A genre analysis of Islamic academic research article introductions

This study explores the rhetorical organization of Islamic research article introductions based on Swales’ (1990) CARS (Create a Research Space) model. Based on the model, sixty Islamic research article introductions were analyzed in terms of the move structure and linguistic features that signal the use of the move. Findings show that most of the introductions contain all the moves prescribed by the model but the introductions that strictly follow the CARS Move structure is relatively small. This suggests that most of the introductions employ the rhetorical moves proposed by the CARS model, but deviate in terms of their organization

THE INTERACTIVE ROLES OF LEXICAL KNOWLEDGE AND READING STRATEGIES ON READING COMPREHENSION PERFORMANCE

This paper presents a study on the interactive roles of lexical knowledge and reading strategies on reading comprehension performance of ESL learners. It examines how the lexical knowledge or the reading strategies contribute to second language (L2) reading comprehension. It also investigates whether there is a relationship among the three main variables which are lexical knowledge, reading strategies and reading comprehension performance. The Survey of Reading Strategy (SORS), the Vocabulary Levels Test, a writing test and a reading comprehension test were administered to 70 students from the Public Administration Course through convenience sampling method. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the participants’ performance on the three tests and their reading strategies used as well as to assess the relationship between the three main variables of this study. On the whole, the participants reported using most of the reading strategies with high and moderate frequencies. Apart from that, it is found that, the students’ word mastery level is only 2,000 word families, which is far below the minimum level required for tertiary education. There is no correlation found between the reading strategies used and the reading comprehension achievement of the participants. On the other hand, a statistically significant relationship (r= .739, p<0.01) was found between the participants vocabulary size and reading comprehension performance. The findings of this study help both language teachers and students to acknowledge the roles of lexical knowledge and reading strategies in improving the L2 reading comprehension performance. Keywords: Global strategies, lexical knowledge, problem-solving strategies, reading strategies, support strategies. Cite as: Zuriyani, M. Y. & Mohamed Ismail, A. S. (2019). The interactive roles of lexical knowledge and reading strategies on reading comprehension performance. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(1), 273-299. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss1pp273-29

Language learning strategies of students in content-based instruction

This study investigates the learning strategies of students at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The study was mainly motivated by concerns about the standards of English of graduates of Malaysian universities. These concerns have also been expressed by the IIUM, one of the few universities in Malaysia using English as the medium of instruction. The primary objective of this research has been to identify what good language learners do to learn a second language. The study investigated frequency of strategy use according to type of courses (i.e. content-based versus non content-based), gender, and proficiency levels. There were 312 students taking English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. Their learning strategies were investigated through an analysis of their responses to Rebecca Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990), an instrument that has been validated in a number of studies. The study found that the students from the different degree programmes differed in the use of the six different strategies. The study also did not find any significant relationship between language learning strategies and gender

A corpus-based lexical study of the frequency, coverage and distribution of academic vocabulary in Islamic academic research articles

This corpus-based lexical study aimed to explore the use of words in Coxhead (2000) Academic Word List (AWL) in academic journal articles in the field of Islamic studies. Around 472,621 word corpus, called the Islamic Academic Research Articles (IARA) corpus, was created for this study. The corpus consisted of 66 research articles written in English that were published in more than 10 different Islamic academic journals. Authentic and academic research articles written on Islam, and from Islamic perspectives, covering a wide range of topics, were selected. The study found that the most frequent 317 AWL words which occurred in the IARA corpus was only 56% of Coxhead‟s AWL of 570 words. This finding points to the need for a special AWL for students. Findings suggest the need to produce field-specific academic word lists incorporating all frequent academic lexical items necessary for the expression of the rhetoric of the specific research area. Findings also revealed that some of the words which were found in the present study were not found in Coxhead‟s Academic Word List. This suggests that vocabulary needs of students in Islamic studies are characteristically different from those of students in other disciplines

Rhetorical style across cultures: an analysis of metadiscourse markers in academic writing of Thai and Malaysian students

