Integrating process writing approach with scaffolding strategies in developing esl writing skill: Towards a pedagogical model

There has been growing evidence that the lack of academic writing skill among university students who learn English as a Second Language (ESL) affects their overall academic performance. Higher education ESL students often find writing academic essays a complex process and hence struggle with academic writing convention issues. Using the lenses of Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods, this two-phase study aimed to investigate the students’ behaviours and the reasons behind their academic writing problems. In the first phase of the research, quantitative data from questionnaire responses of 1800 undergraduates were interpreted and the experiences and practices of successful and non-successful Malaysian undergraduate writers were gathered and analysed to elicit the Malaysian ESL students’ behaviours during writing engagement. The second phase of the research involved a teaching intervention of ESL Academic Writing. Good writing practices identified in the first part of the research were woven together and scaffolded with the Process Writing Approach, essay models, language input and knowledge on the conventions of academic writing. The intervention module was utilized with 30 MUET band 1 and 2 undergraduates for 14 weeks. Findings employing Structural Equation Modelling approaches indicated that writing attitude, writing behaviour, and writing difficulties do collectively explain the variance in the students’ MUET results. Findings of the second phase of the research from the analysis of the pre-test, post-test, delayed post-test, students’ writing samples and diaries, indicated that the scaffolded process approach was successful in encouraging the students to adopt writing strategies, reducing the number of Surface Level Revisions and significantly increasing their Meaning Preserving Revisions. Besides informing scholarly practices of academic writing, this research would contribute to the field of ESL Academic Writing as it highlights the crucial elements that need to be incorporated in an effective ESL Academic Writing module at Malaysian higher education institutions

Employing Drilling Technique in Teaching English Writing Skills to a Group of Rural Malaysian Students

In this research, the researcher has focused on the use of drilling technique or repetition drill (Freeman, 2000: 48) in a mixed gender rural Malaysian classrooms for both control and treatment group. Besides that, it was used among limited proficiency students and their level are very poor whereby they cannot write even in using the simplest of English. It is a technique that allows and helped the students in writing because they are exposed to lessons that are drill-and-practice based on hierarchical skill sequence with few extended writing opportunities. This study also examines the students’ level of confidence after using the drilling technique. It is hoped that incorporating this technique in the classroom can help to improve students’ writing especially for the descriptive writing part, which make the time and effort in carrying out this study and using this technique worthwhile. Keywords: second language writing, drilling, limited proficienc

Employing drilling technique in teaching English writing skills to a group of rural Malaysian students

In this research, the researcher has focused on the use of drilling technique or repetition drill (Freeman, 2000: 48) in a mixed gender rural Malaysian classrooms for both control and treatment group. Besides that, it was used among limited proficiency students and their level are very poor whereby they cannot write even in using the simplest of English. It is a technique that allows and helped the students in writing because they are exposed to lessons that are drill-and-practice based on hierarchical skill sequence with few extended writing opportunities. This study also examines the students’ level of confidence after using the drilling technique. It is hoped that incorporating this technique in the classroom can help to improve students’ writing especially for the descriptive writing part, which make the time and effort in carrying out this study and using this technique worthwhile

Variants of Cloze-Test Based Tasks and Vocabulary Achievement

Vocabulary is an integral part of a language and language education. In view of the close relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language learning, there is a significant need for language learners, especially in the ESL context, to develop, enrich and master their vocabulary in order to be proficient users of the language. ESL teachers could help learners acquire vocabulary knowledge if they have the pedagogical knowledge on how vocabulary may be learned and taught effectively. The study aimed to determine Malaysian primary school learners’ vocabulary achievement by using cloze-test based tasks. A total of five primary schools from Sabah, Malaysia were selected in this study. The total number of research participants was 135 and they were at low to intermediate level of proficiency. This study made use of four different cloze-based passages as research instruments in assessing learners’ vocabulary knowledge. This research primarily concerned on the descriptive data in the form of frequency and percentage of the learners’ vocabulary achievement scores and qualitative data from semi-structured interview. The findings of this study revealed that the research participants scored well in the fourth task whereby cloze-based passages were given along with general pictures and multiple-choice items. A significant correlation between these four variants of cloze-based task with the learners’ vocabulary achievement was established. The main pedagogical implication of the research is that teachers should ponder what type of variants to be used in vocabulary task as this could enhance ESL learners’ vocabulary achievement

Exploring the VAW Method of Writing: The Module Development

This study intended to identify the best learning strategies of writing by focusing in vocabulary acquisition among the primary school pupils in Malaysia. Axiomatically, local education used the Process Writing Approach in producing writing composition. Unfortunately, the researchers thought that it is not sufficient to fulfill the component of good writing. By using the theory of scaffolding pioneered by Vygotsky, the researchers agreed to include vocabulary learning to scaffold the existing Process Writing Approach followed by application or practices. During application, the researcher as the teacher will provide a module where the experimental group will do writing exercises by using the new learned vocabularies. The researchers will use mixed method research where questionnaires of vocabulary and writing strategies are distributed where the results are the determinants of VAW module development

