An Efficient Probabilistic Deep Learning Model for the Oral Proficiency Assessment of Student Speech Recognition and Classification

Natural Language Processing is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on the interaction between computers and human language. Speech recognition systems utilize machine learning algorithms and statistical models to analyze acoustic features of speech, such as pitch, duration, and frequency, to convert spoken words into written text. The Student English Oral Proficiency Assessment and Feedback System provides students with a comprehensive evaluation of their spoken English skills and offers tailored feedback to help them improve. It can be used in language learning institutions, universities, or online platforms to support language education and enhance oral communication abilities. In this paper constructed a framework stated as Latent Dirichlet Integrated Deep Learning (LDiDL) for the assessment of student English proficiency assessment. The system begins by collecting a comprehensive dataset of spoken English samples, encompassing various proficiency levels. Relevant features are extracted from the samples, including acoustic characteristics and linguistic attributes. Leveraging Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), the system uncovers latent topics within the data, enabling a deeper understanding of the underlying themes present in the spoken English. To further enhance the analysis, a deep learning model is developed, integrating the LDA topics with the extracted features. This model is trained using appropriate techniques and evaluated using performance metrics. Utilizing the predictions made by the model, the system generates personalized feedback for each student, focusing on areas of improvement such as vocabulary, grammar, fluency, and pronunciation. Simulation mode uses the native English speech audio for the LDiDL training and classification. The experimental analysis stated that the proposed LDiDL model achieves an accuracy of 99% for the assessment of English Proficiency

Spelling Mastery via Google Classroom among Year 4 Elementary School ESL Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Spelling mastery is an important prerequisite of proficiency in the English language. The conventional language teaching strategy needs to be revolutionized for the 21st century by utilizing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enable English as a Second Language (ESL) students to master spelling. As such, online teaching and learning becomes a crucial strategy to impart and receive knowledge. This case study focused on teaching spelling mastery via Google Classroom to elementary school ESL students, coincidently during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic which has resulted in the emergence of a new norm in education. This case study involved thirty mixed-proficiency Year 4 ESL students from a sub-urban national primary school in Selangor. These students were divided into two groups, the experimental and control groups. The experimental group comprised a class of fifteen students who participated in the intervention, whereas the control group consisted of another fifteen students who did not participate in the intervention. The research instruments included pre- and post-test results, field notes and semi-structured interviews. To maintain the integrity of the data, the researchers took the necessary measures to ensure that the instruments were reliable and valid. This included assessing the content and face validity of the research instruments, expert validation for the interview questions and adequate engagement in data collection. The principal findings regarding the use of Google Classroom revealed students’ improvement and increased motivation in mastering spelling

ISSUES CONTRIBUTING TO LOW PERFORMANCE OF ENGLISH IN A NATIONAL SCHOOL IN SONG, SARAWAK

English is becoming more important in this globalized world. In Malaysia, calls have been made from rulers and commoners alike to use English as the primary medium of instruction in primary schools. Although Malaysia has centralized education system for every state, rural schools might be in danger of losing out to their counterparts in the urban areas. Numerous programmes have been done to bring the standard of English in the school up to par with their counterparts from urban schools and yet English remains a tricky subject to master. In a rural school in the district of Song, Sarawak, English has always been the lowest performing subjects in UPSR year after year. Parallel to UPSR, the pupils for English intervention programme (LINUS BI) has the most compared to Bahasa Malaysia (BM) and Mathematics. This paper will attempt to research and understand the primary issues contributing to low performance of English in the school. At the same time, this paper will attempt to compare the background of pupils with high performance of English and pupils with low and mediocre performance in English and the causes leading to what they are today

Validez y fiabilidad del cuestionario sobre la autoeficacia de los docentes de preescolar en la enseñanza del inglés como segunda lengua

