Democratic vision of education: three scholars impacting the debates on vision of schooling

In the field of education, the debates on the purpose or vision of schooling are always engaged by educational scholars with strong passion and visionary views—provoking thoughts on educational objectives and changing instructional practices and concepts of learning. Among many, three of the main scholars in the debates on vision of schooling are John Dewey, Paolo Freire, and Lisa Delpit —whose works are always referred to and revered by those in the educational setting. The similarity that these scholars have is their democratic vision of education, i.e., the concepts of democracy in education, social justice, and equality. Their works have been referred to and argued for (and against) since their revelation up to now. Such as their impact, this article is a modest celebration of the lived realities of their ideas and further possibilities for their vision of democratic education. Many times educational debates in the purpose of schooling are not followed through or acted upon in educational policies, curricula, or instructional practices; however, they still impact the way people perceive and discuss about the purpose of education and vision of schooling—hence the future direction of education. As such, the impact the author is referring to is not in the actions taken upon such ideas (i.e., change of educational policies or reforms), but the ways in which scholars and reformers talk about and view education when debating about educational reform, instruction, curriculum, and ultimately the purpose of schooling. In addition, the focus on democratic vision of education promoted by these three scholars is important because the idea of democratic education is the essence to, and sustenance for, a democratic nation whose citizens are active and contributive to the society. In this conceptual paper, the author will briefly describe the essence of their ideas on the vision of schooling, the impact these three scholars have on debates within the education field, and tie the similarities in their ideas for a democratic vision of education

Idea sharing: process-based approach to writing in Malaysian English education

Malaysia strives to educate its people to be fluent in the English language, and as such the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) has introduced the process-based approach to writing from the early 1980s in school curricula and syllabi. Unfortunately, even from the inclusion of process-based approach to writing in Malaysian national curricula and syllabi, Malaysian students' writing performance in the national primary and secondary school examinations remains low. Concerns arise over the process-based approach, due to its lack of proper implementation in the English as a second language (ESL) writing instruction. This article provides a review of the studies conducted on the implementation of process-based approach in teaching ESL writing in Malaysian English education. It seeks to investigate the problems that have been reported to occur during the implementation of process-based approach in the ESL writing instruction in Malaysia. In order to address the concerns regarding process-based approach to writing and to avoid possible issues in the future concerning the implementation of process-based approach in ESL writing in Malaysia, the researchers believe it is important to truly understand the nature and goals of the process-based approach to writing. 318 | PASAA Vol. 58 July-December 2019 as such, the researchers call all educators in Malaysia to look for possible means to revive the process-based approach in the field of ESL writing

Effectiveness of project-based learning in improving listening competency among ESL learners at a Malaysian TVET college

Listening plays a fundamental role as the first basic skill in English language communication but the skill seems to be neglected in ESL research and classrooms. The limited published studies in the literature reporting on the teaching of listening and the lack of details in the existing studies warrant more attention in finding more effective strategies to teach listening. Thus, the quasiexperimental study sought to ascertain the effectiveness of using project-based learning (PjBL) activities as a teaching strategy in improving the listening competency of ESL learners in a Communicative English course. Data were gathered from 44 students after a 16-week study conducted at a Malaysian TVET college. A PjBL teaching module comprising a number of listening activities was used in the experimental group as a treatment while the control group was taught using the conventional teaching strategy. A listening competency test was administered as pre-test and post-test on both groups. Data were analysed using t-tests, ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test. The study found that the learners in the PjBL group significantly outperformed those in the control group in their listening competency and dialogue listening comprehension with a large effect size. The study is important to increase the understanding of teachers and practitioners in the area of teaching of listening in ESL classrooms

ESL students’ online and offline reading strategies: scrolling, clicking, flipping and reading / Izyani Mohamad Zaki, Fauziah Hassan and Abu Bakar Mohamed Razali

In this borderless world, computers and the Internet have become important tools of communication and learning and they have also become an important part of our lives. The opportunity to seek information through the computer has made reading an important language skill. Despite the importance of reading and technology, little research to date has been carried out to compare the reading strategies employed by readers when reading online compared to offline. Such studies are important because awareness of the similarities and differences on the strategies employed between these two modes of learning will enable teachers to help develop students’ reading ability. Hence, this study investigates if there is a difference between online and offline strategies used by second language readers. The participants in this study were ESL undergraduates at a university in Malaysia. The instrument employed was the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) (Sheorey and Mokhtari, 2001) and Online Survey of Register Strategies (OSORS) by Anderson (2003). These questionnaires tap three different types of information: global reading strategies, problem solving strategies, and support strategies. The results of the study are discussed in terms of their pedagogical implications in the L2 classroom

Effectiveness of online grammar checker to improve secondary students' English narrative essay writing

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a grammar checker application, i.e., Grammarly, has positive effects in the narrative writing of the secondary school students. In the Malaysian context of English language learning, the major difficulty that the students encounter would be writing and it has always been the reason why students cannot excel in the examination (Chuo, 2004). Thus, this study explores the effectiveness of Grammarly, a grammar checker computer application, in aiding secondary students’ narrative writing. The research is guided by the theories and principles of Vygotsky’s (1978) Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Knowles’ (1984) Self-Directed Learning approach. This study employs a quantitative research methodology, which is quasi experimental approach with non-equivalent control group design. Participants in this study were 60 form four students from two different classes in a public primary school in a state in western part of Peninsular Malaysia. They were divided equally into an experimental, and a control group and the students came from the same age group and English language, particularly English writing proficiency. The data was gathered for research through pre-and post-tests which were then analysed using paired sample T-Test. Continuous quantitative type of observation data (i.e., scores from writing exercises) was also obtained from their engagement with series of treatment using the Grammarly grammar checker application. The findings revealed that the grammar checker aids the narrative writing among the students in the experimental group, especially in sentence construction. The results of this study revealed that at P= .000 alpha level the grammar checker does aid in the writing of narrative essay among the Form 4 students, particularly on their use of correct grammar functions (namely subject-verb agreement, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation). The researchers call for more future research on the grammar checker as it holds opportunities for the students to progress in their narrative writing. Using grammar checkers might be a great shift from a traditional learning approach to a more independent self-directed learning approach among students

