SLA and Reflection: Incorporating New Subject Matter Into An Outdoor Activity

Iswatun Chasanah, Indonesia; Reni Puspitasari Dwi Lestariyana, Indonesia; Sella Rohmawati, Indonesia; Yuliani Dwi Astuti, Indonesia; Yuto Wahyuto, Indonesia

Iswatun Chasanah, Reni Puspitasari Dwi Lestariyana, Sella Rohmawati, Yuliani Dwi Astuti, and Yuto Wahyuto are final-year students at Graduate School of English Language Education Program in Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia. Their research interests lie in teacher education, language textbook evaluation, teacher professional development, and technology-enhanced language learning (TELL).

 
ABSTRACT

Despite the prevalence of many studies in outdoor activity, little work reports outdoor activity in the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) classroom context. To fill this void, the present study examines the student's perception of SLA. Specifically, the student perception of some SLA outdoor activity. Findings reveal that the "cognitive challenge" has been positioned as the dominant factors in learning SLA through outdoor activities. Another five elements such as students' prior knowledge, the purpose of the outdoor activity, contextual factors and the structures that support the learning process experienced similar reflection on the students learning SLA. This empirical evidence suggests that outdoor activity is an effective pedagogical tool to take into account especially in teaching SLA. This is because educational outdoor activity not only encourages pre-service teachers to incorporate their previous knowledge into contextual settings but also gives them a meaningful experience which may benefit them in the future.

Keyword: Outdoor activity, Pre-service teacher, Reflection, Second Language Acquisition

INTRODUCTION  
Second language acquisition (SLA) itself is a term that in a broad sense shapes the non-native language learning after the first language (L1) that is the native language, either in a naturalistic setting or in a formal classroom setting (Miao, 2015). A variety of learning theories have been discussed in the classroom in the field of SLA to delineate and account for the second language (L2) learning process of the target language. For instance, the monitor model was constructed by Krashen in the 1970s and 1980s. It contains five hypotheses, two of them are crucial conditions necessary for SLA (Miao, 2015). One is the Input Hypothesis, which claims that when the input is one level above the current stage of the learner's interlanguage development, learners are able to acquire a second language through comprehensible input and the learning progress will be achieved. Further is the Affective Filter Hypothesis, which assigns that affective factors like motivation and self-confidence encourage acquisition when the filter is low. In sum, this theory encourages new thoughts about the relationship between diverse factors in second language acquisition and about the issues to appraise in constructing language instruction materials.
This article focuses on students' attitudes on learning SLA. Specifically, this article addresses the students' perception of some SLA outdoor activities designed to make students more engaged in learning and application of SLA theories. Thus, this study is guided by a research question as follows: How do students reflect on their experiences after participating in an outdoor SLA unit that aimed to model practical outdoor SLA activities?

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Reflection in teacher education
Reflection is a cognitive process to reconstruct knowledge based on experiences carried out by individuals or groups (Dewey, 1933; Leijen, Valtna, Leijen, & Pedaste, 2012; Schn, 1983). Similarly, Dewey (1933) argues that reflection is a meaning-making process that enables an individual to reconstruct an understanding of the experience and build on it in future decision-making. He further states that untested experiences will lose their potential for self-growth and development (e.g. through the retention of a reflection journal). Schn (1983) points out that reflection is a means to enhance self-awareness of knowledge that describes behavioral patterns, recognition, opinions, invisible norms that are internalized and usually spontaneously performed by an individual.
In the educational context, reflection has a pivotal role in teacher professional development  (Cowley, B., Heikura, T., & Ravaja, N., 2013). Prospective teachers are those who often significantly benefit from reflection practices. For example, reflection can empirically enhance critical approaches which prompt the improvement of teaching quality (Arztz & Armour-Thomas, 2001; Mayes, 2001; Oser et al., 1992). Critically and carefully thinking about a particular situation are regarded as catalysts for teachers to identify certain aspects of a particular situation, the available options, and the justification of decision making. These skills will lead to greater awareness of the alternative choices they have in the future (Husu, J., Toom, A., & Patrikainen, S., 2008). Teachers' reflection allows teachers or pre-service teachers to reconstruct understanding and knowledge that they may have forgotten or unaware of (Lynch, 2000). This understanding and knowledge will serve as critical guidance to improve the quality of their teaching in the future (Allas, R., Leijen, ., & Toom, A., 2020).

