EFL teachers’ online teaching in rural schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: Stories from Indonesia

The implementation of online English instruction in remote areas during the COVID-19 pandemic, which mandates school closures, remains unknown, especially given these areas’ reputation for inadequate educational facilities. Additionally, the preparations, implementation, and challenges experienced by English as a Foreign Language (henceforth, EFL) teachers in rural areas remain unclear. This study therefore aimed at exploring the experiences of EFL teachers in rural areas on (1) their readiness for conducting online teaching, (2) their implementation of online teaching, and (3) the challenges during the implementation of online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted in Indonesia with eight English teachers in rural schools. This study was a qualitative study that employed a phenomenological study approach and used semi-structured interviews to collect the data. The findings indicate that EFL teachers, during this pandemic time, were able to conduct fully online English teaching because they possessed sufficient knowledge of English instruction using technology. Additionally, these teachers might leverage various technologies and adapt those tools to transform their usual face-to-face English instruction into online instruction. Nonetheless, these teachers in rural schools frequently encountered challenges with internet connectivity, student-owned technology devices, student enthusiasm, and student netiquette when enrolling in online English teaching. Additionally, this article discusses some practical considerations for implementing online English teaching during a pandemic.

BASICS ENGLISH GUARANTEE IN EFFORTS TO INCREASE THE ABILITY OF BIDIKMISI IAI AS'ADIYAH SENGKANG STUDENTS

The quality of English instruction in Indonesia is not uniformly spread across the country. Those in big cities are more likely to receive qualified English instruction than students in rural areas. Bidikmisi kids do not have access to additional English learning resources, despite the fact that they require them. Finally, because English proficiency is so vital, their competition is low. As a result, Bidikmisi pupils' basic English skills must be enhanced in order to be more competitive. Basic English Training is provided to Bidikmisi students at IAI As'adiyah Sengkang who need it the most as part of this program. Aside from the pretest and post-test, 12 meetings were held. The results suggest that Bidikmisi students' basic English skills have improved. However, they must be persistent in their efforts to improve their knowledge in order to greatly boost their competency. It may be concluded that the basic English training program for Bidikmisi pupils aids in the development of human resource capabilities in the English field.

Cultural Communications of Islamic Boarding Schools in Indonesia

Pesantren communication culture is quite distinct from other cultures, as it has its own unique, unique, and distinct culture. The santri's obedience, sincerity, and respect for the Kyai exemplify its uniqueness. The author attempts to raise this unique communication culture as a research theme by researching a salaf (traditional) Islamic boarding school, An-Nidzam Sukabumi, and a modern Islamic boarding school, Pondok Pesantren Kholaf (modern) Assalam Sukabumi. The research focuses on the unique characteristics of each of the two Islamic boarding schools. This study employs a qualitative approach based on ethnographic methods because it is highly relevant to its focus on the language spoken, communication patterns observed, and communication culture of pesantren. The findings indicated that the communication cultures of the salaf and Khalaf pesantren were significantly different. The An Nizam salaf pesantren placed a premium on regional/Sundanese languages in daily interactions while simultaneously suppressing learning in religious sciences from the yellow books. The Kalaf/modern Assalam Islamic boarding schools placed a premium on Arabic and English instruction. The use of English in daily interactions and an understanding of the spiritual sciences are explored through classically taught contemporary books.

A study to investigate the impact of social research toward research productivity

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between demographic diversity and research productivity. The paper attempts to identify the influence of gender diversity, college diversity, and diversity in collaboration on the research productivity of faculty members. The paper is based on data collected from the Deanship of Scientific Research and the Office of Documentation, Al Ain University (AAU). The findings of the study showed significant differences in college diversity. Faculty members of the English instruction colleges dominated the leadership in research productivity. The independent variables appeared to predict 23% of the variation in research productivity. AAU faculty members should increase internal and external collaborations and network in scientific research. Similarly, AAU also should support and promote research collaboration and networking among faculty members through a comprehensive strategic plan and guidance for internal and external collaborations.

The Challenges of English Language Teaching in Indonesia

The widespread use of English worldwide has brought about a significant impact for human beings to date. In the education sphere mainly, many studies have been conducted to discover the issues in English instruction. Moreover, English teachers in Indonesia were highly encouraged to figure out the best method to teach and cope with any problems encountered by the students to achieve the best learning outcomes. Besides, the government had also tried its best endeavors to accustom the curriculum to the needs in this globalization era. However, the results have not always been as expected since teachers and students possessed divergent points of view linked with the implementation of English language instruction. Therefore, this scientific literature review discussed some issues related to English which included; English in Indonesia, English Language Teaching for Education, Teachers’ Strategies to English Language Teaching, Problems of English Language Teaching, and Students’ Perceptions towards English Language Teaching. Furthermore, the main aim of this paper was to acknowledge to the readers that the teachers and students essentially require English due to its crucial role in the development of Education in Indonesia.

Receptive academic vocabulary knowledge and extramural English involvement – is there a correlation?

Extramural English (EE) exposure has been shown to correlate with general vocabulary knowledge. It remains uncertain, however, how academic vocabulary knowledge correlates with EE and can be explained by EE factors and demographic factors. Therefore, an academic vocabulary test, a background questionnaire, and a survey on current EE involvement were administered to 817 Swedish upper-secondary students in university-preparatory study programmes. A linear model revealed little explanation from demographic factors (age, gender, number of first languages, length of English instruction, and parental educational level) whereas EE factors (reading, listening & viewing without textual support, viewing with Swedish subtitles) accounted for 26% of the variation. Since extensive EE involvement may support the incidental learning of academic lexis, the paper suggests pre-tertiary instructional principles being guided by extramural as well as intramural incidental learning opportunities.