Rapid English Language Courseware for the New Primary School Curriculum: An Evaluation

When the Ministry of Education of Malaysia launched the Learning- With-Computers Project in 1989, concerned educators felt that there was an acute shortage of local curriculum-related courseware. At this juncture, a pioneer courseware company, produced its first New Primary School Curriculum (NPSC) series, popularly known as RAPID Educational Courseware. The series comprises three major subjects : Bahasa Malaysia, English Language and Mathematics. Because the courseware was new, it was not clear to what extent it confonns to the instructional goals and objectives of the NPSC. It was also not known whether students who used the courseware acquired better skills than those who did not. In view of the urgency to provide such feedback, this evaluation study, which focussed on one major subject i.e. English Language, was conducted. The study aims to suggest guidelines for overall improvement of the design and use of the RAPID English Language Courseware (abbreviated RELC (NPSC)); henceforth indirectly encouraging the production of better courseware. The study employed both formal and informal evaluation. The latter focussed on content and design analysis of the courseware, and the former involved an effectiveness experiment which compared the language improvement of two groups of primary students. One group used the RELC (NPSC) in the computer laboratory, and another followed the tuition class

Assessing the efficacy of writing centres: a review of selected evaluation studies

Writing practitioners, especially those in North America, have been reporting positive results from using writing centres in supporting students’ writing processes. Yet the question of how efficacious a writing centre can be is seldom seriously considered. In view of this gap, this paper attempts to examine several important evaluation studies of writing centre efficacy from the limited literature of empirical research, and presents evidence from both qualitative and quantitative measurements. While the formal qualitative studies affirmed the effectiveness of writing centre in reducing students’ writing apprehension and promoting positive affects to writing, the quantitative studies found that writing centre tutorials improved students’ writing competence and overall grades. Nevertheless, further research is required to establish the relationship between students’ satisfaction levels and the number of writing centre tutorials they received

Writing Centre Approach: Critical Issues and Practical Concerns.

As part of a research study on innovating the writing centre approach in Malaysian tertiary education, this paper critiques some common practices in writing centres, and raises issues pertinent to the writing centre approach. Critical issues discussed are the notion of help in writing centre tutoring, generalist versus specialist tutoring, peer review versus peer tutoring, tutoring ESL students, and grammar instruction. Examples are drawn from context where the writing centre was originally innovated to explore a workable model for its application in Malaysian tertiary institutions

ESL undergraduates' patterns of plagiarism in academic essays based on print or Internet sources

One of the most important issues among ESL students is inappropriate use of source material in their academic writing. As a result, plagiarism is more common among ESL students. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of source information type (print versus online) on plagiarism patterns in students' academic essays. The data of this study comprised Malaysian undergraduates' essays written based on references to print or Internet sources. The originality reports of the students' essays submitted to Turnitin were then checked against the original sources to code various instances of similarity. The results indicated that direct copying with no reference and quotation marks was the most frequent plagiarism pattern in students' essays. Moreover, the study found a statistically significant difference between plagiarism patterns in students' writing based on print and online source modes

Pedagogical blogging : promoting tertiary level students` critical thinking by using socratic questions.

This study seeks to investigate the effects of pedagogical blogging on tertiary students’ critical thinking. The authors initially discuss the role of Socratic questions in promoting students’ critical thinking through Web 2.0 tools. They further explain how blogging was incorporated into the curriculum of a course for tertiary level students enrolled in a Malaysian university. Finally, they show how qualitative and quantitative methods were used to evaluate the efficiency of Socratic questions in students’ blogging and its effects on students’ critical thinking. Findings suggest that implementing Socratic questions in students’ blogging would help promote students’ critical thinking

Weblogs for English language learning: students' perceptions

The digital explosion of information on the Internet has resulted in a need for a new and up-to-date way for Digital Natives to learn English. Educators have reported numerous benefits of using weblogs in English language learning. This article presents a small scale study on the use of weblogs for English language learning at tertiary level in Malaysia. Twenty six students kept weblogs for a duration of a semester. This study investigated how students perceived the use of weblogs for English language learning. A questionnaire which was made up of both close-ended and open-ended questions was administered at the end of the study. A mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to analyse the students' responses to the questionnaire. The study found that students were aware of their audience when they blogged and that they geared their writing towards their audience. In addition, they also interacted with others through the use of the comment feature on their weblogs. Furthermore, the majority of the students enjoyed blogging and found weblogs useful for English language learning. This study found that weblogs are promising interactive tools for English language learning

Using computer games to improve secondary school students’ vocabulary acquisition in English

This exploratory study aims to investigate if computer games can expand learners’ vocabulary and improve their writing performance. In testing the research instruments and procedure of a larger project, this pilot study employed only ten Form Four students who had voluntarily taken part in this study, and they were exposed to two different methods of acquiring vocabulary over a period of fourteen weeks. The two methods of vocabulary acquisition were computer games and traditional vocabulary strategies. The first method involved the subjects playing computer vocabulary games from the Internet for seven weeks. In the second method they employed traditional vocabulary strategies such as using a dictionary, contextual clues and semantic mapping for the next seven weeks. The extent of the subjects’ vocabulary acquisition in the two methods was measured by using the pre and post vocabulary tests and two written essays. Results indicate a significant difference between the pre and post vocabulary tests. However, no significant difference was found between the two essays in terms of vocabulary richness. Such results might be attributable to the short duration of the treatment

The use of reflective journal in a postgraduate research methodology course: student experiences

This paper examines the research skill development of an intact group of postgraduate (Master of Arts) students in a research methodology course. Data were collected from the students' weekly introspective reflective journals over one semester and a semi-structured interview at the end of the course. Results from the students' reflections revealed the initial high anxiety among novice researchers who had to juggle between learning new concepts and applying the knowledge in practice. Those who looked at the rewards instead of the challenges found their learning processes more meaningful although they also struggled in completing tasks and writing assignments. The students' esearch skill development culminated in a sense of achievement and satisfaction. The findings from the study contribute to the awareness of the difficulties, the strategies used and the worthwhile learning experiences of novice researchers in acquiring and developing research skills. Suggestions for pedagogy are identified for the use of reflections in the classroom

Podcast applications in language learning : a review of recent studies.

Many dynamic approaches have emerged due to computer technology in facilitating language learning skills. Podcasting is one such novel tool being exploited by teachers to deliver educational content and to encourage learning outside the classroom. Research on podcasting pedagogy suggests that podcasting greatly helps learners develop various skills of English language. The study reviewed twenty journal articles to determine the effects of podcast on ESL students’ language skills and attitude levels. It was found that podcasts greatly support learning not just in speaking and listening but also in other language skills and areas such as grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary

Teachers' perceptions on collaborative activity in ESL writing class

This study focused on teachers' perceptions of collaborative writing and how this activity was enacted in the classroom. Data were collected from a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview with 16 instructors who taught an academic writing course at Universiti Putra Malaysia. The findings revealed that collaborative activity is beneficial because it could enhance the development of cognitive and social skills and boost students' confidence in writing. On the contrary, the disadvantages of collaborative work are attributed by passive and uncooperative members as well as time factor. The findings also showed that the ways collaborative activities were enacted differed among the instructors. In addition, the choice of assigning groups and roles to students was also found to be varied. The insights from the teachers' perceptions are useful in improving the pedagogical applications of collaborative writing