Literature in English: evaluating its suitability for Semester 1, PISMP (Bachelor of Education Programme) TESL

Literature seems to always be a course that most often befuddles rather than captivates student teachers of TESL at the Institutes of Teacher Education. Facing “literary inadequacy” due to lack of exposure to literary critical analysis at the upper secondary and preparatory levels aggravates the problem. Analysis of literary texts at these levels is merely highlighting the occurrences of basic literary devices in prescribed texts but the functions of why such devices are utilised by authors are not deeply explored by secondary school teachers. Hence, the suitability of offering a literature course at the beginning of an undergraduate programme was investigated, utilising the CIPP evaluation model developed by Stufflebeam (1971). 73 theory-based self-constructed items were administered to 120 respondents of three TESL cohorts via a cross-sectional survey research design. Reliability value for each construct using Cronbach Alpha was computed and the overall reliability value 0.959 was obtained, indicating that the research instrument was reliable to fulfil the purpose of the study. Findings and discussion underline the significance of offering the course in the first semester of TESL programme as well as the importance of learning literature in the 21st century

Pemikiran reflektif: meneroka amalan pemikiran siswa pendidik

Pelbagai cabaran dalam dunia pendidikan masa kini memerlukan guru dan pelajar yang sentiasa berfikir secara reflektif dalam menangani masalah yang dihadapi. Melahirkan pelajar yang mempunyai pemikiran reflektif memerlukan guru yang mengamalkan pemikiran reflektif. Bagi memenuhi tuntutan tersebut, program latihan perguruan memberi tumpuan utama kepada komponen amalan refleksi dalam melatih dan memperkembangkan pemikiran reflektif siswa pendidik. Sehubungan dengan itu, satu kajian telah dijalankan bertujuan untuk melihat amalan pemikiran reflektif siswa pendidik berdasarkan teori pemikiran reflektif Mezirow. Responden kajian terdiri daripada siswa pendidik yang mengikuti Program Ijazah Sarjana Muda Perguruan, Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Pendidikan Teknik. Kajian kuantitatif ini menggunakan soal selidik dengan skala likert lima-poin. Hasil dapatan kajian mendapati majoriti amalan pemikiran reflektif siswa pendidik adalah pada tahap yang praktikal. Ini menunjukkan bahawa amalan pemikiran reflektif mereka telah dapat diperkembangkan melalui kursus yang mereka ikuti

Conocimiento y práctica de los maestros de preescolar sobre el aprendizaje socioemocional

Fostering and nurturing young children with good social-emotional skills are vitally important. Previous studies indicated a positive correlation between young children’s social-emotional skills and their future success. Hence, preschool teachers as children’s first educator play an important role in fostering and nurturing positive social-emotional development in young children. It is pivotal to ensure preschool teachers have vast knowledge and skills on social-emotional learning, hence capable to promote social-emotional learning.  As such, this research aims to examine preschool teachers’ knowledge and practice regarding social-emotional learning. This is a quantitative study with a survey research design.Fomentar y cuidar a los niños pequeños con buenas habilidades socioemocionales es de vital importancia. Estudios anteriores indicaron una correlación positiva entre las habilidades socioemocionales de los niños pequeños y su éxito futuro. Por lo tanto, los maestros de preescolar como primer educador de los niños juegan un papel importante en el fomento y el fomento del desarrollo social y emocional positivo en los niños pequeños. Es fundamental asegurar que los maestros de preescolar tengan un vasto conocimiento y habilidades sobre el aprendizaje socioemocional, por lo tanto, capaces de promover el aprendizaje socioemocional. Como tal, esta investigación tiene como objetivo examinar el conocimiento y la práctica de los maestros de preescolar con respecto al aprendizaje socioemocional. Este es un estudio cuantitativo con una encuesta de diseño de investigación

Self-determination theory and motivational orientations of Arabic learners: a principal component analysis

Recognizing the value of motivation in language learning, some scholars attempt to gain insights into this abstract psychological state by exploring models of motivation developed by educational and social psychologists. The present study extends an earlier research on motivational orientations for language learning based on the Self- Determination theory. Unlike the previous study which involved the learning of French in a bilingual English-French setting, this study explored the motivational orientations of Muslim learners of Arabic. A 45-item questionnaire was administered to 228 students in a tertiary education institution in Malaysia where Arabic is a requirement. With a total of 28 statistically reliable items, the Intrinsic Motivation-Knowledge, Intrinsic Motivation- Accomplishment, Extrinsic Motivation-Identified Regulation, Amotivation and Religious Motivation components accounted for 64.6% of the variance. Religious motivation emerged as a new statistical subdimension of motivational orientation as Muslim learners in the study showed strong religious motives for learning Arabic, a psychological state which practitioners would want to capitalize on and sustain alongside with other orientations. However, further research needs to be done to study the relationship between the intensity and types of motivational orientations, efforts and learning outcomes, and to compare and contrast the motivational orientations of learners of sacred languages such as Arabic and Hebrew in three different settings: highly religious setting, less religious and non-religious affiliated purposes

Conocimiento y práctica de los maestros de preescolar sobre el aprendizaje socioemocional

Fostering and nurturing young children with good social-emotional skills are vitally important. Previous studies indicated a positive correlation between young children’s social-emotional skills and their future success. Hence, preschool teachers as children’s first educator play an important role in fostering and nurturing positive social-emotional development in young children. It is pivotal to ensure preschool teachers have vast knowledge and skills on social-emotional learning, hence capable to promote social-emotional learning.  As such, this research aims to examine preschool teachers’ knowledge and practice regarding social-emotional learning. This is a quantitative study with a survey research design.Fomentar y cuidar a los niños pequeños con buenas habilidades socioemocionales es de vital importancia. Estudios anteriores indicaron una correlación positiva entre las habilidades socioemocionales de los niños pequeños y su éxito futuro. Por lo tanto, los maestros de preescolar como primer educador de los niños juegan un papel importante en el fomento y el fomento del desarrollo social y emocional positivo en los niños pequeños. Es fundamental asegurar que los maestros de preescolar tengan un vasto conocimiento y habilidades sobre el aprendizaje socioemocional, por lo tanto, capaces de promover el aprendizaje socioemocional. Como tal, esta investigación tiene como objetivo examinar el conocimiento y la práctica de los maestros de preescolar con respecto al aprendizaje socioemocional. Este es un estudio cuantitativo con una encuesta de diseño de investigación