The discourses of doing science in English

In January 2003, Malaysia re-adopted the English language as a medium of instruction for science and mathematics. This change in the medium of instruction brings with it challenges of its own. What does it mean to 'do' science in the Malaysian context and to do so in English? How does the change in the medium of instruction from Bahasa Malaysia to English impinge upon current instructional and literacy practicesof teachers and learners? What kinds of change are required of the community that is invested in the teaching of science? This paper will address these questions by troubling some common-sense assumptions of 'doing' science in the Malaysian context in the light of findings of a qualitative case study conducted to investigate how one two teachers working in different contexts in a Malaysian school copes with the new medium of instruction and the myriad of issues that come with it

Manifestation of cultural identity(s) in an Iranian English language Literacy classroom: a critical discourse analysis

English language Literacy education has recently focused attention on cultural identity(s). In these studies, cultural identities are defined as a significant “source of meaning and experience” constructed by and connected to the social context of the external world. More precisely, cultural identities are constructed by increasingly complexities of what construct literacy and multi literate practices in 21 century as a constantly changing socially and culturally diverse, globalized and technological era. This view can open a new horizon to English language literacy education in the new era which is supposed to go beyond merely 4 -skill dominant pedagogical orthodoxy. The current study as a qualitative case study framed in New London Group focuses on how literacy practices and consequently cultural identities are constructed in an Iranian EFL classroom. To do so, we applied a critical classroom discourse analysis as the main technique of data collection. Results of this study can enrich the research literature in new literacy studies in which EFL contexts are still less visible

Exploring pluriliteracy as theory and practice in multilingual/cultural contexts

This paper is situated in language and literacy studies (Gee 1996) and Malaysian Studies (Tan,1992; Shamsul, 1999;Maznah and Wong, 2001; Ooi, 2001) and explores what I theorise to be the pluriliteracy (Koo 2004) of Malaysian tertiary leamers in relation to the discourses of the community, nation-state and globalisation. It takes the perspective of linguistic practices as involving culture (as interpretive systems of meaning involving webs of significance (Geertz,1973) and linguistic processes as sociocultural practice (Kress, 1989). The pluriliteracy of the multilingual meaningmakers in English is viewed in terms of a third space phenomenon (Bhabha, 1994) a deep sociopolitical space marked by power and ideological divides.Pluriliteracy views meaning-making and knowledge production as sociopolitical phenomena involving decisions and reflections around the ideological embeddings of dominant cultures. The third space is a complex and challenging space fraught with tensions for the multilingual learner,where various literacies are accommodated, nativised and transformed within the intersection and contradictions of community, national and global discourses. The paper explores the concept of Reflexive Pluriliteracy in two ways: firstly, by examining the broad sociopolitical contexts of Malaysia viewed as the intersection of the global with the nation-state and secondly, by examining the micro meaning making literacy practices of two Malaysian meaning-makers, Su and Beng. The broad and the micro are viewed as interpenetrating discursive discourses each interacting with the other. In exploring the extant pluriliteracies of multilingual meaning-makers as unfolding and as learned behavior, the paper argues for a pedagogy of reflexive Pluriliteracy. It is argued that reflexive pluriliteracy will help provide a greater awareness of the politics and tensions in various ways of knowing, in the third space of the simultaneously local-global, with its tensions and ambivalence

Social-motivational metacognitive strategy instruction (SMMS1): breaking the silence in language reading classes

This paper attempts to address as far as possible the realities of prevalent "silence" among Malaysian learners. Acknowledging the fact that such "silence" has been an acceptable norm, it is recommended that the "silence" may at least partially be broken through a reading class that incorporates elements of critical pedagogy in the form of a metacognitive strategy instruction session. It is proposed that Socialmotivational Metacognitive Strategy instruction, abbreviated as SMMSI be offered as an alternative pedagogic practice for the ESL reading classroom. The SMMSI model hopes to train learners to become active co-participants in the classroom and critical meaning makers

The discourses and literacy practices of doing science in English

In January 2003, Malaysia re-adopted the English language as a medium of instruction for science and mathematics. This change in the medium of instruction brings with it challenges of its own. What does it mean to ‘do’ science in the Malaysian context and to do so in English? How does the change in the medium of instruction from Bahasa Malaysia to English impinge upon the instructional and literacy practices of teachers and learners? What kinds of changes are required of the communities and stakeholders involved in the teaching of science? This article will address these questions by critiquing some dominant assumptions behind the literacy practices of ‘doing’ science in the Malaysian context based upon the findings of a qualitative case study conducted to investigate how two teachers working in diverse and different contexts in Malaysian schools cope with the new medium of instructio

Exploring English language learning and teaching in Malaysia

This paper presents a review of recent research that investigates the problem and the practice of English language teaching and learning in Malaysia. The aim of the paper is to identify the factors that contribute to low or limited English literacy achievement among Malaysian learners. A review of these studies indicates a general pattern of dissatisfaction among students, educators, policy makers and the public regarding the teaching and learning of the language (Razianna Abdul Rahman, 2005; Rosemala Ismail, 2008). In addition, studies focusing on English language proficiency among Malaysian university graduates also seem to resonate a feeling of uneasiness with the graduates’ level of English proficiency (Isarji Sarudin et al., 2008). This paper therefore discusses some of the key issues and competing discourses confronting English language learning in this country. It reflects on how the teaching of English is variously conceptualized in our classrooms, raising important questions about the positions of English literacy to Malaysian learners and the society in general

Investigating the undergraduate experience of assessment in higher education

This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a doctoral study in progress, which is situated in the context of quality in higher education, and is premised on the view that the student learning experience is ultimately the most meaningful and lasting measure of academic quality. The literature on assessment in higher education clearly places assessment at the heart of student learning and it is claimed that “the truth about an educational system” may be discovered by examining its assessment procedures (Rowntree, 1987, p.1). Using a qualitative case study approach, the study aims to reveal the values inherent in assessment, to show how these are conveyed through institutional discourses and through practices of lecturers, and how students’ learning behaviour may be affected by their perspectives of assessment. Data gathering activities for the entire doctoral research include focus group discussions and individual interviews with finalyear undergraduates, interviews with their lecturers, observations of lectures and classroom assessments, examination of documents related to the course descriptions and assessment, as well as a study of the administrative and procedural aspects of assessment which are part of the assessment praxis. The emerging themes reported here, based solely on the analysis of two of the focus group discussions, indicate how assessment praxis in higher education seems to be a reproduction of dominant power structures that have inculcated patterns of student passivity in learning