SAGA: Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics

Bringing Mall beyond the Wall: Rethinking Online Learning Practices in Indonesian Higher Education

Adriani Yulia Purwaningrum — 2025-01-30

MALL implementation in online learning practice has raised discussion on the possibility of developing learning beyond the classroom. However, online learning circumstances in Indonesia require special attention since this sudden shift of learning methods poses various challenges for teachers and students unfamiliar with this agenda. Therefore, this study reviews related and significant studies on online learning practice in Indonesian higher education. The selected samples were categorized and analyzed to understand the current circumstances of online learning in the Indonesian EFL context and examine the feasibility of learning beyond the classroom (LBC) to be developed in Indonesia. The results indicate that the online learning situation in Indonesia opens a wide opportunity for the development of LBC. Still, several aspects need further consideration and examination to achieve quality English language learning in an online environment. It is recommended for future researchers in the same field to further investigate LBC activities during online learning practice in Indonesia with the help of MALL.

Pre-Service Teachers' Understanding on Designing English Learning Materials Using Portfolio

Nyak Mutia Ismail — 2025-01-30

The success of the teaching and learning process depends mainly on well-designed and efficient resources. Thus, teachers' ability to design suitable and effective learning materials is pivotal in making the process successful. Even before becoming real teachers, they are compulsorily responsible for understanding material design. This study aimed to assess the participants’ understanding of designing earning materials using the portfolio assessment as a component of the learning process. Through the qualitative approach, 13 participants were involved. They are students—preservice teachers—who are still studying at the English Department, Universitas Serambi Mekkah, Aceh, Indonesia. The instruments used were initial interviews, questionnaires, and triangulation interviews to enhance the primary data. In data collection, participants were asked interview questions to assess their understanding and perception of suitable instructional materials. They had 15 minutes to complete questionnaires and were interviewed again for 10 minutes. The data analysis then went on using interactive analysis. The results show that, on average, 11 out of 13 participants did not understand designing good learning materials. Then, regarding their agreement on the effectiveness of the portfolio, they mostly agree on this statement. In conclusion, portfolio assessment is worth trying to enhance the preservice ability in designing good and effective learning materials for language teaching and learning.

The Benefits of Activating Self-Regulation Behavior in Worldwide EFL Speaking Learning Contexts

Kristian Florensio Wijaya — 2025-01-30

Transforming worldwide EFL learners into more proficient L2 speakers is a challenging mission as speaking is not merely about the meaningful communication occurrences among interlocutors but also the strong willingness shouldered by EFL learners to regulate their certain behaviors and actions to achieve the targeted learning objectives fully. The previous research results strongly suggested that EFL educators establish, nurture, and reinforce their learners’ self-regulation at the commencement of speaking-focused learning activities in order to make them more confident L2 speakers who are willing to share their thoughts with other classroom learning community members. This present small-scale library study was a little attempt initiated by the researcher to investigate the potential benefits of activating EFL learners’ self-regulation behavior in worldwide speaking learning contexts. To fulfill this main study objective, the researcher conducted a thematic analysis by reviewing 30 previous self-regulation studies conducted globally to obtain more comprehensible research results. The publication years of these 30 published self-regulation articles ranged from 2013 until 2022 to produce more reliable research results. Based on the thematic analysis, there were two major themes yielded namely: (1) Highly self-regulated EFL learners can become more organized L2 speakers, and (2) highly self-regulated EFL learners can transform into more successful L2 speakers. In conformance with these research results, second language-speaking learning instructors are strongly encouraged to cultivate self-regulation behavior within EFL learners at the beginning of learning activities to gradually make them become more high-achieving and self-reliant speakers defining the best strategies suitable for their current speaking learning situations.

Exploring Students’ Perception on The Implementation of a Web-Based Materials in Intensive Reading Class

Susanti Malasari — 2025-01-30

Intensive Reading is one of reading subjects learned by English Department students. This course is a reading activity to find information and understand the contents of various reading texts. Good reading skills will enable students find and understand information from various texts proficiently. Besides knowing and applying reading strategies, students can improve their reading skills by doing reading practice continuously. Therefore, students need to have an easy access of various texts that are used as intensive reading materials. Website is one of the media that can be used to provide intensive reading materials. This is a descriptive qualitative research that is aimed to explore students’ perception on the implementation of a web-based materials in intensive reading class. The participants were the second semester of English Department students learned intensive reading. The data were obtained from observation, interview, and documentation. The findings showed that students have positive perception on the implementation of a web-based materials in intensive reading class. It was found that the implementation of websites can motivate students in learning to read, help students improve their reading comprehension, and form students’ reading habits.

The Analysis of Translation Technique and Quality in Translating Meme Image

Romita Romita — 2025-01-30

This study aimed to find (1) the translation techniques applied by students in translating meme images, (2) the translation quality of translating meme images and (3) the student problems in translating meme images. This research used a qualitative with case study approach, and the data collection was done by content analysis, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and interview, so that it could explore more deeply related problems found at English Department at Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta. The subjects of this research were 27 fourth semester students. The results of this study showed that the students applied 9 types of translation techniques to meme images, namely established equivalent, pure borrowing, addition, modulation, generalization, natural borrowing, explicitation, literal translation, and description. The results of the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with experts showed that the quality of the translations of meme images by the students was 2,44 (less accurate), 2,54 (less acceptable) and 2,78 (readable). The interviews with 10 students showed that the problems in translating meme images were lack of vocabulary, confusion with meme images and not understanding the context. It was concluded that the translation techniques applied by the students contributed to the quality of the translation. The description technique contributed negatively to the accuracy of meme image translation, while the addition technique contributed negatively to the acceptability, and the established equivalent technique contributed positively to the readability in meme image translation.

Accentuating the Enhanced Roles of Integrative and Instrumental Motivation in English Language Learning

Marningsih Sadik — 2025-01-30

A mass of studies has unfolded the accentuating role of motivation in promoting learning outcomes. However, those studies were focused on the quantified data exhibiting the significance of instrumental and integrative motivation without sufficiently delving into the impacts of these motivations. Thus, this study aimed to enhance the insights of the motivations’ role based on the learners’ perspectives. A qualitative approach was employed to examine the responses from 15 selected participants. Data was obtained from a one-on-one interview extracted from Gardner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) and scrutinized using holistic and specifically focused analysis. The findings revealed that the two motivations aroused learning enjoyment, anxiety, earlier/regular exposures, and language habits. To some extent, integrative motivation promotes greater positive influences than instrumental motivation. Learners with integrative orientation were more regularly exposed to the language due to the internal desire to be directly engaged with the speaking group. Hence, they found learning more enjoyable and actively used it daily. In contrast, instrumentally motivated learners tended to be anxious as they were driven to attain external rewards and hardly enjoyed the learning process. They occasionally learned the language for a unique goal that lessened the language exposure. As a result, the integrative learners outperformed the instrumentally-oriented learners. However, the finding shows that both motivations should be synergized to expect better learning outcomes.

An Analysis of Slang Found in X Thread By K-Popers

Rheyza Aulya — 2025-01-30

This research focuses on using slang words in social media X, previously known as Twitter, especially in comments by K-pop fans, known as K-popers. The method used in this research is a qualitative case study, with data collected through participatory observation and content analysis of X comments posted by Kpopers. Wit a tweet on X being the primary data source. The analysis includes identifying the types of slang used and its interpretation within the cultural background according to Allan and Burridge’s theory, as well as a conceptual framework that explains linguistics in aspects of semantics. This research is expected to provide theoretical insights into linguistic dynamics in online communities and practical benefits in understanding how cultural and social identities are constructed and maintained through language.