A varied dialect within a multilingual country might emerge as a phenomenon where the people speak the same language but still can’t understand what other people say from another area. For instance, the Javanese people who live in the Special Region of Yogyakarta and East Java speak and hold Javanese culture. However, they might be confused or clueless about what the listener says in a conversation. Thanks to the language variation that brought so-called dialect.

Dialectology, a linguistics study focusing on how language differs based on geography and social factors, comes to assist in answering the question. In this case, 14 students from dialectology class attempted to study vocabulary (words or phrases) variation specific to certain regions. They went to Jombang, East Java on May 10-11, 2024, to find the vocabulary variation of the Javanese language.

“There are 14 students in our class and they spread into 5 groups. Each group went to different sub-districts, which were Perak, Wonosalam, Diwek, and Peterongan. We brought 200 Swadesh word lists to find out the changes from the Javanese standard by interviewing an informant in each sub-district,” Eduar explained. Those sub-districts were chosen based on their hypothesis. “Diwek and Perak are in the west of Jombang, so we predict that the people still use the Mataraman dialect while Wonosalam and Petarongan are in the east. Thus, the people are most likely to use the Surabayanan dialect,” Dina added. From the data gathered, they compared and mapped the changes.

The students said that this field trip was a priceless experience. It gave a clear picture of how a linguist collects the data such as planning the program, coordinating with the locals, and interacting as well as interviewing them. “It was fun and always be a valuable experience for me. As a Javanese native speaker, I learned a lot from this experience. For instance, I didn’t know that the word kenceng means lurus (go straight on) in their dialect. All I know kenceng is banter or kencang (fast). It, of course, enhances my knowledge,” Dinda illustrated what she felt.

“I think it would be fantastic if we could continue to hold field trips like this in the future. We learned a lot. I hope the department, the faculty, or the parties involved will always support this sort of activity,” said Ningrum.

On Saturday, May 4th, 2024, the anthropology linguistics class held a field trip to Cilacap in order to get to know the locals, in particular the people who live in the coastal area. Approximately 65 students joined the field trip. They were divided into two classes, which were Class A and Class B. Class A focused on the people and the place around Teluk Penyu Beach such as how people communicate in a particular situation and the toponym around the town. Meanwhile, class B tried to picture the people and its culture. For instance, some groups observed how the locals present their gratitude through sedekah laut and how the people who are fishermen use the equipment, particularly the people in Tegalkamulyan village.

“We were intrigued by the event that they called sedekah laut, a special event only held by people in Cilacap,” said Fandi, a student from class B. He further explained that people in Cilacap deliver their gratitude towards the Almighty by serving some offerings. “ We were dumbfounded that they use more than 100 kinds of things as the offering where each symbolizes a certain idea,” Fandi stated.

Another group from class B tried to describe the equipment used by the local fishermen where they discovered that naming the equipment based on its appearance such as its size and its shape. A similar topic also was discussed by a group from class A. Auna explained that his group tried to illustrate the toponym around the town. On the other hand, Dila and her group took ethnographic communication to observe the interaction between fish traders and the buyers in TPI (Fish Auction Place). “We should’ve visited the TPI but unfortunately we came a little bit too late and the weather wasn’t that good which made them close the TPI. However, we still got the data in particular about the type of communication by interviewing several fishermen,” Lova added.

This field trip was initiated to implement what the students have learned in class and also to get more information from the experts as Dr. Suhandano delivered his remarks to officially open the activity. “The field trip was fun and insightful. We didn’t not only learn about the linguistics aspect but also tried to dig deeper to understand the culture that will enhance the analysis,” Ulfa said.

This field trip was held in cooperation between the Master’s Program in Linguistics and the fishermen organization, Himpunan Nelayan Seluruh Indonesia Kabupaten Cilacap. “We do hope that such an activity like this will always be conducted. It gave us the real picture of being a researcher and also created a strong collaboration with organizations and the people,” said Imam.

The Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, on Thursday, May 30, 2024, provided training to students, especially the 2023 linguistics master study program on academic writing. The activity was held at the Auditorium of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, and was opened by remarks from the Head of the Linguistics Master Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM, Dr. Suhandano. He also introduced the speakers and activities that would be delivered by the speakers to students. He expressed his gratitude to the speakers who had been willing to share their knowledge. In addition, he also gave advice to students about the importance of this activity to support academic careers, especially the requirements for thesis exams so that students must take a lot of knowledge from these activities.

The first speaker at the Academic writing workshop was Dr. Badli Esham Ahmad. He conveyed the importance of publishing journals for master students and shared tips on choosing journals to be published, namely as follows: Journals that match the theme of the article, be careful with predatory journals, and the need to pay attention to the open access offered by the journal, whether it is paid or not, what the index of the journal is, and how the review process is. In publishing a journal, what needs to be done first is to complete the journal article first, then search and find a suitable journal as a place for publication of the journal article. After finding a suitable journal, make sure the topic, theme, and scope are appropriate, follow the journal’s provisions, and can also send an email to the editor to ensure the topic or theme of the journal article matches the scope requested by the journal.

The second speaker was Prof. Madya Dr. Kamisah Binti Ariffin (S.A.P.). She motivated the students to stay in the process of writing and publishing journals. Her tips were that first, in choosing the title (topic) of the article, we need to see something that is still less researched on the topic, so that the topic will be interesting and unique, different from the research that has been done. Second, we can search for previous research related to the topic through Google to find out the gaps that are still under-researched from the topic. Third, we must look at the scope of a journal, find the appropriate one, and follow the writing guidelines. The event was closed by handing over souvenirs from the Head of the UGM Master of Linguistics Study Program and a group photo.

Through assistive technology devices and special learning software, students can access learning materials more easily and effectively. This ensures that no student is left behind in the quest for quality education for all.

Technology also has great potential in supporting and advancing education at various levels, and can contribute to achieving various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) collaborated with FIB Gadjah Mada University (UGM) on Wednesday, January 31 2024, introduced a learning tool called LASSI as an assessment tool design in the form of a survey format used to identify areas of strength and areas which requires improvement in students’ study habits and attitudes toward learning.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kamisah Arifin in the discussion forum explained that through a research plan entitled “Utilising Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) as a Predictive Tool for Strategic Prediction of ESL/EFL Student Performance”, there are 9 components in the assessment in LASSI to identify learning problems that arise faced by students include, Self-Regulation, Study Aids, Motivation, and Time Management. Then in this research it is hoped that LASSI can be used to assess the effectiveness as a predictive tool for ESL/ EFL student performance, as well as identifying the key factors and study strategies measured that correlate most strongly with ESL/ EFL student success.

Furthermore, there are various responses from Dr. Suhandano, Dr. Sailal Arimi, Dr. Ni Gusti Ayu Roselani and other FIB lecturers regarding the use of LASSI which might be implemented in various language teaching, not only English but Indonesian, Javanese and so on.

A joint research plan between UiTM and FIB UGM through other fields of Linguistics such as Sociolinguistics and Corpus Linguistics was formulated to examine more deeply the discourses in Indonesian and Malaysian News relating to the environment and language variations. This is an example of collaboration between educational institutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are in accordance with the 4th pillar, namely quality education to strengthen solidarity and partnership.