JEDLIT: Journal of Education and Literature

The Role of Digital Corpus-Based Applications in Enhancing English Collocation Mastery: A Conceptual Review for ICT-Integrated English Language Education

2026-08-26T08:12:35+00:00

Mastering English collocations—such as make a decision or heavy rain—remains a persistent challenge for learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), including pre-service English teachers. This difficulty stems from the probabilistic nature of collocation, which is difficult to explain through grammatical rules alone. One promising response that has developed rapidly in recent years is the use of digital corpus-based applications (such as SKELL, COCA, and Just The Word) through a Data-Driven Learning (DDL) approach. This article aims to conceptually examine how digital corpus-based applications can contribute to English collocation mastery and to formulate its implications for ICT integration in English language education. The review was conducted through library research on primary literature published within the last ten years concerning collocation, corpus linguistics, and data-driven learning. The review shows that the use of digital corpus tools is consistently reported to contribute positively to learners' collocation mastery, provided it is accompanied by adequate corpus-literacy training and purposeful engagement rather than brief, unguided exposure. This article recommends integrating digital corpus-literacy training into English language education curricula, particularly within teacher-training programs.

Pronunciation Difficulties Among Junior High School Students in Cilegon: A Descriptive Study of English Phoneme Production

2026-08-28T04:00:20+00:00

This study describes the English pronunciation difficulties experienced by Junior High School (SMP) students in Cilegon City and the factors underlying them. The issue is significant because most students in this region carry a first-language phonological system shaped by the Banten dialect of Sundanese and by Indonesian, both of which differ considerably from English. A qualitative descriptive design was employed, with data gathered through a reading-aloud test, classroom observation, and semi-structured interviews involving eighth-grade students and English teachers from two state junior high schools. Data were analyzed using an error-analysis framework, comparing students’ pronunciation with a standard phonemic reference. The findings show that the most frequent errors occur in consonants absent from the Sundanese-Indonesian sound system (such as /θ/, /ð/, /v/, /ʒ/), reduction of final consonant clusters, diphthong simplification, and a stress pattern influenced by the learners’ native speech rhythm. The main contributing factors include first-language phonological transfer, spelling-based mispronunciation, and limited explicit pronunciation instruction in the classroom.

Wayground-Based Learning for ESP: Improving Chemistry Students' English Vocabulary and Learning Motivation

2026-09-01T04:43:34+00:00

Vocabulary mastery remains one of the most persistent obstacles for students learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in technical fields such as Chemistry, where dense, Latinate terminology and low intrinsic motivation frequently discourage active engagement. This study investigated the effect of Wayground (formerly Quizizz), a gamified digital learning platform, on the English vocabulary achievement and learning motivation of first-year Chemistry students enrolled in an ESP course. A quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group was employed, involving 29 students divided into an experimental group 15 students, taught chemistry-related vocabulary through Wayground-based quizzes and games, and a control group 14 students, taught through conventional print-based drills. Data were collected using a vocabulary achievement test and a learning motivation questionnaire adapted from the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) model, administered as pretest and post-test. The results of independent-sample and paired-sample t-tests revealed that the experimental group achieved significantly higher vocabulary post-test scores (M = 79.6, SD = 6.5) than the control group (M = 65.3, SD = 7.9), t(27) = 6.10, p < .001, with a large effect size (d = 1.85). Learning motivation also increased more substantially in the experimental group, particularly in the Attention and Satisfaction dimensions. These findings suggest that Wayground's game-based, immediate-feedback features can meaningfully enhance both lexical acquisition and affective engagement among ESP learners in technical disciplines, and they offer pedagogical implications for integrating gamified platforms into ESP vocabulary instruction.