Trend pembinaan blog dalam pembelajaran bahasa Sepanyol

Penggunaan teknologi dalam pembelajaran bahasa asing pada masa sekarang menjadi satu keperluan yang sangat penting. Hal ini kerana teknologi akan sentiasa berubah seiring dengan peredaran masa. Oleh yang demikian, kertas kerja ini akan membincangkan penggunaan blog sebagai satu kaedah baharu dalam mencapai proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran bahasa Sepanyol sebagai bahasa asing. Penulis akan melihat trend pelajar mengaplikasikan bahan-bahan berkaitan, berdasarkan tahap kognitif pelajar dalam membina blog bahasa Sepanyol berdasarkan pendekatan Teori Kognitif oleh Piaget (1952). Sebanyak enam blog akan dikaji dalam kajian ini dengan menumpukan kepada kepelbagaian gaya pelajar membina dan mengolah blog berdasarkan pengetahuan yang dipelajari dalam bilik kuliah. Secara rumusan dapatan kajian ini memperlihatkan penggunaan tiga jenis trend dalam penulisan blog iaitu trend fokus, pemikiran dan bahasa yang digunakan. Oleh yang demikian kajian ini akan dapat memberi satu dimensi baharu dalam mempelbagaikan kaedah pengajaran bahasa Sepanyol, dan memberi idea kepada kajian pada masa hadapan untuk mempelbagaikan lagi kajian berkaitan blog dalam bahasa Sepanyol

Listening Comprehension Orientations and Strategies in Learning English Language: A Review Paper

This paper reviews the listening comprehension orientations and strategies in learning English language among L2 learners.  Listening skill is one of the most critical key in learning English language. Listening comprehension is a process of understanding the language input in which helps the EFL learners to receive and interact with language input and enables the emergence of other language skills. Heavy research was carried out concerning listening comprehension problems and strategies. Thus, this paper reviews approximately 50 papers with a time span from 2010 to 2019. By searching on Google Scholar and Research Gate for the terms: listening comprehension, listening comprehension orientations, listening comprehension difficulties, and listening comprehension strategies. In general, most studies found that whenever EFL learners face a difficulty in listening, they try to find out the most effective listening strategies to solve their listening difficulties. By doing this, they could improve their listening comprehension. Further research is recommended in order to review papers that dealt with the strategies of other skills i.e. reading strategies and speaking strategies since they are under researched. DOI:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.403380

An analysis of learning preferences of Mechanical Engineering undergraduate students at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Pulau Pinang to improve teaching approach / Salina Budin and Shaira Ismail

Students learn effectively in a preferable learning environment with suitable teaching approach that matches their learning preferences. Teaching and learning activities which suit students’ learning preferences have an impact on their motivational level to learn. As for the lecturers, it will help lecturers to organize and improve their teaching aids, learning and teaching assessment and learning environment. This work aims to analyze the learning preferences among the Diploma students in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering which can be used to improve teaching approaches. The Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles model consists of five elements namely; environmental, sociological, emotional, physiological and psychological is applied in the survey involving of 131 students. The results show that, the diploma students of Mechanical Engineering posses various learning preferences. For the learning environmental element, majorities are more convenient in cool environment with informal seating design. Whereas for sound background and lighting elements, the students are nearly well balance distributed. Equilibrium distribution of learning preferences is also seen in the emotional element. For the sociological aspect, most of the students chose variations which indicate that, they are able to adapt their learning styles either self, pair, peers or team. Physiological aspect reflects that most of the students are visual learners, morning alert and requires of having snack during classes. They are also hardly to remain seated for a certain period of time. Finally, from the psychological aspect, most of them are analytical learners, left-brain dominants with reflective learning styles. The research outcomes will help lecturers to develop a variety approach in improving teaching and learning activities in order to align with students learning preferences. Consequently, it will improve the teaching approach and enhance the transfer of learning

Psychological distress and quality of life of Malaysian infertile couples

Background: Infertility is an intense situation experienced by couples that causes emotional discomfort and worsening of their quality of life (QoL). The husband and wives of the infertile couples may reacted differently to stress.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving 100 infertile couples attending fertility clinics. Cases were selected by systematic random sampling. The severity of depression, anxiety and stress was measured using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and QoL was assessed with the Fertility Quality of Life (FertiQoL) questionnaire.Results: Multivariate analysis revealed that depression, anxiety and stress-related difficulties were reported at a higher level by wives (p<0.001). Total Ferti QoL scores were significantly higher in husbands (p<0.001). The female gender (wives) was the only significant variable associated with the severity of all three DASS-21 sub-scale scores (p <0.001) and considered as a high-risk factor for psychological distress. Poor Qol were significantly associated with wives (p<0.001), male cause of infertility (p=0.004), primary infertility (p=0.022) and previous history of receiving intrauterine insemination (IUI) (p =0.020).Conclusions: The wives of the infertile couples were at higher risk of developing psychological distress and had poor QoL than their husbands. The severity of the anxiety, depression and stress were adversely affected the QoL

Fostering creativity in the Islamic world: towards an effective Islamic creative industry

The world’s predominantly Muslim countries have long been lagging in their contribution in the creative industry.This is due to the lost of creativity and innovative traits in the Muslim communities.This paper provides conceptual and preliminary analysis on the actual situation of the Muslim com- pared to others in the world, points out to the reasons leading to the situation and suggest ways to foster creativity in the Muslim communities.Realizing the situation, understanding the problem and move towards the correct direction to cure the illness is the important prerequisite