Malaysian rural secondary school students' attitudes towards learning English as a second language

Students' attitudes towards learning English as a second language is not a new issue, yet much is to be known about the factors that actually affect the students' attitudes, especially those who live in rural areas that are known to have poor perceptions towards as well as poor performance in learning the English language as compared to Malaysian students who live in urban areas. Using Spolsky's (1989) Model of Second Language Learning and Gardner's (1985) Second Language Acquisition Theory, this study examines rural Malaysian students' attitudes towards learning English as a second language. The main objective is to investigate the individual elements or factors influencing rural secondary school students' attitude towards learning the English language. By employing a case study approach, four students from two different grade levels in a rural secondary school were purposely selected and individually interviewed and observed in their learning environments. The data were analysed using within and cross case analyses as well as thematic analysis, in which the authors read and annotated interview transcripts, identified themes, developed a coding scheme and coded the data. The findings suggest that there were two most significant factors influencing the students' attitudes towards the learning of English; i) lessons not catered to students' proficiency levels and interests, and ii) students' individual reactions to negative and positive experiences

Pipeline problem: factors influencing the under representation of women in the top leadership positions of sport organisations

National Sport Associations, National and International Sport Federations and even the International Olympic Committee continue to struggle with meeting the 20% representation quota of women in executive boards. Although women’s representation as athletes, coaches and officials has increased in national and international sport competitions, this does not hold in leadership, particularly in top positions. In sport leadership, empirical research showed statistical figures that women have gained access in leadership pipeline however, they still lack representation on executive boards. This study is a part of a larger phenomenological investigation intended to identify the factors that influence the persistent underrepresentation of women in top leadership positions. From a purposive maximum variation sampling of seven participants, top women leaders in Malaysia national sport organisations were interviewed about their career paths and experiences concerning how and why women top leaders continue to lag behind their male counterparts. Results suggest that self-limiting behaviors, work-life conflict and interpersonal relationships among other women contribute to the underrepresentation of women in top positions. Factors attributed to social perception of gender and leadership roles incongruence also limited women leaders’ access in organisations, which subsequently contribute to the pipeline problem. Moreover, participants offered suggestions in overcoming the challenges and personal strategies in advancing opportunities and career development

Exploring the shortcomings of the Iranian MSRT English Proficiency Test

The Iranian Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology (MSRT) English Proficiency Test (EPT) has been in use since 1992. While the MSRT-EPT is generally claimed to be reliable, valid, and practical, it does not assess speaking and writing skills. In this exploratory study, a qualitative approach was used to examine the MSRT-EPT testtakers experiences and language education experts’ beliefs about the test as well as their congruence with each other through semi-structured telephone interviews. Convenience and purposive sampling procedures were used to select 15 participants. Inductive coding method was applied to determine invariant constituents. Then, the constituents were reduced to categories, and finally the categories were clustered into 11 themes. Dependability and validity of the study were established through triangulation, inter-coder agreement, and member checking technique. The problems associated with the MSRT-EPT and a lack of productive skills included a lack of correspondence between the test content and Ph.D. Candidates' needs, negative washback effect, non-theory-based content, inappropriate listening conditions, and a lack of test items originality. On the other hand, the candidates’ and experts’ perspectives were highly congruent. In light of these findings, the importance of designing a more comprehensive test including all facets of the language proficiency construct was highlighted, and some suggestions were made for future research

Theory to practice: what teacher trainees did not expect from their practicum experience

The teaching practicum plays an important role in the process of introducing pre-service teachers to the teaching profession which ultimately guides their professional growth. This paper explores and articulates an understanding of the experiences trainees go through during the short 12-week placement in schools. A study was carried out to get insights into the experiences and challenges they go through via the reflections written starting from week 1 until week 10. The trainees were asked to reflect on their experiences based on four categories: 1) teaching and learning, 2) relationship with the school administrator, 3) relationship with the mentor, and 4) relationship with the supervisor. A total of 25 teacher trainees’ reflections were analysed and key terms were coded and grouped according to the categories identified. The findings revealed that the teacher trainees’ experiences with regard to their teaching practicum were generally positive. However, there were also some inconsistencies found from their writings particularly with their expectations concerning their role in the school and their relationship with their mentors as well as supervisors. The kinds of challenges and unexpected experiences faced ranged from interpersonal to pedagogical issues. Some suggestions on improving the quality of the teaching practicum process within the program are discussed

Influence of Branding Loyalty on Consumer Sportswear: A Case Study on Adidas

Brand loyalty creates long term relationship between customer and brand. As a sportswear brand, to adopt a general customer loyalty to a brand, quality of the product and price are the crucial factors. The purpose of this research is to investigate how the respondents are influenced by factors of brand loyalty towards sportswear products. Previous research adopted seven factors to test in the Malaysian environment. The seven factors of brand loyalty are brand name, product quality, price, style, promotion, service quality and store environment. Brand name has shown strong correlation with brand loyalty. In order to increase customer satisfaction and attach them to be brand loyalists, marketers are encouraged to develop aggressive marketing programs. Questionnaires were distributed to 148 respondents. The research results have shown that there is positive and significant relationship between factors of brand loyalty (brand name, product quality, price, style, promotion, service quality and store environment) with certain sportswear brands. Others study on more focused factors that are appropriate to the Malaysian environment is recommended in order to obtain accurate information