Unravelling tertiary students’ ownership, usage, attitudes and preferences of mobile devices as tools for M-learning

Throughout educational institutions around the globe, mobile learning (M-learning) has become a growing field of practice and studies. The number of students that have access to mobile devices is also increasing from time to time. The purpose of this research is to determine the students’ present ownership and usage of mobile devices, find out the students’ attitudes towards the application of M-learning, and discover their preferences in the use of mobile devices for learning Academic English in future. A total of 164 students who enrolled in Academic English course from Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor (UTHM) had participated in the study. This research had deployed survey method and the data was obtained from a set of questionnaire. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software was used to analyze the data. The data was processed using descriptive statistics: frequencies, percentage, mean (M) and standard deviation (SD). The findings suggested that laptops and smartphones seem to be the devices being used by the students of this institution. The findings of this research also highlight that the students use mobile devices to conduct a wide-range of learning activities. To add, the results illustrate the encouraging opportunities in creating learning activities associated with mobile devices by the lecturers and institution

English Language Learning Beyond the Borders: Constructing E-Collaborative Learning between Students of Different Regions

The continuous claim about the unsatisfactory performance of Malaysian graduates during interviews and at workplace in relation to their communication skills in English is alarming. This raises questions about the extent to which future workforce is prepared for this globalised world which requires them to interact and collaborate with individuals not only from their own country but also from other countries. At higher learning institutions, many English language educators face challenges in creating language learning environment that supports intercultural communication. In preparing future workforce for international communication, English language teaching and learning needs to go beyond the four walls of a classroom, over to other regions. An alternative to provide such language learning environment is by designing e-collaborative learning that provides opportunities for language learners to learn the language with students from other countries in a meaningful way. This paper showcases the impacts of e-collaborative English language learning conducted between engineering students of one technical university in Malaysia and one higher learning institution in Bordeaux, France for about one semester. At the end of the semester, the students from both countries wrote a reflection of their experience. The data from the reflective writing were analysed using thematic analysis to highlight the impacts of the e-collaborative learning on students' intercultural communicative competence. This study highlights key considerations to structure e-collaborative language teaching and learning among students of different regions

Reading Habits and Attitudes Among University Students: A Review

Reading is the core element in the learning process. Reading habits and attitudes towards reading is one of the primary concerns in the field of education. A pattern of low reading habits and attitudes among university students is reported by researchers. This paper aims to review the latest literature on reading habits and attitudes among university students. The scope of this literature review was extracted from journal articles and electronic media on the subject of reading habits and attitude

Needs Analysis for Module Development of Communication Skills Based on Learning Styles for Vocational College Students

The purpose of this study is to identify the needs for the development of communication skills based on the learning style module for vocational college students. This study employed a quantitative approach of the survey study design. The respondents consisted of 109 communication skills lecturers at vocational colleges throughout Malaysia. Analysis of the study showed that the overall mean value for all three constructs; the problem (M=3.8441), knowledge (M=4.2058), and need (4.5811), were high. Meanwhile, the results of t-test showed no significant difference for all three constructs; problem [t (109) = 0.279; p = 0.718, (p> 0.05)], knowledge [t (109) = 1.222; p = 0.224, (p> 0.05)], and need [t (109) = 0.812; p = 0.419, (p> 0.05)] for gender. In conclusion, the development of this Communication Skills Based on Learning Style Module is proposed as a teaching aid to improve students' mastery of communication skills

A comparison between Malay and American responses to compliments in English

This investigation is pertaining to a comparison of compliment responses between Malay and American responses to compliments in English. The respondents of this research comprise of 10 Malays and 10 Americans; half of them are males and another half of the respondents are females, aged between 20 to 22 years old and currently, they are studying in a tertiary level. In the process of achieving the objectives of the study, the instruments used in this research were a set of Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and a number of interview questions. The findings suggest that there are a few similarities as well as differences of compliment responses produced by the Malay and the American respondents involved in this research. Moreover, the compliment response patterns produced by the two groups of respondents based on their gender have managed to be discovered in this investigation. Last but not least, this paper has also highlighted the underlying reasons for the choices of compliment responses produced by the respondents in the DCTs distributed to them earlier on which include social factors, the influence form mass-media, subject matters being complimented on, as well as their own belief

