Incorporating inter-cultural awareness in the teaching of business communication: The IIUM experience

Students of The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) come from many Islamic countries around the world. They are enrolled in different faculties including the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences. One of the compulsory courses for these students is The English for Occupational Purposes (EOP). It is meant for final year students (3 credit bearing) to equip them with the necessary skills before joining the workforce. Over the years, various approaches have been introduced and applied in ensuring that the best method is applied so that this course will be more meaningful and effective to the students. However, the course content only focuses on the communication skills in Business English without taking into account the different cultures of students who may have different business cultures back home. This study hence will look into the possibility of incorporating cultural awareness across context in the teaching and learning of English for Occupational Purposes and answering research questions related to culture, communication, teaching and learning. The qualitative methodology employing the interpretive analytical framework and case study are used in the 2-semester observations and interviews of the EOP students and lecturers. Findings are discussed with regard to the developmental theories of intercultural communication and the business communication aspects

Navigating Unchartered Waters with USSONAR to Build an Integrative MSKUS Curriculum for MCV Rheumatology Fellowship Program

Musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSKUS) is an increasingly popular tool for the rheumatologist and less than 50% of rheumatology fellowship programs in the United States have a defined formal curriculum. The objectives here are to develop a formal and novel MSKUS curriculum for MCV Rheumatology program using an evidence-based 8-step model for our curriculum development. Results of Stage 1, situational analysis, showed unanimous need for dedicated need for MSKUS curriculum. While still early in this project, we hope to complete the remainder of the Stages by the end of 2017

The effects of teacher feedback on multiple-draft compositions in ESL classrooms

Teacher feedback plays a significant role in helping ESL learners acquire the writing skills. However, many research findings indicated that feedback on single draft essays does not help ESL learners much in improving the essays because these learners do not have the opportunity to revise, rewrite, and resubmit their work. Therefore, this study aims at examining the effects of teacher feedback on ESL learners’ compositions in terms of content, language and organization by instituting the multiple draft procedure. The participants of this study wrote a first draft; revised it after getting the feedback on content and further revised it after receiving feedback on language. The findings showed that there were significant mean differences in the content, language, organization and the total marks when the second and the third drafts were compared to the first draft

On the other side of the table: Lessons from the administrator-cum-adult learner

This paper addresses the issue on the changing management and leadership roles of the school administrators as they participate in a tertiary learning program as adult learners. In the attempt to investigate the issue, a research using a self-developed questionnaire was distributed to a group of 36 headmasters/mistresses who were enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program in one of the local public universities. In specific, the investigation sought to discover the management and leadership challenges the respondents faced as adult learners participating in the tertiary learning program on a modular basis. Additionally, their strategies in coping with the reported challenges were sought. It was anticipated that the findings would lead to a better understanding of the adult learners who play two distinguished roles concurrently. The added value of this investigation is seen from the potential of discovering the administrators’ self- concept as both the administrator and adult learner. On top of that, it also uncovered the respondents’ attitudes towards learning and their ability to adapt in a new environment which also comprised the traditional learners. The findings of the investigation brought about various implications on the training of school administrators and adult education since the findings could help to illuminate the pattern in the school administrator-cum-adult learner’s educational management and leadership as they play the role of an administrator and adult learner

An investigation into the factors affecting second language learners’ classroom participation

This study was conducted to identify the second language learners' perceptions of their classroom participation. Factors influencing the learners' classroom participation were also examined. Besides, it also explored the lecturers' perceptions of the second language learners' participation in the classrooms. A group of 35 learners who enrolled in two classes and two lecturers who taught the classes were selected as the respondents of this study. The data for this study were obtained via questionnaires, observations, and interviews. The findings of this study show that a majority of the learners perceived that they were passive in classroom participation. This study also indicated the key factors restricting a majority of the learners' participation, which are affective, cognitive, cultural, learning strategies, and pedagogical factors. To be specific, students' fear of the lecturers' criticism towards their responses, anxiety, perception of the lecturers as the authority, reluctance to criticize their peers' opinions, fear of the lecturers' possibility of asking for elaboration, learning strategies, and the lecturers' teaching practices and personality significantly inhibited their participation. As for the lecturers, they perceived that the students were passive and the factors which may have caused the reticence are the learners' personality and their perceptions of their roles as universities students. Next, they reported that students' participation does not reflect their actual academic ability. The techniques used in stimulating learners' feedback were also identified. Pedagogical implications of this study and recommendations for future research were also made

Evidence of bank lending channel in Malaysia

The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of banks in the transmission of monetary policy and business cycle. This paper attempts to look into the assets side as a monetary policy channel to influence economic activities. Changes in the monetary policy channel give an idea to regulate and strengthen the banking industry. The different views raise the following questions: how do changes in the monetary policy transmission affect commercial banks portfolio? If bank lending plays as a monetary policy channel, does it affect the other portfolios? Do the current regulations (such as capital requirement)affect the bank portfolio behaviour? Furthermore, Generalise Least Squares method was used to estimate the monetary changes toward commercial banks portfolio. Annual data was compiled from the year 1994 until 2004. The number of observations was based on the combination of time series and cross-sectional data, which is known as pooled data. In addition, an unbalanced bank-level panel data set for commercial banks was used. Finally, our results found that there exists a bank-lending channel in the case of Malaysia

Motivasi Berprestasi Siswa Korban Perceraian

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menggambarkan motivasi berprestasi pada siswa korban perceraian di MAN 4 Aceh Timur dengan menggali aspek-aspek dari motivasi berprestasi dan faktor-faktor yang berkontribusi terhadap motivasi berprestasi pada siswa korban perceraian. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif deskriptif. Sebanyak lima responden dalam penelitian ini merupakan korban perceraian yang memiliki prestasi akademik dan non-akademik di sekolah. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa kelima responden memiliki keenam aspek motivasi berprestasi, yaitu: Tanggung Jawab, Kreativitas, Mempertimbangkan resiko pemilihan tugas, Memperhatikan umpan balik, Waktu penyelesaian tugas, dan Keinginan menjadi yang terbaik. Aspek Tanggung jawab ditandai dengan adanya komitmen, kerja sama, peran aktif, mampu menghadapi masalah, dan mandiri. Berikut merupakan rangkuman aspek tanggung jawab. Hasil penelitian juga menunjukan bahwa faktor intrinsik dan ekstrinsik mempengaruhi motivasi berprestasi pada kelima responden

Teachers’ perceptions of lessons using computer assisted language learning

The present study was designed to investigate the teachers’ perceptions of CALL lessons. The objectives of this study are to find out the problems faced by the teachers when conducting CALL lessons, to identify the perceptions teachers have on such lessons and also to investigate teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the lessons using CALL on students. Questionnaires were distributed to 16 teachers who are currently teaching English at secondary schools in Johor Bahru. The data collected were analyzed using qualitative data. The problems identified in using CALL lessons were problems with facilities and problems with teachers’ attitudes. However, teachers had positive perceptions of CALL lessons as it helps teachers to attract students’ attention in the classroom and CALL lessons promote enhanced language acquisition