Teaching English in multicultural classrooms

The English language classroom provides an obvious multicultural context for learning, and teachers need to help students understand and appreciate the differences and similarities among the various ethnic, religious and cultural groups. This study aims to examine teachers’ understanding of and attitudes towards multiculturalism, and in so doing, find out what are the language teaching strategies used in promoting and enhancing successful multicultural interactions. Teachers should be able to seize this opportunity to foster tolerance and understanding in classrooms of diverse cultural backgrounds

Kajian keatas Teluk Batik daerah Manjung sebagai sebuah pusat pelancungan (implikasinya keatas pasaran hartanah persekitaran) / Ainon Jariah Muhamad

Daerah Manjung atau Daerah Dinding sebagaimana yang Dikenali, dahulu adalah merupakan satu kawasan yang sedang pesat membangun. Ini adalah kerana terpilihnya kawasan ini sebagai pusat pertumbuhan yang diharap akan dapat menaikkan taraf sosio-ekonomi penduduk-penduduk di kawasan tersebut dan bagi Daerah Manjung amnya. Antara projek-projek pembangunan yang telah siap atau yang masih dilaksanakan ialah seperti Pengkalan Tentera Laut Di Raja Malaysia (TLDM), Pengkalan Pol is Marin, Bandar Baru Sri Manjung dan kawasan prindustrian Kampung Acheh

Developing critical thinking through critical reading in the literature classroom

Islam places strong emphasis for Muslims to seek for knowledge and for them to think and reflect. This paper discusses the importance of seeking knowledge in Islam and the importance of critical thinking in the quest for knowledge. It also discusses the critical and analytical thinking ability of Malaysian students and graduates, and the need to teach critical thinking in Malaysian schools. Further, it proposes that critical thinking be taught through critical reading and how this would best be achieved in the Literature classroom. © 2017 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved

Pregrado en pensamiento crítico y lectura de textos académicos

This article sought to investigate whether seven Malaysian undergraduate students were able to respond critically to the academic texts delivered to them and to the reading strategies they used to read those texts. Data were collected through the thought protocol out loud and the retrospective interview, and subsequently transcribed, translated and analyzed for recurring topics. The findings indicate that the seven participants responded critically to the texts given, as evidenced by the adoption of all or some of the strategies of critical reading of interpretation, analysis, evaluation, deduction, explanation, and self-regulation; the interpretation being the most used strategy. The results of the study also revealed that although university students could use critical reading strategies, they could only do so to a certain extent. It concludes by urging instructors and policymakers to seriously consider the teaching of critical reading, as it gives a purpose and guidance to university students to think critically and prepare for better academic performance and future challenges.Este artículo buscó investigar si siete estudiantes de pregrado malayos pudieron responder de manera crítica a los textos académicos que se les entregaron y a las estrategias de lectura que emplearon para leer esos textos. Los datos se recopilaron a través del protocolo de pensamiento en voz alta y la entrevista retrospectiva, y posteriormente se transcribieron, tradujeron y analizaron para los temas recurrentes. Los hallazgos indican que los siete participantes respondieron críticamente a los textos dados, como lo demuestra la adopción de todas o algunas de las estrategias de lectura crítica de interpretación, análisis, evaluación, deducción, explicación y autorregulación; siendo la interpretación la estrategia más utilizada. Los resultados del estudio también revelaron que aunque los estudiantes universitarios podían utilizar las estrategias de lectura crítica, solo podían hacerlo hasta cierto punto. Se concluye instando a los instructores y formuladores de políticas a considerar seriamente la enseñanza de la lectura crítica, ya que les da un propósito y una orientación a los estudiantes universitarios para que piensen críticamente y se preparen para un mejor desempeño académico y los desafíos futuros

The role of vocabulary in reading comprehension

It is generally agreed that many factors contribute to one’s reading comprehension and there is consensus that vocabulary size one of the main factors. This study explores the relationship between second language learners’ vocabulary size and their reading comprehension scores. 130 Malay pre-university students of a public university participated in this study. They were students of an intensive English language programme doing preparatory English courses to pursue bachelors degree in English. A quantitative research method was employed based on the Vocabulary Levels Test by Nation (1990) and the reading comprehension score of the in-house English Proficiency Test. A review of the literature indicates that a somewhat positive correlation is to be expected though findings of this study can only be explicated once the final analysis has been carried out. This is an ongoing study and it is anticipated that results of this research will be finalised in the near future. The findings will help provide beneficial implications for the prediction of reading comprehension performance. It also has implications for the teaching of vocabulary in the ESL context. A better understanding of the relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension scores will enhance teachers’ and students’ awareness of the importance of vocabulary acquisition in the L2 classroom

