Engaging students in a collaborative and reflective reading material development
participatory action research
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21070/jees.v10i2.1948Keywords:
critical pedagogy, digital reading assessment, Muhammadiyah cultural values, systemic functional linguisticsAbstract
Grounded in Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics and Freire’s Critical Pedagogy, the research aims to develop a transformative digital reading assessment model that embeds Muhammadiyah values and promotes critical literacy. Conducted as a four-month participatory action research project at a Muhammadiyah higher education institution in Indonesia, this study engaged 30 student participants and several community figures. Data were collected through classroom observations, focus group discussions, and interviews, and were analyzed using critical discourse analysis based on SFL's meta functions and Freirean principles. Findings reveal three key themes: first, students interpreted texts as ideological constructs by identifying field, tenor, and mode; second, students co-constructed culturally situated reading materials through dialogic engagement with community members; and third, students demonstrated critical engagement with multimodal digital texts by analyzing how visual and linguistic elements shaped meaning. This study practically contributes a contextually grounded model for reading assessment, showing how digital platforms can serve as ethical spaces for language learning that is both critical and culturally embedded.
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References
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Delahunty, J., Verenikina, I., & Jones, P. (2014). Socio-emotional connections: Identity, belonging and learning in online interactions. A literature review. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 23(2), 243–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2013.813405
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Mochizuki, N., & Starfield, S. (2021). Dialogic interactions and voice negotiations in thesis writing groups: An activity systems analysis of oral feedback exchanges. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 50, 100956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2020.100956
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Nadia, H., Yansyah, Y., & Rafidiyah, D. (2021). Designing an online work-related language skill for nursing students: A developmental research. JEES (Journal of English Educators Society), 6(1), 163–170. https://doi.org/10.21070/jees.v6i1.1112
Nimasari, E. P., Setiawan, S., Munir, A., & Suhartono, S. (2023). Why didn’t I make it digital: Indonesian teachers’ perception of dialogical-based online teaching and socio-emotional connections. The Qualitative Report, 28(8). https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.6105
Nimasari, E. P., Setiawan, S., & Munir, A. (2024). How Do Indonesian Student-Teachers Experience Wellbeing during Research Supervision? A Qualitative Interview Study. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 23(3), 348-366.
Pakir, A. (2019). Professor Michael Alexander Kirkwood (M.A.K.) Halliday, 1925–2018, founding father of Systemic Functional Linguistics. Asian Englishes, 21(3), 324–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2019.1608720
Pass, S. (2007). When constructivists Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky were pedagogical collaborators: A viewpoint from a study of their communications. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 20(3), 277–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720530701347944
Ryshina-Pankova, M., Barthold, W., & Barthold, E. (2021). Enhancing the content- and language-integrated multiple literacies framework: Systemic functional linguistics for teaching regional diversity. System, 96, 102403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102403
Silseth, K., & Gilje, Ø. (2019). Multimodal composition and assessment: A sociocultural perspective. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 26(1), 26–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2017.1297292
Suwannasom, W., & Pattanajak, N. (2023). Developing an integrated model of digital learning ecosystem in higher education: A study in Thai universities. Education and Information Technologies, 28, 1535–1554. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11178-6
Thomas, D. P. (2022). Structuring written arguments in primary and secondary school: A systemic functional linguistics perspective. Linguistics and Education, 72, 101120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2022.101120
Van Der Vegt, I., Kleinberg, B., & Gill, P. (2023). Proceed with caution: On the use of computational linguistics in threat assessment. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, 18(2), 231–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/18335330.2023.2165137
Weinmann, M., Neilsen, R., & Cabezas Benalcázar, C. (2024). Languaging and language awareness in the global age 2020–2023: Digital engagement and practice in language teaching and learning in (post-)pandemic times. Language Awareness, 33(2), 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2023.2236025
Wijayati, R. D., & Khafidhoh, K. (2023). Developing Islamic-values-based PowToon learning media for Muhammadiyah kindergarten teachers: COVID-19 and TEYL. English Language Teaching Educational Journal, 5(2), 103–118. https://doi.org/10.12928/eltej.v5i2.6475
Zhang, L., & Wang, J. (2024). “Curriculum-based or ideology-based”: An action research on China’s curriculum-based ideology and virtuous awareness education in second language writing teaching: An activity theory perspective. Heliyon, 10(11), e32631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32631
Al-Mahrooqi, R., & Denman, C. (2022). Digital pedagogies in language education: A critical perspective. Routledge.
Ando, S. (2021). University teaching and learning in a time of social distancing: A sociocultural perspective. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 31(1–4), 435–448. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2020.1814928
Ariyanti, A., Setiawan, S., & Munir, A. (2023). Students’ enjoyment and anxiety in reminiscing about mind-mapping use in the English writing class. Studies in English Language and Education, 10(2), 789-804.
Basturkmen, H. (2022). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-perspective approach. Palgrave Macmillan.
Corbett, J., & Guilherme, M. (2021). Critical pedagogy and quality education (UNESCO SDG-4): The legacy of Paulo Freire for language and intercultural communication. Language and Intercultural Communication, 21(4), 447–454. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2021.1962900
Danis, N. (2022). A corpus analysis of disciplinary identity in evaluative journal articles: A Systemic Functional Linguistics approach. English for Specific Purposes, 68, 87–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2022.07.003
Delahunty, J., Verenikina, I., & Jones, P. (2014). Socio-emotional connections: Identity, belonging and learning in online interactions. A literature review. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 23(2), 243–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2013.813405
Derewianka, B., & Jones, P. (2020). Teaching language in context. Oxford University Press.
Dreyfus, S., Humphrey, S., Mahboob, A., & Martin, J. R. (2021). Genre pedagogy across the curriculum. Equinox.