Outdoor activities in the classroom setting
A general aspect discovered in the literature is that there must be a goal for the outdoor activity, such as helping students reach a certain learning purpose (Tal, Lavie Alon, & Morag, 2014). Others have explained goals such as collecting data outside the classroom to solve a real problem (Remmen & Fryland, 2017), or giving first-hand experiences of phenomena that cannot be imitated in the classroom (Jeronen, Palmberg, & Yli-Panula, 2016; Orion, 1993). Another aspect is that outdoor activity should be a combined component of the curriculum of the classroom, which is frequently guaranteed by organizing the curriculum through classroom preparation, the outdoor activity, and then follow-up labor is done in the classroom (Jeronen et al., 2016; Morag & Tal, 2012). In addition, Orion (1993) proposes classroom preparation should encompass both the cognitive and practical components of the outdoor activity, allowing students to practice skills and knowledge required for the outside activity. Moreover, the outdoor activity itself must be student-centered, permitting learners to work in groups and serving frameworks that promote their learning process (Jeronen et al., 2016; Morag & Tal, 2012; Rebar & Enochs, 2010). Morag and Tal (2012) contend that the proponent structures should reach a balance among freedom and control of the learning process. That is, students should have some impact on the choices (e.g., selection of content, tasks, social).

DESIGN AND METHOD
Educational Outdoor activity in SLA Class
In our SLA class, the students under the study need to learn fast as materials are abundant, yet most of the materials are something new for them (e.g. input and output hypothesis, interactional hypothesis, and many other theories).  To make them more actively engaged in understanding SLA theories, the instructor motivates them to do mini-projects. This project is making a poster based on SLA theory. The contents included the quotation, direction, or description displayed with the attractive picture based on the theory that we have learned. After designing SLA posters, the students were encouraged to gain some feedback from the school society where the posters would be placed. They can express their perception about the poster. Based on this feedback, the students under the study then revise the poster design. Then, the students were encouraged to present their work in front of classmates to gain some feedback from other students as well as from the instructor.

Participants of the study
The study involved five postgraduate students in the English departments in Indonesian University who took an SLA course for one semester.  Those five students are participant 1, participant 2. participant 3, participant 4, participant 5. The first student participant #1 and #2 fresh graduate students who took the theory of SLA at her previous university. She is also well-understood in the basic theory of SLA. Thus, she is more interested in the SLA course in her postgraduate study. She is also an active student and puts her effort into every SLA class discussion. The next participant #3 is a graduate student who also took the theory of SLA at her previous university. She knew several basic knowledge of language acquisition but he forgot several of them as she had graduated from her undergraduate degree two years ago. Thus, she has put more effort on studying SLA in her post-graduate program. The participant number #4 is an undergraduate student who took SLA for the first time several years ago. She has experience in teaching language to her students. She has the basic knowledge as well as the practice of language acquisition. Thus, she well-understand about the students' characteristics well and puts her passion into teaching young learners. The last participant #5 used to be an English teacher for seven years. Now he focuses on his study in English as a postgraduate student. This is his first experience in an SLA classroom yet,  he really enjoys studying SLA.  

Data collection and analysis
After doing the SLA mini-project, the students were asked to write their reflections on their experiences. Some of the questions were designed to guide the reflection process to investigate students' attitudes toward SLA outdoor activity. The guided reflection process was designed to help students construct their own understanding of their experience during the SLA outdoor activities which they might forget or unaware of (Lych, 2020). Employing a qualitative approach, the anonymous reflection transcripts were encoded and analyzed inductively. Next, we selected the most relevant initial codes to SLA outdoor units and SLA outdoor in general to closely investigate student perceptions on SLA outdoor activities. This process is influenced by Remmen's (2020) work.

FINDINGS
Cognitive challenge
All of the participants have discussed their experiences of the implementation of outdoor learning (making a poster) in the SLA course, as illustrated by the following excerpts:

(Excerpt 1)
First, I was confused about how to elaborate between the SLA theory and practice, particularly in posters for learning English. I faced difficulties in finding the main topic or idea to put in my poster. As our focus is input hypothesis or comprehensible input. At last, I have found basic and simple activities yet bring a lot of benefit in introducing the right ways of wearing a mask. Thus, this brings huge benefits as it influences students in doing the correct ways.

(Excerpt 2)
At first, I did not expect that I could get direct impactful experience on the target language (TL) acquisition. During the process, I felt challenged to implement the SLA theories (e.g. comprehensible input hypothesis, output hypothesis, and interactional hypothesis) into a piece of poster. In the end, I am satisfied with the poster that I have made with my partner which brings out an interesting topic focused on the health protocols during the Covid-19 outbreak in secondary school areas.

