebook in Learn to Write in the Perspective of Students EFL Class

There is a strong need to investigate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ perceptions of Facebook as a language-learning environment, as their perceptions that directly influence their language development and achievement have not been examined within the EFL learning context. Thus, this study aims to investigate EFL learners’ perceptions of Facebook as a language learning environment. The sample group of the study consisted of 17 EFL learners at a Walisongo Islamic State University. After administering a background questionnaire and a survey that assessed their perceptions, the frequencies, mean scores, standard deviations were computed. The results showed that Indonesian EFL students perceive Facebook as an environment for communication, interaction, socialization, language learning and cultural interaction. It was recommended that further research should focus on the variables and determinants that may affect their perceptions to understand the theoretical and practical aspects regarding cultural differences.

Fostering the Love of Reading: Dynamics and Sustainability of Book Clubs in Indonesian Universities

The research aimed to reveal the dynamics of the book clubs that the researchers started with and for Indonesian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students at the university level, as well as the club's impacts on students' learning. Book clubs were essential in nurturing students' reading habits as a community. Studies found that book club activities affected one’s engagement in reading by giving readers the voice, room to participate actively, social support, and the choice to decide what they read. Indonesian university students in the EFL context faced reading engagement issues; the researchers initiated book clubs with the unified mission of growing students' love of reading and forming good reading habits. The research reported a qualitative study of a group of Indonesia Extensive Reading Association (IERA) members sharing reflections on establishing and managing book clubs or literature circles in six universities in Indonesia where the researchers taught. The data of participants' reflections were gathered and analyzed iteratively to find common themes or patterns. As a result, the research finds that the book club activities have fostered the love of reading and inferred the empowerment of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. The research also reveals that in setting up a book club at the university level, the support of the university and the readers' community and extended networks are needed. For a book club to sustain itself, four aspects must be considered: participants' involvement, product-oriented activities, voluntarism of participants, and rewards.

Indonesian EFL Teachers’ Use of Code Mixing in Classroom Interactions

Code Mixing (CM) is generally a communication strategy that is often used by teachers in the process of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL). This study aims to describe the types and categories of CM used by teachers in the context of teaching EFL in Indonesia, as well as investigate the perspectives of teachers and students regarding the use of code mixing in classroom interactions. This research uses case studies with a qualitative approach to analyze data. Data collection was carried out through recorded interviews with three teachers and seven students as well as observing the teaching and learning process during six meetings at one of the senior high schools in Medan, North Sumatera. The results of the study show the teachers use three types of CM, namely Insertion, Alternation and Congruent Lexicalization. There are 177 mixed code data found. There are 188 data classified as insertion type, 49 data classified as alternation type and 10 data classified as congruent lexicalization type. Then from the results of the interviews, the teacher considered that the functions of CM in students were 1) Improving student’ comprehension, 2) Encouraging students' independence in learning new vocabulary. Furthermore, students agreed that code mixing was an effective and effective learning strategy in increasing their understanding of English. This happened because 71.5% of students used English most often with some Indonesian language CM and 67.2% said the use of CM can help understand topic discussions in the learning process.

The Impact of Formative Assessment Towards Students’ Motivation in Learning English: A Meta Analysis

This meta-analysis explores the impact of formative assessment on students' motivation in learning English as a foreign language (EFL) within the context of Indonesia. Drawing on a comprehensive search and analysis of relevant literature, the review investigates the impact of formative assessment on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and proposes strategies to enhance motivation through formative assessment. This review examined 37 qualifying studies and analyzes the formative assessment impact, which have been categorized into three aspects namely; (1) the impact on intrinsic motivation, (2) the impact on extrinsic motivation, and (3) the impact on academic motivation and the potential strategies which consisted of four aspects such as (1) Promote Collaboration and Group Work, (2) Scaffold Learning and Provide Support, (3) Encourage Reflective Practices, and (4) Foster a Sense of Competence and Progress. The implications for practice highlight practical recommendations for educators to implement formative assessment strategies in the Indonesian EFL context. By integrating these recommendations, educators can create a dynamic learning environment that enhances students' motivation, engagement, and overall language learning success.

Negotiating the challenges in speaking English for Indonesian undergraduate students in an ESL university

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.

