Multicultural Awareness and Practices among Malaysian Primary School Teachers

This study was designed and aimed at identifying the awareness and practices of multicultural awareness among primary school teachers in Malaysia. It attempts to identify their awareness of multicultural concept when dealing with their students and staffs at their school. This awareness was measured by three variables: awareness, knowledge and skills. A number of 41 questions which inquired about the three variables were distributed randomly to 50 primary school teachers in Malaysia. These teachers were from three ethic types of primary schools: Tamil, Chinese and Malay primary schools. The reason for choosing the three different mainstream schools was because they represented the main different multicultural practices in the country. From these participants, five teachers were selected for further interviews to obtain richer data. The findings revealed that the awareness of multicultural education among primary school teachers was still at the medium level. Thus, this study suggests that there should be a multicultural awareness campaign at all schools in Malaysia in order to ensure that each student, no matter from what backgrounds they are from, feel they are part of the Malaysian society as a whole. The study also found that the awareness should start from the home, environment and peer and through parental guidance because school is a bridge between home and the society that will form one Malaysian society to achieve vision 2020

The dehumanizing metaphors in the culture of Acehnese in Indonesia

This study investigated dehumanizing metaphors used in the daily life and collective memory of Acehnese people in Indonesia and how male and female persons are presented. The interviews were held with 20 people from six districts in Aceh province, Indonesia. Data were collected from elders aged 60 and above, and Acehnese is spoken as their mother tongue. Since they did not travel much (except for occasional holidays with families and Hajj pilgrimage), they are deemed untainted native speakers of Acehnese. For analysis, grounded by the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this study found that the metaphorical expressions in the Acehnese culture that dehumanize people mostly use animals' concepts, and the rests are of the inanimate entity, and plants. The negative meanings present human as animals are such as agam buya (crocodile man), kamèng keudèe (goat in the market), manok agam (cock), among others, and the positive ones that present human as plants are boh lam ôn (a leaf-covered fruit) and padé jum (wet rice). They negatively or positively describe a person's behavior where the negative ones are commonly associated with a person's corrupt behavior and the positive ones for good behavior. Most of the dehumanizing metaphors are genderless; only a few are gender-based. Acehnese is a genderless language that has no distinctions of grammatical gender. These metaphors inform the conceptual system or belief of the Acehnese society through language use

THROUGH THE METAPHORICAL LENS: UNDERSTANDING OTHERING OF LANGUAGE LECTURERS IN INDONESIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

This research attempted to delve into the Indonesian and English lecturers’ views on othering experiences through the metaphorical lens. The data collection employed interviews with ten lecturers teaching at two public universities in Aceh, Indonesia. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and further analyzed using Johnson and Lakoff’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) where a metaphor is referred to understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another thing. The results revealed that the lecturers expressed their feelings of being othered through 14 Acehnese metaphorical expressions. They are ‘awak dalam’, ‘awak droe’ ‘asoe lhôk’, ‘Cina saboh geudông’, and ‘ureung lhap darah’,‘kön ureung gulam budée’, ‘kön awak dalam’, ‘kön awak droe jih’, ‘kön syara Ma jih’, ‘gob mat aweuk’, ‘ureung di luwa pageu’, ‘jamok di luwa keuleumbu’, ‘awak gop’, and ‘awak blah déh laôt’. Those in power (i.e., the ‘us’) discriminated against some lecturers (i.e., the ‘them’) by not providing them equal opportunities in the institution, regardless of their quality and credentials. Othering that existed in the universities negatively affected their work enthusiasm, education quality, social justice, and equality. Consequently, othering must be eradicated so that the human resources recruitment and education in universities uphold the principles of transparency, equality, and accountability

An instructional systems design model for selecting and developing authentic English materials for Syiah Kuala University pre-departure scholars

