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This study investigated the effectiveness of using YouTube teaching materials with peer support on students’ mastery of subject content learning, motivation, obstacles, and benefits they acquired in learning through this media. This study involved 60 undergraduate students attending the English Language Teaching Method Course (ELTMC) at a university in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The study used mixed methods: quantitative and qualitative. A quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design was used to see the effectiveness of using YouTube teaching materials with peer support and without peer support on students’ mastery of the course. The instruments used to collect the data were tests and an open-ended questionnaire. The findings revealed that using YouTube teaching materials with peer support significantly improved students’ mastery of the subject content of ELTMC compared to those without peer support. The study also reported that only 13 of 30 students had problems learning the subject via the media in the experimental group with peer support. The problems were the speed of speaking by the native speakers, lengthy videos, different English accents that were difficult to absorb, and unclear video sounds. Meanwhile, the benefits include the presence of the native speakers in the videos who are creative and accurate in the language being learned (i.e., English), the joy and positive challenges they got from watching the videos and having discussions afterward with peers. The availability of peer assistance enabled students to comprehend the teaching material delivered through actual media on YouTube on a deeper level.

Improving students’ writing skill at higher education level in Indonesia through using technology becomes a primary attention given by the researchers. Blog-Assisted Language Learning (BALL) is one of the best alternative medium of improving students’ writing skill. This BALL is never used by the lecturers who are teaching writing skill to students at State Islamic University of Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to investigate if there is a significant different between students who are taugh by using Bog-Assisted Language Learning (BALL) and without in term of students’ writing skill at State Islamic University of Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Additionally, this study also investigates the students’ response toward the use of BALL in teaching and learning process of writing skill. The study involved 40 third year English students of the State Islamic University of Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh. The study employed quantitative method in collecting the data through pre-and post-writing tests and a set of questionnaire for both groups; experiment and control. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistic. The results showed that the use of BALL in teaching writing improved significantly rather than students who were taught without using BALL. In addition, the majority of students’ response toward the implementation of BALL in teaching writing skill were positive. Therefore, the use of BALL in teaching and learning writing at English Department students of State Islamic University of Ar-Raniry can improve students’ writing skill.

The complexity of problems encountered in today’s world has forced educational institutions to re-envision their mission in order to successfully prepare a competent and skilled alumna who is able to face the future challenges on a global scale. To achieve this goal, a strategic policy and management, which involves different stakeholders and other parties, are needed. To prepare a competent human resource that is able to face each of the challenges and changes, a curriculum is required that meets the established standards as well as the job market demands. In this regard, this paper addresses the implementation of competency-based curriculum (CBC) in Indonesia. The introduction explains the overview of CBC, its aim and implementation, the relationship between English curriculum and environment, and English language syllabus. The second part discusses the main principles of the curriculum, the theoretical approach that relates to language description and some theories of second language learning that underpin the curriculum. Additionally, other factors that relates to curriculum such as the context and the assessment system including language curriculum innovation are also explored. The third part is the conclusion and identification which reports some of the unsolved issues that relates to the implementation of the curriculum.

This study aims to find out whether the use of Round Robin Technique can improve the speaking skill of junior high school students. This research was conducted in one class and applied the pre-experimental design that was one group pre-test and post-test design. There were four meetings in this research including pre-test and post-tests. The sample is students in one class that consisted of 32 students, with 15 females and 17 males. The instruments used to obtain the data were pre-test and post-test. The mean of the student speaking score of the pre-test was 43.71 and the mean of the post-test was 79.2. The improvement from pre-test to the post-test was 35.49 points. The average score of the students was 79.2, it was higher than the Criteria Mastery of Learning (or KKM, Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal) of a junior high school in Banda Aceh, which is 70.00. The result of this study can be shown in the t-test that there was an improvement of students’ speaking skill, with the t-test of 25.3, the degree of freedom is 31 and t-table is 1.696. Based on the result of the test, it can be concluded that the use of Round Robin Technique improved the students’ speaking skills. This technique offered the students’ chances to share ideas and opinion with their peers, speak up and express their argument in class.

This paper discusses the difficulties and causes perceived by English Department students of Syiah Kuala University in learning speaking and the efforts made by them to overcome their difficulties. From both observation and interview, this study reveals that all students encountered various difficulties in English speaking ability. The prevalent problem faced by the students was ‘lack of vocabulary’, while ‘being afraid of making mistakes’ was the prime cause of problem which hindered them to speak. The students had striven to cope with their problems in learning speaking, but their attempts had not been yet ample and successful.