The encounter between Christian culture and religion in Minahasa has attracted attention because it reflects various resonances and fluctuations. Furthermore, culture contains strong social and religious values, and both aspects are scrambling to confirm the identity of each other’s traditions. Therefore, this study aims to find the Minahasa cultural religiosity value that can be an object for conversation with Christianity. By using a descriptive qualitative approach and interviews with several sources, the cultural values were adopted and communicated with Christianity through (...) Stephen Bevans’s contextual approach. Hence, the awareness of the supernatural, belief in life before and after death and the celebration of foso rummages reflect the religiosity value that can be discussed with Christianity.Contribution: Through the examination of religiosity in Minahasa, its expressions and values, the study provides alternative contribution to Christian missiology. The result shares rich insight that leads to a specific meeting point for contextual study. Minahasan cultures and Christianity could engage in harmony. (shrink)

Learning English is still challenging, especially for Papua and non-Papua undergraduate students in several conflict areas of Southwest Papua. Few studies have been conducted on the most effective method to teach English as a conflict language. This research investigates undergraduate students' perceptions when they learn English vocabulary using Kagan's fan-n-pick structure implemented in primary school teacher education study programs. The use of questionnaires and interviews to explore 26 undergraduate students’ perceptions of Kagan’s fan-n-pick structure in learning English vocabulary. This study (...) is a content analysis employing descriptive qualitative. The content analysis for this study examines the range of types and frequency of students' perceptions. It is concerned with analyzing and presenting the data in percentages of questionnaires and content interviews. The findings of this study highlight the benefits of the method that relate to the five principles of the cooperative learning approach. Kagan’s Fan-N-Pick affected the student’s ability to think, communicate, collaborate, and build teams in English learning, especially in terms of vocabulary acquisition. It improves the receptive and productive vocabulary skills of undergraduate students. This helps students solve problems both individually and in groups. It fosters engagement, participation, social interaction, flexibility, and adaptability while being simple and accessible to areas with humanitarian crises. It concludes that the FNP structure can be used to prepare pre-service teachers at the primary education level, helping them develop skills in real situations, and fostering respect for diversity, which they will pass on to their future students by incorporating basic and flexible strategies into conflict-ridden environments. (shrink)

Using connectionist modeling, we address fundamental questions concerning the acquisition process of musical tonal schema of listeners. Compared to models of previous studies, our connectionist model (Learning Network for Tonal Schema, LeNTS) was better equipped to fulfill three basic requirements. Specifically, LeNTS was equipped with a learning mechanism, bound by culture-general properties, and trained by sufficient melody materials. When exposed to Western music, LeNTS acquired musical ‘scale’ sensitivity early and ‘harmony’ sensitivity later. The order of acquisition of scale and harmony (...) sensitivities shown by LeNTS was consistent with the culture-specific acquisition order shown by musically westernized children. The implications of these results for the acquisition process of a tonal schema of listeners are as follows: (a) the acquisition process may entail small and incremental changes, rather than large and stage-like changes, in corresponding neural circuits; (b) the speed of schema acquisition may mainly depend on musical experiences rather than maturation; and (c) the learning principles of schema acquisition may be culturally invariant while the acquired tonal schemas are varied with exposed culture-specific music. (shrink)

This study examined whether the Flipped Classroom (FC) approach is the most effective approach for teachers to create a stimulating and interactive environment that helps students overcome speaking challenges and enhance their English-speaking performance in the context of EFL learners. The study employed quantitative research with a quasi-experimental design. An oral speaking test and a Likert-scale questionnaire were used in this study. The oral speaking test was used to investigate students' improvement in speaking performance before and after the implementation of (...) the FC approach in speaking class. A Likert scale was distributed to determine the students' perspectives on using the FC approach in speaking class. A paired t-test was used to compare the pre and post-test results of the EFL students. Percentage analysis was used to interpret the questionnaire results. The results show that there is a statistically significant difference between the total score of the learners on the post-test (M = 24.53, SD = 5.518) and the total score on the pre-test (M = 21.25, SD = 4.711). This indicates that the participants' performance on the post-test was superior to their performance on the pre-test. In other words, the learners' English-speaking performance has significantly improved in the post-test results. Furthermore, based on the analysis of the questionnaire, the data revealed that most students have positive perspectives or views on the use of FC in speaking class based on the indicator of (1) students' perspectives; (2) students' feedback; and (3) the role of the video materials. (shrink)

This research examines the effect of the project-based learning strategy known as the "gallery walk" on the speaking achievement and self-confidence of English majors at PGRI University in Palembang who possess varying levels of proficiency. Assessing the effect of learning strategies on speaking achievement, this study employed a quasi-experimental design focusing on students with high and low self-confidence. Diversely capable students will be categorized into groups according to their self-assurance in this study. Their confidence in speaking abilities was evaluated using (...) qualitative data gathered through questionnaires and pre- and post-assessments. PjBL enhances students' speaking abilities and self-assurance in various ways, according to the findings of this study. Improvements are influenced by each facet of both speaking proficiency and self-assurance. Fluency, vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, and speaking achievement significantly impact performance. Moreover, cause-and-effect attribution and anxiety regarding language usage are factors that significantly impact self-confidence. In contrast, neither self-efficacy nor perceived L2 competence significantly influenced the students' confidence. (shrink)

English in Indonesia has foreign language status. Nevertheless, the language is greatly significant to the country due to its numerous regional and global appeals. The current language policy of Indonesia ensures that the language is taught to children from junior high school level. However, as a reflection of a language that has not been prioritised in school curriculum, school leavers largely have limited grasp of the language by the time they enrol into university programmes. This study attempts to highlight institutional (...) practices in student enrolment into and graduation from English programmes. It is also concerned with issues that are perceived to have derived from the policy. Based on interviews with 23 academics from five universities in Central Java, the majority of whom are administrators, policy-related issues of the English language are identified in this paper. Findings include communication skill difficulties faced by English majors and the juxtaposition of state and private universities in terms of student recruitment. The findings are significant in informing stakeholders such as policy makers, administrators, language instructors, and other practitioners about the impact of language policy and planning on practices in higher education institutions in Central Java and in assisting future decision-making processes whereby the consequences are far-reaching. (shrink)