Preparing high school students for national exams like the Tes Kemampuan Akademik (TKA) is rarely an easy task, but English educators across Central Java are certainly not facing the challenge alone. On Saturday, July 4, 2026, twenty-five selected senior high school teachers gathered at the B8 Microteaching Room in the Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Semarang. Organized by the TEFLIN Central Java Chapter alongside English Education Study Program, Faculty Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Semarang, the Pengembangan Kompetensi Guru Bahasa Inggris (PKGBI) 2026 workshop focused on a goal: helping teachers confidently navigate the TKA Reading component.
The event opened with welcoming remarks from Prof. Dr. Issy Yuliasri, M.Pd., Coordinator of TEFLIN Central Java Chapter, who underscored the necessity of continuous learning amid shifting national curriculum standards. Following the opening, a dedicated team of resource speakers and trainers took the floor. Speakers Alief Noor Farida, S.Pd., M.Pd., Pasca Kalisa, S.Pd., M.A., M.Pd., Christianti Tri Hapsari, S.Pd., M.Pd., and Daud Jiwandono, S.Pd., M.A., M.Pd., from UNNES, together with Dr. Muhammad Rifqi from Universitas Dian Nuswantoro and an invited speaker from Universitas Sebelas Maret, Dr. Sri Haryati, S.Pd., M.Pd. shared practical insights to help bridge the gap between academic assessment theories and actual classroom practice.
Rather than sitting through passive lectures, participants spent the day deeply involved in interactive learning. The cohort—which included university lecturers from UIN Walisongo Semarang and Universitas PGRI Semarang, as well as high school teachers representing Salatiga, Semarang, Surakarta, Blora, Purwodadi, Pati, Jepara, and Purbalingga, analyzed various TKA Reading question structures, shared common classroom challenges, and explored actionable strategies to strengthen students’ critical reading abilities. The atmosphere inside the B8 Microteaching Room was electric with creative energy as educators from different institutions swapped teaching tips and jointly constructed TKA-standard assessment tasks.
The most exciting outcome of the day was a tangible resource created by the participants themselves. By combining their expertise, the teachers, lecturers, and trainers successfully built a brand-new TKA Reading question bank containing over 40 original test items, complete with answer keys. This newly minted collection will be shared to high school English teachers across the nation, offering immediate, practical support for daily classroom preparation.
Initiatives like PKGBI 2026 demonstrate TEFLIN Central Java’s unwavering dedication to fostering meaningful collaboration between university scholars and secondary school educators. By facing new assessment challenges together as a community, local teachers leave these sessions feeling thoroughly supported, highly inspired, and fully prepared to lead their students toward academic success.
