Many languages, whither literacy? Understanding the ontology of reading in linguistically-diverse contexts

The reading experience of those who are literate in more than one language is highly complex. This makes the reading experience a phenomenon that is not easily understood. Yet, in Malaysia’s education policy, reading goals are subsumed under language learning goals. Such implicit ways of assuming that literacy occurs through language learning not only overlooks any impact language learning may have on literacy practice but also undermines the fact that learning to read in a language is ontologically different from reading through all or any language. This paper discusses a part of an in-depth qualitative study which scrutinized the reading experiences of eight multiliterate Malaysian undergraduates studying in a British university in order to understand the difference between being literate in many languages and choosing to read through any one language. The contrast between multilingual Malaysia and monolingual England formed an important backdrop. In this study, the phenomenological interview and diary-writing were used as research methods to capture the participants’ past reading experience as Malaysian school students and as British university undergraduates. Phenomenographic analysis and discourse analysis were used to analyse the data. Findings from this study suggest that multilingual readers experience “language-ness” because of the specificities of multiple language learning. The phenomenon of language-ness then go on to influence the habituation and sustenance of reading choice across different languages. This paper suggests that as linguistically-diverse countries forge ahead to maintain its citizens’ linguistic abilities, they must not forget that linguistic capital alone cannot shape a nation. Semiotic capital which relates to meaning-making is also critical in shaping an informed nation. This study has important implications towards contemporary discourse about Literacies, language and the reading experience

Making Critical Connections: How to Apply the Analytic Guiding Frame (AGF) and Overall Guiding Frame (OGF) in Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative researchers often find data analysis to be challenging, thus resulting in a process of seeking out and conforming to ready-made analytical methods to substantiate the analyses. However, ready-made analytical methods do not necessarily fully fit with all or any data; instead qualitative methodologies and analysis require adaptations. In this paper, a practical 4-step analytic approach that applies a 2-part framework is proposed. The Analytic Guiding Frame (AGF) and Overall Guiding Frame (OGF) form a practical and theoretical platform for complicated analytic processes to occur. In this paper I describe how use of this approach enables qualitative researchers to make critically reflexive connections through an interrogation of their methodological and analytic decisions. Additionally, the audit trail that this approach provides helps justify the occurrence of an analytic shift

A Practical Application of Analytic Guiding Frame (AGF) and Overall Guiding Frame (OGF): An Illustration from Literacy Education

This paper illustrates how the Analytic Guiding Frame (AGF) and the Overall Guiding Frame (OGF) are applied when analytic shifts occur in qualitative data analysis. Analytic shifts mainly occur when a proposed analytical method is found to be not fully amenable for analysis because of the contextually-bound nature of qualitative data. In this paper, the illustration located in the field of literacy education revolves around how a methodological and analytical problem was confronted during the fieldwork/analysis stage of research and how analytic negotiations were made with the help of the AGF/OGF framework. From here, it is proposed that much more consideration on matters of epistemology, methodology, research objective and research questions in qualitative research must be made when the iterative process of qualitative data analysis takes place

The Attitudes of Primary Teacher Education Program Students Towards Utilizing Flipgrid in English Speaking Skill

This research was aimed at investigating the students’ attitudes of primary teacher education program (PTEP) towards utilizing Flipgrid in enhancing English speaking skill. The participants of this research were 60 students of PTEP in one of Muhammadiyah Universities located in Jakarta who attended an English course. The research used a mixed method to collect the quantitative and qualitative data to analyze. Thus, the instruments used were observation, questionnaire and semi-structure interview. The result showed that most of the students agreed to use Flipgrid in learning English speaking skill as this app had benefits and could motivate the students to practice speaking better as well as increased the students’ confidence. It is thus recommended that lecturers should be encouraged to use Flipgrid in English learning activity, mainly in speaking skill to boost the students to be more active to create videos and engage in interactions with lecturers and classmates mediated with video discussion forum.