Seni Mengikat Tengkolok Warisan Perak Darulridzuan

Tujuan penulisan kertas kerja ini adalah untuk mendokumentasikan proses teknik lipatan tengkolok warisan Melayu. Tengkolok merupakan salah satu hiasan atau penutup kepala lelaki Melayu yang unik serta mempunyai identiti tersendiri.Seni mengikat tengkolok ini mencerminkan ketinggian ilmu serta kreativiti orang Melayu zaman dahulu dalam mereka bentuk sesebuah tengkolok. Bagi menjelaskan proses teknik lipatan tengkolok ini, pendekatan kebudayaan secara kualitatif digunakan. Data secara bertulis atau visual dikumpul dengan menggunakan kaedah pemerhatian dan temubual. Hasil penelitian mendapati bahawa proses teknik lipatan tengkolok ini terbahagi kepada tiga bahagian iaitu bahagian pertama adalah teknik lipatan asas, bahagian kedua adalah simpul dan bahagian ketiga adalah solek (reka bentuk). Justeru itu, kertas kerja ini akan membincangkan mengenai teknik lipatan tengkolok Ayam Patah Kepak dari Perak Darul Ridzuan. Pendokumentasian teknik lipatan tengkolok ini merupakan salah satu cara bagi menghargai hasil seni warisan Melayu agar terpelihara dan diwarisi dari zaman ke zaman. Di samping itu kajian ini dapat dijadikan rujukan kepada para penyelidik terutama dalam warisan pakaian Melayu dan generasi muda pada masa kini serta akan datan

Student readiness on using web-based resources: a case study / Peridah Bahari, Salina Hamed and A'bas Ismail

The widespread acceptance of Web Technology in our tertiary institutions has brought about changes in the style, quantity and variety of resources that are made available to students. Fundamentally new learning environment is provided for students. On the other hand, there is still question about student readiness in using the abundant resources made available to them on the Web. This study examines students' readiness in using web-based resources. Variables that were look into are demographic background, level of technology usage, level of computer resources usage and their perspective on technology. 621 questionnaires were distributed randomly to diploma and degree engineering students (electrical, mechanical and civil). Based on students' ability on using web-based resources, result obtained from quantitative data showed there was a significant difference between student from different semesters (F = 4.264, p = 0.0), type of accommodation (t = -2.233, p = 0.0), and family income (t = -2.453, p = 0.014). Weak correlations were found between student's ability and students' expertise, students' opinion, students' knowledge and regularity in computer usage

English Camp Activities: A Strategy to Enhance Students’ English Proficiency

Indoor or outdoor activities are part of the learning and teaching process. Activities can be of value added to students especially if they perceived positively and appreciate their contents. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the English camp activities organised by the Faculty of Languages and Communication, University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia. The evaluations of the activities are based on the course objectives, activities covered and facilitators. In addition, the study also examines the benefits, types of improvement to be considered and the satisfaction level. The study was carried out in May to June 2010. Of 114 students taking TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) from Semester Two and Four, 73 students participated in the survey giving a response rate of 64 percent. Key words: Teaching And Learning; TESL; Effectiveness; English Camp Activitie

The application of the Spanish 'Tener verb' among Malay language speakers

This study focuses on the use of the Tener verb in teaching Spanish classes. The Tener verb is equivalent to has, have or, own. Because the verb has equivalent meaning in Malay, students are often confused to use this verb when it is used in different situations. The confusion occurs when students are unable to distinguish the form of the verb in Spanish compared to the Malay equivalent. Observations made on 30 respondents found that this confusion arises because students are not able to master certain forms of conjugating verbs in Spanish very well when translated from Malay language. Thus in accordance with the theory of Relevance (Sperber and Wilson, 1986 and 1995), where the authors try to compare the meaning of the verbs in search for answers to the confusion that exists. The findings demonstrate that despite having the same meaning, the functions of the verbs are different when translated into the target language. This study employs the translation methodology in the form of verb conjugation. The study is to see the similarities or differences of verb conjugation form- either they remain unchanged or have changed shape when translated from Malay to Spanish. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify students’ ability in applying Tener verb, and analyze the comparative verb form from the source language to the target language which is Spanish

Young women’s perceptions towards the Hijab Try-on app

Conventional hijab shopping requiresthe shoppers to go to the physical store to select and try the hijab themselves. This formof shopping needs theshoppers to allocate theirtime and effort. Meanwhile, online shopping has made it easier to shop where shoppers can get the goods they need without having to go to the store and this saves them a lot of time and effort. However, when it comes to online shopping for hijab, shoppers can only base their hijab purchase on the sizing chart and 2D photos. They are not accurate and interactive enough to allow shoppers to make the right choice. As such, for this kind of situation, a new approach to shopping and at the same time be able totry on the favourite hijabs is required. In this paper, weintroduce the Hijab Try-Onapp, a mobile augmented reality application which allows women shoppers to freely browse, select and try-on their favourite hijab at their own convenience using their own smartphone. The users can try-on the hijabs on their own or with the help of their friends or husband anytime and anywhere. The aimof this appis to enable the app’s users to try-on the hijabs provided by the app without having to try them in the fitting room.This feature can further enhance the existing capabilities which are lacking in online shopping.The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of using the Hijab Try-On appamong a sample of 120 female young adults between the ages of 18 to 35years old.The study specifically focusing on enjoyment, perceived augmentation, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward use and intention to use. The findings of the study showed that the participantsstrongly agreed on all the attributes namely; perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudetowards use, intention to use, enjoyment, and perceived augmentation. The mean value for intention to useis 4.46 which is thehighest while the mean valuefor perceived usefulness is4.14 which is the lowest.As a recommendation, owners of online hijab stores should be aware of the technological advances associated with virtual try-on. They need to incorporate and utilise the technology to provide convenience and comfort to their customers