MARTHA BETAUBUN, M. HUM. THE SIXTH GRADUATES OF DOCTORAL PROGRAM OF LANGUAGE EDUCATION SCIENCES

Martha Betaubun M.Hum. who is an alumnus of the ELS study program in Graduate School of Universitas Hasanuddin Makasar, has successfully completed the Doctoral program (S3) at UNY in a period of four years and four months. She is the 6th Doctor of Language Education Science (IPB) in the UNY Postgraduate Program. This permanent lecturer at the Department of English Language Education (PBI) at Musamus Merauke University is able to defend her dissertation entitled "Reconceptualization of English learning in the border area of ​​the Republic of Indonesia Papua-Papua New Guinea " in front of the examiners consisting of Prof. Dr. Marsigit, MA (Chief examiner / examiner), Prof. Sugirin, Ph.D (Secretary of the examiner), Prof. Suwarsih Madya., Ph.D (Promoter/examiner), Prof. Dr. Margana., M.Hum., MA (Co-promoter/examiner), Prof. Dr. Pratomo Widodo (main examiner), and Prof. Dr. Joko Nurkamto, M.Pd (main examiner / external examiner).

In an open session held on January 10, 2019, the 43-year-old woman explained the importance of reconceptualizing English learning in the border area of ​​the Republic of Indonesia-Papua New Guinea. In her presentation, reconceptualization is an approach to learning English in the Papua-Papua New Guinea border region based on the grouping of high and low school time expectations (HLS) by implementing learning in accordance with the national curriculum and high and low school time expectations (HLS) referring to reading, writing, and counting. With this approach, it is expected to be able to solve problems in border areas with limited circumstances and conditions.

Theoretically, she argues that, referring to the post-method pedagogy, students have different characteristics: gender, age, ability, environment and so on, making it difficult to determine one type of method that is suitable for all characteristics. The method used needs to pay attention to the heterogeneity of students so that it is maximally applied so that the learning process is effective. For this reason, language teachers should try to have sufficient knowledge in order to be able to decide the appropriate language teaching methods / techniques based on their own practice in the situations and conditions of teaching at hand.

In short, language teaching should stick to acknowledging, that is learning a language is learning to use language not learning about the language. Language learning students need to develop learning principles so that the learning process runs effectively. Thus, the students are able to accomplish optimal learning achievement. Referring to the principles offered by Brown (2007), a) cognitive principles can be developed, which include: 1) automation, 2) meaningful learning, 3) expectations of rewards, 4) intrinsic motivation, 5) strategic investment, and 6) autonomy; b) Socio-affective, which includes: 1) language ego, 2) willingness to communicate, 3) language-cultural linkages; c) Language which includes: 1) native language effects, 2) between languages, and 3) communicative competence.

Students need to consider the use of macro strategies initiated by Kumaravadivelu (2003), including 1) Maximizing learning opportunities, 2) Facilitating negotiated interactions, 3) Minimizing perceptual shifts, 4) Activating intuitive heuristics, 5) Increasing language awareness, 6) Contextualizing language intake, 7) Integrating language skills, 8) Promoting independence of learners, 9) Raising cultural awareness, and 10) Ensuring social relevance.

From the top of the podium, Promoter Prof. Suwarsih Madya., Ph.D and Prof. Dr. Margana. M.Hum as the 1st Vice Rector and, at the same time, as the Co-promoter of Mrs. Martha Betaubun looks content because the Language Education Science study program has succeeded in scoring the 6th doctorate.