3 research outputs found
A case study of the integration of ICT in teaching and learning in a smart school in Sabah
This research investigates teachers’ views of their use of ICT in teaching and learning (T&LICT). The objective of this research was to study in depth the thoughts, beliefs and opinions of the teachers’ attempt towards pedagogical
improvement as part of the Smart School Project. Specifically this research examines and describes the teachers’ implementation of T&LICT in the classroom in terms of the instructional practice, the instructional roles and the instructional environment. A case study research methodology is employed. The case is Sekolah Menengah Bestari (a psuedonym), which is a Smart School in Sabah. Analysis of data from 52 survey questionnaires
complemented the qualitative data from the 13 interviews and 3 observations, as well as document analysis. Findings indicated that hardware and software technology infrastructure were available to support the T&LICT
implementation. Nevertheless, the teachers felt it was not enough to implement T&LICT effectively. It was estimated that about half of Sekolah Menengah Bestari staff, mainly Bestari and ETeMS teachers, implemented T&LICT. Findings indicated that teacher practices were little changed. IT was used mainly to support the existing teacher-directed and teacher-centered approach. The role of the teacher extended to that of facilitating without releasing control of lesson to the students
Embedded and Direct Metacognitive Strategy Instruction and its Effects on the Metacognitive Awareness of Tertiary Level Malaysian ESL Listeners
This small-scale quasi-experimental study compared the effects of metacognitive strategy
instruction using two pedagogical approaches on the metacognitive awareness of Malaysian ESL
listeners. Embedded and direct strategy instruction was delivered using the Metacognitive
Pedagogical Sequence and Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach instructional models
respectively. 45 tertiary level students were randomly selected and assigned to two treatment groups
to receive metacognitive instruction over a training period of five weeks. Paired-samples t-test
results on participants‟ metacognitive awareness, as measured using the Metacognitive Awareness
Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) were inclusive despite significant improvements in their IELTS
listening scores. No significant development was recorded in the overall MALQ scores but there
were significant changes in three out of the five metacognitive awareness factors. Results further
layered according to participants‟ listening proficiency levels (low, intermediate and high) to
examine if differences existed among the listening levels similarly showed no significant difference.
These results suggest that ESL listeners‟ metacognitive awareness may not be easily developed with
strategy instruction, regardless of the instructional approaches
Relationship between Vocabulary Size and Reading Comprehension Levels of Malaysian Tertiary Students
This study investigated the relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension
performance among students in a tertiary institution in a Malaysian context and examined the
vocabulary size required for students to achieve reading comprehension at various levels of
proficiency. The research questions that guided this study were: 1) What is the vocabulary size of
second year diploma students studying Mass Communication?; 2) What is the reading
comprehension proficiency of second year diploma students studying Mass Communication?; and 3)
What vocabulary size is required for different levels of reading comprehension proficiency? This
study used the quantitative approach. The participants were 53 Malaysian second-year students at a
private university college in Malaysia who were reading for their Diploma in Mass Communication.
The instruments used were the Vocabulary Size Test and the IELTS Reading Test (Academic
Module). The findings showed that the average vocabulary size of the students was just over 6000
word families and this vocabulary size was generally insufficient for adequate reading
comprehension. Students needed an average vocabulary size of about 8000 word families to achieve
adequate reading comprehension and about 10000 word families to achieve proficient reading
comprehension. Based on the individual student’s performance, this study did not find a linear
relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension performance, nor was there a
threshold vocabulary size for adequate reading comprehension