LOGIC AND RATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

LOGIC AND RATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Paper assignment on Semantics, lectured by Drs. Suwono, Ph.D

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

Kemenag Class 2015 – NIM. 157835408

The State University of Surabaya

I.    INTRODUCTION

Semantics primary focuses on the study of word meaning and the relationship when it is applied in a sentence. Wittgenstein (2009) state that “They concern many subjects: the concepts of meaning, of understanding, of a proposition and sentence, of logic, the foundations of mathematics, states of consciousness, and other things” (p. 3). Due to the insisted topic about logic and rational behavior, the writer has to explore further about it clearly. The words logic and rational were debatable long time years ago, especially between scientists and mathematics experts. Niels Bohr ever said to Albert Einstein, “You are not thinking. You are merely being logical.” Recently, these words are not the same. 

Should Indonesian Kids Under the Age of 10 Learn to Communicate in English?

Should Indonesian Kids Under the Age of 10 Learn to Communicate in English?

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

Kemenag Class 2015 – NIM. 157835408

The State University of Surabaya

Due on the title above, readers may pose various interpretations in their mind. Drawing proper answers (moreover to dispute it) in which age period is better for Indonesian kids to start learning to communicate in English, under or upper the age of ten, is always interesting, challenging and emerging countless debate. Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams (2011) notice that the factors of age, talent, motivation, etc, probably take into account the succeed of second language (L2) learners to learn/acquire a new language. Therefore, among Indonesian scholars, it is indispensable to expose deeper and clearer about this case by comparing and contrasting equally the both sides. Obviously, each side would be enclosed with reasons and argumentations. Impersonal, at the end of this essay, I -as an indigenous person- tend to say that Indonesian kids under 10 should not learn to communicate in English.

THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS BY KIRAN DESAI

THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS BY KIRAN DESAI

Paper assignment as UTS & UAS on General Outlook of Literature

lectured by Prof. Budi Darma, Ph.D

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

Kemenag Class 2015 – NIM. 157835408 – Hp. 0857 9127 8918

The State University of Surabaya

1.    Kiran Desai’s psychology based on her work, The Inheritance of Loss

Kiran Desai (henceforth KD) is an immigrant writer who tried hard to reinforce the aspects of “human psychology and immortalize” (Chandramani & Reddy, 2013) in her novel, The Inheritance of Loss (Desai, 2006). She is one of an Indian writer as a product of colonialism age, when Salman Rushdie and friends emerging a school of Cosmopolitan Indian Literature (henceforth CIL). CIL then being recognized as a part of middle class of Indian society who lived for several years abroad (as legal/illegal immigrant). Accordingly, this class takes a significant role as a mediator between the Western colonialism discourse (in this novel represented by England and America) and the Eastern discourse (represented by India). Therefore, their novels were written in English language to against Western colonialism and struggling for the sustainable Indian tradition and nationalism (Gandhi, 1997). KD herself has not given priority to any specific issue yet we find in her novels the issues of globalism and American dreams most prominently (Chandramani & Reddy, 2013).

As a part of CIL, KD was becoming a succeed writer with two great novels, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard and The Inheritance of Loss. The latter novel was much inspired by Salman Rusdhie who have struggled in fostering Indian nationalism and attacking England through the usage of English language as the main language in his literary works (Rocester, 2009). In her writing style, KD imitated another CIL writer, called by Naipaul, by describing the marginalized Indian people as the negative effect of Western colonialism. 

IMPROVING DESCRIPTIVE WRITING THROUGH FACEBOOK USING THE COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY (COI) MODEL TO PROMOTE LEARNERS’ AUTONOMY

IMPROVING DESCRIPTIVE WRITING THROUGH FACEBOOK USING THE COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY (COI) MODEL TO PROMOTE LEARNERS’ AUTONOMY

Paper assignment on Principle of Language Teaching, lectured by Dr. Aswandi

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

Kemenag Class 2015 – NIM. 157835408

The State University of Surabaya

sugengariadieka@gmail.com

Abstract

Learning language is aimed not only to be able to speak but also to write. Learning writing for L2 learners always needs a lot of practices, whether guided practice or autonomous practice. Recently, the latter practice has to be concerned much by teachers. Maximizing the use of facebook as a familiar media to improve learners’ autonomy in writing descriptive is necessary. This paper investigated how 12 students who worked as community (closed group) writing descriptive text project online through Facebook. They are students grade 9 at Islamic Junior High School Pasuruan. Thus, the qualitative data was employed to draw the online interactions among the students. The interactions were signed based on descriptors in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) Model by Garrison (Annamalai & Tan, 2014). After the autonomous practice, the participants then were interviewed to know their perceiving experiences while they were involved. The findings of this paper indicated that the participants excited much to use facebook as a media to improve their descriptive writing. While the CoI model revealed that there were positive interactions during students’ learning activities with the online descriptive writing through facebook. 

