EEJ 12 (4) (2022) 489-497

English Education Journal

http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej

A Relation Between Efl Students’ Needs And Teachers’ Teaching

Strategies To Encourage Students’ Involvement

Sola Gratia Deo Wiyana , Januarius Mujiyanto, Henrikus Joko Yulianto

Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia

Article Info Abstract

________________ ___________________________________________________________________
Article History: Online English teaching and learning during the pandemic is challenging for teachers and
Accepted 09 May 2022 students. One of the problems encountered by teachers is maintaining students’
Approved 04 July 2022 involvement in class discussions. To maintain students’ involvement, it is important to
Published 23 implement strategies that meet students’ needs. This study aims at describing students’
December 2022 objective and subjective needs in learning English. This study was descriptive qualitative
in nature. It was conducted at SD Daniel Creative School, Semarang. 184 students and 6
________________ English teachers were involved in this study. This study used a questionnaire, classroom
Keywords: observation sheet, and interview as the instruments. The result revealed that for objective
EFL Teaching and needs, many students still needed help in mastering some areas, such as listening,
Learning, Online speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar. For subjective needs, many
Learning, Students’ students had low self-confidence and self-esteem in learning English. In addition, the
Involvement, Students’ students also mentioned their expectations of teachers’ teaching strategies. The
Need, Teaching observation showed that the strategies implemented by the teachers were effective to
Strategy fulfill students’ needs and to encourage their involvement in class discussions.
____________________ Unfortunately, the teachers did not implement all the strategies consistently to fulfill
students’ needs. As the result, students’ involvement was still low. Thus, this study
implies a suggestion for English teachers of the school and English teachers, in general,
to consistently implement teaching strategies that meet students’ needs to encourage
students’ involvement.


Correspondence Address: p-ISSN 2087-0108
Kampus Universitas Negri Semarang, Kelud, Semarang, 50233,
e-ISSN 2502-4566
Indonesia
E-mail: [email protected]

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INTRODUCTION Teachers should apply various teaching

