INTRODUCING CULTURE: ARE ENGLISH TEACHERS AWARE OF AND PRACTICE IT IN THEIR TEACHING?

by

I.G.A. Lokita Purnamika Utami

Ali saukah

Bambang Yudi Cahyono

Sri Rachmajantie

Email: lokita.purnamika@yahoo.com

English Education Department, Postgraduate program,

Malang State University, Indonesia

Abstract:

Students of EFL are exposed limitedly to English language as well as its culture. Although, in borderless world ‘culture’ could be learned almost anywhere, not limited in the classroom, students’ awareness towards it should be enhanced. This abstract reported the analysis of observation on 6 English teachers’ teaching performance regarding their effort in providing students with effective English teaching (EET). One of the aspects of EET is introducing target language culture in the classroom. The observation revealed that all teachers agreed that introducing the culture of target language is inevitably important. However, only one out of 6 teachers performed a real practice of his awareness of introducing culture in his classes. His introducing culture were inclined to involving or bringing a native speaker of English in his classes. His genuine efforts is a reflection of his awareness of the importance of introducing culture of the foreign language the students trying to learn. 

Keywords: Effective English Teaching, culture, EFL

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The Principles of Need Analysis For EFL Teacher Professional Development in Indonesia

 I.G.A. Lokita Purnamika Utami

Email: lokita.purnamika@yahoo.com

Ganesha University of Education, Singaraja-Bali, Indonesia

Abstract: Teacher professional development is the term for efforts done by teachers to help them improve their professional growth. Literatures on professional development mention there are many types of activities, ranging from the least formal such as professional dialogue to the most formal like attending seminar.. Recent literatures call these activities as Continuous Professional Development based on the belief that it should be done continuously as long as their teacher carrier. For Indonesian EFL context, Cahyono (2010) mentions there are some options to develop Indonesian English teacher’s professionalism: sending teachers to graduate program in English Language education, assigning teacher’s to join in-service teachers’ certification, sending teachers to the Education and Training for Teacher profession Program, and building teachers’ awareness of the importance of continuous improvement learning. However, not all teachers are willing to be actively involved in these activities because of some reasons. One of the reasons is the gap between teachers’ needs and what the program offers. Research on teacher PD in Indonesia show that there are many PD providers for teachers, however, they sometime offer programs which are irrelevant to teachers’ needs. Ideally, PD planner should do a need analysis before administering the program. As what expected in the law of teacher and lecturer no 14 of 2005, professional teacher are those who master the four competences namely professional, pedagogical, personal and social competences. In relation with this, this article highlights PD needs based on these four competences within the proposed principles of EFL teacher professional development need analysis in Indonesia. Besides, this article presents a draft of blueprint for the need analysis instrument.

Key words: Professional Development, EFL teachers, Need Analysis

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THE EFFECT OF PEER ASSESSMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION ON STUDENTS’ WRITING ACHIEVEMENT

By:

I.G.A. Lokita Purnamika Utami

Email: lokita.purnamika@yahoo.com

Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni

Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha

Jalan A.Yani no 67, Singaraja-Bali-Indonesia

Abstract:

The topic of this study is the interactional effect between peer assesment and achievement motivation on students’ writing achievement. This topic is significantly related with some researches on peer assessment and achievement motivation which are to be said may improve students’ writing achievement. The study specifically investigated whether (1) there was a significant difference on students writing achievement when they were treated by using peer assessment and conventional assessment; and whether (2) there was any interaction between the application of peer assessment and students’ achievement motivation in improving the students’ writing achievement. The study was an experimental study with Posttest Only Control Group Design. The population were 140  students who took writing II course. From the population 60 students were used as sample which were assigned into two groups, i.e. experimental group and control group, by multi stage sampling technique. The research used two data-collection instruments i.e. the writing test and the scale of achievement motivation in studying English. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistic and inferential statistic i.e. two ways ANOVA. The result of the analysis are; first,  there was a significant difference between the writing achievement of the students whose writings were assessed by using peer assessment and the students whose writing were assessed by using conventional assessment. Second, there was an interaction between the application of peer assessment and students’ achievement motivation in improving the students’ writing achievement.

Keywords: achievement motivation, peer assessment, writing achievement

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Issues on English Teacher Professional Development in Indonesia: Personal Learning, is it a Choice?

 I.G.A. Lokita Purnamika Utami 

State University of Malang, Malang, Indonesia 

Ganesha University of Education, Bali, Indonesia

 Email: lokita.purnamika@yahoo.com 

Abstract: Indonesian government has been putting much effort in improving its education quality as well as teacher quality. One way of making this true is by organizing some professional development programs. As English is not spoken as a formal language in Indonesia, and merely seen as international language, English teacher professional development faces many challenges. The aim of this paper is to review some literature on the issues around teacher professional development in Indonesia in general and English teacher professional development in particular. This review is essential to see the problems of Indonesian professional development, professional development in poor and modern schools, and personal learning as professional development practices which can be recommended for teachers in poor and isolated area.
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