An Investigation into the Critical Reading Skills of Engineering Students at 2 Private Universities in Malaysia and Vietnam

This study compares the critical reading proficiency of engineering students from two private institutions in Malaysia and Vietnam. It examines the degree to which PISAbased critical reading test scores of first- and final-year students vary. 182 engineering students, including 86 Malaysian and 96 Vietnamese undergraduates, were involved in this project. Descriptive and quantitative analyses were performed on the data. According to the findings, most students at two universities exhibited moderate critical reading skills. Moreover, the study’s outcomes revealed no substantial disparities between the critical reading levels of the final year Malaysian and Vietnamese students. By contrast, the performance of first-year students at two universities varied significantly on some test items. Some considerations regarding the selection of Western-based texts and the use of open-ended questions in the PISA reading test that might cause difficulties for Eastern students are also demonstrated in this study. Keywords: critical reading, Pisa 2018 reading assessment, engineering students, higher educatio

Research on prediction of slurry migration distance in aggregate stacking based on GA-PSO-BPNN algorithm

After the water inrush accident in coal mine tunnels, early-stage pouring of aggregate forms a high-resistance, low-permeability aggregate stacking, transforming the pipeline flow into percolation. In the later stage, grouting is carried out into the interior of the aggregate stacking, effectively accumulating and solidifying the cement slurry. Among these, whether the slurry can migrate over long distances and fill the voids inside the aggregate stacking is the critical determinant of the success or failure of sealing. To quantitatively analyze the migration distance of slurry inside the aggregate stacking after grouting, a single-hole grouting test platform was established, and an orthogonal experiment was designed with grouting pressure, water cement ratio, and aggregate stacking porosity as influencing factors. Based on 25 sets of experimental measurements, four neural network prediction models suitable for studying the slurry migration distance within the aggregate stacking were constructed separately as back propagation neural network (BPNN), genetic algorithm (GA) combined BPNN, particle swarm optimization (PSO) combined BPNN, and GA-PSO combined BPNN. Evaluation criteria such as Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Mean Square Error (MSE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and the coefficient of determination (R2) were used for comparative analysis of the calculation errors and prediction accuracy of each model. From the perspective of neural network prediction results, the weight value of each influencing factor was analyzed, and the ranking was as follows: grouting pressure > aggregate particle size > water cement ratio, with grouting pressure being the primary controlling factor. The study demonstrates that the GA-PSO-BP model exhibits the best prediction performance, with an average relative error of only 1.59% and an R² of 0.998. This neural network model overcomes issues such as slow learning and getting stuck in tricky spots in BP neural networks. The prediction model shows high accuracy and stability, enabling more effective and accurate prediction of slurry migration distances, making it worthy of dissemination and application. This study can improve safety measures by reducing waste, expediting disaster management efforts, and minimizing environmental hazards associated with mining incidents

Eliminating micro-porous layer from gas diffusion electrode for use in high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. In this work, we report a simple strategy to improve the performance of high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) by eliminating the micro-porous layer (MPL) from its gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs). Due to the absence of liquid water and the general use of high amount of catalyst, the MPL in a HT-PEMFC system works limitedly. Contrarily, the elimination of the MPL leads to an interlaced micropore/macropore composited structure in the catalyst layer (CL), which favors gas transport and catalyst utilization, resulting in a greatly improved single cell performance. At the normal working voltage (0.6 V), the current density of the GDE eliminated MPL reaches 0.29 A cm−2, and a maximum power density of 0.54 W cm−2 at 0.36 V is obtained, which are comparable to the best results yet reported for the HT-PEMFCs with similar Pt loading and operated using air. Furthermore, the MPL-free GDE maintains an excellent durability during a preliminary 1400 h HT-PEMFC operation, owing to its structure advantages, indicating the feasibility of this electrode for practical applications

The effect of reading literacy to mathematics comprehension of elementary school students in Indonesia and Malaysia

This article aims to measure the effects of reading literacy to mathematical comprehension of fifth grade elementary students both in Indonesia and Malaysia. This article used quasi-experiment with factorial design. Samples included 398 students that consisted of 173 elementary students in Indonesia and 216 elementary students in Malaysia. The data were taken by using three instruments: a test and three questionnaires. A test was used to assess the students’ mathematical comprehension. Meanwhile, the questionnaires were used to measure their reading literacy and motivation to study mathematics. They have been validated by two experts and estimated the reliability coefficient by using the Cronbach Alpha formula. Experts judged the instruments were valid based on the content validity. The reliability coefficient of all of the instruments was more than 0.5 so they were reliable. A descriptive statistical analysis was used to describe the data, while the analysis variant was used to examine the different mathematical comprehension levels of the students based on reading literacy and the motivation to study mathematics. The result showed that there is a difference in mathematical comprehension levels between students that have a high reading literacy level and those with a lower level. Besides that, this study also shows that there is a distinction in mathematical comprehension levels between students which have a higher motivation to study mathematics with students that have less motivation. This study concluded that reading literacy and the motivation to study mathematics have an effect toward mathematical comprehension ability of elementary students