Keywords:  Online descriptive writing,  Community of Inquiry (CoI) model,

                     facebook, learner’s autonomy

STUDENT ENGKLEK GAME TO FOSTER STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE COMPETENCES

STUDENT ENGKLEK GAME TO FOSTER STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE COMPETENCES

Final assignment on Joyful Learning lectured by Prof. Lies Amin Lestari[G1] 

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

NIM. 157835408

A.   THE IMPORTANT OF GAME IN TEFL

Wright, Betteridge, and Buckby (2006, p. 1) define a game as an amusing and charming, often challenging activity and the learners play and interact with others. In doing the game, there would be four kinds of participants; class, individual, pair, and group work. The necessary thing to determine the participants is ensuring that each player has optimum occasion in practicing and using the target language, and probably may go beyond the class learning process as suggested by Wright et al. (2006).[G2] 

BINARY OPPOSITION IN EMILY DICKINSON’S BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH (1890), APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA AS RETOLD BY WILLIAM SOMMERSET MAUGHM (1933), AND JOHN DONNE’S DEATH, BE NOT PROUD (2004)

BINARY OPPOSITION IN EMILY DICKINSON’S BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH (1890), APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA AS RETOLD BY WILLIAM SOMMERSET MAUGHM (1933), AND JOHN DONNE’S DEATH, BE NOT PROUD (2004)

Final assignment on Philology, lectured by Prof. DR. Febiola D Kurnia

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

NIM. 157835408

Abstract: Naturally, human could understand a strange phenomenon automatically by applying binary opposition system in her/his mind. This current paper aims at revealing the BO existed in Emily Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop For Death (1890), Appointment In Samarra as retold by William Sommerset Maughm (1933), and John Donne’s Death, Be Not Proud (2004). As the conclusion, this paper has revealed the BO in those three poems as well as the intertextuality. The discussion of the BO and intertextuality are focused on three aspects; man versus woman, superior versus inferior, and temporary versus eternity aspects.

Keywords: binary opposition, intertextuality, poems

A STUDY OF CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON NAWAL EL SAADAWI’S (2006) WOMAN AT POINT ZERO

A STUDY OF CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON NAWAL EL SAADAWI’S (2006) WOMAN AT POINT ZERO

Final assignment on Research Methods in Literature, lectured by DR. Ali Mustofa

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

NIM. 157835408

I.    INTRODUCTION

Discourse is a series of sentences which are related and connected one proposition into others. It can be in the form of word, sentence, paragraph or essay. One study of discourse is critical discourse analysis (CDA), which means an effort to strand a text to achieve specific goals. In general, Darma (2009) says that CDA is a new approach emerging from the social theory tradition and critical linguistic analysis. Among CDA practitioners, Teun A. van Dijk is the most well-known theorist. Specifically, according to him, CDA is a field that is concerned with studying and analyzing written and spoken texts to expose the discursive sources of power, dominance, inequality and bias (Dijk, 1998). Sheyholislami (2001) adds that CDA examines how these discursive sources are maintained and reproduced within specific social, political and historical contexts. He puts it simply that CDA aims at making transparent the connections between discourse practices, social practices, and social structures, connections that might be opaque to the layperson (p. 1). 

CRITICAL DIGITAL WASHBACK (CDW); HOW DOES IT WORK IN ENGLISH NATIONAL EXAMINATION (ENE)?

CRITICAL DIGITAL WASHBACK (CDW);

HOW DOES IT WORK IN ENGLISH NATIONAL EXAMINATION (ENE)?

            This essay is merely based on class discussion under the topic, “Theories and principles of good language assessment development,” which was presented by group two on the third meeting. One interesting term discussed was about washback, especially when it is correlated with the issue of ENE. Yet, the discussion was ineffective and did not give enough understanding about the discussion. Ineffective because of limited time allocation for the group discussion and there was not provided with some previous research findings for the related references. Hence, this essay aims to extent the discussion with enough references and real practices on washback activities align with ENE.

            According to this group, cited from Brown (2004, p. 28), washback means generally refers to the effects the tests have on instruction in terms of how students prepare for the test. When the audiences tried to relate this topic with UN issue, the group presenter responded merely on the negative washback phenomena and could not provide enough examples on it. Hence, I needs to show the latest research article by Furaidah, Saukah, and Widiati (2015). They have analyzed that in spite of negative washback, positive washback is also consequently appeared at school activities as the effects of ENE. 

CRITICAL DIGITAL LITERACY IN TEFL

CRITICAL DIGITAL LITERACY IN TEFL

Final paper assignment on Applied Linguistics, lectured by Drs. Suwono, Ph.D

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

Kemenag Class 2015 – NIM. 157835408

I.    INTRODUCTION

Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL) through technology is urgently needed. For many years, technology has increased and contributed on the digitalized landscape of  English  language  teaching  (ELT)  (Nguyen, 2013). Nowadays, teachers or educators or practitioners have worked hard to advance the landscape. In practical teaching, Erben, Ban, and Castaneda (2009) have designed a set of guidance on how to infuse technology into the classroom, and providing beneficial instructions which can be tremendously effective with English Language Learners (ELLs).

