International students' perspectives of Malaysian English teachers' spoken English

Numerous studies comparing native and non-native English teachers have found that ESL students prefer native teachers for teaching speaking skills and pronunciation. In other words, non-native teachers are viewed as less superior in matters related to spoken language. This study explores international students' views on spoken English of Malaysian teachers in English language classrooms. 81 international students who were attending English language classes as a preparation for university programmes at a Malaysian university participated in the study. The students were given a short writing task which required them to rate as well as stated their views on their Malaysian teachers' spoken English in terms of speech rate, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, intelligibility, nativeness and acceptability for global communication. The study found that the international students considered the variety of Malaysian English used in the classroom as highly intelligible with high ratings for speech rates, vocabulary and sentence structures. Malaysian English is also viewed as highly acceptable for global communication. Although the teachers' spoken language was rated lower for pronunciation and nativeness compared to other traits confirming the views that non-native teachers are perceived as less proficient in pronunciation compared to the other skills, the ratings were still high indicating that in general, the acrolectal variety of Malaysian English as spoken in English classes is reasonably well accepted by other non-native speakers. © 2018, IJAL

The Influence of Knowledge Aspects of The Multicultural on The Implementation of Multicultural Education in Elementary Schools

This study examines the knowledge level of Multicultural Education among national school teachers in Negeri Sembilan. This study was conducted on 927 teachers who teach in national-type schools in Negeri Sembilan. This study aims to identify the influence of knowledge about multicultural education from content integration knowledge, knowledge construction, equity pedagogy, prejudice reduction and knowledge of school cultural empowerment and social structure on implementing multicultural education in primary schools. It is quantitative survey research. The questionnaire was distributed to 927 respondents consisting of teachers who teach in national-type schools in Negeri Sembilan. The data of this study was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 26.0. Two types of statistics are used, namely descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation are used to describe the profile of the respondents and answer the research questions. The data of this study was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 26.0. Multiple Regression Statistics are used to identify the influence of multicultural education knowledge from knowledge of content integration, knowledge construction, equity pedagogy, prejudice reduction and knowledge of school cultural empowerment and social structure on implementing multicultural education in primary schools

Predictors of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers attending rural health clinics in Hulu Langat district

Introduction: Even though exclusive breastfeeding prevalence has increased from 19.3% in 2006 to 47.1% in 2016, this practice was slightly higher in urban areas (48.3%) compared to rural area (45.1%) in Malaysia. National Plan of Action for Nutrition of Malaysia III has set an indicator to achieve at least 70% exclusive breastfeeding by 2025. Therefore this study is to identify predictors that influenced exclusive breastfeeding practice in rural areas. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in six rural health clinics in Hulu Langat District, Selangor among mothers with youngest child aged 6-48 months old. Respondents were selected through systematic random sampling. Validated self-administered questionnaire was used to assess sociodemographic factors, maternal factors, external factors and child’s factors. Mother’s height and weight was measured and body mass index was calculated. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the predictors for exclusive breastfeeding practice. Results: Response rate was 96% with a total of 311 mothers participated in this study. More than half of the mothers exclusively breastfed (52.4%). The predictors for exclusive breastfeeding were Malay ethnicity (AOR=3.951, 95% CI: 1.374-11.358), having tertiary education (AOR=2.401, 95% CI: 1.100-5.241) and positive attitude toward breastfeeding (AOR=7.755, 95% CI: 1.382-43.502). Conclusion: Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was higher in this study than the national level. Programme planners should pay special attention to Chinese and Indian ethnicities, mothers with lower level of education and negative attitude in order to improve breastfeeding practice among rural mothers

–Ed Allomorphs and linguistic knowledge of Malay speakers of English: a descriptive and correlational study

Malay is a language from the Austronesian family and unlike the Indo-European-originated English, it does not generally have inflectional temporal markers. Investigating this from a cross-linguistics influence perspective, differences between the languages could mean difficulties for Malay speakers to acquire features of English. The objectives of this study are to investigate Malay speakers’ pronunciation of the English language –ed allomorphs – [d], [t] and [ɪd]/[əd] – and the relationship between the morphophonological forms and two types of linguistic knowledge, one of which is implicit while the other is explicit. Data were collated from fifty participants who are social science undergraduates and English majors who speak English as a second language. Four instruments were used to gauge the respondents’ verbal use of –ed allomorphs as well as their implicit and explicit knowledge of the allomorphs. Results indicate that the students’ verbal usage of the target items either lack approximation to Standard English pronunciation or are largely dropped altogether. Results also suggest a moderate relationship between implicit and explicit knowledge of the allomorphs and their verbal production by Malay speakers of English. The finding illuminates acquisition problem of English language speakers whose mother tongue does not share similar inflectional markers. Pedagogical solutions can help learners of the English language to approximate Standard English and in the long run, enhance effective communication and improve chances of employability