Alternative assessment: exploring the effectiveness of self-assessment practice among engineering students

There are numerous ways available for lecturers to assess their students’ learning progress and one practical way is through self-assessment. Instructors should not under-estimate their students’ capability and interest in assessing themselves. Instead they should be given the opportunity to be involved in the assessment process. One salient advantage of this practice is to enable students to identify their own strengths and weaknesses in order improve themselves. The main purpose of this article is to investigate the implementation of self-assessment as a classroom assessment tool among engineering students in Universiti Kuala Lumpur British Malaysian Institute. Specifically, this study intends to investigate the accuracy of engineering students when assessing their own writing skill and the students’ and lecturers’ reactions with regard to the use of self-assessment as one of the classroom tools for assessment in a university language course. The subjects of this study were 137 diploma students from several engineering courses. Data in the form of written assignments were collected throughout the study and analysed via students’ own analyses and lecturers’ evaluation. The findings revealed that majority of the students, most of whom were Malays, would under-rate themselves. With regard to the use of self-assessment in the classroom, most of the students remarked that self-assessment is something positive and most of them viewed the procedure as a meaningful assessing experience

The Use of Bahasa Melayu in the English Language Classroom by ‘Non-optionist’ English Teachers

AbstractThis research attempts to investigate the extent of the use of Bahasa Melayu to teach English. Fifty four inexperienced and experienced ‘non-optionist’ English teachers from three districts in Pahang took part in this study by responding to a set of questionnaire. These teachers were originally trained to teach other subjects but were given the task to teach the second language due to the lack of ‘optionist’ English teachers. The results of the findings show that there are differences on the extent of the use of Bahasa Melayu by inexperienced and experienced ‘non-optionist’ English teachers

The validation of assessment for learning audit instrument: a mixed methods approach

The CEFR-aligned curriculum promotes integration in the implementation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) by English language teachers in primary schools. This paper depicts the mixed methods pilot and validation of the Assessment for Learning Audit Instrument (AfLAi) for the purpose of examining the use and understanding of AfL among the teachers in primary schools. In Phase 1, three subject matter experts were consulted, and nine English language teachers provided consensual validation. In Phase 2, 53 English language teachers responded to the adapted instrument. AfLAi was further discussed with the validators in Phase 3. This procedure was adapted from Phase 8 of the Instrument Development and Construct Validation mixed research techniques. Among the emerging themes were on language correction, item/ instrument difficulty, and useful items. The quantitative data was compared with the scales from the original authors regarding the four key strategies of AfL in AfLAi: Sharing Learning Intentions and Success Criteria, Questions and Classroom Discussions, Feedback and Peer- and Self- Assessment. Based on the mixed data arranged in a joint display, some parts in the items were adapted to accommodate the local context. Among the findings were (i) the key strategy known as Learning Intentions in AfLAi was not applicable in the target context, and (ii) some examples in the items needed to be changed to fit the Malaysian syllabus. The implications of this pilot study and validation process included 16 changes in the instrument and the translation of the instrument into Bahasa Melayu

A blended approach in teaching an EAP course: Malaysian instructors’ perceptions of the new course materials

This paper reports on a study which examines instructors’ perceptions of the new commercial course materials that comprises a course book and online practice reinforcement activities. The materials were used to teach undergraduate English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course for Social Sciences at a Malaysian public university. This represents the main facet of the blended approach introduced when the course was redesigned. The sample comprises ten instructors who taught the course for one semester. Three qualitative instruments were utilized to elicit data namely, instructor-researcher reflective notes, focus group discussion and one-to-one interviews. The results of the study were generally positive, however, two main concerns were raised. The first was regarding the difficulty level of the reading comprehension activities in the course book which majority of the instructors felt were too simple and not challenging enough for their students. The second was on internet connectivity to the online practice website which the instructors felt was too slow and was unable to support the students efficiently. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings and provides suggestions for the next cycle of the researc

The washback effect of the General Secondary English Examination (GSEE) on teaching and learning

This paper reports on a study investigating the washback effect of the General Secondary English Examination (hereinafter referred to as GSEE), a high-stakes exit test for secondary school students (12thgrade) in Yemen. The main aim of this study is to gain preliminary insights into the relationship between teaching and learning factors affected by the washback effect. It focuses on eight pedagogical dimensions: four of them concerned the teachers (teaching methods, teaching experiences, content assessment, and beliefs) and four concerned the students (learning styles, learning activities, attitudes and motivation). A semi-structured interview was conducted with three English teachers who have over ten years of teaching experience. Based on the interview, a questionnaire was constructed and then administered to 30 Yemeni English teachers of the 12thgrade English classes. The data were analysed using SPSS software, version 20. The results showed that the test had a great influence on the learners and teachers mainly on teaching methodology and on learning styles. Triangulation with the qualitative data confirmed the findings. Hence, the study provides a clear evidence of the washback effect of the exam on the components of the language teaching-learning processes in Yemen and its influence on what and how the teachers teach, and the learners learn

