Coronavirus (COVID-19) Impacts on Malaysian Fisheries Sectors: Lesson Learned from the Movement Control Order (MCO)

Highlight Research • The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an increase in the price of marine resources and the income of coastal communities has been affected. • The government and the authorities need to come out with several incentives to control this condition and the request for fish markets can be met customarily without rising prices and declining marine resources. • Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) a body that has a direct link to the fishing industry needs to ensure that all fishermen's associations participate in the purchase and marketing of fishermen's catch. • Adaptation of fish producers will pave the way for all coastal communities to develop more organized fishing systems and sufficient food sources   Abstract COVID-19 has a significant impact on the fishery industry, economy, and food supply. The government of Malaysia imposes a Movement Control Order (MCO) to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection. Although the MCO implementation has benefits in terms of public health, it has affected the fishery industry and the livelihood of coastal communities in Malaysia. This study aimed to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fishery industry and their livelihoods during that period of calamity. Qualitative research and thematic analysis were employed to seek deeper information on the real situation that retards the fishing activities to the opt stage. COVID-19 has already revealed gaps in health care, the economy, and food systems. The findings obtained can provide recommendations to the government to provide initiatives to fishermen to help them maintain and improve their livelihood. However, this study has limitations as the number of respondents is relatively small due to the restrictions of movement allowed by the government. Future studies could be further enhanced in terms of the impact of COVID-19 after movement restrictions have been loosened and could use a quantitative approach to obtain significant data

Exploring Undergraduates’ Judgements on the Qualities of Corrective Feedback for English Pronunciation Errors

The present study is an investigative work to examine learners’ judgements on some proposed error correction methods, in connection with mispronounced English words. Learners are to evaluate the qualities of six different types of correction approaches, in terms of ‘embarrassment’, ‘comprehensibility’ and ‘effectiveness’ through a set of 36 error-correcting-act video clips representing the six correction types. A set of corresponding questionnaire survey in exploring respondents’ insights was administered. Comparisons by their learning experience (year) and environment (institution) were carried out to study any effect on their judgements. The results of the survey conducted on 88 undergraduate students revealed that the respondents seem to share the same pattern of observations despite their learning experience and types of higher institutions. They have concern on the aspect of ‘embarrassment’ in relation to all corrective feedback types except for Repetition and Clarification Requests which are more communicative in their approach

Exploring Undergraduates’ Judgements on the Qualities of Corrective Feedback for English Pronunciation Errors

The present study is an investigative work to examine learners’ judgements on some proposed error correction methods, in connection with mispronounced English words. Learners are to evaluate the qualities of six different types of correction approaches, in terms of ‘embarrassment’, ‘comprehensibility’ and ‘effectiveness’ through a set of 36 error-correcting-act video clips representing the six correction types. A set of corresponding questionnaire survey in exploring respondents’ insights was administered. Comparisons by their learning experience (year) and environment (institution) were carried out to study any effect on their judgements. The results of the survey conducted on 88 undergraduate students revealed that the respondents seem to share the same pattern of observations despite their learning experience and types of higher institutions. They have concern on the aspect of ‘embarrassment’ in relation to all corrective feedback types except for Repetition and Clarification Requests which are more communicative in their approach

Investigating the business performance on the financial well-being of the Government retirees

Population ageing; where there is growth in the percentage of older persons in the population; is becoming a worldwide phenomenon due to better healthcare and lower birth rates. The phenomenon of population ageing brings with it both challenges and opportunities. The challenges of an ageing population include social, health and economic support of the elderly. Malaysia is recognizing the need to address this issue of financially supporting an ageing population. The purpose of the paper was to investigate the impact of business on the financial well-being (FWB) of the ageing, specifically the government retirees. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among retirees who were in business throughout Malaysia that employed a cross sectional design. Forty-one respondents were successfully interviewed. Statistical procedures for the analyses included descriptive analysis and a profile analysis using scatterplot on the perceived business performance vs financial well-being. The survey revealed that the majority of the respondents operated business in the services, trade or retail industries which were set up and fully owned by themselves. Resource wise, the majority had very low financial capital, human capital and social capital. The study provides some empirical evidence that the retirees in business may be categorized into opportunity driven and necessity driven groups. The paper concludes that there is a need to find alternative income generation methods for the necessity driven group. Making paid work accessible to the elderly must be urgently put on the national agenda

THE MANDARIN ORAL MASTERY PROGRAMME AS PERCEIVED BY NON-NATIVE LEARNERS

Background and Purpose: Pinyin is required in learning Mandarin. The challenge of Romanised Pinyin is that learners must decipher the meaning of words based on the change of tone. Communication research is often conducted without accounting for the effects of the change of tone in learning a language. With the aim of avoiding miscommunication while strengthening awareness, Campus Buddies Programme was employed to provide tone practice for learners and consequently explores the effectiveness of the intervention.   Methodology: This quantitative classroom-based research gathered information through the administration of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to 32 Mandarin Level 1 learners identified through purposive sampling. The students studied five topics from the syllabus. A total of 10 native speakers who scored A in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) mentored the learners during the programme. The participants were instructed to answer both pre- and post-tests. Part A consists of demographic details, whereas Part B focuses on the effectiveness of questions and Part C consists of 30 questions of content learned by the respondents. The data were then analysed using SPSS 26 software.   Findings: The respondents demonstrated a positive response towards the programme and suggested further improvement ideas such as prolonging the training session and adding more topics and oral activities. The results implicated the programme as a motivator for oral fluency. Many non-native speakers can benefit from conversation with Mandarin native speakers because it is a strong indicator and sound oral mastery strategy.   Contributions: This research provides insights into the effectiveness of the current programme in motivating students’ oral learning. The outcome is essential in determining the Mandarin conversation strategy. More studies adopting different variables are proposed to explore correlations from different perspectives in order to improve students’ oral learning.   Keywords: Tonal pronunciation, native speakers, non-native speakers, foreign language instruction, Mandarin conversation.   Cite as: Chua, N. A., Soon, G. Y., Ibrahim, M. Y., Che Noh, C. H., Mansor, N. R., Embong Eusoff, A. M., Abdul Rashid, R., & Shen, M. (2022). The Mandarin oral mastery programme as perceived by non-native learners.  Journal of Nusantara Studies, 7(1), 1-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol7iss1pp1-2

Understanding the working primate: An ethogram of jon, a Southern Pig-Tailed Macaque - Macaca Nemestrina

A study of Southern Pig Tailed Macaque in human community was conducted in Kijal, Malaysia. The study aimed to document how this species responds to commands of performing one of the riskiest and most break-necking tasks, plucking coconut. An ethogram of Macaca Nemestina was constructed by characterising and defining the behavioral patterns of this species dealing with the task given. A series of observations amounting to 28 visits with a total of 52 hours (3120 minutes) was made. There were four phases of observation conducted starting from 15 August 2019 to 3 December 2019 between 0800 and 1700 hours. It was found that the monkey is a smart animal that managed to duly perform its duty based on few rudiment utterances of sound system/vocabulary and some other repetitious forms of non-verbal communication. The ethogram of the pig-tail macaque and its coconut plucking activity is presented here for the first time