strategies to help students learn English
By the end of 2019, the world was rocked effectively and get involved in activities and
by the news of the deadly Coronavirus Disease discussions. Students, on the other hand,
(COVID -19) outbreak. As an act to suppress the managed to use various ways to help them grab
spread of the disease, the government of the knowledge from the activities and discussion
Indonesia decided to shut down many offices, effectively. Nonetheless, teaching strategies and
malls, and stores, including educational methodologies alone are not sufficient to achieve
institutions across the country. Thus, there was a the desired goal in English teaching and learning.
sudden, rapid shift from conventional education Students’ needs play an important role in the
to distance and virtual learning. English teaching and learning process. Petraki
During conventional face-to-face (2010) claimed that students’ different
learning, teaching and learning English has backgrounds and experiences resulted in different
become a challenging process for both teachers needs of each individual, and those needs should
and students, especially in the EFL context (Al- be taken into account because they affect their
mekhlafi and Nagaratman, 2011). The challenge language mastery. Ramani and Pushpanathan
lies in the lack of exposure to authentic language (2015) stated that by analyzing students’ needs,
use (Hosni, 2014). Thus, online learning adds teachers can spot a gap between students’ ability
even more challenges to English teachers and their needs in learning English. Thus, there
especially those in elementary schools. First, should be a collaboration between students’
teachers and students faced major challenges needs and teachers’ teaching strategies since the
related to the lack of proper devices and internet midpoint of teaching and learning activities is not
connection (Aryanti, 2020). Second, during only on the teacher but also on the learners.
online learning, students’ involvement in class Many studies have been conducted to
discussions tends to be low. investigate the implementation of teaching
One of the schools implementing distance strategies in the classroom. Many of them
virtual learning is SD Daniel Creative School. focused on comparing various teaching strategies
This school was established in 2009. This school implemented in English classes and investigating
implemented a conventional face-to-face whether or not the strategies are effective to
learning process until the COVID-19 pandemic improve a certain skill. For example, Hoque
required it to make a shift to distance virtual (2017) conducted a study about the use of
learning. The school provided a proper internet context-based strategies for teaching vocabulary.
connection and compatible devices for teachers The study revealed that some teaching
to conduct the teaching and learning process. techniques were not effective and thus influence
However, the teachers still encountered some learners in developing vocabulary. There are only
problems. The first problem is related to the lack a few studies investigating students’ needs in
of proper internet connection and devices of relation to teachers’ strategies to encourage
some students. Some students were anxious since students’ involvement in teaching English.
they had a poor internet connection and thus, Based on the issues stated in the
sometimes they missed some parts of the background of the study, we attempted to figure
discussion. Even though extra lessons were out the relation between students’ needs and
provided for them, apparently students were still teachers’ teaching strategies and how the relation
anxious and worried. The second problem we encourages students’ involvement in English
encountered was the low involvement of students classes. This study aims to answer the following
in class discussions. Interaction between teachers objectives:
and students was limited by the screen. Thus, 1. To explain students’ objective and
maintaining students’ engagement in the class subjective needs in learning English
was a challenge teacher should encounter.
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2. To explain strategies implemented by Thus, the data obtained from the questionnaire
the English teachers of the school to and interview was valid since there was no
teach English. interference from parents or guardians.
3. To explain the relation between This study is descriptive qualitative in
students’ needs and teachers’ teaching nature. The instruments of the study were a
reflective questionnaire, classroom observation
strategies in English teaching and
sheet, and interview. To gather data from the
learning. participants. First, the researcher asked for the
4. To explain how the relation between participants’ willingness to complete a form of
students’ needs and teachers’ teaching reflective questionnaires (statements) arranged
by the researchers based on students’ subjective
strategies encourages students’
and objective needs in learning English by
involvement in English classes. Brindley (1984) in Nunan (1999). The statements
From the research findings, we hope that that were put on the reflective form were related
this research provides adequate and meaningful to students’ factual information in learning
English, such as students’ perceived language
information for English teachers in the school
proficiency, language difficulties, and their
and other schools to implement appropriate perceived demand of language in real
teaching strategies to fulfill students’ needs and communication situations as their objective
to encourage their involvement in class needs. The statements were also related to
students’ expectations, students’ self-confidence,
discussions.
and self-esteem as their subjective needs. The
researcher initially piloted the instrument before
METHODS distributing the instrument to the participants.
This study is assumed to describe After that, the researcher analyzed the data to see
thoroughly students’ objective and subjective the strength, weaknesses, and completeness of
needs in online English classes, teacher’s information to answer the research question.
strategies and their purposes in using the Finally, the researcher distributed the instrument
strategies when they were teaching online, and to to the participants of the research. To analyze the
evaluate whether the strategies the teachers use in data from the participants, the researchers started
teaching English are appropriate and meet the by analyzing and drawing the percentage of
students’ objective and subjective needs. students’ responses to the statements through a
This study was conducted at SD Daniel calculation using Likert Scale. After that, the
Creative School, located in Semarang, Central researcher triangulated the data gained from the
Java. The participants of this study were 184 instrument to figure out students’ needs in
students and 6 English teachers of grade 4-6. A learning English. The needs were diagnosed and
purposive sampling technique was used in categorized into types of needs analysis namely
choosing the participants. The school was chosen subjective needs and objective needs, as
simply because the researcher was a teacher in elaborated by Brindley (1984) in Nunan (1999).
the school, thus the result of the research could The data, then, was discussed descriptively.
be directly implemented in the school and it gave
a huge contribution to EFL teaching and learning RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
process in the school. Grade 4-6 were chosen
instead of grades 1-3 because they have The result of the questionnaire,
developed their reading and speaking skill, thus observation, and interview showed that some
they could fill in the questionnaires themselves, teachers implemented strategies that met the
stated their opinion, and answered questions by needs of the students. On the other hand, some
themselves when they were being interviewed.

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other teachers did not implement strategies that seekers who seek individual attention and
met the needs of the students. approval from their surroundings. That is why in
this study, the students enjoy working together
Students’ Objective and Subjective Needs
The study revealed that students of SD with their friends. The students also enjoyed the

Daniel Creative School had some objective and classes when their teachers delivered their

subjective needs in learning English. The explanations clearly, provided enough feedback,

objective needs were related to students’ factual and gave motivation to them during the lessons.

information in learning English, namely

Teachers’ Teaching Strategies
students’ perceived language proficiency,
The study revealed that the teachers
language difficulties, and the demand for
implemented some strategies in their teaching
language in real communication. The study
and learning process such as using authentic
revealed that the students needed help in
materials, eliciting background knowledge,
mastering some areas. 5% of them had problems
applying context-based teaching, giving feedback
mastering the listening skill, 2% of them needed
and comprehension checks, establishing habits
help with reading comprehension, 11% of them
and routines, giving a clear explanation,
needed help in improving their speaking skill,
implementing cooperative learning, providing
79% of them needed help with vocabulary, and
higher-order thinking skill, providing an
85% of them needed help in understanding
interesting and non-threatening learning
grammar. Meanwhile, the subjective needs were
environment, motivating Students, and
related to students’ self-confidence, self-esteem,
integrating all language skills. However, the
and expectation in learning English. For
teachers did not implement all of the strategies in
subjective needs, the study revealed that a quite
their classes. They only implemented some
significant number of students had low self-
strategies in their classes.
efficacy. Many of them felt discouraged and had
low self-confidence in learning English. This The Relation Between Students’ Needs and
finding was similar to the finding of a previous Teachers’ Teaching Strategies
study conducted by Banu et al., (2018) which All the implemented strategies were
showed that most students had low self-efficacy effective to fulfill students’ needs. Unfortunately,
in learning to write in English. Thus, it can be not all teachers implemented these strategies
said that low self-efficacy is a challenge many consistently in their classes. One strategy, for
students face in learning English, whatever skill example, was only implemented by some
it is. In addition, most students preferred to have teachers (not all teachers) and those teachers
group work because it would help them enjoy the implemented the strategy once or twice in their
lesson and feel less burdened in the classes. This classes. As the result, students’ needs were not
result corresponds to the theory proposed by optimally fulfilled in the classes. In the interview,
Harmer (2001) who stated that young learners the teachers stated that they did not implement
naturally learn something from what they the strategy consistently because first, they did
interact with. They are by nature attention not aware of students’ needs and the strategies

