Investigating and improving classroom activities to enhance Japanese language learning

The importance of foreign languages is evident particularly as nation building is highly dependent on the transfer of foreign technology. Japanese Language is considered to be a difficult foreign language to learn among the foreign languages because of its complicated writing system. Teaching the writing system within a constant time period is a challenge in the institute of higher education. In order to inform my teaching and to improvise my teaching of Hiragana, an action research has been carried out to explore how I made the participants learn Hiragana. Reflection on the lessons has been done critically on my teaching styles. Students learning style has been examined to inform the teaching style. Consequently, using Japanese input to enforce the reading and writing of Hiragana has been taken as an action to address the problem. Results showed that majority of the participants have demonstrated a significant improvement. However, there were a few students who were unable to improve their Hiragana ability. Reflection need to been done to address the problem in the next cycle

Mobile assisted teaching and learning in an institute of higher education

The advancement of mobile technology has enhanced educational environment from conventional classroom teaching into virtual, interactive setting in the last few decades. However, factors i.e. cost, network coverage, mobile choices etc. have been the main constraints in utilizing mobile technology in teaching and learning. Therefore, this study employed quantitative approach to explore the level of readiness among lecturers and students in using mobile devices for teaching and learning process. The subjects have been chosen randomly from a Malaysia private university. The data was collected from 196 undergraduates and 56 academicians and was analyzed descriptively. The most significant finding revealed that most students used Wi-Fi to access the Internet (M=3.27, SD = 1.57) rather than subscribing to their service provider (M=2.46, SD=1.46). A significant number of academics preferred conventional teaching to mobile assisted teaching (M = 3.2, SD = .961). Correlation analysis was done to explore the relationship between academics’ hand phone facilities and internet access (p< .05). The relationship was negative and strong, = -.783. The findings indicate that most students and academics owned the mobile devices; however the implementation of M-learning in higher institution were impeded by the accessibility of the internet

Production of biodiesel over waste seashell-derived active and stable extrudate catalysts in a fixed-bed reactor

In this work, waste seashell (Meretrix meretrix) was used as a renewable calcium source to prepare a series of heterogeneous base catalysts for production of biodiesel, a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), via transesterification of palm oil with methanol in a continuous-flow fixed-bed reactor. To avoid a severe pressure drop in the reactor column, the catalysts were prepared via the dissolution–precipitation method in the presence of zinc nitrate and alumina, shaped in an extrudate form, and calcined at different temperatures. The catalytic performance of the resulting extrudates in the transesterification depended on not only the active phase type, but also the cluster size of active phase, which was strongly determined by the calcination temperature. Synchrotron-based X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) was applied for the first time in the development of shaped catalysts. The pore structure of extrudate catalysts obtained at different temperatures was analyzed by nitrogen physisorption measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and micro-CT, and then correlated with their mechanical properties and catalytic performance. The micro-CT and low-magnification SEM visualized the macroporosity as air voids in the extrudate catalysts. Increasing the calcination temperature from 300 °C to 800 °C decreased the fraction of air voids, resulting in a severe drop of FAME yield due to mass transport problem. The addition of commercial methyl esters into the reaction improved the mass diffusion effectively, and enhanced the biodiesel production. The extrudate catalyst calcined at 300 °C had calcium hydroxide as a main active phase, and the highest macroporosity, which provided a stable FAME yield (>95 wt%) throughout the operation, and a high structural stability

Genre analysis of introduction section in electrical engineering undergraduate laboratory reports

This study examines the genre of Engineering Laboratory Reports (ELR) introduction section written by Electrical Engineering Undergraduates in a higher learning institution. The aims of this study are to identify the rhetorical moves and combinations of move patterns used by electrical engineering (EE) students to write introduction section. Method A genre analysis was conducted to identify writing patterns and convention practices of engineering undergraduate students thus a corpus of N = 35 was selected from electrical engineering students in their final year of study. This study adopted Genre Theory as its theoretical framework, Ngowu 1997 analytical framework and BCU approach for analysis procedure. A pilot test was conducted to determine the model that fits the best to describe moves and steps of ELR. Coding scheme was developed and intercoder reliability showed a significance of 0.91 The study benchmarks a move or step to be present in at least 60% of the reports. Result The finding shows the introduction consists of one main move which is providing background information of the experiment and followed by four subsequent steps which are reference to research purposes, reference to theoretical knowledge in the field, providing an overview of the study and identification of main research apparatus. The move 1 and all four steps identified above are viewed as obligatory, conventional and optional move and steps in introduction section among undergraduates in academic context. The exemplification of finding shows lack of compliance among undergraduates to produce EELR based on universit

Facebook’s Influence on the Effectiveness of Digital Advertising among Malaysian Youth

The growth of advanced technology has contributed to the digital advertising industry as Facebook's users are easily connected, and purchasing behaviours will be developed with the content of the products promoted in digital advertising. The older generation prefers traditional advertising due to technology's security and privacy aspects, leading to fewer choices in purchasing products. This study aimed to identify the relationship between the influence of Facebook and the effectiveness of digital advertising among Malaysian youth in Klang Valley. It was anticipated that this research would provide helpful information to the public and assist researchers in the future based on the findings of this topic area. Data was collected using a Google Form and distributed via social media like WhatsApp. The targeted respondents are between 15 and 34 years old and are located in the Klang Valley area. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 system was used to determine digital advertising characteristics electronically. T-test and ANOVA tests were applied in this study to examine the demographic factors that affect the relationship between the variables, as different backgrounds influence the perspectives and behaviours of the users. The findings show that the independent variable, the influence of Facebook, has a strong correlation with the dependent variable, the effectiveness of digital advertising among Malaysian youth in Klang Valley (r= 0.770). Socio-demographic factors such as age and educational level had an effect on the relationship between the variables. The effectiveness of digital advertising is influenced by the number of likes, comments, and shares by Facebook users