This study aims to determine the validity and reliability of a questionnaire on preschool teachers’ self-efficacy in the teaching of English as a second language in Malaysia. This survey-designed study used questionnaire as the instrument. The questionnaire contains 87 items under three constructs; teachers’ self-efficacy, teachers’ English language proficiency, and teaching strategies. Five experts were involved in validating the questionnaire while the reliability coefficient values were obtained from 200 preschool teachers of three districts. The results have shown that the validity of the questionnaire is high with the coefficient value of .924 based on the consensus from the experts. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient values of the reliability for self-efficacy construct was .921, English language proficiency construct was .961, and teaching strategies construct was .976. Therefore, the questionnaire has been proven to have high validity and reliability which is appropriate to measure preschool teachers’ self-efficacy, English language proficiency, as well as teaching strategies in the teaching of English as a second language. Este estudio tiene como objetivo determinar la validez y confiabilidad de un cuestionario sobre la autoeficacia de los maestros de preescolar en la enseñanza del inglés como segundo idioma en Malasia. Este estudio diseñado por encuestas utilizó el cuestionario como instrumento. El cuestionario contiene 87 ítems bajo tres constructos; autoeficacia de los maestros, dominio del idioma inglés de los maestros y estrategias de enseñanza. Cinco expertos participaron en la validación del cuestionario, mientras que los valores del coeficiente de confiabilidad se obtuvieron de 200 maestros de preescolar de tres distritos. Los resultados han demostrado que la validez del cuestionario es alta con el valor del coeficiente de .924 basado en el consenso de los expertos. Los valores del coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach de la confiabilidad para el constructor de autoeficacia fueron .921, el constructor de dominio del idioma inglés fue .961 y el constructor de estrategias de enseñanza fue .976. Por lo tanto, se ha demostrado que el cuestionario tiene una alta validez y confiabilidad, lo cual es apropiado para medir la autoeficacia de los maestros de preescolar, el dominio del idioma inglés, así como las estrategias de enseñanza en la enseñanza del inglés como segundo idioma

THE EFFECTS OF WHATSAPP IN TEACHING NARRATIVE WRITING: A CASE STUDY

Purpose of the study: This study aims to identify the effects of WhatsApp in teaching narrative writing to Grade 6of primary school pupils in the aspect of vocabulary and grammar. Methodology: Eight pupils of Grade 6 from one primary school in Negeri Sembilan were involved and data were collected through document analysis, focus group interviews and field notes. Main Findings: The findings of the post-test revealed that the vocabulary aspect has significantly improved as 75% of the participants showed an increase of one and two marks while the aspect of grammar was not found to have any effect as only one participant who represented 12% of the participants showed slight improvement from 12 to 13 marks. Applications of this study: The findings of this study are hoped to shed some light on how the educators could manipulate the functions of mobile messaging apps in teaching English particularly the skill of writing. Novelty/Originality of study: The pupils’ motivation to learn narrative writing could be enhanced through the use of WhatsApp rather than writing conventionally using pencil and paper

LANGUAGE CAMP IN MALAYSIA: ASNAF STUDENTS’ NEEDS AND PERCEPTION

Purpose of the study: This study aims to identify Asnaf students’ needs in language learning and their perception of the implementation of the language camp module that had been developed by researchers using the ADDIE model Methodology: In-depth analysis of focus group interviews with Asnaf students was conducted, and the data obtained were analysed thematically according to several categories Main Findings and Novelty: The findings of this study revealed that students believed that their anxiety was lowered when they were given the opportunity to cooperate with their friends in a fully immersive and fun English language learning context Applications of this study: The modules and the findings of this study could be used by any English language educators to conduct English language camps especially to Asnaf children who stay in charity homes

LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH SONGS: A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF MUSIC IN TEACHING VERBS