The usage of reading strategies between male and female Malaysia undergraduate students: a preliminary study

The purpose of this study is to determine the practical use of reading strategies among Malaysia English as Second Language (ESL) learners between male and female students. Simultaneously, it also attempts to find out the most effective reading strategies used by both genders. There are one hundred and twenty students with different proficiency levels who participated in this study and they are ESL learners from public university in Malaysia. The data was collected by using a reading questionnaire to get the required data. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data to figure out the most effective strategies used by both genders. In order to determine how the use of reading strategies varied according to gender, Independent T-test was also employed to get the significant differences between both genders. According to the findings, Malaysia ESL learners both, male and female students, are high strategy users (M=3.8182). From this study, it has been revealed that there are significant differences between male (M=3.9206) and female (M=3.7586) Malaysia ESL learners in the use of reading strategies. This research hopes to provide students with the best practice in utilizing these strategies by enlightening ESL instructors on the strategies employed by ESL learners in Malaysia

Students’ Acceptance Level of Digital Newspaper Publication Performance Assessment Innovation

The alternative assessment was implemented in the Editing Course (AK20903) to analyze students’ group achievement in digital skills. This core course is compulsory for all second-year communication (UH6321001) students to prepare them with the skills of writing, analyzing, and copy editing. Students' digital skills are assessed through the publication of a digital newspaper that uses graphics applications provided by the university. However, this software can only be accessed within the campus area. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of student locations where students are no longer within the coverage area where the software is accessible. To address this issue, the Canva application is being tried out. This study employs a quantitative approach with a sample of 124 respondents consisting of current students who are registered in the AK20903 (Editing) course. This study aims to analyze the acceptance level of the students of the introduced innovation. To collect the data a set of four parts questionnaires was used that included the demographic information, perception of user-friendly, perception of usability, and students’ satisfaction. The results showed that most of the respondents highly agreed that perception of usefulness, perception of usability, and users’ satisfaction are the factors that influenced their acceptance of the innovation performance assessment of digital newspaper publications. The findings of the study indicate that students’ acceptance of the innovation performance assessment of digital newspaper publishing is influenced by the benefits and usability gained from the use of Canva

First language interference and form focused instruction

This paper addresses EFL/ESL teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding the use of the first language in a language classroom pertaining to the Form-Focused Instruction - a grammar instruction approach. In essence, this study looks into whether the judicious use of L1 in learning the foreign or second language is effective or not. A case study strategy was deemed appropriate for this study to explore and investigate the beliefs and practices of the non-native teachers on the use of L1 in learning English as a foreign language. To this end, six English language teachers were selected from a Chinese secondary school. The data were collected through classroom observations and stimulated recall interview questions. The audio-recorded data were fully transcribed in English, and subjected to a process of interpretative analysis. The findings revealed that teachers used L1 mainly to present the target grammar topics, to explain the grammatical rules and also to encourage students for the explanation of the grammatical rules in there L1. It is therefore imperative to consider the results of this study as it may highlight some notable pedagogical implications regarding the assisted effects of the use of first language on foreign/second language learning

When less is more: a group of first year undergraduate Malaysian students’ experiences of the essay revision process

This study aims to investigate how much both son and daughter trust their father and what are the underlying reasons they trust their father. The results revealed five main reasons why Malaysian adolescents trust their father. Those reasons are related to the role of father, father-child relationship, father’s characteristics, father’s nurturing nature and father’s attitude and behavior. A total of 1022 students (males = 241, females = 781) from one of public university in Sabah, Malaysia participated in the study. The participants completed open-ended questionnaires developed by Kim (2008), asking how much the adolescents trust their father, and the reasons why they trust their father. The data was analysed by using the indigenous psychology method proposed by [1] Findings of this study revealed the pattern of trust towards father for both Malaysian male and female adolescents. The results contributed new information about Malaysian adolescents’ trust towards their father form the indigenous context. The implications of finding will be discussed

Exploring The VAW method of writing: application of scaffolding theory in improving writing skills

This paper reviews how the application of scaffolding theory could develop the method or module of writing. The problem of ESL pupils in Malaysia includes the hitches in understanding word implication and meaning, vocabulary as well as writing skills. Apparently, there is a difference between writing in the first and the second language. This paper proposes a method of writing with a module i.e. the VAW Method which is concentrating on vocabulary enrichment in order to develop young learners’ writing skills. The VAW method contains of vocabulary enhancement (V), application and practice (A) as well as Writing (W). It is expected to assist learners on developing the skills of writing academically. However, this method or module can only be implemented successfully by utilizing the cognitive process theory and most prominently the scaffolding theory in the process of writing. In education, scaffolding can be defined as a variety of instructional techniques practiced by the practitioners and educators in increasing pupils’ understanding and eventually independence in the process of learning. Scaffolding is deliberated as a crucial element of effective teaching and learning to L2 primary school pupils which is commonly practiced in fulfilling the learning gaps i.e., the variance between what pupils have learned and what they are expected to know and do at a certain point in their learning