SCHOOL-BASED ASSESSMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS IN MALAYSIA

The purpose of this study is to explore the implementation of School-Based Assessment among Physical Education teachers in Malaysian secondary schools. This study was based on the qualitative method using semi-structured interviews. For the purpose of this research, 16 (8 male and 8 female) Physical Education teachers were selected from 4 secondary schools located in Perlis, a state situated along the northern border of Malaysia. These schools are national schools which follow the national curriculum endorsed by the Malaysia Ministry of Education. Furthermore, the schools adopt the co-educational system. Based on the findings, the teachers mentioned that the administrators were not positioning the Physical Education (PE) subject as one of the main subjects in the school curriculum. The teachers have complained that not all of them are specialist teachers whereby most PE teachers in Malaysian secondary schools are not specialist teachers. Time allotment for a PE subject is two 40-minute lessons in a week. In the Malaysian education system, both teaching periods are shared by Physical Education and Health Education respectively. Furthermore, this subject is often debated because it seems to appear as a subject that needs to be taught in the curriculum without having a clear objective. Even though the objectives were already set by the Ministry, this subject remains unpopular because it is not included in the public examination. As a result, more measures need to be taken to ensure that the implementation of Physical Education subject can be of more benefit to the student

Exploring the role of social and cultural factors in English language learning

In 1991, Malaysia launched the Vision 2020 agenda to create a time frame for achieving the status of a developed nation.English is considered an integral part of the Malaysian development process.In this regard, English language teaching and learning as a second language is a major national concern.However, the challenges of learning English as a second language are manifold, especially for secondary students from the lower socio-economic strata who live in rural communities.To date, an understanding of these challenges is generally confined to an individualist perspective.The argument in this research project is that a cognitive approach to second language learning whilst necessary is insufficient to significantly improve ESL outcomes for disadvantaged social groups in Malaysia.Thus, this research project presents evidence to support an innovative sociolinguistic paradigm for understanding the process of English language acquisition among Malaysian rural schoolchildren.This paradigm foregrounds the role of students’ environment for understanding, and responding successfully to, problems of underachievement in English by students from disadvantaged social groups in the classroom. The greater the congruence between the social and cultural practices outside the students’ homes with the practices valued in the English language classrooms, the higher the level of achievement among the students.The key concepts to map the dissonance or proximity between out of school practices and practices in the school are drawn from the works of Bourdieu,The data was collected primarily from year 10 students in a rural secondary school situated in northern Malaysia, that is, Kedah.A combination of questionnaires, individual interviews and focus group interviews were used to elicit data from students.In addition data was collected from teachers and administrators.Data was collected between April 2005 and December 2005, over a nine month period.Students were divided into two groups, that is, high achievers and low achievers in English, based on their performance in nationwide national examination for year nine students.The final data analysis comprised input from 205 student questionnaires, 26 individual student interviews, and three focus group interview

IMPLICATIONS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SEGAK TEST IN MALAYSIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

The implementation of an effective, comprehensive standardized assessment for Physical Education has seen several challenges that need to be investigated. This study investigated qualitatively the implications of the implementation of the SEGAK test.The major focus of the study was to explore teachers’ and students’ perspectives about the SEGAK test. Based on stratified random sampling in five schools, 10 Physical Education teachers and 20 students in a selected district in Malaysia participated in the study. Interview sessions were conducted in the schools and the information they gave was analysed thematically. The findings showed that teachers generally agreed that the SEGAK test will be more effective if it can be conducted by teachers who were specifically trained in the discipline. Many teachers were non-optionists and had to familiarize themselves with the SEGAK test and acquire skills regarding the field. Most of the teachers believed that there was a dire need for more teachers who were optionists as they could better perform the tasks of evaluation under SEGAK. The students mentioned that they were aware of the SEGAK test but did not fully understand its impact on them or the health benefits of taking part in the test. Based on the findings, the study suggests that there is a need for more trained and qualified teachers for Health and Physical Education. Future research could look at schools in other states in Malaysia as such findings would be more representative of the issues related to the implementation of the SEGAK test.&nbsp

Teachers’ knowledge and readiness towards implementation of school based assessment in secondary schools

School-Based Assessment (SBA) was implemented in Malaysian secondary schools in 2012.Since its implementation, teachers have faced several challenges to meet the aims and objectives of the School-Based Assessment.Based on these challenges this study aims to find the level of teachers’ knowledge and readiness towards the implementation of school-based assessment (SBA).The study was conducted in 15 daily secondary schools in the state of Kedah, which is situated in the northern part of Malaysia, bordering Thailand. 155 teachers were randomly selected from a total of 260 teachers.This study used 2 questionnaires to assess teachers’ knowledge and readiness to implement SBA.The questionnaire was adapted from Alabah (2012) which was designed to assess the teachers’ knowledge (30 items) and readiness (35 items) on Nigerian teachers’ perception of SBA.This questionnaire used a 4-point Likert-type scale with strongly disagree e to strongly agree. The findings provide evidence that the knowledge of the teachers in terms of 5 dimensions, that is, conducting SBA, bands in SBA, knowledge of evaluating SBA, SBA procedural knowledge and knowledge of implementation of SBA.The overall mean (3.27) for the level of teachers’ knowledge towards SBA shows that all the teachers agree that they have the knowledge about SBA. In terms of readiness, the mean (3.09) shows that all the teachers agree that they are ready to implement SBA.The comparison of the two means suggest that teachers have relatively more knowledge but are less ready to implement the SBA. The implication here is that teachers feel that their level of knowledge is not complete and more initiatives need to be taken by the educational authorities so that teachers are more confident of their level of readiness