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they implemented in their classes, and second, skills, vocabulary, and grammar in a real
they had limited time to implement those communicative context, the students would be
more involved in the discussion using their
strategies in their classes.
communication skills.
Giving Feedback and Comprehension Check
How the Relation Between Students’ Needs The finding showed that some teachers
and Teachers’ Teaching Strategies Encourages gave feedback to the students while some other
Students’ Involvement teachers did not give feedback or input to
Eliciting Background Knowledge students’ answers in the classes. The observation
The finding showed that Teacher 1, showed that teachers’ feedback did not give a
Teacher 3, Teacher 4, and Teacher 5 significant influence on students’ engagement in
implemented the strategy to teach reading the classes. In the observation, many students
comprehension by asking the students to share were still engaged in the discussion even though
their experiences about the topics they were the teachers did not give feedback to them. This
about to discuss. The observation showed that finding revealed that teachers’ feedback for
the students were excited about the discussion young learners in this school did not have a
and raised their hands to share their experiences. significant influence on students’ engagement in
From the finding, we could observe that most English classes.
students were engaged and actively involved in Establishing Habits and Routines
the discussion. This finding also corresponds to The finding showed that all teachers
the theory proposed by Linse & Nunan (2005) implemented habits and routines in their classes
who stated that one of the effective ways to teach by greeting the students, turning on their
young learners is to build a schema that can be cameras, and preparing their books. The
done by relating the topic of the lesson with observation showed that the students were
students’ background knowledge. engaged in the classes. They greeted the teachers
Applying Context-Based Teaching back and turned on their cameras. Some of them
The finding showed that some teachers put stated that they were ready for the lessons, and
the lessons and discussions in a real-life context. some other students were showing their books to
The observation showed that when those the cameras as a sign that they were ready for the
teachers implemented this strategy, many lesson. This finding was in accordance with the
students were involved in the discussion by theory of Burden (2003) who stated that habits
sharing their own experiences. If we refer to the and routines were effective for controlling
finding in this study about students’ objective students’ behavior since the students knew what
needs, a lot of students had difficulties in to expect and what is expected from them. If
mastering some aspects, such as listening skills, students knew what to expect and what to do,
reading skills, speaking skills, writing skills, they would be more confident and thus, they
vocabulary, and grammar. Those difficulties could be more involved in classroom discussions.
became a challenge that hindered their It was also in accordance with Colvin & Lazar,
communication skill. Thus, teaching language in (1995) who stated that habits and routines give
context would help them develop their students more opportunities to learn. The feeling
communication skill and thus they could be more of having more opportunities to learn would
involved in the class discussion confidently using make them more engaged in classroom
their communication skill. One of the principles discussions.
of language learning is to learn a language in Giving Clear Explanation
context to practice the language in a The finding showed that some teachers
communicative context (Rieken et al.,1993). gave a clear explanation to the students by
That can be said if all the teachers teach listening adjusting their speed and intonation in speaking.
skills, reading skills, speaking skills, writing They also adjusted their word choice and
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simplified the language whenever needed. The work in their teaching and learning process since
observation revealed that the students were group and pair work was proven effective in
engaged in the discussion. When the teachers language teaching and learning (Tiwari, 2021).
simplified the language, for example, the Cultivating Higher-Order of Thinking Skill
students understood what the teachers meant and The finding showed that only Teacher 4
thus they were involved in the discussion by implemented higher-order thinking skills in her
answering the teachers’ questions or by stating classes. She encouraged her students to answer
their opinion. This finding was correlated to a her questions and then asked more questions to
study conducted by Stroet et al., (2013) who elaborate on their critical thinking skills. The
revealed that teachers’ understandable, explicit, observation showed that many students were
and detailed instructions were positively engaged in the discussions by raising their hands
associated with students’ involvement. As and stating their opinion. Dewey (1916), cited in
teachers of young learners, English teachers at Kuhn (1999) argued that students’ critical
the school should always be mindful of the way thinking was correlated to their engagement in a
they explain the materials. They need to make problem. In addition, Setyarini et al., (2018)
sure all materials are delivered in small chunks found in their study that implementing higher-
with some pauses considering students’ nature to order thinking skills in classroom activities was
have a limitation of concentration span (Henson proven to increase students’ engagement. In