(Excerpt 3)
I felt challenged as I have never made a poster before, especially a poster designed with a certain purpose ( SLA theory). Luckily it is a group project so I can discuss it with my peers. I didn't know before that to make such a tiny poster design I needed to understand many concepts.

Those three participants contend that they felt challenged to implement SLA theories into a poster. They have to find a suitable theory which matches with a poster that they have created. Create a poster that might have values in it.

Prior knowledge
Related to the cognitive challenge concept, prior knowledge is important to be considered for both the teachers and students. The excerpts come from Participant 4 (P4), Participant 5 (P5), and Participant 1 (P1) as can be seen in the following:

(Excerpt 1)
I think anyone can make posters if they already have the ability to design posters, but having an understanding of SLA helped me convey the theory of SLA through the poster I made. (P4/ individual reflection)

(Excerpt 2)
I think it's very critical as basic knowledge in SLA. It will be my guidance in designing SLA posters. Moreover, other theories relating to poster design such as multimodality and social semiotics are really helpful. (P5/ individual reflection)

(Excerpt 3)
Based on my experience, background knowledge does matter in creating the SLA poster. It can help me as the poster maker to improve the accuracy of the data displayed on the poster with the indirect message to deliver the SLA theories to the readers. (P1/ individual reflection)
In making the poster, all of the participants agreed that prior knowledge is important and useful for the students and the teachers to drive the project smoothly by connecting the real-life data with the materials they have learned. These findings indicated that the prior knowledge is a critical element for outdoor activity.

Purpose of the Outdoor Activity
Talking about the aims and objectives of the outdoor mini-project activities, the three participants claimed that the activities bring some benefits as can be seen in the following excerpts:

(Excerpt 1)
Teaching second language acquisition through posters in the area of classroom and school brings huge benefits as the students can directly practice the language without anxiety and it has a positive effect as it can decrease the student's affective filter (AF). (P3/ individual reflection)

(Excerpt 2)
To develop appropriate instructional teaching strategies that guide students along a continuum of language development. (P2/ individual reflection)

(Excerpt 3)
Through this mini-project, I was encouraged to apply SLA theory. Krashen's input hypothesis to be precise. (P5/ individual reflection)

P3 argues that as an alternative teaching methodology,  the outdoor activity facilitates her to directly apply her prior knowledge into the contextual settings. Similarly, P5 and P2 realized that to some extent, outdoor activity mediated them to incorporate new subject matter into real-life experience. These findings take into account outdoor activity as an essential component of outdoor activity.

Contextual factor
The following excerpts show the participants' opinion towards the contextual factors that might influence the outdoor activity on SLA course:

(Excerpt 1)
This phase needs a lot of preparation, especially for teachers. The teacher should have high creativity in designing several outdoor activities. In response to this, well-prepared material is being considered. (P1/ individual reflection)

(Excerpt 2)
The factors that influence the activities, particularly during online schooling can be divided into two types. First, the external factors which come up from the lecturer instruction, the device provided, and the internet connection. Second, the internal factors rely on the students' motivation, anxiety, and the students' needs.  (P3/ individual reflection)

Both P1 and P3 have similar ideas that the teacher's role is quite important. P1 believes that the teacher's creativity in designing outdoor activity is a propellant factor to determine the success of the outdoor activity. In addition, they argue that teachers should modify different ways of teaching to suit the special requirements of the second language learners and be aware of technical issues. P3 takes into account students' internal factors such as motivation, anxiety, and the students' need  as contextual factors to be considered.

Structure that supports the learning process
(Excerpt 1)
At that time, the most important things that helped me  make the poster were the device that supported the design of the poster, the eligible data to be displayed, and the matched SLA theories on my data. (P2/ Individual reflection)

(Excerpt 2)
Creativity is quite important to create a poster and also the technology usage. We need to consider the color, font, theme, target reader and values. As well as a suitable website to design an attractive poster. (P1/ Individual reflection)

(Excerpt 3)
Several requirements needed to be master in designing teaching language through posters are theory, practice (activity), and technological skill. (P3/ Individual reflection)

P2 and P3 have equal minds that technology usage is a prominent skill that poster creators must hold. It helps them to create an attractive poster as well. In addition, P1 contends choosing the right device which helps craters to create a poster. As we know that technology nowadays brings tons of positive effects for users.