Intercultural interaction experiences in a tertiary level institution in Malaysia

This paper aims to investigate intercultural interaction experiences of international students and local instructors in an institution of higher learning in Malaysia, namely, Universiti Utara Malaysia.The interaction experiences focus on verbal communication only.A qualitative approach was used to elicit information on verbal communication and the challenges faced by the participants involved, which were the Arab students and Malay instructors.Data was collected in 2010/2011.The findings show that there are challenges that both parties face when communicating verbally.The understanding of challenges faced by communicators in intercultural encounters may provide useful pointers for developing intercultural communication competence

Perception of Teachers Towards Media Usage in Teaching Mathematics in Secondary Schools

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the variables of teacher's perception towards the usage of media materials in teaching mathematics at secondary in the state of Perlis. This study also identifies the differences in teachers’ perception based on gender. A total of 181 mathematics teachers were involved. 71 (40%) male teachers and 110 (60%) female teachers participated in the study. The results of the study show that there is a positive significant relationship between the skill variables and facilities provided; skill and effectiveness of media material usage; facilities provided and effectiveness of media material usage; and facilities provided and problems faced. The results also show a negative significant relationship between the skill variables and problems faced and effectiveness of the usage of media materials and problems faced. The results of the study also indicate that there is a significant difference in perception between male and female teachers towards the use of media material in teaching mathematics. The male teachers’ perception is higher than female teachers. Through the findings, it is clear that the usage of media materials is important in the teaching of mathematics. Nevertheless, good planning is necessary before using media materials and these materials must be appropriate and relevant to the subject matter being taught. In this way, the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools will be more effective and efficient

What are the learning approaches applied by undergraduate students in English process writing based on gender?

The purpose of this study is to determine gender differences and type of learning approaches among Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) undergraduate students in English writing performance. The study involved 241 (32.8% male & 67.2% female) undergraduate students of UUM who were taking the Process Writing course. This study uses a Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) by Biggs, Kember, and Leung (2001).This instrument assesses how students in higher learning institutions approach learning.In addition, data was also obtained from students’ overall performance in the Process Writing course.The overall score for the Process Writing course was 67.58% in which female scores were above the average score while the scores for males were below the average. Overall, the vast majority of UUM undergraduate students apply the surface approach compared to the deep approach. For the surface approach learning, more students chose the surface strategy when compared to the surface motive.For the deep learning strategy, most students chose the deep strategy compared to the deep motive. Very few students used a combination of both approaches.In the context of English language writing, students need to have an intrinsic interest in what is being discussed for their writing activities.An intrinsic interest will help to make learning meaningful as in the deep learning approach.However, the findings provide evidence that most female students who applied the surface approach managed to score well in their overall performance in Process Writing

Using youtube to improveefl reading comprehension among vocational

In Thailand, YouTube has not been widely used for educational purposes especially in Narathiwat. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using YouTube on EFL reading comprehension among vocational students.A quasi-experimental design was adopted.Two groups of first year vocational students at Narathiwat Technical College were purposefully assigned to the experimental and the control groups.The instruments used in this study were pre-test and post-test. Students in the experimental group were taught reading comprehension using YouTube and the students in the control group were taught using conventional method.The results showed positive effects of using YouTube.Therefore, YouTube should be considered as an effective instructional tool for improving English reading comprehension and as an important teaching resource in English classrooms

Types of student errors in mathematical symbols, graphs and problem-solving

This study aims to identify the level of difficulty, discrimination and errors based on symbols, graphs and problem-solving in mathematics achievement.The participants consisted of 315 grade 10 students randomly selected from eight secondary day schools situated in the state of Kedah, Malaysia.The mathematics written test consisted of 15 open-ended items with five items each for symbols, graphs and problem-solving and all the items were analyzed using the difficulty and discrimination index.Semi-structured clinical interviews were also carried out among 20 selected students to identify the errors they had made in mathematics. In the content analysis, the descriptor code key was used to identify conceptual, careless, problem- solving and value errors.The findings showed that item 4 (Standard Form) of the symbols, item 6 (Linear Equation) of the graphs, and item 15 (Line & Plane in 3 Dimension) of the problem-solving was the most difficult item in mathematics.All of these items had a good discrimination as well as difficulty index. Content analysis showed that 52 (57%) students made conceptual errors, 22 (24%) made careless errors, 12 (13%) made problem-solving errors and 5 (6%) made value errors.The major reasons given for errors made were a lack of understanding, procedures being forgotten, negligence in transcribing information from the question, carelessness and guesswork. This study has implications for the student learning process and understanding graphs because graphs are widely used in daily life to manage, communicate and analyze information

English adverbial relative clauses: A new angle in the English as a foreign language classroom

Intralingual comparison in language learning is an effective teaching method, which introduces a new learning from what students have mastered to what they are going to learn. The study is to investigate the effects of applying intralingual comparison on the teaching of English adverbial relative clauses to Chinese Senior high school students. Data was collected utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods in a mixed method design. Data was gathered via experimental research (n=103) and semi-structured interview (n=12). The experimental group’s posttest scores improved statistically significantly after intervention. Research findings suggest that applying intralingual comparison in teaching could be considered as an effective teaching method in improving students’ performance on learning English adverbial relative clauses. Besides, students would have more active and positive attitudes toward learning adverbial relative clauses than the traditional teaching method