Learning from home during pandemic: A blended learning for reading to write activity in EFL setting

Abstract

The pandemic of COVID 19 has forced teachers all around the world to be adaptable to the situation. Within the foreign language (FL) context, the teaching of language skills provides challenges for teachers in terms of how to deliver the materials as effectively and as efficiently as possible. The study aims to describe the steps of reading to write activity for essay writing in FL settings and what the students feel about it. The design of the study is a case study design. The subjects of the study were the fourth-semester students of English Education Study Program, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology in Universitas PGRI Wiranegara, Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia in the academic year 2019-2020. The result of the study shows that there are three main steps of teaching scenarios. They are the pre-activity, whilst activity, and post-activity, with some specifications depending on the skills. The reading section employes the silent reading activity, skimming, and scanning technique through telegram application. The writing section implements the process approach, namely planning, drafting, and revising, and publishing. The technologies used were Telegram, Whatsup, Google Meet, YouTube, Grammarly, and Plagiarism checker online application.

The Use of Blended Learning in Teaching Reading

“…Therefore, a more in-depth and strategic implementation is needed in order to best teach reading during the pandemic. A study by Setyowati et al, (2021) provided the examples of how blended learning can still be optimally used during the pandemic. Setyowati et al, (2021) state that the teaching and learning process needed to be divided into three different parts, which were pre-activity, whilst activity, and post-activity with the use of several learning platforms.…”

“…A study by Setyowati et al, (2021) provided the examples of how blended learning can still be optimally used during the pandemic. Setyowati et al, (2021) state that the teaching and learning process needed to be divided into three different parts, which were pre-activity, whilst activity, and post-activity with the use of several learning platforms. In this study, reading was integrated with other skill, which was writing.…”

“…Then, a reading text related to the topic can be given through Google Classroom, Telegram Group, or WhatsApp group. In this session, it is important to have clear and exact duration of time for the students to read (Setyowati et al, 2021). This way, the students will have time to read and explore the topics while the teacher can confirm that the students really are reading.…”

University Students’ Perspective on Material and Activities in English Listening Class During Pandemic

“…Another study on writing and reading during pandemics finds that teachers employ silent reading, skimming, and scanning activities. While in writing class, the teacher implements the planning, drafting, revising, and publishing activities (Setyowati et al, 2021), The major obstacle during teaching reading and writing is students' vocabulary mastery. For listening skills, students prefer monologue and dialogue with 30 minutes of activities listening to native speaker conversation (Destianingsih & Satria, 2020).…”

Implementation of Blended Learning Models during the Pandemic

“…BL is a learning model that integrates forms of face-to-face learning and selflearning at non-face-to-face times. The BL model implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic has been modified, namely face-to-face learning that uses applications for video conferencing such as Zoom and Google Meet while non-face-to-face using certain applications so that students can still access learning (Setyowati, Sukmawan, & El-Sulukkiyah, 2021). Thus, the BL learning model applied is a combination of online face-to-face learning that uses certain video conferencing applications and non-face-to-face learning that uses a specific LMS.…”