Fang, Z., & Schleppegrell, M. J. (2020). Disciplinary literacies and systemic functional linguistics: Understanding texts in context. Routledge.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Bloomsbury.
Freire, P., & Macedo, D. P. (2014). Pedagogy of the oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition (M. B. Ramos, Trans.; 30th anniversary ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing.
Godwin-Jones, R. (2020). Dealing with complexity in language learning: Automatic assessment, adaptive learning, and mobile-assisted language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 24(3), 1–13. https://doi.org/10125/44736
Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). Routledge.
Hyland, K. (2019). Second language writing (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Hyland, K. (2021). Genre and second language writing. University of Michigan Press.
Jackson, G. (2021). Axiological constellations in literary response writing: Critical SFL praxis in an ELA classroom. Language and Education, 35(5), 446–462. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2020.1856132
Leavy, P. (2023). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
Leezenberg, M. (2002). Power in communication: Implications for the semantics-pragmatics interface. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(7), 893–908. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(01)00067-4
Li, J., Wu, Y., & Gao, X. (2023). Language teachers’ engagement with ideological representations as materials designers. System, 117, 103121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2023.103121
Li, X., Islam, M. M., Islam, S., Gao, X., & Rong, Z. (2024). Examining professional ideology through the perspectives of higher education professionals. Teaching and Teacher Education, 152, 104774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2024.104774
Luke, A., & Freebody, P. (2021). Literacy as social practice: The new literacy studies. Routledge.
Martin, J. R., & Rose, D. (2022). Working with discourse: Meaning beyond the clause (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury.
Maton, K., & Doran, Y. (2021). Semantic waves and knowledge-building in language education. Routledge.
Mochizuki, N., & Starfield, S. (2021). Dialogic interactions and voice negotiations in thesis writing groups: An activity systems analysis of oral feedback exchanges. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 50, 100956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2020.100956
Moradian, M. R., Miri, M., & Alamdar, P. (2021). The role of dialogic interaction in EFL writing assessment: A sociocultural perspective. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v10i3.31754
Morton, T. (2023). Afterword: SFL, theoretical pluralism and content and language integration at the levels of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 26(3), 363–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2020.1806781
Nadia, H., Yansyah, Y., & Rafidiyah, D. (2021). Designing an online work-related language skill for nursing students: A developmental research. JEES (Journal of English Educators Society), 6(1), 163–170. https://doi.org/10.21070/jees.v6i1.1112
Nimasari, E. P., Setiawan, S., Munir, A., & Suhartono, S. (2023). Why didn’t I make it digital: Indonesian teachers’ perception of dialogical-based online teaching and socio-emotional connections. The Qualitative Report, 28(8). https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.6105
Nimasari, E. P., Setiawan, S., & Munir, A. (2024). How Do Indonesian Student-Teachers Experience Wellbeing during Research Supervision? A Qualitative Interview Study. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 23(3), 348-366.
Pakir, A. (2019). Professor Michael Alexander Kirkwood (M.A.K.) Halliday, 1925–2018, founding father of Systemic Functional Linguistics. Asian Englishes, 21(3), 324–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2019.1608720
Pass, S. (2007). When constructivists Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky were pedagogical collaborators: A viewpoint from a study of their communications. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 20(3), 277–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720530701347944
Ryshina-Pankova, M., Barthold, W., & Barthold, E. (2021). Enhancing the content- and language-integrated multiple literacies framework: Systemic functional linguistics for teaching regional diversity. System, 96, 102403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102403
Silseth, K., & Gilje, Ø. (2019). Multimodal composition and assessment: A sociocultural perspective. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 26(1), 26–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2017.1297292
Suwannasom, W., & Pattanajak, N. (2023). Developing an integrated model of digital learning ecosystem in higher education: A study in Thai universities. Education and Information Technologies, 28, 1535–1554. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11178-6
Thomas, D. P. (2022). Structuring written arguments in primary and secondary school: A systemic functional linguistics perspective. Linguistics and Education, 72, 101120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2022.101120
Van Der Vegt, I., Kleinberg, B., & Gill, P. (2023). Proceed with caution: On the use of computational linguistics in threat assessment. Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, 18(2), 231–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/18335330.2023.2165137
Weinmann, M., Neilsen, R., & Cabezas Benalcázar, C. (2024). Languaging and language awareness in the global age 2020–2023: Digital engagement and practice in language teaching and learning in (post-)pandemic times. Language Awareness, 33(2), 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2023.2236025
Wijayati, R. D., & Khafidhoh, K. (2023). Developing Islamic-values-based PowToon learning media for Muhammadiyah kindergarten teachers: COVID-19 and TEYL. English Language Teaching Educational Journal, 5(2), 103–118. https://doi.org/10.12928/eltej.v5i2.6475
Zhang, L., & Wang, J. (2024). “Curriculum-based or ideology-based”: An action research on China’s curriculum-based ideology and virtuous awareness education in second language writing teaching: An activity theory perspective. Heliyon, 10(11), e32631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32631
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2025-10-08
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Nimasari, E. P., Harmanto, B., Bonavidi, R. ., Cobantoro, A. F., Elvina Dwi, C., & Velrinda Fahza’a, R. (2025). Engaging students in a collaborative and reflective reading material development: participatory action research. JEES (Journal of English Educators Society), 10(2), 106–117. https://doi.org/10.21070/jees.v10i2.1948
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Copyright (c) 2025 Elok Putri Nimasari, Bambang Harmanto, Rinjani Bonavidi, Adi Fajaryanto Cobantoro, Cahyani Elvina Dwi, Risty Velrinda Fahza'a
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