CRITICAL REVIEW OF A JOURNAL ARTICLE

By FAJAR AMINULLAH

Source

Almurashi, W. A. (2016, April). The Effective Use of Youtube Videos for Teaching English
Language in Classrooms as Supplementary Material At Taibah University in Alula.
International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research, IV, 32-47.

Introduction

This review critically analyses the article The Effective Use of Youtube Videos for Teaching
English Language in Classrooms as Supplementary Material At Taibah University in Alula in
The International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research volume IV
published in April 2016. Firstly, this review will begin with summarising the article.
Secondly, it will analyse the articles structure and investigate how the information is
presented. Thirdly, this review will point out the strengths and weaknesses of the research. At
the end of the review will also be offered some suggestions for future research.

Article Summary

The purpose of the study is to shed light on a new mode of teaching English courses and
examine the effective use of Youtube videos for teaching English language in classrooms as
supplementary material. The study focuses on the using of Youtube as supplementary
material, the learners and also the lectures and teachers. The subjects of the research were 53
learners studying the English language at Taibah University in Alula: 30 learners from group
A and 23 learners from group B. The data were collected through interviews and online
survey. The findings show that the use of Youtube in teaching English language plays a
leading role in helping learners to understand their English lesson. In other words, Youtube
presented a substantial influence on students understanding of English.

Article Structure

The author organised the article well but the methodology was not written in separate section.
This article included the information about the research method in a section named The
study plan.

This article was introduced with an abstract, which provided a clear stance on the purpose of
the research conducted by the author. The findings and recommendation are also outlined
clearly. But the method used in the research was not clearly written in this abstract.

The introduction section was started with the decription of the general fact in which
technology plays a vital role in societies and can offer learners many online materials, such as
websites for learning. The study objectives and rationale were clearly stated in separate
subsections.
In this article, the literature review cited studies related to the using of videos and Youtube in
education field. The author cited studies by Rice et al (2011), Wu et al (2002), Whithaus and
Neff (2006), Bonk (2009), Terantino (2011), Kwan et al (2008), Berk (2009), Seilstad (2012),
and Prensky (2009).

The methodology was not clearly presented in the article. The study used both qualitative and
quantitative method but there was no information about why those methods were both
chosen. Though, the author indeed explained the aspect of sampling and data collecting. The
participant were also described clearly.

The results or findings of the study were presented clearly and supported with the existence
of graphs from two data, which are the interview and the survey data.

The discussion of this study provided the analysis on the interview results and the survey
feedback from the learners. The analysis was not presented in balanced manner. The author
mostly discussed the strengths of the results. after finished with the analysis, the author
pointed out the validation of his conclusions and also mentioned one previous study which
found the similar results. but the author did not reccommend ways in which current research
could be improved.

The conclusions were developed towards the end of the article. It already covered the
implications of the study and the practical significance of the research was emphasised.

Article critique

This article ; The Effective Use of Youtube Videos for Teaching English Language in
Classrooms as Supplementary Material At Taibah University in Alula in The International
Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research was published by the European Centre
for Research, Training and Development (ECRTD), UK. Every journal published from this
institution has been reviewed by at least six professors from around the world who joined as
the member of European Centre for Research, Training and Development. Therefore it is
very reliable and accurate.

The source of the information in the article can be considered as a current research project. It
was also backed up by a supportive and comprehensive reference list in which all of them are
relevant with the topic discussed in the article.

The journal was published in April 2016. The content described in this article was current and
the article cites up-to-date references in the body of the text.

As a whole, the issue about using Youtube as a supplementary material is still up to this date,
therefore this article is beneficial in helping other researchers to develop similar research.

REFERENCE

Almurashi, W. A. (2016, April). The Effective Use of Youtube Videos for Teaching English
Language in Classrooms as Supplementary Material At Taibah University in Alula.
International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research, IV, 32-47.