Pontianak (ftik.iainptk.ac.id) – Senin (28/09) dilaksanakan sesi ke 3 seminar virtual internasional hasil kerjasama IAIN Pontianak dan The Association for the Teaching of English Language in Indonesia (TEFLIN) Kalimantan Barat. Kegiatan yang dihelat melalui aplikasi Zoom dan siaran langsung Youtube ini menjaring sekitar 250 peserta dan 100 viewer. Dengan mengusung tema “The Direction of Language Teaching During and Post Pandemic: Contributions to Research and Pedagogy”, seminar ini menghadirkan pemateri baik dari dalam maupun luar negeri. Sebelumnya kegiatan ini diagendakan selama tiga hari pada 24, 25 dan 28 September 2020. Antusiasme peserta begitu terlihat dari keaktifan tanggapan dan pertanyaan malalui kolom komentar yang tersedia.
Tampil sebagai pembicara pertama Prof. Jayakaran Mukundan dari Universitas Putra Malaysia yang memaparkan tentang perbedaan peran pengajar pada kelas konvensional dan kelas online. “Conventional: Teacher see all, control is absolute, direction of teaching is fluid, there are interruptions, pauses, prompts, cues all of which are a part of learning-teaching. But the new normal: The screen and transmission are central. Transmissions can be weak and when it work, the screen is very restrictive even if teachers can see all their students on screen,” tuturnya. Ia juga menekankan agar pendidik harus bisa menyesuaikan dengan perubahan zaman.“Teachers can plan for future disruptions like this. There will be more research on social media and meeting platforms so that they accommodate the needs of teachers and learners,” pungkasnya.
Dengan membawakan hasil penelitiannya, pembicara kedua Endang Susilawati dari TEFLIN Kalbar memaparkan tentang fakta kurangnya pendekatan sosiolingustik dalam pembelajaran bahasa Inggris. “Sociolinguistics is the field that studies the relation between language and society, between the uses of language and the social structures of the users. Sociolinguistics are interested in explaining why we speak differently in different social contexts, and they are concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning. Language varieties and social context. But, in fact the English material design does not take sociolinguistic context into consideration, whereas it is very important to realize the achievement of the language communicative competence,” ungkapnya.
Pembicara ketiga Dr. Bushra Ahmed Khuram dari Departement of English University of Karachi Pakistan menunjukkan hasil pengamatannya bahwa perhatian siswa selama berlangsungnya kelas online menjadi masalah yang utama. Ia menjelaskan “As we switched to online classes in June, the sessions with ma’am did not feel any different cities across the country. The biggest hurdle that we came across in classes of other courses was that teachers were unable to maintain a class decorum and could not ensure students’ attentiveness during online lectures. I believe the primary strength factor that paved the path for conducive online sessions was that ma’am intructed us to switch on our cameras and every student was required to state their opinion about the topic under discussion. I think this was a crucial element and the only way to ensure students’ attentiveness during online classes. My research study showed that though online teaching is different, the motivational antecedents for learner engangement in an online class are the same as that of face to face teaching.”
Dr. Ikhsanudin dari TEFLIN Kalbar menjadi pembicara terakhir yang mengulas tentang kemungkinan dan kemampuan pembelajaran online di Indonesia. “In this situation, since 2010 enough number of books available online and at that time there was a problem of computer and the internet. In the following steps, the government regulated the telecomunication company. The target of the goverment is every district should be a center, should be a tower that can serve the people in internet, eventhough in limited speed. And now, because of that regulations, the price of the computers very low in Indonesia and the internet connection is also very cheap compare to internet packages in many countries. And now the situations is very different where the public services should completed by private companies. But the point is eventhough it is difficult in the very rural areas but internet connection and the text book are available. We see many students must go up to the hill and climb some trees to get internet, but it is available compare to several countries that dont have any connection internet at all. So, in this pandemic, the students should learn from home, have got the internet facilities and available textbook. Many people complain with this situation because they have not economic power but at least it is possible to them to get access,” paparnya.
Setelah menyelesaikan serangkaian kegiatan, seminar virtual internasional ini ditutup secara resmi oleh Wakil Dekan I FTIK IAIN Pontianak Dr. H. Yapandi, M.Pd. Ia menyampaikan ucapan terima kasih yang sebesar-besarnya kepada semua pihak yang telah mendukung terselenggaranya kegiatan ini dan berharap kegiatan serupa dalam dijalankan kembali untuk meningkatkan kualitas akademis kita. “Semoga kegiatan ini menjadi amal ibadah kita. dan semua materi yang diberikan dapat bermanfaat bagi masyarakat luas,” ucapnya mengakhiri pembicaraan.
Penulis: Andry Fitrianto
Editor: Dian Kartika Sari