This includes setting up a virtual learning environment such as www.ning.com to post homework, announcements and other miscellaneous classroom information or using an assessment system such as http://quizstar.4teachers.org/ to write tests and post grades. As one moves along the continuum, a student becomes less of a passive receiver/viewer of IT and more of an active user of IT—a continuum in which the teacher exerts progressively less control over the IT in shaping a student’s learning. There is several-point continuum of IT use by teachers and students, for instances; teacher-only use (technology as a tool) electronic equipment: smartboard, TV, etc. Teacher-only use (managing) virtual learning environments: Nicenet, Ning, etc. (p. 70)

Below is a figure delineating nine-point continuum of IT use which notably done by teachers (at point 1 – 4) and students (at point 5 – 9).

Figure 1. Nine-point continuum of IT use by teachers and students (Erben et al., 2009, p. 74).

RESEARCH ON REQUEST STRATEGIES IN PRAGMATIC STUDY OF INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS

RESEARCH ON REQUEST STRATEGIES IN PRAGMATIC STUDY OF INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

Graduate Program of English Department

The State University of Surabaya

ekasugengariadi@yahoo.com

Abstract: Learning attentively about communicative competence, particularly comprehending pragmatic competence is needed by Indonesian teachers and learners. One of the most important strategy in pragmatic competence is request strategy. Recently, request strategies in pragmatic teaching and learning process have been explored intensively in the worldwide, whereas it is still not sufficient findings in Indonesia. Accordingly, this research aims at revealing the use of request strategies and analysing the variant types and frequency of it based on the social power and social distance at different school grades in Indonesia. A Discourse Completion Test (DCT) instruments was used to elicit the data related to the request strategies. The data were analysed by using SPSS (version 20.0) for frequency analysis and chi square test. The participants were randomly selected from SMP, SMA, Undergraduate and Graduate learners. The findings showed that Indonesian learners tend to use indirect strategies than direct strategies, the higher grade of the leaners the more they use indirect requesting. On the other findings, the social power and distance of the learners is similarly between SMP and SMA learners, further undergraduate and graduate learners. Hence, based on the discussion above, the researcher asserts the important of incorporating pragmatic principles to teacher’s methods of teaching English in classrooms.

Keywords: pragmatics, request strategy, Indonesian learners

Javanese’s Conceptual and Associative Meanings of Black and White Colours

Javanese’s Conceptual and Associative Meanings of Black and White Colours

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

Graduate Program of English Department

The State University of Surabaya

ekasugengariadi@yahoo.com

Abstract: Exploring the relationship between conceptual and associative meanings in colours of particular community is a challenging subject in few decades. Aiming at building a good cross-cultural communication, it is necessary to share what Javanese’s people intrepretation in colours at their mundane life. It is believed that there is a strong relationship between language (i.e.: colours) and culture. Evans (2006) states that culture is shared and maintained through the use of language, in other words, culture is reflected in language, vice versa. The present research investigated the conceptual and associative meanings of the black and white colours used in Javanese society in order to find out the cultural values inside. This study employed 50 students in East Java as the participants. Gender and educational background were culturally ignored since it merely encourages their cultural expressions related to colours. Each participant was provided with 10 expressions and insisted them to interpret their meanings according to his/her knowledge. The results show that most of their interpretation on the target expressions are solely based on their associative meanings rather than lexical ones. It also reveals that white colour prominently figures positive meanings while black colour figures negative meanings.

Keywords: Javanese society, conceptual, associative, black, white

ADAPTING 4MAT SYSTEM FOR DEVELOPING LESSON PLAN IN 2013 CURRICULUM

ADAPTING 4MAT SYSTEM FOR DEVELOPING LESSON PLAN IN 2013 CURRICULUM

Eka Sugeng Ariadi

Graduate Program, The State University of Surabaya

sugengariadieka@gmail.com

Abstract: Learning styles are formed up by at least the interaction of three aspects; age, educational experience, and cultural background. On the other hand, researchers argue that academic success is influenced by emotional, biological, psychological, and cultural factors. In order to facilitate this success, educators are insisted to provide learning experiences that are in line with all students’ learning preferences. The practical way is applying learning model called the 4MAT system (Bernice McCarthy, 1987). The designed lesson plan is believed giving all students opportunities to learn through their most favoured way and through all four learning styles (innovative learner, analytic learner, common sense learner, and dynamic learner). The lesson plan in the present study was presented for Junior High School students using 2013 curriculum. Every lesson plan consists of motivation, information and practice which is being taught and suggested application for each quadrant. It is hoped that designed-lesson plans with the 4MAT system will guide teachers to serve different instructional strategies for different student in experiencing new knowledge. Hence, each type of learner may interactively adapt other learning styles and acquires alternate ways to gain new information.

Keywords: 4MAT system, lesson plan, 2013 curriculum