Mandra Saragih’s scientific contributions

As a result of shifts in the objectives of teaching English as a language for international communication in the current era, a substantial modification of EFL textbooks has been made to include accounts of various cultures, including local cultural aspects, to spark students' interest in the language and promote cross-cultural awareness. Despite this transformation, a notable gap exists in the scholarly discourse concerning how local cultures are depicted in localized EFL textbooks. That said, the objectives of this research were twofold: first, it sought to examine the portrayal of local cultural norms in Indonesian locally produced English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks; and second, it attempted to explore how the absorption of local culture promotes the intercultural communication skills of learners. To that end, two local ELT series were considered for analysis. To examine the cultural dimensions in the textbooks, a content analysis was conducted by referring to Yuen’s (2011) cultural evaluation framework with four major categories: products, practices, perspectives, and persons. The findings underscore that these course books extensively feature local cultures, with cultural products receiving the most substantial coverage, while perspectives are comparatively underrepresented. Significant exposure to localized resources effectively drives learners' learning engagement and enhances their intercultural literacy. Consequently, the study highlights the significance of the inclusion of culturally relevant content in EFL textbooks tailored for learners, offering noteworthy implications for both ELT practices and academic research.

In formal educational institutions, mastering English as a second language is a must, especially for students majoring in English. Language mastery often poses challenges because each language has different elements. Proficiency in a foreign language such as English involves mastering four language skills, including writing essays. This study presents research results regarding Indonesian syntactic interference in English essays. This study used a descriptive qualitative method. The analysis begins by reviewing all available data from respondents, and the steps are 1) Collecting exam data, 2) Identifying errors due to syntactic interference, 3) Classifying errors according to indicators of syntactic interference, and 4) Explaining student errors in English essays. Research findings show that, although many students can write English essays with correct grammar, students, especially in their fourth semester at FKIP UMSU, still show the influence of Indonesian in the sentence structure of their English essays.

The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of the Discovery learning model in Civics material on the critical thinking abilities of fifth grade students. The research uses quantitative methods with the discovery learning model. The Quantitative method is research that uses a lot of numbers, starting from the data collection process to its interpretation. This research was carried out in class V of the Gombak Selangor Malaysia DICTIONARY Learning Studio. using a population of 8 students who were also used as samples. This sampling technique uses a saturated sampling technique, where this technique makes the entire population the sample. The results of data analysis after the t-test data on pretest and posttest scores showed that from the 8 samples obtained an average score of 76.60 with a standard deviation of 10.784 and the average posttest score was 87.25 with a standard deviation of 6.798. After testing the hypothesis the tailed sig value is 0.000 < 0.05, a decision can be made that Ha is accepted. In other words, the discovery learning learning model in PKN learning has an influence on class V students of the KAMUS Study Studio, North Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia.

This study aims to determine the effect of using storytelling-based experience, interaction, communication, and reflection (thinking) learning models on the collaboration skills of fifth grade students in the Learning Studio, North Gombak, Malaysia. The category of this research is Pre-Experimental research using the One group Pretest design. t-Posttest Design. The sample of this study was the fifth grade students of the North Gombak Learning Studio, Malaysia, totaling 8 students. The data were collected using tests and observations. Meanwhile, the research data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially with the t test, based on the average posttest results obtained. the posttest average results of students' collaborative skills after the implementation of the storytelling-based thinking learning model was greater than the average pretest result before the implementation of the storytelling-based thinking learning model, the average pretest obtained before the implementation of the storytelling-based thinking learning model was 63.75 after being given activities with the treatment of the storytelling-based Thinking learning model so that the posttest average score was 85.00. It can be concluded that the form of storytelling-based Thinking learning that is applied to Indonesian language learning has an effect on the collaboration skills of class V students at the Learning Studio, North Gombak, Malaysia

The family environment is the initial education then followed by the school environment. It can be said that school is a place that is trusted by parents to receive education for quite a long time. This study aims to determine the effect of the mother's education level on the learning achievement of class I students at Sanggar Belajar, Kampung Baru Malaysia District in 2023. This type of quantitative research is with a cross sectional design. The number of samples is 15 people with total sampling technique. The results showed that there was an effect of mother's level of education on student achievement in class I with a significant value of p = 0.02 (p <0.05). Keywords:mother's educational level and student achievement

This study aims to find out the efforts of PAI educators in improving learning achievement, students also know whether the efforts made by PAI educators can increase student learning achievement. Muse metode qualitative research. This method is carried out to describe whether PAI learning achievement will increase with the efforts of the PAI educator. Among the efforts of PAI educators in improving student learning achievement are using methods that are adapted to the learning material, interestingly and fun, providing stories of prophets and friends, providing exercises, counseling guijugace / more precisely deepening the material, providing questions that can stimulate student activity, providing guijugace counseling / more precisely deepening the material, providing questions that can stimulate student activity, providing guijugace rahan, repeating the material for low grades at the same time different places, giving homework at the end of each material, doing daily replays once every 1 month. The efforts made by PAI educators in grade 2 at SB Muhamadiyah Kampung Bharu have good results, their learning achievement has increased even though it is a fairly long process also with not too rapid graphics. Keywords: Teacher Effort PAI, Student Achievement

The phenomenon of online learning has grown at a rapid pace over the years. Despite its benefits, online learning also comes with certain drawbacks, such as a shortage of access to reliable network connectivity, digital literacy, and socializing. The current study aims to explore the perceptions of parents regarding the challenges of distance learning faced by their children in Indonesia. Questionnaires via google forms and interviews were used to diagnose the parents’ responses to handicaps that existed during distance learning. The participants comprised 30 parents whose children joined online schooling. The findings revealed that parents experienced various kinds of obstacles in their efforts to help their children learn remotely such as (1) personal barriers (2) technical barriers (3) logistical barriers, and (4) financial barriers. The trend toward online learning is projected to continue and grow in the coming years with more dialogical, synchronic, pluralist, open, and accessible to various groups.

The challenges brought by Covid-19 have threatened not only the economy and health fields but also the educational sectors. In light of education, this issue has led to the swift migration of the learning process from conventional mode to online learning which has resulted in another bottleneck. The current study explores the perception of EFL Indonesian college students about the challenges and benefits of learning speaking through the online system during the Covid-19 outbreak. Forty-five college students participated in this study and were inquired through a semi-structured questionnaire in the weeks following the final term examinations for the academic year 2020-2021. The data was probed by using grounded theory proposed by Creswell. The findings exposed that effectiveness, online benefits, and improvement opportunities were the benefits obtained by students from the online learning. Meanwhile, distraction and information overload, a technical error in online learning technology and internet connectivity matters as well as limited interaction and inadequate support were hindrances that often hampered the students. Consequently, this scholarly paper also provides advice on the essence of the readiness of adequate facilities and the collaboration from stakeholders; government, teachers, students, and parents to successfully implement online learning.