and Janke, 1984). If the teachers did not addition, they found out that teachers could
understand this nature, students’ involvement stimulate students’ higher-order thinking skills by
would be low, as found out by Tong (2020) that using some open-ended questions such as ‘why,
one of the factors causing students to have low why if, how, how about, and if you were’? That
participation in class is the lack of concentration. is to say, critical thinking skill was proven
Implementing Cooperative Learning effective to improve students’ engagement in
Some teachers implemented a principle of learning both theoretically and practically. To
cooperative language teaching in their classes. implement critical thinking skills effectively,
The principle they implemented was keeping Kholisoh & Bharati (2017) suggested English
students’ talk and teachers’ talk balanced. The teachers combine some questioning strategies,
observation showed that this strategy was such as wait time, repetition, paraphrasing, and
effective to boost students’ involvement in class simplifying.
discussions. Being given enough time to speak up Providing an Interesting and Non-Threatening
about their ideas and opinion, they looked Learning Environment
excited and engaged in the discussion. Student 2 The finding showed that some teachers provided
was interviewed and he stated that the lesson was interesting and non-threatening learning
not boring when his teacher asked some environments in some ways. They adjusted their
questions and involved the students in the teaching activity, chose materials that were
discussions. In addition, he was excited because interesting for the students, and told some jokes
he could tell his experience or state his opinion to to make the classes less threatening. The
his friends. Tran (2019) found that cooperative observation showed that the students were
learning was proven effective in enhancing engaged in the discussions. They stated their
students’ engagement in learning. Referring to opinion or answered questions given by the
this theory, all teachers should implement teachers excitedly. Student 3 and Student 4 were
cooperative teaching and learn consistently in interviewed and they stated that they loved the
their classes. In addition, instead of just class taught by Teacher 1 and Teacher 2 because
implementing one principle of cooperative the teachers were funny. In addition, they were
learning, keeping teachers’ talk and students’ talk not afraid to ask questions in the classes taught
balanced, the teachers could implement more by Teacher 1 and Teacher 2 because the classes
principles of cooperative learning, such as group were fun and were not scary. From the finding,
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we could conclude that if classes are less This study also revealed the subjective
threatening, students would relax and they could needs of the students as follows: low self-efficacy
participate more actively in class discussions. and self-confidence in learning English,
This finding corresponds to the finding of Sarjan preference to work in groups, and expectation for
(2017) who observed teaching strategies in teachers to explain materials clearly, provide
listening classes. He found out that students were enough feedback, and give motivation for them
more involved in listening classes when their during the lessons.
lecturers created non-threatening atmosphere The finding showed that teachers
during the teaching and learning process. In implemented some strategies in their teaching
addition, this study also corresponds to the study and learning process such as using authentic
conducted by Mustapha et al., (2010) who found materials, eliciting background knowledge,
out that one of the important factors that affected applying context-based teaching, giving feedback
students’ participation was teachers’ skill to and comprehension checks, establishing habits
create a positive learning environment. In and routines, giving a clear explanation,
conclusion, all teachers should always create a implementing cooperative learning, providing
positive and non-threatening learning higher-order thinking skill, providing an
environment to boost students’ involvement in interesting and non-threatening learning
class discussions. environment, motivating Students, and
Motivating Students integrating all language skills.
The finding showed that some teachers All the implemented strategies were
gave motivation to their students in the classes. effective to fulfill students’ needs. Unfortunately,
They motivated their students to answer not all teachers implemented these strategies
questions they gave in the classes. The consistently in their classes because they did not
observation showed that some students did not aware of the students’ needs and also because
look confident to answer questions from the they had limited time. That is to say, students’
teachers. But, after being motivated by the needs were not optimally fulfilled by the teachers’
teachers, they raised their hands and stated their teaching strategies.
answers, followed by some other students. When the needs of the students were
Abdullah et al. (2012) found in their study that fulfilled by the teachers’ teaching strategies, the
students with high self-efficacy were motivated students became more engaged and involved in
and became more confident to be more active in class discussions. The students enjoyed the
class discussions. Referring to the finding, all lessons and became less burdened and as the
teachers should always give enough result, they became more confident to answer
encouragement to students who need to be teachers’ questions or to tell their idea.
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