It is believed that students from different societies and cultural background have their own preferred rhetorical style of interaction. In writing, such distinctive preference is usually exhibited through the use of linguistic features, of which metadiscourse (MD) markers are considered as one of the signposts to the interpretation of writing style preferences. This study aims to investigate the use of interactional metadiscourse (MD) features and its relevance to the rhetorical style preferences in academic writing of Thai and Malaysian master’s students. Using Hyland’s (2005) taxonomy, their thesis discussions were manually analysed in terms of interactional MD markers to determine their frequency of occurrence and to relate the results to the rhetorical styles of writing preferred by each group of students. The analysis revealed that of all five types of interactional MD features, hedges were the most frequently used device followed respectively by boosters, attitude markers, engagement marker and self-mention. In terms of the rhetorical style of writing, the frequency of MD features suggests that tentative and indirect statements, reader-responsibility, distant-relationship between writer and readers, and less writer-involvement in the texts were the preferred rhetorical styles of interaction of both Thai and Malaysian students. The writing conventions and rhetorical styles of the students can be explained from a sociocultural point of view that they are relevant to the oriental style of interaction from which both groups of students originated. The study draws attention to the pedagogical implications that students in Thai and Malaysia should be given more instructional focus on how to utilize MD features in making academic writing more persuasive and interactive

Patterns of negotiation of meaning routine in online forum discussion

This study examines a text-based, asynchronous online forum discussion among English language teacher trainers who were involved in a two-week online professional development course. It investigates the participants’ negotiation of meaning routine when they come across new content related item and describes the pattern of this negotiation of meaning routine. A textual analysis method, employing Smith’s (2003) expansion of Varonis and Gass Model (1985) for negotiation of meaning, was utilised to analyse the discussion threads. The analysis revealed that the participants did engage in negotiation of meaning and all the four negotiation of meaning steps (trigger, indicator, response and reply to response) were evident. It was also revealed that content triggers, local indicator, elaboration in responses and task appropriate response were frequently used. As the application of CMD for teaching and learning is increasing, findings of this study could inform educators about the kind of strategies that could enrich online interaction

The ambivalence of an Anglophile subject in Kam Raslan’s confessions of an old boy: The Dato’ Hamid Adventures

This paper focuses on ambivalence, a prominent concept in postcolonial studies and a recurrent theme in an anglophile subject in Kam Raslan’s novel, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato’ Hamid Adventures(2007). As a result of ambivalence, the anglophile subject feels alien in his perception of himself and also towards others. The subject is also ambivalent towards his own culture. Using this framework, this article focuses on Kam Raslan’s protagonist, Dato’ Hamid, as an ambivalent anglophile subject. The findings reveal that reverence for the English culture, coupled with a British colonial education is what gives rise to such characters. It is the British education that has indoctrinated English values into the native’s life. The admiration of the anglophile towards the “English” culture can be seen in many aspects, such as language, dress code, behaviour, relationships, lifestyle, etc. All these elements become traits and characteristics of the anglophile. The study reveals the adoption, adaptation and assimilation of English traits and characteristics by the anglophile subject which has caused a sense of ambivalence in his perception of himself and towards the “other.

Code-switching in English as a foreign language classroom: teachers’ attitudes

Code-switching has always been an intriguing phenomenon to sociolinguists. While the general attitude to it seems negative, people seem to code-switch quite frequently. Teachers of English as a foreign language too frequently claim that they do not like to code-switch in the language classroom for various reasons – many are of the opinion that only the target language should be used in the classroom. This study looks at the teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching in teaching English as a foreign language to Malay students at one of the local universities in Malaysia. Data was collected through observations, questionnaires and interviews. Each teacher was observed, their language use were recorded, transcribed and then analyzed using the functions proposed by Gumperz (1982). The results of the study showed that teachers do code-switch in the language classroom, despite their claim that they do not. Analysis of the data showed that, in most cases, code switching by teachers was done to serve pedagogical purposes

Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) in developing second language learners’ understanding of grammar / Rozina Abdul Ghani [Et. al]...

This paper presents findings to a case study on the use of ‘Throw Back Time’ (TBT), a digital game aimed at teaching grammar tenses and aspects via Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL). A quantitative study by means of a time series pre-test/post-tests single group design and survey were used as to see whether the game could improve learners’ understanding and knowledge of grammar tenses and aspects and also at gauging the learners’ perceptions towards MALL in learning grammar. The game is specially designed according to the Theory of Variation (Marton & Booth, 1997) that emphasizes that students understand, experience and think differently in a specific aspect of the world. As variations in the learning outcome are necessary, the game provides a variety of combinations and structures of grammatical aspects to expose students to different aspects from the object of learning. The application of this strategy in the digital game is part of a major research which aims at presenting empirical evidence of an innovative way to teach grammar. A digital board game suited to the students’ level of English can be an intriguing practice in the process of learning as the teaching and learning of grammar can be a daunting experience for learners and teachers alike. Thus, traditional methods must inevitably be on par with the advent of technology to complement the teaching of grammar and enhance the development of students’ knowledge of grammar