What goes on when tertiary students are engaged in an online academic writing course?

The learning process is a complex one with many intertwining variables. The learners’ characteristics could be a defining factor and so is prior learning experiences and knowledge, which are the manifests of metacognitive, socio-affective and cognitive systems. A learning task engagement calls for an exertion of personal control and the fulfillment of efficiency expectations. In learning, the learner activates a number of processes such as those that concern attentional, retrieval, metacognitive and rehearsal strategies. McCombs (1988) sums up these complexities in his multimodal model of learning with certain underlying assumptions. Among them is that learning success can be manipulated. In promoting learning, the teacher can promote strategy learning such as self-directed learning. Learners if trained can select and be their own judge as to the efficacy of strategy use for the learning task. Lessard-Closton (1997) identified several basic characteristics to describe language learning strategies: they are learner-generated, they enhance language learning and competence, they may be visible or unseen and they involve the processing of information and the use of memory

Embedding English in the learning of science

The teaching of Science in English was introduced to counter detriments of the Malaysian’s inability in keeping with the pace of developments in science and technology. The current Malaysian linguistic ecosystem is a result of historical events that eminently date back to pre independence dominance by foreign powers (the British). This dominance perpetuated the use of the English language for trade, government matters and education. A notable turn of events is the implementation of the 1963 National Language Act after independence which changed the character of language use in education.English as a medium of instruction was categorically replaced by the Malay language. However, a bilingual policy innovation is now a current feature in the Malaysian linguistic ecosystem. The emphasis given to English brings along a growing concern of the standard that needs to be achieved in the learning of science. Given this policy, the paper attempts to unfold the embedding of learning English through science by examining teacher attitude towards the teaching of science in English. Data is obtained from a critical analysis of a survey questionnaire and teacher interviews. Using the content analysis approach, the data is analyzed and categorized. Findings provide directions in on-going evaluations of a policy initiative which has generated much attention and discussion

Exploring the interplay of mode of discourse and proficiency level in ESL writing performance

Recent theory in discourse and practice in rhetoric has suggested that writers require different skills and strategies when writing for different purposes, and in using different genres and modes (Kinneavy, 1972; Carrell and Connor, 1991) in writing. The importance of taking into account these various aspectual skills and forms of writing is recognised in teaching (e.g. Scarcella and Oxford, 1992), and in the assessment of writing (e.g. Odell and Cooper, 1980). For instance, Odell and Cooper argued that any claims about writing ability cannot be made until students’ performance on a variety of writing tasks has been examined. Thus, the issue of what writing task(s) are to be included in a test is crucial, since a task will be regarded as useless if it does not provide the basis for making generalisations regarding an individual’s writing ability. This paper presents the findings of a study on the effects of mode of discourse on L2 writing performance as well as the interplay between learner variable, namely, proficiency level and task variable, mode of discourse amongst Malaysian upper secondary ESL learners. The findings provide some evidence for the need to re-examine issues of reliability and validity in test practice of manipulating variables in the design of assessment tasks to evaluate ESL writing performance. Given the status and complexity of the writing skill, it stands to reason that studies into this area will continue to shed light onto how best the construct can be understood, taught and tested to give a fair chance for language learners to exhibit their true ability and be reliably reported on

An exploration of lexical bundles in academic lectures: examples from hard and soft sciences

Recurrent word combinations that carry out specific function have long captured the attention of many linguists. Referred to as extended collocations,lexical bundles are frequently used in spoken and written discourse, helping to shape meaning and coherence in a text or speech. Frequent use of these bundles is indicative of fluency in linguistic production. In the last two decades, lexical bundles have begun to attract considerable attention in corpus-based research; however, there is still an open question of whether they are different across disciplines in spoken discourse. This study aims to explore how four-word lexical bundles are used in 24 academic lectures of hard and soft sciences taken from the British Academic Spoken English(BASE) corpus to see the possible variations in their frequency, structure and function. The present research also attempts to discover the manifestation of the identified bundles in introduction, body and closing sections of the lectures. Findings revealed some marked variations across the two divisions;in that, lecturers in each division appeared to apply different structures and functions in the use of lexical bundles in order to convey their message, so as to be as comprehensive as possible for the learners

Discourse functions of formulaic sequences in academic speech across two disciplines

Formulaic sequences play a crucial role in building academic discourse. From among the variety of formulaic expressions, lexical bundles have been shown to serve particular facilitative functions in academic discourse. Defined as strings of word forms that commonly co-occur in natural discourse, lexical bundles are characterized statistically by their frequency of occurrence and they contribute significantly to fluency in speech and writing. While previous research had focused on the use of these expressions in academic research articles across disciplines or on the difference between spoken and written registers, little research has been carried out to find out the language use of academic lectures from different disciplines in terms of the use of these bundles, orally. Taking into account this consideration, the present study aimed to investigate how lexical bundles are used by academic lecturers from different disciplinary communities. With the aim of comparing their language selection, the most frequent four-word lexical bundles in academic lectures of two disciplines, namely politics and chemistry were identified and categorized. The procedure adopts Biber et al.‟s (2004) functional categorization of lexical bundles to investigate the communicative purposes that lexical bundles convey in the lectures of the two groups and to see whether there were any disciplinary differences with regard to the bundles used. Based on the findings, there were some marked variations found across the two disciplines in terms of discourse functions of the lexical bundles. It seemed that academic lectures rely heavily on the use of specific word combinations to fulfill those functions related to their discipline