The purpose of this study was to apply instructional system theory to the process of developing authentic English as a foreign language (ESL) materials for Indonesian pre-departure scholars. The researcher established a theoretical framework for the process through an intensive review of instructional system literature and selected an applied process model for adaptation to developing authentic ESL materials. The Stiehl-Schmall ISD model was adapted and later validated using a modified Delphi process. Seventeen panelists, randomly selected from the area of instructional systems design, ESL, and Indonesian EFL practitioners, were involved in the validation process. Feedback from panelists was analyzed and it was determined that the model was applicable for Indonesian intensive English programs. It was also found that the model, as adapted, was considered practical and useful by EFL practitioners, though many of them were not knowledgeable in instructional systems design. Indonesian EFL practitioners expected the development of the model to substantially improve the quality, effectiveness, efficiency, and relevancy of authentic English used in Indonesian intensive English programs

EXPLORING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARD THE USE OF DUOLINGO IN LEARNING ENGLISH

Purpose of the study: This study was aimed at investigating the students’ attitudes and perception toward the use of Duolingo in Learning English Methodology: A mixed-method design (quantitative-qualitative) was employed in this study. 60 undergraduate students of Syiah Kuala University participated in this study. They were chosen by using purposive sampling techniques. In obtaining the data, questionnaires and interviews were implemented in this study. In the question area, there were 16 close-ended questions adapted from Yang (2012a) and Garcia Botero and Questier (2016) designed using the Likert scale method. Besides, 3 interview questions were asked to 10 chosen students to deeply reveal their perception in using the Duolingo. Main Findings: The result indicated that most students have a positive perception of the use of Duolingo in learning English (Mean=4.0). This study has found that students view Duolingo as a useful and helpful application and a motivational tool in learning English. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is the inconsistency between the students’ perception and their acts in using the application. Their positive view on the use of Duolingo was contrary to the fact that they are lacking time in using the application. Applications of this study: This study is intended to shed some lights on how the students perceive their experiences in learning English after using the Duolingo as a part of their out of class engagement. Novelty/Originality of this study: The students’ motivation to learn English outside of the classroom can be enhanced through the use of the Duolingo in mobile phones

An analysis of Acehnese archaic words among North Acehnese speakers

This study concerned about the Acehnese archaic words in Lhokseumawe. The aims were to find out the archaic words, their replacements and their extinction factors. The researcher used qualitative descriptive methods and analyzed using three interactive models; data reduction, data display and verification. The result of this study showed that they are sixty Acehnese words given by informants; 32 words referred to archaism and 25 words referred to semi-archaism, and 3 words referred to non-archaism. 12 of 32 archaic words were replaced and 20 others were not. This condition was caused by the word-borrowing factors from second and foreign languages and also the lifestyle. Therefore, we need to teach Acehnese language to the future generation and introduce the Acehnese archaic words to especially the Acehnese in Lhokseumawe by studying and documenting the language and the archaic words as the language is a part of local cultures

The types and functions of code switching in a thesis defense examination

This study investigated the acts of code switching by lecturers and student in thesis defence examination at a university in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The study involved five participants (four lectures and one student) of the English Language Department. Data from recordings were used to analyse the types and functions of code switching that occurred during the defence. The types of code switching were analysed based on Poplack, and the functions of code switching were analysed based on the theories by Gumperz, Hoffman and Holmes. The result showed that there were three types of code switching found in 109 examples during the interactions between the lecturers and the student, they were: intra-sentential switching (77.06%), inter-sentential switching (15.59%), and tag switching (7.33%). In term of the functions of code switching, 10 functions were identified from 68 switches, they were: addressee specification at 22.05%, followed by interjections (16.17%), loanwords (16.17%), message qualifications (11.76%), transfer of the subconscious markers (8.82%), proper names (8.82%), quotations (5.88%), message reiteration (4.41%), personalization versus objectification (2.94%) and specific features of Islamic terms (2.94%) as the least. It can be concluded that in this case, code switching allowed the participants achieve a wide range of important and interesting ends in their discourse during the thesis defence examination