Journal Article Critique #5 (CAR)

Citation: Uztosun, Mahmet Sercan. 2014. An Action Research Study Designed to Implement Student Negotiation to Improve Speaking Classroom Practice in Turkey. Educational Action Research. 22. 488-504. 10.1080/09650792.2014.904238

This article is a study which conducted in a speaking class in the first-year students in an ELT department at a university in Turkey which consist of 32 students. The aim of the research is to implement the students’ negotiation in improving speaking practice.  The data were collected by using interview, observation, and questionnaire, and then were analyzed by using case analysis and content analysis.

In implementing the students’ negotiation, the research begun by listening students voices to improve classroom practice. The students were asked about the material that they wanted to learn. If the students do not find an activity interesting and useful, their motivation to be involved will probably decrease. Student negotiation is a way of collecting data from students to design classroom activities. And the results showed that involving students in decision-making resulted in positive attitude change and increased motivation. It means that the student negotiation seems to improve classroom practice through making it possible to provide classes relevant to students’ needs and wants.

From the explanation above, the research can be implemented in the process of teaching and learning process in ELT class of Indonesia because it is needed to know what students’ needs and wants in order to teach the appropriate material to them.

Journal Article Critique #5 (CCU)

Citation: Brown, Jac. 2011. Decision making styles East and West: Is it time to move beyond cross-cultural research?. Australia. Academic Journals.

Decision making styles between Eastern and Western people are different. This study is talking about the difference decision making between Australian, Malaysian, and Singapore people. The participants of the research are six hundred and seventy three university student in those three countries. This study explores patterns of decision making within the context of culture, age, and sex. The countries of Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore are particularly interesting because all three are in the Asia-Pacific region where a common context is shared.

The results are discussed in terms of cultural differences, such as; beliefs, values, and behaviors. This study got some hypothesis, one of them is that Asian respondents would score higher on non-vigilant decision making styles than Australian respondents. The hypothesis was partially supported as the Malaysian sample reported higher scores on hyper-vigilance than the Australian sample. But the other hypothesis reflected different things. This is caused by the different culture  of those three countries, because different culture also makes different way of thinking of people.

Journal Article Critique #4 (CAR)

Citation: Holubová, Renata. 2010. IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF TEACHING BY MODERN TEACHING METHODS. Problems of Education in the 21st Century. 25. 58-65.

The topic of the journal is about how to improve the quality of teaching by using modern method. As we have known that the quality of teaching of teaching must be improved to achieve the best learning outcome from the students. This study is a classroom action research which was conducted to high school students during physics lesson. It contained one cycle with four phases: planning, acting, reflecting, evaluating.

The modern methods being applied for this research were Problem-Based Learning, Consensus Decision-Making. Brainstorming, Mind Map, Heuristic Methodology, and The Effectiveness of Lectures with Interactive Activities. 

The research was begun with observation during the lesson in the class, then continue with the interview with all interested teachers. In interviewing, the researcher discussed their teaching and their opinion with the new methodology. 

The result of the study showed that Interactive teaching methods can help us to teach science for understanding. But it is necessary to change the role and position of the teacher in the classroom. It is different when we are teaching language. we can use all of the interactive methods in teaching language especially English.

Journal Article Critique #4 (CCU)

Citation: T. S, Vershinna & Kocheva O. L. 2015. Adaptation of Foreign Students to the Foreign Culture Learning Environment Using the Six Thinking Hats Method. US. Canadian Center of Science and Education.

The topic of the journal article is about the implementation of Six Thinking Hats method in the adaptation of the students who are learning foreign language in foreign culture learning environment. The subject of the study here were the foreign students from Korea, China, Taipei, etc who are studying Russian language in a class. Therefore the Six Thinking Hats method is applied to make them easier in adaptation with the environment.

Six Thinking Hats method is a method which is conducted in a small group consisted 6 people in maximum. There are 6 hats with different colors; red, white, yellow, black, green, and blue. Each of the color has different meaning and function for a person who wears it. The white hat is impartial and objective, directs one’s attention to information, dry facts and figures. The black hat is pessimistic and requires indication of disadvantages, critical assessments, challenging of the words and figures, and search for potential risks. The yellow hat is optimistic, opposite of the black one, aimed at seeing potential benefits (of very different nature, not only the material well-being) and advantages, requires search for positive aspects of the analyzed phenomenon. The green hat thinks out new ideas, investigates opportunities, searches for alternatives, and modifies the existing ones. The red hat allows to state intuitive guesses and feelings on the matter, not explanations. The blue hat operates the working process, kicks into gear at the initial stage of discussion to determine the forthcoming tasks, and finally to summarize the achieved, if necessary, and designate prospects. The research material was using fiction, newspaper, etc to find the most appropriate topic being discussed in a group. 

The result of the study showed that it the application of the Six Thinking Hats method in teaching foreign language in multicultural students class was able to expand the borders of cross-cultural communication. I think this method is also going to be a good way to teach English in EFL country to minimize cultural awareness. 

Journal Article Critique #3 (CCU)

Citation: Shemshadsara, Zahra Ghorbani. 2012. Developing Cultural Awareness in Foreign Language Teaching. US. Canadian Center of Science and Education.

This journal article is about developing cultural awareness in foreign language teaching. As we have known that the development of students’ cultural awareness starts by encouraging them to recognize their cultural identity in relation to other cultures,  Knuston (2006) suggests teachers should analyze students’ real world and academic needs in terms of cultural knowledge, awareness or ability to function in appropriate ways (Kuuston, 2006, cited in Beaudrie, et al (2009), p. 167-169).

