Welcome back to the “Super Rich” edition of LEAD Journal

Time runs so fast that we are almost unaware, owing to our hectic hours doing endless jobs and reaching our uncompromised target, that it was six months ago that we, the editoraial boards (henceforth, the Champs) had issued the maiden edition of   LEAD Journal. Having been pumped by a multitude of  ehthusiasm and optimism, the Champs gave an effort to the limit to make this second edition published just on time. We made it as the way we have been committed to do so now and then. To the Champs, congratulations! Our two thumbs-up!

 This highly-anticipated edition covers two major themes: language teaching and learning, and linguistics. In the first place, Yuana, presenting the idea of code-switching and code-mixing, highlights the merit of these pragmatic styles in promoting a successful and meaningful communication in a multilingual society. The author holds and believes that both code-switching and code-mixing can potentially promote the development of speaking skills or communication skills. 

In the second place, Almustaflikhah and Pujiani proposed a creative way of teaching especially for young learners. In their perspectives,  this teaching media can be transformed into an attractive and amusing means for language teaching and learning, not merely for speaking but also for listening, reading and writing. Based on their investigation, the authors revealed that the proper use of the animation video media could result in the increament of learners’ language proficiency. Hence, they came to a firmed conclusion that the utility of such media in language teaching particularly for young learners can ostensibly elicit an effective and fun learning.

Critical yet enticing article was postulated by Dewi who tried to identify the eficacy of the mplementation of School Literacy Program during Covid-19. Her findings based on semi-structered interview suggest  that four main challenges when the program was realized.  students' interest in reading such as students read in order to fulfil the obligation to fill out daily journals, not because of their own desires,  2) the technical challenges such as technological illiteracy, and inadequate source of online reading 3) the teacher's lack of understanding about the school literacy program, 4) time management. Based on her analysis, the author offeres a way out. Teachers, in her schemata, are supposed to provide appealing reading materials and activities which combine multimedia that attract student’s interest to read as well as train the teachers to be friendly users of technology.

Another mind-blowing article conceptualized by  an eminent researcher Prof. Rudi Hartono addresses the potential value of a translation tool called E-Litrans in enacting the level of translation quality of EFL students in translating figures of speech be it from English to Indonesian or vice versa. Having experimentally tested, the author derived a convincing assertion that E-Litrans Tool can increase the figures of speech translation quality scores significantly and firmly suggest that translators can use the E-Litrans Tool to improve the quality of their figures of speech translation results.

The next fruitful linguistic (in this case, pragmatic) analysis was done by Amalia in her article entitled An Analysis of Conversation Structure in Little Big Shot America. The focus is on the conversational structure and strategy used in conversation especially performed by kids, Her alluring findings indciate that many strategies used in conversation different from the strategy which involves both adults as the speaker and audience. She pleshes out that although there are many strategies used in the show, the Turn-claiming strategy was mostly used to keep the floor and to let the kids “return” to the turn that they are engaged.

The last articles, crafted by Utami, Maftukhah, Tusyanah, Sakitri and Wahyuningrum features about “Promoting Collaborative Learning in Higher Education In Writing Class”. The study examines the features of collaborative feedback among students in their writing process in the blended learning environment and finds their experiences during this collaborative learning. The authors concluded that, first, lecturers are supposed to acknowledge the students' language skill level to create better material for them; second, the students can be categorized as self-regulated, other-regulated, and object-regulated. This reflects that the number of self-regulated and other-regulated learners is dominant compared to object-regulated ones.

The articles selected in this edition can serve as a point of departure in your related area in facilitating and promoting both the eficacy of language teaching and learning and the exploration of how language is performed in context and these two can be stimulating sources for your future research projects in the most meaningful way possible. Proudly speaking, the Champs of LEAD Journal wish you all value-laden reading of this second-to-none edition. Your critical foresights are always awaited.

Muhamad Ahsanu, Ph.D.

Editor-in-Chief