Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature and Culture

Female Silence and Psychotherapy through Feminist Approach in Alex Michaelides’s The Silent Patient

2025-05-01T10:55:03+07:00

This study examines the roles of women in society and their attitudes toward family and societal expectations, focusing on Alicia and Theo Faber from Alex Michaelides's The Silent Patient (2019). It explores how Alicia's silence symbolizes the broader silencing of women by men and their search for meaning in chaos. Using a feminist lens, the study analyzes Alicia’s traumatic childhood, revealing how misogyny and patriarchal structures shape her life. It addresses key questions such as how her upbringing under a patriarchal system impacts her and how her perceived insanity becomes an escape from punishment. The study aligns with feminist critics who argue that Western narratives reflect masculine biases and perpetuate patriarchal values. The findings suggest that Alicia’s murder of her husband is a result of the compounded trauma of her childhood and the failure of her parents to protect her, ultimately leading to their tragic end. The study emphasizes the complex relationship between personal trauma and societal oppression, highlighting how these forces shape Alicia’s actions and fate.

Investigating Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Native and Non-Native English Educators and Speakerism

2025-05-01T22:53:29+07:00

English as a lingua franca (EFL) and World Englishes (WEs) challenge traditional English language teaching paradigms that centred around native-speaker norms, often rooted in the ideology of native speakerism, a persuasive ideology in English language teaching, often leading to biases against No-native English Speaker Teachers (NNESTs). This study aims to understand pre-service English speaker teachers' overall attitudes toward NESTs and NNESTs and explore the factors influencing pre-service English teachers’ preferences. 15 pre-service English teachers in their fifth semester participated in this descriptive qualitative method, which was collected from the questionnaires and interviews. The results show positive attitudes towards NESTs and NNESTs, with a slightly negative attitude towards NNESTs in teaching pronunciation due to native speakerism. In terms of pedagogy, NESTs are engaging and varied in approach, while NNESTs are monotonous but provide bilingual support. Culturally, NESTs provide first-hand exposure, but NNESTs highlight global English diversity. Linguistically, students prefer NESTs for genuine pronunciation of authentic language elements such as slang. These findings reveal there is a tendency for native-speakerism with evidence from participants’ responses. Further studies can expand this research by looking into ways to reduce biases and improve teamwork between NESTs and NNESTs.

Beyond Instructions: Exploring the Power of Directives in EFL Tutoring

2025-05-07T23:05:54+07:00

This study explores the directive illocutionary acts produced by a tutor in a Small England Class during English teaching and learning. This research was conducted to find out the types of directive illocutionary acts employed, identifying the most and least frequent types and their implications. The data were analyzed by the descriptive qualitative method, and collected by recording the teaching and learning process, watching and listening to the video, transcribing the video, and classifying the tutor’s utterance into directive illocutionary acts. The writer applied Searle’s theory to the types of directive illocutionary acts which include direct, request, ask, urge, tell, require, demand, command, order, forbid, prohibit, enjoin, permit, suggest, insist, warn, advise, recommend, beg, supplicate, entreat, beseech, implore, and pray. The result of the study revealed that there are a total of 429 data points found in the speech, with command being the most dominant with a total of 247 (57.58%), followed by ask at 156 (36.36%), request at 12 (2.80%), suggest at 5 (1.17%), forbid at 3 (0.70%), recommend at 3 (0.70%) and the last three sequences (advise, tell, and urge) being the least dominant at 1 (0.23%). The findings indicate that commands were the most prevalent type of directive illocutionary acts, as they were mainly used to get the students to perform a specific action that the tutor desired i.e., translating the tutor’s speech into English when drilling session.

Improving Speaking Ability Through Show and Tell for Eighth Graders

2025-05-01T10:43:14+07:00

This study aims to investigate the effect of Show and Tell on students’ Speaking Ability particularly in accuracy and comprehensibility at The Eighth Grade Students of SMP Negeri Satu Atap Lik Layana Indah in Academic Year 2024/2025. This study used a quantitative approach with a Pre-experimental design using one group pre-test post-test design. In this research, the researcher used a total sampling technique with a total of sample 32 students. To analyze the data, the researcher used statistical computation by using SPSS software. After implementing Show and Tell method over six meetings, a post-test was administered to measure improvements. The results show that the mean of the pre-test score was 43.75, while the mean score of the post-test increased to 58.59, demonstrating a significant improvement. After getting the mean score the researcher performed a normality test, which showed the data were not normally distributed. Therefore, the researcher applied the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The result of the test shows a significance value (Asymp. Sig. 2-tailed) is .000, which is smaller than 0.05, indicating a significant improvement in students’ speaking ability after using the show and tell method, confirming that the hypothesis (H_a) is accepted. Thus, the use of Show and Tell Method is effective in improving students’ speaking ability in terms of accuracy and comprehensibility of eight-grade students’ at SMP Negeri Satu Atap Lik Layana Indah.