DISCUSSION
SLA is an interesting theory to learn as it offers pedagogical alternatives in teaching and learning a second language. Thus, SLA is one of the compulsory courses in the initial teacher English education program in Indonesia. However, slight knowledge gained from classroom learning activity (e.g. teacher lecture, textbook reading, and interactive discussion) was not enough to enhance conceptual comprehension (James, J. K., & Williams, T.,2017), especially for the pre-service teachers. They need to get more itemized explanations about the theory and the strategy of SLA in teaching activities in every course meeting, especially practical subject matter that fit to be adopted in both contextual and their classroom setting. By understanding SLA theory, it is hoped that SLA  will bring a major effect on pre-service teacher teaching repertoires.

To make students more engaged and facilitate them to construct their understanding, educational outdoor activities might be considered as an alternative pedagogical strategy in learning and studying  SLA. Through dynamic and engaging learning,  teachers can guide the students to elaborate on some of the most practical SLA theories to be adopted in classroom settings.  In our study, the learning activities are developing teaching materials through posters in order to engage students in learning SLA as well as to encourage students to apply new subject -matter into the actual condition. This activity shows that learning English (SLA) is not limited to a classroom setting but also in students' real life. This will facilitate them to comprehend constructivist approaches in learning where the students build new concepts through their prior and current knowledge (Bruner, 1986).

In response to this, the teacher should consider several elements of the outdoor activity to make it more meaningful for pre-service teachers. As shown in the study, these critical elements are a cognitive challenge, students' prior knowledge, the purpose of the outdoor activity, contextual factors, and the structures that support the learning process. The cognitive challenge refers to the students or pre-service English teacher competency in applying the classroom-learned educational content (e.g. theory of SLA) in relevant real-life context. Students' prior knowledge has discussed that a pre-service English teacher needs to well-mastering the theory and concept of SLA before delivering the strategy to the target students especially in choosing the poster English materials.  Another consideration is the purpose of outdoor activity in which the students or pre-service English teacher understand the aim of these outdoor activities to the students while the teacher has to comprehend the students' skill and competence. Contextual factors are addressed to the teachers' preparation of both materials and concepts (e.g. teaching strategies) that will be delivered to the students. Besides the materials and contents preparation, the teacher should have put huge consideration on the structures that support the learning process. This phase refers to the teachers who should master the use of technology particularly in creating posters (e.g. choosing an appropriate font, color, and theme). Those learning activities introduced pre-service teachers to the fact that pre-teaching needs more resources and practical knowledge as it can create a well-prepared teacher and engage the students that learning English is not boring yet beyond fun.

CONCLUSION
SLA offers a lot of theory or recent research related to the acquisition of a second language which might be an alternative solution for teaching English in Indonesia, which so far has tended to adopt a form base. Form base is a language learning that focuses on lexicogrammatical mastery which tends to be rigid. As a result, learning a second language (such as English) is seen as just knowledge: English lessons are mostly memorizing vocabulary and grammatical formulas. The emphasis of learning on grammar allows students to be able to compose sentences correctly and easily understood by the interlocutor, however, this kind of learning if not balanced with a more communicative approach will make students afraid to speak or write. Something that teachers really avoid. In contrast to the traditional approach, SLA offers a more student-friendly way of acquiring a second language naturally. From this point of view, SLA developed several leading theories such as input theory, output theory, interaction theory, and others.

Thus, this short reflection article emphasizes on the five students' reactions during the study of SLA following its practice. We focus on the five elements such as the students or pre-service English teacher cognitive challenge, students' prior knowledge, the purpose of the outdoor activity, contextual factors and the structures that support the learning process. Following this statement, the data were collected through a written guided reflection approach based on the real students' feelings while taking SLA on their learning activities as the students and pre-service English teacher. The dominant element goes to the  "cognitive challenge" where all of the five students experienced the same result in creating teaching materials through posters such as they were challenged and difficult to elaborate between the theory and practice. Another similar finding is "students' prior knowledge" has positioned an important element to consider as it catalyzes students to accomplish their outdoor activity tasks. By those empirical findings, several elements have bolstered the students or pre-service English teachers to prepare the creative materials following the strategies. Thus, the implication from the present study is to encourage the pre-service English teacher to build more challenging and creative activities in second language acquisition particularly in conducting outdoor activities in order to give the students some experimental experience which is an essential ingredient for students' meaningful and comprehensive learning process (Dewey, 1933)

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