What are the advantages of textbooks?

McGrath (2013) writes some advantages of textbooks as follows:

• Textbooks surely reduce the time required to prepare your lesson. When you have no time for preparing the materials for your lesson then text books will help you as they are already designed with the wide range of materials.
• Textbooks provide a visible, coherent program of work. Textbooks help you to put the lesson in an appropriate sequence from the beginning to the end of the program.
• Textbooks also give you support. This applies to those who feels lack of training or experience.
• Textbooks are a convenient resource for learners. The direction that textbooks gives help teachers smoothly go to one section to another.
• Textbooks are also visually appealing.

Sources: Teaching Materials and Roles of ESL/EFL Teachers. 2013. By McGrath

What is Learning Styles?

Learning styles refer to the manner of learning which differ from student to student (Dornyei,2009: 231). While according to Thornbury (2006: 116), learning styles refers to your preferred way of learning. This learning style may be influenced by biographical factors such as how you were taught as a child or by innately endowed factors (such as whether you have a "good ear" for different sounds). Types of learning style are often presented in the form of polarities such as: analytic versus global thinkers, rule users versus data gatherers, reflective versus impulsive learners, group - oriented versus solitary learners, extrovert versus introverted learners, verbal versus visual learners, and passive versus active learners.


Sources:
Dornyei, Zoltan. 2009. Individual Differences: Interplay of Learner Characteristics and Learning Environment. Langugae Learning 2009 pp. 230-248
Thornbury, Scott. 2006. An A-Z of ELT. Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Limited 2006

Writing Literature Review

One point emphasized by my supervisor when writing the literature review is objectivity. Writing literature review means that you are reporting all work which has been done by people about the field of study on which you are now working. Reporting all  the studies, the findings and the claims will demand you to have no subjectivity while writing all of them. Your task is reporting and you can add your own interpretation but the objective one, not the subjective one. You should keep yourself neutral. That's one important point to always remember.

WHAT IS PPP Methodology?

PPP stands for presentation - practice - production.
This design describes the teaching stages in which first the teacher explains some information or materials to the students. After that the students will have the practice with the emphasis on accuracy. Then the last phase is the production in which the students can create their own work with the emphasis on the fluency.

HOW TO GET LOA from Foreign Universities?

Procedures of Getting LOA (Letter of Acceptance) for your study.

1. Find the information on how to apply to the university
2. Find the application forms
3. Contact them if you hesitate about what to do with application forms
4. Complete the application form
5. Attach all the required documents including area of research interest of you do a PhD. Write it clearly so that the university can find the supervisor having the expertise on your field.
6. Send your application
7. Wait and see the result.

In some other universities, you need to find the supervisors by yourselves. In this case, you need to go to the website and find the teaching staff profiles. You can read their fields, research areas, and publication. You can also see the subjects they teach. You will get better academic assistance if you are really working with an expert in your area of interest.

How to Get DIKTI Scholarship

Here are some information on what to prepare for getting DIKTI scholarship.

1.  LOA; make sure you get a letter of acceptance from a university.
2. IELTS/ TOEFL TEST,; you need to have good score on one of those test
3. RESEARCH PROPOSAL, you need to have at least area of research interest or a brief proposal on what you are going to do in your doctorate program. If you want to take master degree, you do not need to have that kind of proposal.
4. INSTITUTION PERMIT. You need to have the study permit from your institution signed by the Rector showing that you will be given the permit to study and you are free from your duty within the institution while you are taking the degree.
5. NIDN. If you are a lecturer, you need to have NIDN (  National identification number of a lecturer)

Those above requirements apply when you want to apply to DIKTI Scholarship to study abroad, as what applied to me and my friends when applying for this scholarship in 2012. Good luck for you who want to try.