Coping with stress: Exploring the lived experiences of English teachers who persist in Malaysian rural schools

Teaching English as a second language is a long and complex undertaking, particularly when it is done in multilingual rural areas where English serves a limited purpose. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to shed light and describe the lived experiences of ten English teachers who persist in rural schools in Sabah, Malaysia. Data gleaned from in-depth interviews and observations and were thematically analyzed. The research questions captured teachers' perceptions of the existing teaching and learning environment, sources of stress and coping strategies through interviews and observations. The findings depicted that rural schools do not benefit from a conducive environment to support English teaching and learning due to the limited English environment, shortage of teaching resources and poor physical environment. The findings also revealed that dealing with low English proficiency (LEP) students was their main stressor in teaching English in rural schools, followed by students' disruptive behaviours, excessive workload and lack of support. To cope with the stress, teachers first evaluate and assess possible solutions through a stress appraisal process. The present study identified that the personal, social, professional, and institutional coping strategies were used by teachers to cope with stress faced. The findings have implications for the teaching of English in rural schools and could offer recommendations for changes in educational practices in which the authorities, school administrators and teachers could collaborate in improving English education in rural schools and thus students' learning, achievement, and school reputation

Urban-originated English Language Teachers Longevity : What Keeps Them in Rural Schools in Sabah?

The shortage of trained and qualified English language teachers in rural schools has always been a significant issue in Malaysia, particularly in Sabah, due to the higher proportion of rural areas. Various factors have been associated with teachers’ reluctance to serve in rural schools. Nevertheless, several urban-originated teachers are recorded to have shown persistence in serving rural schools. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons and contributing factors behind their long-term longevity in rural schools. The lived experiences of ten teachers were explored through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data gleaned were thematically analysed following Ryan and Bernard’s (2000) recommended procedures. Results suggest that even participating teachers work in a challenging English teaching environment; this has not been a sufficient drive for them to depart from rural schools. Their longevity is attributed to perceived social supports and students factor. Furthermore, a blended concept of positive emotions was remarked as a fuel-source of teachers’ long-term persistence in rural schools. The contributions and implications of the study are also discussed

Virtual Professional Communication Project Presentation: Examining Students’ Speaking Anxiety in a Malaysian Public University

ELS304 Professional Communication Exercise is a final semester course that the LG120 Diploma in English for Professional Communication students must complete before graduating and was offered for the first time in September 2020 via Open Distance Learning (ODL). For this, students are required to undertake a project that is related to their field of study and present it to a panel of examiners consisting of faculty lecturers and industry panel members. As carrying out the presentation in English was already stressful enough for the students, the presence of these external examiners could lead to a higher level of stress and anxiety. With this in mind, this study intends to examine the students’ perceptions of communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and anxiety during the final course presentation and whether the presence of these two additional factors, the ODL method and the inclusion of external examiners could cause communication apprehension on the part of the students that could lead to additional emotional pressure, fear and anxiety. The purposive sampling method was used to obtain responses from 63 final semester LG120 Diploma in English for Professional Communication students from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Melaka and Johor who had recently completed the ELS304 Professional Communication Exercise course and had gone through the online presentation involving external examiners. The instrument for this study was administered using Google Forms, which utilized a 5-point rating scale for three components categorized as Communication Apprehension, Fear of Negative Feedback and Test Anxiety. The findings revealed that this group of LG120 students who conducted the presentation of their final project via ODL and in the presence of industry panel members generally experienced a moderate to high level of anxiety. Several other conclusions were made based on the findings. Overall, this study has shown that, although the mode of this assessment was changed to ODL, similar anxiety factors in public speaking that affect students remained a constant presence

Virtual Professional Communication Project Presentation: Examining Students’ Speaking Anxiety in a Malaysian Public University

ELS304 Professional Communication Exercise is a final semester course that the LG120 Diploma in English for Professional Communication students must complete before graduating and was offered for the first time in September 2020 via Open Distance Learning (ODL). For this, students are required to undertake a project that is related to their field of study and present it to a panel of examiners consisting of faculty lecturers and industry panel members. As carrying out the presentation in English was already stressful enough for the students, the presence of these external examiners could lead to a higher level of stress and anxiety. With this in mind, this study intends to examine the students’ perceptions of communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and anxiety during the final course presentation and whether the presence of these two additional factors, the ODL method and the inclusion of external examiners could cause communication apprehension on the part of the students that could lead to additional emotional pressure, fear and anxiety. The purposive sampling method was used to obtain responses from 63 final semester LG120 Diploma in English for Professional Communication students from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Melaka and Johor who had recently completed the ELS304 Professional Communication Exercise course and had gone through the online presentation involving external examiners. The instrument for this study was administered using Google Forms, which utilized a 5-point rating scale for three components categorized as Communication Apprehension, Fear of Negative Feedback and Test Anxiety. The findings revealed that this group of LG120 students who conducted the presentation of their final project via ODL and in the presence of industry panel members generally experienced a moderate to high level of anxiety. Several other conclusions were made based on the findings. Overall, this study has shown that, although the mode of this assessment was changed to ODL, similar anxiety factors in public speaking that affect students remained a constant presence

TPACK Readiness among English-Language Lecturers for Open Distance Learning (ODL) Adoption in a Malaysian Public University

In the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis, the education domain all around the globe suddenly shifted to online/open distance learning (ODL) platforms. Despite decades of technological advancement in the fabric of education, it is progressively important to understand English-language lecturers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) readiness to adopt ODL. Generally, language-learning classes are conducted in the traditional physical setting. This is of great importance to investigate lecturers’ ability to integrate technology into teaching and learning, as it is a significant factor that affects online learning success. This quantitative case study aims to explore the TPACK readiness of English-language lecturers in one public university in Malaysia. Based on the TPACK model, an online survey was designed and administered to collect data among 143 English-language lecturers during the movement control order. Despite an immediate compulsory ODL deployment, the results indicate that the English-language lecturers’ TPACK readiness is progressive, and they are acquiescent and fairly receptive towards the ODL with efforts to overcome ODL challenges and stay positive. This, in turn, contributed to students’ positive performance. It is hoped that such information can offer some insights for ensuring positive impacts in tertiary educational teaching and learning practice