Keberkesanan kursus pengucapan awam terhadap kemahiran insaniah pelajar

Dikalangan pelajar kokurikulum di mana-mana IPTA di Malaysia, kemahiran Insaniah amat penting bagi mendepani zaman revolusi perindustrian 4.0. Oleh itu para pelajar perlu melengkapkan diri dengan 7 elemen Kemahiran Insaniah yang disarankan oleh kerajaan dalam setiap aktiviti kokurikulum yang ditawarkan di IPTA seperti kemahiran berkomunikasi, pemikiran kritis dan kemahiran menyelesaikan masalah, kemahiran kerja berpasukan, pembelajaran berterusan dan pengurusan maklumat, keusahawanan, moral dan etika profesional dan kemahiran kepimpinan. Ini bertujuan bagi membolehkan kebolehpasaran pelajar setelah bergraduasi kelak. Namun begitu, persoalan samada sejauh mana pelajar peka tentang pentingnya elemen kemahiran insaniah ini masih terbatas dan perlu ditekankan disetiap kursus yang ditawarkan di mana-mana IPTA di Malaysia. Kajian ini dilaksanakan untuk mengetahui tahap kesedaran pelajar tentang kepentingan kemahiran ini dikalangan pelajar Kursus Pengucapan Awam di Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) dan keberkesanan kursus ini dalam melahirkan pelajar berkemahiran insaniah. Seramai 50 orang responden dari kalangan pelajar yang mengikuti kursus ini dipilih untuk memberi maklumbalas terhadap kajian soal selidik yang dijalankan. Daripada jumlah tersebut, seramai 33 responden memberi maklumbalas yang jelas. Hasil kajiselidik menunjukkan kepekaan pelajar yang tinggi tentang elemen kemahiran insaniah yang diterapkan dalam kursus ini. Kepercayaan pelajar yang tinggi mengenai keberkesanan kemahiran insaniah dalam kursus pengucapan awam melalui aktiviti yang diterapkan juga menunjukkan pelajar yakin bahawa kursus ini dapat membantu mereka memenuhi aspirasi kerajaan untuk melahirkan pelajar serba boleh dan berinsaniah pada masa hadapan. Penambaikkan usaha dari segi aktiviti program juga perlu dilihat dari masa ke semasa bagi melahirkan pelajar yang lebih mahir, berketrampilan dan bercita-cita tinggi bagi menghadapi cabaran di alam pekerjaan dan kehidupan

Engineering undergraduates’ perspectives of effective platforms forpresentation in English

A good presentation skill has become a crucial ability for engineering undergraduates to master in order to perform well in academic domains as well as at work place. However, it has been noticed that engineering graduates lack in technical presentation skills especially in English due to which they are unable to find suitable jobs in the job market. Thus, this paper exploresthe perspectives of engineering undergraduates with regard to effective presentation skills that they prefer and find useful.This study investigated the perspectives of engineering undergraduates at a technical university in Malaysia. This paper presents the descriptive data that highlights the technology-based platform that engineering students preferred in conducting presentation. The paper also revealed the factors that were considered important for the engineering students in preparing effective slide presentation. A quantitative method was employed where a survey was conducted using a self-developed questionnaire using Google Form and distributed among the engineering students via WhatsApp. The data were collected and analyzed in relation to the research objectives by obtaining the percentage and tabulating according to the ranking identified.The results revealed that thepreferred technology-based platforms employed in presentation slide PowerPoint, Prezi and PowToon that have the useful characteristics for their perusals. The findings also highlighted the factors enhancing their understanding of the presentation slides such as the usage of pictures and animations by avoiding too wordy and information-cramped slides.The finding of this study can be utilized as recommendations to be included in the engineering curriculum to ensure that the engineering graduates become successfulprofessional presentersat the workplace