NOBEL: Journal of Literature and Language Teaching

The Heroine’s Monomyth: A Study of Buchi Emecheta’s Kehinde

Portia Siaw Oppong — 2023-10-31

Classical and African myths and legends recognize and acknowledge male heroes. The male’s role as protector and keeper of the traditions and cultures of the society accords him the opportunity to embark on heroic journeys. The female’s role as caretaker of the family and the home makes her more docile. Using a close textual analysis on the content of Emecheta’s Kehinde, from the perspective of the Hero’s Journey (Campbell, 1968), the researchers bring to bear the heroic capabilities of females. The paper asserts that Emecheta fashions the protagonist’s journey in a series of departures that help her obtain the ultimate boon. Kehinde’s journey highlights the idea of racial discrimination, patriarchal and cultural shackles, freedom, identity as well as self-love. The paper concludes that the heroine undergoes a non-lineal and unpredictable journey to attain self-discovery, growth, and development.

Ecological Environmentalism in Geg Ary Suharsani's Kunang-Kunang Hitam

Nushrotun Nida — 2023-10-31

The Tamblingan land conflict is closely related to the investment trend heading towards Bali’s upstream area. Investors are converting Tamblingan forest land into hotels and tourism to reap the benefits of nature tourism in the most natural forest. This issue is discussed in the novel Kunang-Kunang Hitam by Geg Ary Suharsani. This paper aims to describe the struggle of the female character Ni Luh Candri in the Tamblingan land conflict as narrated in the novel Kunang-Kunang Hitam (KKH). This study uses a Susan Griffin perspective ecofeminism approach. The results of this study indicate that the struggle of the female character Ni Luh Candri in defending the Tamblingan forest is divided into two forms: Ni Luh Candri’s struggles related to nature, such as refusing land conversion, protecting rare plants, symbolic communication to fireflies and Ni Luh Candri’s struggles related to nature humanistic environment, such as becoming Leak, burning incense, displaying rangda mask, and advocating for communities around the forest. This research proves that women can take various important actions (ecological environmentalism) to preserve the environment.

Vladimir Propp’s Taxonomic Model of Narrative Functions in Selected Jane Austen’s Novels

Hidayatul Nurjanah — 2023-10-31

This research aims to identify the taxonomic model of narrative functions by Vladimir Propp and to find out how these functions are distributed among the dramatis personae (spheres of action) in selected Jane Austen’s novels, they are Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion. This descriptive qualitative research aims to describe the phenomenon and its characteristics. The data were collected qualitatively by documenting, examining, and classifying thoroughly. The results indicate 20 functions in Pride and Prejudice, 14 functions in Emma, 15 functions in Sense and Sensibility, and 22 functions in Persuasion. From the results, this research shows that Jane Austen’s fairytale novels are compatible and match the taxonomic model of narrative functions by Vladimir Propp. The results also show four dramatis personae in each novel (Hero, Villain, Donor, Helper). As for Sense and Sensibility, it has a False Hero. Furthermore, the results share similarities in the 13 functions and the happy endings marriage (W). At the same time, the differences are located in the different number of functions and their distribution, which influence the overall narratives.

Affixations in Javanese Transitive Verbs that Change the Constituents from Divalent to Trivalent

Aditya Rizky Wibisono Sapran — 2023-10-31

This paper aims to describe the affixations in Javanese transitive verbs that affect the valency of a sentence from divalent to trivalent. Other studies have explored the grammaticality of transitive verbs’ valency, but none have investigated the details of Javanese verbs’ morphological structure in relation to the phonemic structure. The data are extracted from Javanese transcription of YouTube videos and certain magazine articles. This paper employs a generative qualitative method equipped with various technical analyses. The analysis includes investigations of several forms of affixation in Javanese transitive verbs that result in a shift regarding a sentence’s valency. The analysis continues by addressing similarities in the verb phonemes that exhibit a certain affixation. The findings show at least three forms of prefix, five forms of vowel modification, and two forms of suffixes that can add a sentence’s argument when applied in a specific composition of phonemes.

Internal Factors of Low ESP Learners’ Motivation to Speak: The Case of Cruise Staff

Tera Athena — 2023-10-31

Cruise ship companies highly require staff to speak English fluently. Poor speaking performance of the staff members considerably impacts the company’s performance. In this era, many youths enter the realm of cruise ships. Of course, they need to deepen their learning of English from an early age before they plunge into a cruise ship field. However, the youths are not motivated to learn to speak earlier. This situation will be an obstacle that hinders the smooth actualization of educational goals, which refers to preparing individuals mentally to serve themselves and the community, especially for their careers as cruise ship staff. The main objective of this study is to find out the internal factors that cause them to have low motivation to learn to speak English since the beginning of their educational career. In this study, the researchers selected ten youths as participants. The writers analyzed the data qualitatively and explained the findings about this topic descriptively. In sum, the results of this study reveal that the internal factors of low ESP learners’ motivation to speak are low self-confidence to speak in public, nervousness, laziness, shyness to speak, and fear of making speaking mistakes.

Using English Movies to Improve Students' Listening Skills

Vincentia Dewi Fidelia — 2023-10-31

Language learning nowadays depends on the advancement of facilities and technology. Using appropriate learning media is essential to engage students in the learning process. Therefore, using English movies to improve students’ listening is not new. Previous studies about listening and using movies discussed the related impact of both topics. However, there has not been a study that focused on students’ listening difficulties, students’ experience of watching English movies, and the impacts of using English movies on students’ listening skills. This article analyzes those main topics to find the implications of using English movies for language learning improvement. This study utilizes qualitative methods with coding thematic analysis techniques to explain the interview results. The main result of the study is that students find problems during listening activities, but they can overcome those problems with several strategies. Moreover, using English movies for language learning is effective, especially for improving listening. Finally, this study was conducted to give insights about the positive impacts of using English movies for listening activities.

Exploring English Language Teachers’ Technological Competence in Listening Skills Instruction

Betelhem Tesfaye Wordofa — 2023-10-31

The digitalized educational landscape of today requires ELT teachers to be conversant with technology. This study examined ELT teachers’ technological and pedagogical knowledge and their use of technology in listening skills instruction. To this end, an exploratory qualitative research design was employed. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data collected using classroom observation and interviews. N-Vivo version 10 software was used for the data analysis. The findings indicated that teachers have a fair command of technology. However, they had limited technological content knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK). Teachers were not able to make use of their knowledge of technology in their teaching. During listening instructions, only a few teachers use a smart board or a laptop to play audio materials. Most are not familiar with how to use any digital gadgets for teaching. For successful integration of digital technologies into listening instruction, training in the TPK is recommended. Furthermore, teachers’ capacity to use relevant digital apparatuses should be built.

Character Education Values in English Classroom Within Teachers’ Practice of Code-Mixing and Code-Switching

Irma Soraya — 2023-10-31

The multilingual environment in English language learning as a foreign language raises doubts regarding the existence and teaching of character education values in secondary schools. This research aims to identify character education values integrated into teacher-student interactions through code-mixing and code-switching linguistic phenomena. The research findings highlight the integration of 16 values through code-mixing and code-switching. The frequency of code-mixing by high and junior high school teachers was notably higher than code-switching. The disparity in these data outcomes reinforces the notion that the atmosphere tends to be relaxed in code-mixing, often unnoticed by speakers. Conversely, code-switching, where speakers, in this case, teachers, consciously do so with specific intentions and goals, either to integrate dominant character education values such as communication or discipline or other character education values. These findings underscore that code-switching and code-mixing are not negative elements in language learning. Instead, they serve as tools for integrating character education values among secondary school students.