ABSTRACT

Yunnia Sarastin. K2217081. ACTIVE LEARNING IN EFL ONLINE TEACHING: LESSON FROM INDONESIAN HIGH SCHOOL CONTEXT. Thesis, Surakarta: Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of Sebelas Maret University, 2020.

            Active learning has been widely implemented in EFL classrooms and study reports on the topic can be found in major research databases. However, these reports were derived from conventional classroom settings where students and teachers interacted directly during the class. It is unclear how active learning is possibly done in an online class context. This study aims to explore: (1) the types of active learning activity, (2) the implementation, the benefits, and the challenges of the activity, and (3) the students’ response to active learning. A case study was conducted in an EFL class of a senior high school in Indonesia to answer the research questions. The study involved an English teacher and 40 students who shared their experience through questionnaires and interviews with their consent. The virtual classroom observation was also conducted. The data were analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s interactive model. This study revealed that the teacher applied 13 active learning activities. The variety of activities suggests that active learning in an online setting is as doable as in the offline setting. Students’ responses toward the activities were varied. This study also found that it offers five benefits. The benefits are enhance students’ independent learners, ease understanding, enhance retention, improve writing, and increase students’ performance. Nonetheless, the four challenges were also identified. The challenges are limited time in the online class, students’ dependence on the teacher, difficulty monitoring the students, and in some activities, lack of students participation. Since online learning is a new normal practice these days, mitigation on the identified challenges has to be carefully made to optimize the benefits of active learning.