Identifying Problems in Writing Thesis Introductions in Research Methodology Class

AbstractIntroduction,as a genre, has conventionally been understood as a piece of discourse which introduces other forms of lengthy discourse, be it a research article, a project report, a laboratory report or even a student essay. In writing introductions to dissertations, Dudley-Evans (1989) discovered a six-move structures. This move structure provides a step-by-step instruction for students to use and is a user-friendly guide in writing their thesis introductions. These moves are designed in a very simple manner that is understood by students at the undergraduate level. This paper which is based on a research that analysed undergraduate research proposals written by students majoring in English Language studies. The aim is to identify if the introduction section adheres to the moves suggested by Evans (1989). Based on the findings the researchers will to introduce a genre- based approach to guide students in writing their thesis introductions

The appropriacy and applicability of English assessment against CEFR global scale: teachers’ judgement

This study intends to identify the appropriateness of the writing and reading assessment items of the current English syllabus according to the targeted CEFR levels set by the Ministry of Education and to find out English teachers’ familiarity with CEFR writing and reading scales by suggesting suitable CEFR levels for writing and reading assessment items. An assessment checklist was used to collect the data involving 331 secondary school English teachers. Results show that most of the assessment items are found to be suitable and applicable to be used in the CEFR. This study also proves that the teachers were aware of the six levels of CEFR global scale because they were able to identify the suitable CEFR level that matches against CEFR target level set by the Ministry of Education. In conclusion, the Ministry of Education, Malaysia should consider to continue using some part of the current English syllabus and assessment instead of recommending its total abolishment

Assessment of the Halal Status of Respiratory Pharmaceutical Products in a Hospital

AbstractRespiratory pharmaceutical products are among the most commonly used products in the hospital setting. However the halal status of these products is unknown and has never been investigated before. The objective of this study is to assess the status of these products at a hospital. Halal assessment was based on academic and other websites references. From 132 respiratory products that have been investigated, 11.4% are halal followed by 6.1% of them haram, 10.6% mushbooh and 72.0% are not known in terms of their halal status. All the haram medications are related to the presence of ethanol as the inactive ingredient. No information of inactive ingredients in medication leaflets is the most contributive factor leading to unknown halal status of the medications. In conclusion, cooperation between the government, pharmaceutical manufacturers, religious scholars and health care professionals is suggested in order to achieve a goal towards using halal medications

The utilisation of test-taking strategies among female students in a tertiary institution

This article reports a study on test-taking strategies utilized by low and high proficiency female participants in an open-ended reading comprehension test. Based on purposive sampling, 10 students were selected from one tertiary institution. The study seeks to explore the test-taking strategies employed by female students of two levels of proficiency. Verbal reports from these participants were obtained via the retrospective protocol and playback sessions. The data provided information on participants’ thinking process and revealed how they arrived at their answers and the reasons for their choice of answers. The data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed qualitatively whereby patterns of strategies were identified and categorized. On the whole the results showed both levels employed almost the same total number of strategies, 24 and 22 for the high and low proficiency participants respectively. The conclusions were drawn upon the results of the data provided by limited number of participants and thus thrust aside the claim of representativeness in terms of test-taking strategy studies. However, the study allows a peek on the types of test-taking strategies utilized by students in the study which may also be employed by students in general

Zon berbahasa Inggeris di kolej kediaman: satu maklum balas

Kajian ini dijalankan bagi mengenalpasti pandangan para pelajar mengenai program 'English Speaking Zone' (ESZ) atau Zon Berbahasa Inggeris yang pernah dilancarkan di kolej kediaman di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Selain daripada itu, ia juga bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti perubahan yang dialami oleh pelajar setelah mengikuti program tersebut. Program ESZ ini diwujudkan sebagai salah satu strategi universiti untuk memperingkat keupayaan pelajar bertutur dalam bahasa Inggeris di luar konteks bilik darjah. Seramai 241 orang pelajar dari dua buah kolej kediaman di UKM telah dipilih untuk mengambil bahagian dalam kajian ini. Hasil kajian mendapati para pelajar memberikan maldumbalas yang positif terhadap program tersebut. Mereka juga bersetuju bahawa program tersebut telah membantu mereka untuk menggunakan Bahasa Inggeris di kolej. Mereka menyatakan bahawa melalui program ini tahap keyakinan mereka untuk berkomunikasi dalam bahasa Inggeris juga telah rneningkat