Generation Alpha learners bring distinctive digital habits and expectations to English language learning, while teachers face increasing challenges in integrating technology into classroom practice. This study investigates the perspectives of Generation Alpha students and English teachers in urban junior high schools in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and examines the convergence and divergence in their perspectives to inform an interactive English teacher guide design. This convergent mixed-methods needs analysis involved 1,205 students, 61 English teachers, one school principal, and one English MGMP (Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran, or Teacher Working Group) coordinator. Data in this study were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that students were digitally ready and preferred interactive, multimodal, and contextualized English learning supported by clear guidance and timely feedback. However, they engaged less frequently in independent language practices and speaking activities. Teachers expressed a strong need for practical, curriculum-aligned resources, including lesson templates, differentiated activities, authentic materials, and ready-to-use assessment tools. Students identified technological distractions, unclear instructions, and lengthy texts as the main learning barriers, whereas teachers emphasized low motivation, limited attention spans, and classroom management challenges. Despite these differences, both groups highlighted the importance of multimodal resources, scaffolded instruction, timely feedback, and clear assessment rubrics. Therefore, an effective teacher guide should incorporate multimodal and scaffolded learning, formative assessment, differentiated instruction, and low-bandwidth digital resources. By integrating students’ and teachers’ perspectives, this study provides an evidence-based foundation for developing contextually relevant instructional resources for Generation Alpha learners.
Literacy has undergone a profound transformation in recent decades, shifting from an emphasis on reading and writing print-based texts to a recognition that multimodal meaning-making is the core of 21st-century communication. Indonesia has long faced significant challenges in promoting language and literacy, and the recent national English language curriculum underscores the need for pedagogical activities that develop students’ multimodal literacy skills and competencies. This paper reports on a study investigating the teaching and learning of multimodal texts, seeking to equip both educators and students with multiliteracies perspectives for classroom practice. The principal research question investigates how teachers incorporate multimodal literacy, as evidenced by two data-collection techniques: (1) focus-group discussions involving nine English teachers and (2) classroom observations of two selected teachers. Employing a case-study design to facilitate an in-depth contextual analysis, the research captures situated practice through the critical framing of teachers’ efforts and their transformed activities to encourage multimodal literacy in the classroom. The findings reveal that participating teachers employed elements of multimodal literacy primarily during pre-teaching activities using multimodal resources. However, they also reported limited familiarity with multimodal literacy-enhancement strategies. They expressed a strong desire for further professional development to effectively comprehend and master multimodal literacy in diverse classroom contexts.
While Google Translate (GT) is widely used in Vietnamese–English communication, its translation errors across different text types remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates errors made by GT in Vietnamese–English translation classified by text types. Specifically, it examines error frequency, common error types, and the most error-prone text type. A linguistic corpus consisting of 26 Vietnamese texts (totaling 5,740 words) classified into three types (expressive, informative, and vocative) is used as the input for GT’s translation into English. Three kinds of analyses were used in the analytical procedure, including translation analysis to analyze the source texts, translation comparative analysis to compare the source and target texts to identify errors, and statistical techniques to quantify the error frequency. The findings reveal that GT has made a smaller number of errors than indicated in previous studies on the English–Vietnamese language pair; however, it still makes 103 errors (an average of one error per 55.7 words), of which semantic errors are the most common (36 errors), far higher than lexical (26) and orthographic (20), while morphological, syntactic, and pragmatic errors are the least common with 7 errors each. Of the three types, vocative texts have the highest number of errors with 44 errors, followed by expressive texts with 40, while informative texts have the lowest error frequency (only 19). Based on research findings and discussions, implications have been made on how GT should be used, how its translation quality can be improved, and how translators should respond to machine translation.
This study critically examines the role of generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in shaping the creative processes and cultural representation of pre-service EFL teachers engaged in Community Digital Storytelling (CDSt) grounded in East Kalimantan folklore. Addressing two research questions—how GenAI mediates creative processes and CDSt stage comprehension, and how cultural representation is constructed and negotiated in AI-assisted storytelling—the study adopts a qualitative case study design. Data were generated from seven focus group discussions involving 42 participants across three cohorts. The analysis focuses on the integrated PACIFIC toolset- which coordinates PowerPoint, AI, CapCut, Inknoe, ClassPoint, Filmora, Internet tools, and Canva as a pedagogical workflow supporting human–AI collaboration and critical AI literacy. The findings reveal that GenAI’s technical limitations and cultural inconsistencies function as productive constraints that provoke higher-order thinking and critical engagement. Rather than facilitating seamless production, GenAI introduces pedagogical tensions that require participants to engage in evaluation, adaptation, and strategic orchestration across CDSt stages. Cultural representation emerges as a negotiated outcome, shaped through human-in-the-loop practices that counteract AI-driven homogenization and reinforce local epistemologies. The study contributes to the emerging discourse on AI in language teacher education by advancing a shift from tool-oriented competence to critical AI literacy and culturally situated pedagogy. It shows the pedagogical value of integrated digital ecosystems in fostering reflective, ethically grounded, and culturally responsive teaching practices.
Indigenous language preservation requires specific strategies and thoughtful management. This study investigates the role of women in preserving and intergenerationally transmitting the Indigenous Matua language within the matrilineal Minangkabau community of West Sumatra, Indonesia, and explores the challenges they face. Using a descriptive qualitative case study approach, the study involved 40 Matur citizens, comprising women, men, elders, and youth with extensive knowledge of Indigenous languages and cultural practices. Data were collected through focus group discussions, interviews, and video recording. The Matur women are responsible for the language’s organic survival as a daily, lived activity. Additionally, men contribute to the transmission of languages through ceremonial and formal registers. The results, however, also highlight important modern challenges to this maternal role, such as the influence of urbanisation, the growing dominance of Bahasa Indonesia, and the emergence of digital technologies that replace traditional face-to-face storytelling. These factors have shifted maternal language management from a pervasive domestic habit to a situational practice often reserved for communal ceremonies. Despite these challenges, Pasambahan groups, the Bundo Kanduang organisation, and the Matua language activist all support preserving the Matua language. These results impart suggestions for enhancing the preservation of Indigenous languages in similar sociolinguistic contexts and contribute to the conversation about gender knowledge systems in Indigenous language maintenance.