Purpose of the study: This study aims to investigate how the use of songs in English language classrooms could aid tertiary students to increase their verb vocabulary repertoire. Methodology: This quantitative study was carried out among diploma students from a local university in Malaysia. The students were exposed to various English songs during their English lessons. Pre-test and post-test were conducted in this study. Main Findings: The use of songs can increase vocabulary acquisition among English language learners at tertiary level. The use of songs is able to provide a fun way of picking up new words. Applications of this study: The findings of this research indicate that English language teachers of tertiary students should use English songs as classroom activities to facilitate their students’ language learning and motivate them in acquiring new English vocabulary. The findings of this research are useful for university policymakers, teachers, and students. Novelty/Originality of this study: In this research, the use of English songs from contemporary genres, such as Western or Islamic songs can be an effective way to promote language learning

Student-teachers’ experiences in creating oral history texts

The Malaysian government has announced the use of CEFR aligned English textbooks imported from the United Kingdom in schools. However, the use of imported textbooks faces much oppositions. The proponents of Malaysian based textbooks believe that English textbooks written in English should give due consideration to contents based on local setting. Thus, the researchers worked collaboratively with thirty, Year 3 Teaching English as a Second Language student-teachers who have enrolled in the course, Teaching Reading Skills in English as a Second Language. One of the course objectives is to produce an English supplementary book which consists of oral history texts with local context for lower secondary students. The research objective is to find out to what extent the student-teachers have gained from creating the oral history texts. This study employed a qualitative research approach adopting a case study method. Data were collected from a purposive sampling of 30 TESL student-teachers, who wrote the oral history texts. The research instruments employed were reflective journals, document analysis and interviews. The main findings show that the student-teachers gained valuable experiences in creating oral history texts for an ESL reading classroom. Besides some challenges faced, they gained a better realisation of the principles of teaching reading and material development in an ESL context. It is hoped that this study could give insights to the educators, policy makers and textbook writers in developing and using English textbooks with local contexts

Facilitating online learning: students’ online discussion strategies for a project work at a Technical University in Malaysia

The use of online discussion forum is slowly penetrating into classroom teaching and learning as studies have proven that it contributes to a positive learning environment, provided that learners and educators know how to use it effectively. In order to know how to use the online discussion forum effectively, this study was conducted. The research objective was to identify the online discussion strategies employed by the participants. This case study involved fifteen 2nd semester Engineering Technology Malaysian undergraduates enrolled in “Professional English 1” course. Data were gathered from a focus group interview, individual interview and participants’ reflective notes. Five participants volunteered to be interviewed individually and the remainder express their interest to be interviewed in a focus group interview. The participants were interviewed immediately after their online discussion activities. The participants were also asked to reflect to their opinions on their online discussion experience after each online discussion activities. These findings indicate that participants employed three online discussion strategies to facilitate their project work, namely: 1) devising and coordinating ideas before posting 2) interpreting others’ responses before posting their ideas online, and 3) ratifying their own statements before posting. These strategies were employed by the participants to complete a proposal for a Community Service Responsibility (CSR) project. It is hoped that these findings could provide insights and create awareness among the lecturers on the strategies employed by the participants so that more effective and meaningful online discussions could be carried out

BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF USING GAME-BASED FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Purpose of the study: This research aims to identify the advantages and challenges faced by TESL undergraduates from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in using Kahoot as a formative assessment tool in a course, i.e., Teaching of Writing in English as a Second Language Context. Methodology: The research instruments employed are semistructured interviews and questionnaire. All 46 Year 3 TESL students enrolled in the course responded to the questionnaire, while five of them responded to the individual interview session. Main Findings: The findings indicate that the majority of the respondents agreed that the application of Kahoot enables students to relate to lectures and lecture notes, recall important points, and discover other useful information and knowledge pertaining to the course. Despite the advantages mentioned, the challenges faced were also identified. Among the challenges mentioned are students’ readiness and mastery level of the topics revised. Applications of this study: With the proper usage of Kahoot in a classroom context, both educators and students could adopt it as a learning catalyst to enhance teaching and learning. Novelty/Originality of this study: The students’ knowledge and interest could be improved using Kahoot if the educator plays his/roles and know what they should do to implement Kahoot in their own class