This paper is the result of the first phase of the research about the development of students' mathematical understanding and representation ability through Joyful Problem-based Learning (JPBL) at Public Junior High School in North Sumatera, Indonesia. The population is all of the students of public junior high school (PJHS) in North Sumatera. Samples choose based on stratified random sampling. The samples are the students of PJHS 27 Medan, PJHS 1 Percut Sei Tuan, PJHS 1 Tebing Tinggi, and PJHS 2 Pematangsiantar. The techniques used for collecting data is observation, interview, and essay test. The research findings: (1) Based on interview and observation found that conventional approach still uses in all of the class of PJHS, the students engagement in learning activity is very low, and most of the students do not attain minimal mastery achievement. (2) Based on essay test found that performance of the students in mathematical understanding and representation test is categories small.

Writing is one of skills in English and it’s important for students, also it is not an easy skill to master. As stated by Richards and Renandya (2002: 303), writing is the most difficult skill to master for second or foreign language students. Writing skills are placed in the last section after three skills namely listening, speaking, and reading. It can be said that students must apply everything they have in the previous three stages. This study aims to develop a writing assessment rubric for explanation text for eleventh grade, to assess student writing related to the availability of the 2013 Curriculum for English subjects in the school. This research is about how and why, which is the process of explanation text itself and at the same time can improve their writing skills. This research method uses research and development methods (R&D). It is hoped that by using reliable rubrics, teachers can easily assess the writing performance of their students who meet the requirements of the writing aspects.The expert gives some corrections and suggestions on the development writing assessment rubric. Based on the result of the writing assessment rubric, the average was 3,7 and the percentage was 93,7% that categorized in “Very Good” category. Keywords: Assessment Rubric, Students’ Explanation Text, Writing

This study addresses types of illocutionary acts in Jack Ma’s inspiring speech in his graduation at the University of Hongkong. The meaning or the function of an utterance in speech-acts can merely be analyzed based on the acts of illocution made by the speaker. In other words, the hearer will be able to give any responses to the utterances made by the speaker if he or she understands the intention of speaker’s utterances. The research is categorized as descriptive qualitative based on Moleong’s theory (2014:82). It aimed to find the types of illocutionary act performed by Jack Ma’s speech in his graduation at the University of Hongkong, to describe the intended forces of each type of illocutionary act performed in that speech, and to find out the context supported interpretation of meaning in illocutionary acts.   The findings indicates that there are 7 types of illocutionary acts such : 0 (0%) for declarative, 58 (62 %)  for  assertive, 11 (12 %) for  expressive, 3 (3 %) for   directive, 11 (12 %) for  commissive, 4 (4 %) for assertive expressive and 7 (7  %) for assertive directive.  It means that most of dominant of illocutionary acts is assertive. And context supported the interpreting of meaning performed illocutionary acts can be mentioned through the participants, the setting or social context of interaction, the topic, and the function. All these explanations guided the audience to catch the truly meaning of a speaker.

The aim of this study is to investigate The Effect of Contextual Teaching and Learning Model on Mathematic Achievement in terms of Critical Thinking.  The type of research used a semi- experimental quantitative research method in which applying two experimental classes with the same sample characteristics. The population was all the students in Kotapinang district and the sample was 62 of the fifth grade elementary students of SDN 112224 Kotapinang. In the experiment class (CTL Model), the sample was 32 students. While in the control class (Conventional Model), the sample was 30 students. Research instrument used Achievement test of 10 questions from sturffing that conducted validity and reliability tests and questionnaire Critical Thinking of 16 statements. Based on the treatment, In the experiment class got Achievement 81,88  While in the control class got Achievement 73,11. And for the result, there was a significant effect on Mathematics Achievement.  Applying CTL model in learning on the fifth grade elementary students who had high critical thinking showed that their mathematics achievement is better than that applying conventional model. So, in conclusion, applying CTL model gave better effect on mathematics achievement of the fifth elementary students in terms of critical thinking in Kotapinang district.

The Objectives of this paper were to describe the types of language styles used by male and female teachers in teaching English in the classroom and the reasons of the using those language styles by the teachers. The subjects were the teachers of SMP Negeri Pancurbatu, they were four English teachers, consits of two male teachers and two female teachers. It was qualitative explanative research designs. The researcher observed the teachers while teaching in order to get the teachers language styles taking place during their teaching in the classroom related to the theory of Kirszner and Mandell, who divides language style into four levels, and they are slang, colloquial, informal and formal style.The results of the data analysis showed that the dominant language styles used by male and female teachers utterances in teaching English in the classroom is formal style which means using language in the formal situation which it is designed to inform and where there is the least amount of shared background knowledge. Based on the interviewed of the teachers after the teaching learning process, there were some reasons to use the language styles during the teaching learning process, such as to make the information clearer, to make the student understand easier, to remind the students about the topic of the lesson, and to encourage the students to reach the lesson competencies well.