Purpose of the study: This research aimed at investigating the extent of anxiety experienced by TOEFL test-takers in the Indonesian context as EFL learners. Methodology: The participants of this study were 50 university students from various non-English majors. They were selected by using purposive sampling. The research design was descriptive quantitative method, in which a 10-question questionnaire was used as the research instrument. The questions were scored by using a five-point scale and the data were analyzed by using the three steps of data analysis. Main Findings: The result of the data analysis showed that more than 80%percent of students experienced moderate anxiety before and during the TOEFL test-taking while the rest (20%) suffered from mild anxiety. Applications of this study: The research findings can benefit TOEFL Preparation classes’ instructors, by which they can take the anxiety variable into account when teaching TOEFL so that the level of students’ anxiety before and during the test can be minimized. Novelty/Originality of this study: Relatively little research examined EFL students’ anxiety in the TOEFL test. Others are much devoted to the anxiety aspects within English classroom contexts such as in anxiety in reading, writing, and speaking skills, the relationship between anxiety and motivation, as well as intelligence dominance among non-low proficiency students. Therefore, this research is devoted to a high-stake test (TOEFL test), which has not been studied previously by any researchers.

Family is the ideal platform to maintain the indigenous language, and parents are the core feature in promoting it to the children. Many previous studies have concentrated on the Acehnese younger generations’ declination use of Acehnese. Their perception of the language is initially linked to the parents’ attitude towards it since the parents’ attitude determines the children’s perception of it. Hence, the present research aims to fill in the gap by assessing the language attitude of the Acehnese parents living in the urban areas on Acehnese and searching for their efforts in passing the language to their descendants. Fifty-five respondents from three different districts in Banda Aceh were purposely selected by considering some criteria to fulfill the need of this research. The data were collected by distributing questionnaires and analyzed using a descriptive quantitative model; a five-point Likert Scale, a weighted mean score, a mean combined score, and a score interval to put the results based on their criteria. The result shows that the language attitude of the Acehnese parents is in good criterion (4.2); they honor, respect, and are proud of speaking the language as their identity. Moreover, they also put some genuine efforts into maintaining and inheriting the language by speaking the language while interacting with the spouse, children, and other Acehnese community members; and promoting the language to their children in several ways despite living in urban areas.

Acehnese language is rich in its figurative languages such as in forms of idioms and similes. Acehnese people have been magnifying the idioms and similes over decades to soften utterances, and they are inherited from generation to generation. Consequently, this study aimed at investigating Acehnese adolescents’ understanding of Acehnese idioms and similes. Qualitative research designed was used, and data were collected through a questionnaire consisting of 10 Acehnese figurative language expressions. There were 51 respondents, aged within 18-21 years old who all are indigenous Acehnese. The result suggests that Acehnese adolescents are still knowledgeable about them. There is 72.8% of respondents who are considered to understand the idioms asked in the questionnaire set. Meanwhile, those who did not understand the expressions come from different language continuum areas. In conclusion, Acehnese adolescents are still aware of the Acehnese figurative language, and this positivity shall help in preserving the values of Acehnese language for the next generation to come.

Sound-imitating words, called onomatopoeia, presents in most of languages in the world including Acehnese language, one of traditional languages in Indonesia, in which a great deal of onomatopoeias exist in it due to its unique constructions of onomatopoeia. This research aims at finding out kinds of Acehnese onomatopoeias understood and spoken among native Acehnese people by using Pidie dialect. Thus, five people in the Pidie Jaya regency were sorted out to be the subject informants by actualizing purposive and snowball technique. Moreover, a descriptive qualitative method was manifested in the research by actualizing some instruments to get the data such as structured interviewing and documentation. Hence, all of the data were interpreted in words by listing, transcribing their phonetics orderly, as well as describing both their function and meaning. A three-step analysis – data reduction, data verification, and data display-- was employed to describe the data gathered.  Result of the research reveals that Acehnese Onomatopoeias covers a wide range of expressions in sound-imitating words which are categorized into three big classes; Phonomimes which includes auditory impressions of various imitative sounds of nature; Phenomimes -- mimetic words to describe objects’ condition and human’s activities; and Psychomimes – symbolizing psychological state or inner feelings. Still, most of Acehnese onomatopeic words are in forms of repetition and nasalization which seems to be more unique compared to other languages.

Abstract

Online English learning process, besides providing conveniences, there are also obstacles, this gives rise to various student perceptions. The Purposes of the research are to explore the student perception towards the online English learning process and to provide information about the factor influencing those perception during covid-19 at SMA N 7 Banda Aceh. The research design uses quantitative descriptive. The respondent of the research are students of SMA N 7 Banda Aceh from class X to class XII, while the sample of the research is taken from Class X IPAS 4 there are 21 respondent, class XI IPA 2 there are 27 respondent and class XII IPA 3 there are 20 respondents. Data collecting in this research is used a questionnaire. The data was automatically collected through data answers and recorded in the Google Form as a result of the data input. The majority of students had negative impressions about online English instruction, according to the findings of the study. Students do not understand the subject offered by the teacher, are less appealing, and have negative experience in online learning. Lack of strong signals to access content, a lot of consuming internet quota, less learning atmosphere, and the teacher presented is not maximally accepted by the students are some of the obstacles faced during online learning. For teachers, the approach to overcome online English learning challenges is to learn and share with other teachers, not just from one school, but from other schools as well, so that teaching techniques are more varied. Students are more engaged and enthusiastic to find out other learning references, and for school, there should be a new curriculum program to deal with the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

In spite of being included into receptive skill, reading is no longer considered as a passive activity of learning. It is known that readers should be actively engaged during the reading process in attempt to achieve comprehension. This study sought the impacts of the application of modeled reading in increasing students’ reasoning skill, both verbally and logically. Conducted by following quasi experimental characteristics, this study employed one-group pretest post-test design. There were 23 college students involved as the samples who were given a pretest, teaching treatment, and a post-test. The instruments used were two types of test: verbal reasoning test and logical reasoning test. Each set consists of 10 questions. During the data collection or test, the students were given 25 minutes to answer each set, for both the pretest and the posttest. Later, the data were analyzed using normality test and t-test to see if there is any significance increase after the treatment. The results unveil that both skills enhance after the treatment with modeled reading. First, students’ ability in verbal reasoning ability increases from 34.7 to 77 and logical reasoning ability increases from 65 to 83.4 in average. In conclusion, applying modeled reading can expand students’ cognitive ability in sharpening their verbal and logical reasoning which are beneficial during their learning, especially in reading comprehension.

Teaching and learning process is inseparable from method and technique applied by educators, especially teachers as an attempt to improve the quality of output learning. Place mat technique is one of the cooperative learning methods in which students could work by themselves first and then team up with other group’s members in solving an issue or topic given. They can write down their idea as well as group’s opinion in a big place mat paper. Through the initial observation by interviewing some teachers of SMAN 1 Kuta Baro, Aceh Besar (Great aceh), it was found out that most of them never use this kind of technique in the classroom setting; they use some other kinds of techniques such as role play, jigsaw, numbered head together, and conventional technique. Therefore, the writers intend to carry on a community service to the students in the school as an effort to vary and increase the quality of teaching and learning process. This community service is hold on October 5-7, 2022 in SMAN 1 Kuta Baro, Great Aceh. This service is meant to train those teachers to be able to apply the technique during the teaching. Then, it is suggested to further community service activists to do the same activity in the rural areas as they basically need more input and insight from other educators in upgrading the way they teach.