Indonesian EFL Teachers' Identity Construction in a Global Englishes Era

Studies on English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ identity construction have been extensively investigated in recent years. However, the previous studies exclusively focused on teachers in higher education and neglected Global Englishes (GE) concept as a mediator in identity construction. Therefore, to fill this lacuna, the current narrative research study explored the identity construction of 10 Indonesian EFL secondary school teachers in the Global Englishes era. The data were gathered through in-depth interviews and observations and were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis. Findings were elaborated into six emerging themes; they were 1) teachers’ perspectives of Global Englishes, 2) the goal of teaching English, 3) native speaker fallacy, 4) the use of mother tongue, 5) the use of Western cultures, and 6) the use of international English textbooks. Based on the investigation, the teachers echoed multiple identities as English teachers vis-à-vis the Global Englishes era. Although they are aware of such an issue, their tenets to adhere to the practice of native speaker fallacy are still strongly held. In other words, our study revealed a perceptual mismatch among the teachers with regard to their identities in a Global Englishes era.

Among English, Indonesian and local language: Translanguaging practices in an Indonesian EFL classroom

Teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in Indonesia has its own complexity due to the multilingual situation and the broadly different levels of English proficiency. To cope with this particular challenge, some Indonesian teachers tend to use a translanguaging method in teaching their students so that their classes are more interactive and engaging. In this case, translanguaging is a form of multilingual practice in the context of multilingual education where students are given equal rights to develop their language potential. Realizing the complexity of the learning process in a multilingual context, we aimed to reveal the types and purposes of Translanguaging in the learning process. This study used a qualitative method and data were collected through observations, interviews, and document analyses. This study shows that there were three types of translanguaging used by teachers during their teaching. The types of translanguaging are intra-sentential translanguaging, intersentential translanguaging, and tag translanguaging, with four purposes inform of strategies that are related to each other. It was also found that translanguaging is useful in the EFL learning processes because it can be used as a method to explain learning materials in a more convenient way to enhance students’ understanding.

(Im)politeness employed by multilingual Indonesian EFL learners in argumentative conversations

Politeness might lessen imposition in argumentative conversations which potentially result in conflict. However, different conventions on politeness among different cultures may cause problems for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners who often transfer their native communication preferences to their target language usage. This article explores the (im)politeness employed by multilingual EFL learners in casual agreeing-disagreeing exchanges among peers. Using explanatory sequential mixed method design, students’ utterances in role plays were analyzed based on Leech’s (2014) politeness theory, Kakava’s (1993) disagreement strategies, as well as Locher’s (2004) mitigating strategies on disagreement. It is found that in conversations with people of equal status and power, the observance of politeness maxims is more apparent than the violation. It indicates that maintaining others’ faces is essential irrespective of age differences, even in arguing conversations. The more frequent use of positive politeness than negative politeness strategies represents their greater orientation to others than to themselves. The prevalence of mitigated disagreement and the frequent use of an appreciation preface also show their priority to maintaining good relationships. Those findings support the view of Asians as a collectivistic group whose primary concern in communication is group membership. This suggests that awareness of politeness in argumentative conversations among EFL learners must be increased by giving them different perspectives from non-Asian cultures.

How do Indonesian EFL students’ writing strategies and writing process differ from English L1 students?

This research aimed to investigate the writing strategies applied by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Indonesia. It also investigated how the writing process undergone by Indonesian EFL students differs from students using English as their first language (L1). The writing strategies questionnaire from Petrić and Czárl (2003) was used to find out the strategies used by the EFL students. In addition, the adult writing process model of Hayes (2012), which was constructed based on the writing process of English as first language students, was used as the framework to investigate the writing process applied by Indonesian students. The participants were 135 English Education department students from two Indonesian universities. Participants’ answers to the questions in the questionnaire over the three stages of writing (pre-writing, drafting, and revising) were analysed using a 5-point Likert scale. The result revealed that the participants applied writing strategies at a moderate level. They only frequently used 15 of the 38 strategies provided in the questionnaire at high frequency. The 15 strategies used at high frequencies described the participants’ writing process which indicated some differences from that of the writing process undergone by the English L1 students. The findings aim to inform theories of second/foreign language writing performance, as well as support the design of teaching writing courses in English Education majors in Indonesia. The data may also be useful for educators in other countries teaching English as a second or foreign language.

How Does Emergency Remote Learning Affect the Future Career Readiness of Indonesian EFL Preservice Teachers?

The study investigated how the policy of emergency remote learning during the global pandemic affected graduating English as a foreign language (EFL) preservice teachers. Using the social-cognitive career theory (SCCT) as the framework, this phenomenological study examined their readiness to start their career as EFL teachers. Additionally, it investigated participants’ self-efficacy regarding their competencies as teacher candidates. Using semi-structured interviews and employing purposive sampling by recruiting seven EFL preservice teachers from a private university in Indonesia, the study found that the policy of emergency remote learning affected the participants’ readiness for their upcoming careers as future EFL teachers. Although most of the participants claimed that they were ready to enter the work field as teachers, the study found they suffered anxiety and low self-efficacy regarding competence to teach. Finally, the importance of external support for study completion, as well as for career preparation, is indicated.