E-Structural (English Studies on Translation, Culture, Literature, and Linguistics)

Critical Analysis of Phonics Reading Approach Implementation for Very Young Learners in Non-Formal Education

Setyo Utami — 2025-05-02

The existing literature has documented the success of the phonics approach in teaching early reading in school contexts. Yet, research examining how teachers implement this approach, particularly in non-formal educational settings, remains limited. This qualitative case study aims to explore and critically analyze the application of phonics in a private language course in Jember, Indonesia, as well as the associated challenges. The study involved four teachers from the institution, and data were collected through observations, interviews, field notes, and document analysis. The findings suggest that phonics can help guide very young learners to develop their early literacy skills when applied explicitly and systematically. However, phonics itself can prove more complex than anticipated. Due to its technical nature and lack of support for meaning comprehension, phonics should not be the sole approach in a reading class. Therefore, it should be incorporated with meaning-based reading approaches and adequate teacher training to promote effective phonics instruction.

Structural Error Corrections in an English Conversation Class

Niswi Ulfini — 2025-05-14

This study explored the correction of structural errors in a beginner-level English conversation class at a private language school in Indonesia. Building on the premise that both positive and negative evidence (corrective feedback) are essential for second language acquisition, the research investigated whether all structural errors were corrected, the source of the corrections, the timing, and the strategies employed. The study observed six EFL students during an online class, focusing on their use of past tense expressions. Data were collected through classroom observations and video recordings and analyzed using deductive content analysis. The results indicate that not all structural errors were corrected; the teacher and students themselves were the primary agents of correction, with peer correction notably absent. Most corrections occurred during controlled practice activities, aligning with the class's accuracy-focused goals. Immediate correction was the predominant timing strategy, and explicit correction methods, such as metalinguistic comments and elicitation, were favored over more implicit approaches like recasting. The findings suggest the need for greater consistency in corrective feedback and highlight the potential benefits of incorporating peer correction and explicit corrective feedback in beginner-level speaking classes. However, the study's limitations include its focus on structural errors without considering student uptake of corrections or the reasons behind the teacher's selective correction approach. Further research could explore these aspects to provide a more comprehensive understanding of corrective feedback in language learning contexts.

Students’ Attitude towards Translingual Practices in a Public Junior High School EFL Class in Brebes District

Ayu Ida Savitri — 2025-06-09

Teaching EFL to public junior high school students in a district where the local people speak a regional language with a dialect different from the regional language taught at school is challenging for teachers who apply translingual practice. This study aims to reveal the students' attitudes toward their translingual practice and their teacher’s translingual practice in EFL learning. This qualitative study involved 30 students in Grade 7 of a public junior high school in Brebes District. The data were collected by using questionnaires and interviews. The result shows that the students express a positive attitude towards the teacher’s and their peers’ use of the national language since it is considered polite and proper to be used as the school subject’s delivery language. However, the students show a negative attitude towards the teacher’s use of the regional language with the local dialect as it is considered impolite or improper to be used in a class, and they show a negative attitude towards their peer’s use of full English during the lesson because they felt that they had not mastered English yet. The teacher should carefully select the languages involved in a translingual practice to build the students’ positive attitudes. How they used their preferred languages during English lessons should be further observed to see how it helped them to learn EFL.

Relation between Topic, Image, and Translation Strategy in Metaphor and Simile Translation Found in One of Us is Next

Thomas Fandres Sihasale — 2025-06-25

Metaphors and similes are significant elements in literary texts that help the author to convey his/her message. This study analyzed the topic and image of metaphors and similes in the source text, and how they were translated into the target text. The data was taken from One of Us is Next, an American novel by Karen M. McManus, and its Bahasa Indonesia translated version, Satu Permainan (One of Us Is Next). Because the data were in textual form, this research applied descriptive qualitative to examine the translation strategy that was used by the translator and the equivalence between the source and the target text. The data were arranged in the table, with descriptive explanations in each of them. This study found the patterns of the metaphor and simile: human vs human and human vs non-human in metaphor and simile, and non-human vs non-human in metaphor. The intriguing pattern found was human versus non-human, which was mostly translated literally in both Metaphor and Simile, whereas the other patterns were less.

Gender Representation in English for Foreign Language (EFL) Textbook in Indonesia

Siti Salamah Fauziyah — 2025-06-30

Gender representation plays a significant role in shaping social norms and perception, especially in education. The study examines whether gender is represented equally and how this representation aligns with the gender equality principles promoted by the Merdeka Curriculum. This study investigates gender representation in the English for Nusantara 7th-grade textbook, focusing on five dimensions: visual and textual gender visibility, topic dominance, occupational and leisure activities, and the use of gender-neutral language, based on Hamdan’s (2008) framework. The research found that the textbook offers a balanced gender representation in some aspects, while others still require improvement. Male characters were slightly more dominant in illustrations, while female characters led in topics and occupational mentions. The use of inclusive language was positively noted. The findings indicate a relatively balanced gender portrayal, yet subtle patterns of traditional bias remain. These insights contribute to the broader discourse on inclusive education and may guide curriculum developers, educators, and policymakers in improving the gender sensitivity of future textbooks and learning materials.

Subtitling Strategies and Acceptability of Verbal Humor in Superstore Seasons 5 and 6 (2019-2021)

Cherlie Venezia — 2025-06-30

In this study, the researchers focus on the types of humor based on the theory of Raphaelson-West (1989), translation strategies according to Gottlieb (1992), and the level of translation acceptability according to Nababan (2012) by using qualitative descriptive method which is used because the purpose of this study is to explain the phenomenon of translating humor subtitles in the Superstore series. The results show that the most common type of humor is universal humor with a total of 48 data, cultural humor with 37 data and linguistic humor with 25 data. The most frequently used translation strategy in the subtitles is transfer strategy with 43 data, while expansion and resignation are the least used with 2 data. Of the 110 data analyzed, 67 data fall into the acceptable category and only 3 data are unacceptable, which means that the subtitle translation is acceptable. Data collection is done by watching all seasons then selecting utterances that contain humor and classifying them based on the theory used. The transfer strategy is most used for universal humor, while paraphrasing is more dominant in cultural humor. Thus, the translation of verbal humor in the series is natural and relevant to the Indonesian language, and is able to maintain meaning and humor.