A comparison of lexical richness in L2 written productions

Indeed research has shown that vocabulary acquisition is one of the chal-lenges of a language learner; even more so for productive vocabulary. Thus this study intends to investigate the lexical richness of 2 groups of EFL learners. This was done through a content analysis of 139 essays of entry-level university students and 140 essays of third-year university students studying at an English medium university. Both these groups of students scored at least a band 6 or 550 in TOEFL. Specifically, the objective of this study is to find out if there are differences in the lexical richness of these two groups of essays in the type-token ratio. This study also intends to find out if there are differences between the two different groups of essays in the use of the 1,000, 2,000, word levels, the AWL as well as the use of the words not-in-the-list. The RANGE programme developed by Nation, Heat-ley & Coxhead (2002) was used to carry out the above procedure. Findings of the study showed that the two groups of essays show a statistically significant difference in the use of the 1,000, 2,000, word levels and the AWL by the two groups of learners. There was also a difference in the not-in-the-list category. This research has pedagogical implications for the teaching of vocabulary in the language classroom with a specific focus on the development of lexical richness in EFL learners’ written production

Critical thinking of EAW students

Critical thinking skills is one of the essential life-long learning skill which has always been recognized as an essential element in tertiary education. Thus it is incumbent for educators to incorporate critical thinking skills at all levels. At the International Islamic University Malaysia, this skills is introduced in the English for Academic Writimg (EAW) class which is one of the university required courses for our students. The purpose is to enable them to be able to use the English language effectively in an academic setting that uses English as the medium of instruction. The course requires students to produce a mini research paper at the end of the semester. Being an Islamic institution, the students are required to be able to integrate the Islamic perspective in their writings. This paper investigates the extent to which Engineering and Human Science students are able to incorporate the Islamic perspective relevant to their respective disciplines. 26 scripts were analysed using Bloom’s critical thinking framework. The findings revealed that all students were able to incorporate Islamic perspectives though not all were able to apply the higher order thinking skills

Gender, metacognition, and vocabulary learning strategies of Malay ESL learners

Research has shown that female students are likely to be more successful in language learning when compared to male students due to the differences in their metacognitive learning strategies1. This study aims to investigate if there are differences in metacognition, vocabulary learning strategies and the vocabulary size between male and female students. The instruments utilised study were a Vocabulary Learning Strategy Questionnaire2 and the Vocabulary Levels Test3. 113 pre-university ESL learners participated in this study. A quantitative research design was employed. Findings of this study showed that there is no significant difference between the vocabulary size and metacognitive learning strategies used by male and female students. A better understanding of metacognitive strategies, vocabulary size and gender will enhance teachers’ and learners’ awareness of the use of the said strategies for a more effective vocabulary acquisition. The findings provide beneficial pedagogical implications relevant not only to language instructors but also educators and researchers alike

Design, formulation and implementation of an English Language curriculum fom an Islamic Perspective

Curriculum development plays an important role in any educational enterprise.It spells out the crucial components which make up the curriculum and the detailed process in attaining the ultimate objectives of the curriculum. It is crucial that the English language curriculum reflects the aims, educational purpose and Islamic ethos of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The paper will look into how to accomplish the philosophy, vision and mission of the University, offering suggestions concerning the key components or critical elements that will constitute the foundation of a language curriculum, with a focus on the role of the educator in facilitating language education as well as content factors that are necessary for the development of a language curriculum from an Islamic perspective

Language learning strategies of students in content-based instruction

This study investigates the learning strategies of students at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The study was mainly motivated by concerns about the standards of English of graduates of Malaysian universities. These concerns have also been expressed by the IIUM, one of the few universities in Malaysia using English as the medium of instruction. The primary objective of this research has been to identify what good language learners do to learn a second language. The study investigated frequency of strategy use according to type of courses (i.e. content-based versus non content-based), gender, and proficiency levels. There were 312 students taking English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. Their learning strategies were investigated through an analysis of their responses to Rebecca Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990), an instrument that has been validated in a number of studies. The study found that the students from the different degree programmes differed in the use of the six different strategies. The study also did not find any significant relationship between language learning strategies and gender