The purpose of this study is to develop students’ cultural awareness in order to prepare students for intercultural communication. This study is about a critical analysis of assumptions and influences of culture awareness in language teaching and learning.

This study is important to be implemented to the related classroom which has different culture especially in language. Because language is closely entwined with culture, language teachers entering a different culture must respect their cultural values. As Englebert (2004) describes: “… to teach a foreign language is also to teach a foreign culture, and it is important to teach a foreign culture, and it is important to be sensitive to the fact that our students, our colleges, our administrators, and, if we live abroad, our neighbors do not share all of our cultural paradigms (cited in Leveridge, 2008, p. 100).

Journal Article Critique #3 (CAR)

Citation: Asrari, Slamet. 2017. The Use of Cooperative Round Robin Discussion Model to Improve Students’ Holistic Ability in TEFL Class. International Education Studies. 10. 139-147. 10.5539/ies.v10n2p139

 This article journal is about the implementation of Round Robin discussion in TEFL Class in the fourth year students in Muhammadiyah Gresik University. The purpose of the research is to improve students’ holistic ability in TEFL class. It is a classroom action research which was conducted to 10 male and 15 female students.

The journal has two cycles and each cycle conducted in 8 meetings. This is a collaborative action research; it means the researcher involved some teachers or lecturers in doing the research. Each cycle has four phases, those are: planning, implementing and observing, and reflecting. ( Kemmis and McTaggart: 1992). The data have both qualitative and quantitative data, and they were also collected both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The qualitative data was collected by eight times classroom observations by the team teaching (three lecturers) as observers of TEFL course in every classroom teaching activity, while the quantitative data. Then, it was analyzed through both quantitatively and qualitatively. Qualitative data analysis is interpreted to explain the emerging commonalities implementation of the planned strategy. On the other hand, the quantitative technique is implemented to analyze the result of pop-up quiz and questionnaire.

From the data collection and data analysis, it can be concluded that Round Robin Discussion model can improve students’ holistic ability. It can improve students’ critical thinking skill, presentation skill, confidence, and students’ independent learning who enrolled TEFL course for the fourth semester students via several modifications and improvements.

Journal Article Critique #2 (CAR)

Citation: Risnani, Sumami and Astina Komang. 2016. Implementation of Project-Based Learning (PjBL) through One Man One Tree to Improve Students’ Attitude Behavior to Support Sekolah Adiwiyata. International Education Studies.10. 134-141. 10.5539/ies.v10n3p134

The title of the article is Implementation of Project-Based Learning (PjBL) through One Man One Tree to Improve Students’ Attitude and Behavior to Support Sekolah Adiwiyata. The research was conducted in SMAN 1 Torjun Sampang in the academic year of 2015/2016. The subjects were the students of XI-6 of SMAN 1 Torjun Sampang, East Java, Indonesia, they were 22 students (18 boys and 4 girls) in a class. The research was aimed to improve students’ attitude and behavior toward environmental conservation using “One Man One Tree” PjBL.

The research was a collaborative classroom action research because it involves both teacher and researcher. It had two cycles which each cycle consisted of two meetings. The researcher used general steps and procedures of CAR, those are; start, identification of Problem, Cause of the problem and alternative solution, Planning, action/observation, reflection, revision of a new cycle. (Fatchan et al, 2009). The research was also involving the three geography teachers as the observers and helps the teacher, while the researcher acted as planner, model or teacher, and the reporter of the findings.

Based on the action which was doing at the first and second cycle, it was found that One Man One three Project-Based Learning (PjBL) model improved students’ attitude. It was proved by the average score of the post-test, which measured by the Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree), in cycle I is 86 while the average score in cycle II is 93.2 or categorized as high. The model can also improved students’ behavior which was proved by the average post-test score in cycle I is 69. The average score in cycle II is 90.4. so it can be concluded if there was an improvement in students’ behavior using one man one tree model.

Jounal Article Critique #2 (CCU)

Citation: Park, Yong Joon & Yang, Youjin. 2013. How to Share Korean Language and Culture with Pre-Service Teachers in the United State. Canadian Center of Science and Education.

The title of the article is How to Share Korean Language and Culture with Pre-Service Teachers in the United State. It was an article which had an aimed to describe the way of two teacher educators helped pre-service teachers develop their multicultural awareness in career preparation of Early Childhood Education. As it had been known that the school have become more racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse (Watanbe, 2010), the researcher assumed that pre-service teacher should aware of their future classroom environment, including students who have linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. For that reason, the researcher conducted this study in order to describe how to share Korean language and culture in the United State.

The research was a kind of action research which had two cycles, and each cycles consisted of four phases (planning, acting, observing, and reflecting). The subjects of the study were 74 pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher education program located in a Midwestern region of the USA. Seventy female and four male pre-service teachers participated in this study. For the ethnicity, 98% were White and 2% were Black or Hispanic.

The data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively. The collected quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS. The qualitative data were separately analyzed by both authors and the analyses were compared. From the data, it can be concluded that the action of the researcher who conducted the research was meaningful for pre-service teachers who would work with racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse children in the USA. Based on our reflection, we believe that the action research cycle worked well for the forum preparation and future plans. some thought that future forums could be better with more hands-on activities rather than lectures, and some of them also thought that more time was necessary for each session.