Lecturers’ Perception on the Effectiveness of Formative Assessment on Evaluating Grammar Skills among Undergraduates

Grammar can be classified as the most prominent element in the context of English Language. However, grammar has always been a problem among undergraduates. Although they are given the right amount of input on grammar during schooling days, they still have problems in using it because the process of learning grammar does not continue during their tertiary education. Many lecturers find it difficult in making sure undergraduates are able to utilize grammar in a proper manner as English subjects in tertiary education will only last till the end of the first year in many tertiary institutions. It is proposed that formative assessment should be conducted throughout their duration of study in their tertiary institution. This paper highlights the findings from a questionnaire to 20 English lecturers who are currently serving in two private institutions, namely Management & Science University and Kolej MASA. Ten of them are senior lecturers with lecturing experience of more than 5 years and the remaining lecturers with below 5 years. The categories for the questions were built based on lecturers’ understanding on the formative assessment and the needs in understanding grammar in using English. The findings indicate that junior lecturers are keener compare to senior lecturers in terms of using formative assessment in evaluating grammar skills among undergraduates

The effectiveness of microlearning approach from the perspectives of practicum teachers

Over the past years, practicum teachers have been assigned to schools for their teaching practicum. Many of them tend to struggle with the reduced attention span of students due to online learning. As such, microlearning has been seen to be the most recent method of teaching that could aid students to learn better. This research focuses on the interaction and relativity of microlearning with practicum teachers in the teaching and learning process. 8 groups of 20 students in each group were selected using a convenience sampling method, as the group of students were easily accessed by the researcher, and the practicum teachers acted as the data collectors for this research. The microlearning tool used to replace the traditional teaching method was a 3-minute video and images.. All selected students are in the same level of studies which is in Year 8. Majority of them have the same proficiency level which is upper intermediate. The results show that microlearning did help with their classroom management and students were able to practise their scaffolding skills in a more effective manner