Students' Perceptions of Using Cici AI's Voice Communication Feature in Improving English Speaking Ability

2025-05-13T10:40:27+07:00

This study explores students' perceptions of using Cici AI's voice communication feature to improve their English speaking abilities. Using a qualitative approach with a descriptive phenomenological design, data was collected from 25 university students through a questionnaire and involved 5 selected students for in-depth interviews. The results of the study highlighted five main findings, namely: (1) Usefulness; (2) Easiness; (3) Students' Confidence; (4) Speaking Ability Improvement; and (5) Access Difficulties. The findings showed that students gave a positive perception of Cici AI's voice communication feature as a tool to improve their English speaking ability. This research contributes to the growing body of research on AI in language learning on how Cici AI can support students in improving English speaking ability. Future research would be valuable to explore the long-term impact of Cici AI in improving English speaking skills in various educational settings.

A Study of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used by Students at Grade XI

2025-05-08T23:31:42+07:00

This study aims to find out the vocabulary learning strategies used by students at MAN Insan Cendekia Kota Palu. This research used a survey design by using questionnaire of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) adopted from Yeh and Wang (2004). The instrument contains 50 items with five categories of vocabulary learning strategies based on Schmitt’s (1990) taxonomy. The population of this research was eleventh grade students. The sample was taken using a convenience sampling technique with a total of 90 students. To calculate total sample from population using Slovin’s formula. The data analysis showed that students used all of the six learning categories of Schmitt strategies; determination strategies, social strategies, memory strategies, cognitive strategies, and metacognitive strategies. But for the most frequently used strategies are determination strategies with mean score is 3.45 and the least frequently used strategies are cognitive strategies with mean score 2.72.

Using Circle Game to Improve Students’ Vocabulary Mastery of the Eighth Grade Students

2025-05-07T07:12:38+07:00

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of the circle game in improving the vocabulary mastery of eighth-grade students at SMP Labschool Untad Palu. The background of this study is the low mastery of English vocabulary among students, which affects their ability in four basic English skills. The researcher applied the circle game as an engaging learning strategy to overcome this issue. The research employed a pre-experimental design with one group pre-test and post-test. The sample consisted of 19 students from class VIII. The research instrument was a vocabulary test in the form of multiple-choice questions, administered before and after the treatment. The findings showed that the students’ vocabulary mastery significantly improved after the implementation of the circle game. The average score of the pre-test was 60.35, while the post-test average rose to 78.60. The gain score was 18.25. Based on the paired sample t-test result, the significance value was 0.000, which is lower than the standard alpha value of 0.05. This means that the improvement is statistically significant. These findings prove that the use of the circle game has a positive impact on students’ vocabulary acquisition. In addition to the quantitative results, qualitative observations indicated that students were more enthusiastic, confident, and active during the learning process. The atmosphere in the classroom became more dynamic and supportive, which encouraged students to participate and use English vocabulary in a fun and relaxed way.

Learning English Vocabulary through Essential Vocabulary Application: Students’ Perceptions

2025-05-22T16:48:54+07:00

Technology plays an important role in English language learning, especially in vocabulary acquisition. This research is motivated by several problems faced by the students of secondary school in North Sumatra related to English vocabulary. This study aims to explore the students' perceptions of using Essential Vocabulary application to learn English vocabulary. A qualitative case study method was used, involving one class of 20 students in the eighth grade of a secondary school in North Sumatra. Students consisted of both males and females in grade eight. The data were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The students completed a thirty-minute questionnaire and five selected students were interviewed in more depth on the use of the Essential Vocabulary app. The findings of this study revealed five main themes in students' perceptions regarding the use of the Essential Vocabulary app. The five main themes are: usability, effectiveness, interactivity, confidence and motivation, and the last is satisfaction.

The Influence of Motivation and Commitment on Educator Performance in the Luwu SDA Mission

2025-05-27T23:40:55+07:00

ABSTRACT

This study analyzes motivation and work commitment as predictors of the performance of educators and education personnel in the Seventh-day Adventist Church Organization (SDA Church) in the Luwu Tana Toraja Mission Region, using a quantitative approach with multiple regression analysis. The sample in this study used a saturated sampling technique, with a total of 40 respondents. The study found that motivation and commitment significantly predict the performance of educators and education personnel (F = 4.607; p = 0.016; R² = 0.169). Motivation showed a more dominant influence (β = 0.369) compared to work commitment (β = 0.333). These results support the importance of motivation and commitment in improving performance, although they explain only 16.9% of the variance. Further research is recommended to investigate other variables affecting performance and to broaden the scope of the study.

Keywords: Motivation, Work Commitment, Performance of Educators and Education Personnel