English for Mathematics and Science: current Malaysian language-in-education policies and practices

Bahasa Malaysia (the Malay language) was chosen as the national language to unite the linguistically diverse groups in Malaysia in the mid-1950s. This choice brought about a total change in education policy, whereby Bahasa Malaysia became the medium of instruction for all subjects (other than English) in public schools. The decision saw a complete reversal of the role of English, which before the implementation of the 1963 National Language Act was the medium of instruction and administration. The current milestone in policy change is the decision to make English the medium of instruction in mathematics and science. With this change, a number of corollaries emerged that may determine the direction of policy execution. This paper examines contentious reactions to this new policy from various interest groups, teacher trainers and classroom practitioners, and to the implementation of language education programmes related to the teaching of mathematics and science. Among the issues discussed are the perceived difficulty of mastering English, the advantaged and disadvantaged bilingual learner, the rural-urban dichotomy in learner capability, and the question of national identity. © 2006 S.H. Chan & H. Tan

Extracting and comparing the intricacies of metadiscourse of two written persuasive corpora

Previous studies (Wu 2007; Hyland, 2004; Hyland & Tse 2004; Intaraprawat & Steffensen 1995; Crismore et al 1993; Vande Kopple 1985) have established the use of Metadiscourse (MD) as an essential element in writing as it allows the writer to create a dialogic space with his readers. In recent years, attempts have been made to analyse MD through the use of text corpus with the help of computer technology especially when the corpus is large. In this investigation, data have been obtained through an electronic means to illustrate the use of MD in writing samples of a group of Malaysian undergraduates. In order to investigate the use of MD by these students, their writing was benched against an established standard, the open access BAWE corpus, available online. The MD features were analysed through the concordancing software, monoConc Pro 2.2, for this research. The paper demonstrates how the software manages the data to reveal patterns of use between writers of the two corpora. The paper concludes on initial insights obtained from the comparison to show the nature and manner of MD between standard proficient writing(extract from BAWE corpus) and evolving student writing at the tertiary level that would have implications for writing improvement in educational institutions

English language attrition in short conversation and passage listening comprehension.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether language attrition in both short conversation and passage listening comprehension occurs among tertiary students. The number of the participants is 359, who are all from Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications. A test paper, adapted from China’s College English Test Band Six, was used as the instrument to measure participants’ short conversation and passage listening comprehension before and after the two-month holiday. The result indicates that participants’ short conversation listening comprehension improved significantly and obviously over the holiday. However, no statistical significance was found in passage listening comprehension. The reasons for the results were also analyzed and discussed

Cross-linguistic and cross-disciplinary investigation of lexical bundles in academic writing

The present paper reviews the use of lexical bundles in academic writing from two different viewpoints namely linguistic and discipline, directed at how academic writers belonging to different disciplines or linguistic backgrounds construct their discourses through lexical bundles. As cohesive devices, lexical bundles are an indispensible part of the text and play a crucial role in shaping propositions, evolving the text, guiding readers through the flow of information and gaining the writer's proffered meaning. By using lexical bundles, academic writers are able to attain naturalness in their writings and create a more reader-friendly approach to the unfolding text. Bearing the significance of lexical bundles in mind, this review paper aims to examine the effect of disciplinary variation and linguistic differences on the use of lexical bundles in academic writing. Most researchers believe that the frequency as well as the use of lexical bundles is different across disciplines and from one language to another language. Therefore, through a review of previous studies, there is a systematic investigation of evidence to support the above claims. Possible limitations of previous studies are discussed and some implications for further research are presented

Norms of language choice and use in relation to listening and speaking: the realities of the practice in the Malaysian banking sector

Sociolinguists have pointed to the current linguistic development of the present era as being marked by a complex interplay of sociolinguistic concerns, among which are contradictions between global networks, local identities, (Barber, 1995; Castells, 2000), and also in norms in language choice and use. Economic and social globalization has created a strong demand for an international lingua franca, thus furthering English's presence as a global language (Crystal, 1997). However, local languages remain influential and exert a presence in a multilingual situation. This study attempts to relate the use of the global language to that of the local languages in the Malaysian banking sector which plays a dominant role as an economic powerhouse. Within this financial sector, the matrix of language as a medium of expression provides a setting for investigating situated norms of language choice and use among multilingual employees in the Malaysian banking sector. Data were collected via a survey questionnaire. Fishman's (1972) theoretical framework is adopted and extended to the workplace context in order to examine the intricacies of the norms of language choice and use in relation to specifically the listening and speaking skills. These two language skills have been prioritized by Malaysian employees as the most needed in the workplace (Abdullah et al., 2010). The study gives focus to these two skills and the specific domains of use to illustrate the competing patterns of language choice in a multilingual Malaysian workplace