The use of critical thinking skills among university ESL students

This research was undertaken to measure the critical thinking ability of university ESL students and to determine the relationship between critical thinking ability and the (1) English language ability; (2) fields of study (or major); and (3) academic performance. The Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X (CCTTX) developed by Ennis and Millman (1985) was used to determine the students’ critical thinking level and a questionnaire was administered to obtain other relevant data i.e. students’ English language ability, fields of study and academic performance. The respondents involved in the study were two hundred and sixty-one public university students in Pahang. The students’ CCTTX were marked and scores were given. Association between students’ critical thinking ability and English language ability, fields of study and academic performance were analysed via one-way analysis of variance using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version X (SPSS-X). The findings revealed that the overall scores obtained by the students in CCTTX test were low. There was a significant difference in the critical thinking scores with the students’ language ability. However, there were no significant differences recorded between the students’ CCTTX scores and their fields of study and academic performance. The implications of the findings for the English Language Curriculum were elaborated and relevant recommendations were made

Hand related injury accident trend in metal fabrication industry

The aim of this paper is to obtain the trend of accident related to hand injury in the Production Department of Metal Fabrication Process company located in south peninsular Malaysia. Accident data being obtained from year 2008 until 2012 showed an increment numbers of accident involving hand. In year 2008 the rate is 36.3%, year 2009 is 30%, year 2010 is 37.5%, year 2011 is 33.3% and year 2012 is 37.5%. Site survey has been conducted to assess the hazards contributed to hand injury from the metal fabrication activities being carried out. The hazards to be assessed were categorized into two factors which is Safety Factor and Ergonomic Risk Factor. The overall data results are discussed and compiled to obtain the hand related injury accident trend in metal fabrication process

The use of interactional metadiscourse in the construction of gender identities among Malaysian ESL learners

The study investigates how interactional metadiscourse resources are used to articulate and construct gender identity among ESL learners in Malaysia. The main purpose of the study is to provide language practitioners with empirical data of how gender is projected in the academic writings of ESL learners and to what extent learners’ writings are affected by their gender. The data can then be utilised for the design and development of more effective academic writing courses in Malaysia. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed on the similarities and differences in the use of interactional metadiscourse resources, namely; hedges, boosters, attitude markers, engagement markers and self mentions between male and female ESL learners involved in the study. The findings of the quantitative analyses show no obvious differences in the writing style of female and male writers in the study, while the qualitative findings reveal slight differences in the way writers position themselves in the reader/writer interaction and in the expression of agreement statement

Improving Environmental Performance of the Muslim World: Evidence from Affluent Countries

Both the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds have a shared commitment to mitigate environmental degradation and repair already degraded areas. However, not much has been said about the good environmental performance of the affluent states of the Muslim world. This study uses the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) produced by the University of Yale to analyse how to design better strategies for the upper-middle income (UMIE) and high-income Muslim countries (HIE) when dealing with their environmental performance. This study proposes that the choice of strategy should depend on the environmental and political economy of the countries, the status and ranking of their environmental performance, and an openness to learning from the successes of the environmental foreign policy successes of other affluent Muslim countries. Keywords: Environmental performance, Environmental degradation, Environmental foreign policy, Energy JEL Classifications: O13, Q, Q56 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.778

Lexical verbs in verb-noun collocations : empirical evidence from a Malay ESL learner corpus

Previous studies have shown that verbs are indeed one of the essential lexical items that seem to dominate a text. At tertiary levels, learners are often presented with a list of verbs that are essential for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses such as academic writing. However, it is believed that the learning and teaching of these verbs goes far beyond the lists of EAP verbs. This is because knowledge of lexical verbs entails not only the knowledge of grammatical structures, but also the knowledge of semantic and syntactic structures. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how commonly used lexical verbs are used in learner writing in the perspectives of grammatical, semantic and syntactic features of verb-noun collocations. To achieve this, a corpus-based study using WordSmith Tools was employed on a learner corpus of Malay ESL learners to identify most-commonly used lexical verbs. These verbs were further given a linguistic analysis using a phraseological-based approach. The findings revealed that the use of transitive verbs led to several occurrences of verb-noun collocations and that the phraseological patterns of these verbs are bound by both lexical and grammatical patterns. This leads to the conclusion that the teaching of lexical verbs, specifically Verb-Noun collocations in academic writing should not only include the semantic elements, but also the syntactical elements of the verbs. It is then recommended that a lesson on lexical verbs should incorporate the teaching and learning of both lexis and grammar

Effectiveness of wetland interpretation in affecting school children's attitude towards scratching of trees

Scratching or carving on trees by visitors is a common depreciative behaviour in most recreational forest. Besides spoiling the tree's beauty, damaging its wood, causing infection, thwarting tree's growth or even causing its death, scratch marks on trees will potentially make visitors feel angry and uneasy. Wetlands Environmental Interpretation Program (WEIP) was designed by the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) to tackle this problem. About 72 fifth graders of two approximately similar classes from a National Primary School in FRIM were participants of an experiment. The effects of WEIP on the children's attitude towards depreciative behaviour were investigated. A self-administered questionnaire was given in situ to both the intervention and control groups. The respondents' behaviours were monitored for depreciative behaviours. The results revealed that interpretive learning experiences positively affected the school children's attitude towards scratching on trees. The message conveyed through environmental interpretative learning experiences could help resource managers in curtailing depreciative behaviours by influencing human attitude on the negative acts on flora, fauna, human and the environment

Human error knowledge management framework in major hazard accident prevention

The purpose of this study was to investigate the need for Knowledge Management (KM) and its link with Human Error (HE) that leads to major hazard accidents with single or multiple fatalities. To date, the majority of major accidents were because HE is including those in the oil and gas industry, either at offshore or onshore worksites. The aim of this study was to develop a KM framework integrated with HE which can be used to prevent, minimise or reduce major accidents among the oil and gas industry players in offshore and onshore installations. Objective: The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the critical success factors for KM framework based on HE elements, (2) to develop and validate an integrated framework that integrates KM and HE to prevent major accidents and (3) to determine the HE factors that contribute to major hazard accidents. Based on the literature review, a research methodology for KM and HE in major accident prevention in oil and gas installations was developed. Besides, the most suitable types of KM, the effectiveness of KM in offshore installations and the best method of sharing the outcome from KM in oil and gas installations were also determined. Results: The results and findings of the analysis of the secondary data, the cross-sectional survey questionnaire and the interview data on the view of the Company and Contractors which were among the primary data of the research were presented. The relevant and related research questions were included in the questionnaire. The results and the conclusions were based on the analysis of the feedback from the selected respondents using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. Conclusion: Possible result of developing KM framework implementation in OSH and integrating HE to prevent major accidents in oil and gas installations. The relationships between KM and HE that contributed to major accidents in the oil and gas industry and the elements of health and safety practices were examined in this study. The finding revealed that HE is the significant factor behind the major accidents in the installations at offshore facilities and the overall health and safety performance. Critical success factors such as organisation, leadership roles, transfer of knowledge, and learning and sharing in major accident prevention are more of an outcome of the relationship between HE and the major accidents in the oil and gas industry. On the other hand, lack of understanding, resistance to change and lack of management commitment within the organisation, especially the OSH management were identified as the barriers in implementing KM frameworks. Most of the barriers are well taken care of by the management to overcome and ensure the success of the implementation process in the company. Recommendations for future studies and the prevention methods to improve health and safety management in the oil and gas industry to improve safety and security in the workplace, either within or outside Malaysia, were included