Refining English language tests for university admission: a Malaysian example / Arshad Abd Samad, Sharifah Zainab Syed Abd Rahman, and Siti Norbaiti

English has now become the lingua franca of much of technological, business and academic endeavours. Consequently, learning the English language is now seen as vital, especially at the university level where proficiency in the language has become a selection criterion. At present, the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) has been adopted by Malaysian public universities as an indicator of English language proficiency. A student’s overall result depends on all the four language components of the MUET and often determines the number and nature of the English language courses he or she has to attend at university. This study seeks to examine whether MUET is an accurate predictor of performance and success at university and how the MUET can be finetuned as an entry level English language test. It was carried out among 52 third year undergraduates of the Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia, admitted into the Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) programme. The findings of the study do not offer conclusive evidence about the validity of MUET as a predictor of academic success. However, six models of various combinations of scores on language components on the MUET scores are examined in terms of their effectiveness in increasing the accuracy in selecting students for the TESL programme. The correlations obtained using these models indicate that the combination of various components of the MUET can be used to more accurately predict student achievement at tertiary level than the cumulative MUET score itself. The results of these correlations and their implications in using language tests as admission requirements in general are also discussed

The effects of tasks on language-related episodes (LREs) during focus-on-form instruction

This paper discusses the effectiveness of using two task-types, dictogloss and opinion-gap tasks, in focus-on-form lessons to elicit language-related episodes (LREs) and produce modified output. The participants were 40 Form 6 students in a Malaysian secondary school in two intact classes. One group was taught using opinion-gap tasks and the other using dictogloss tasks. Results show that almost double the number of LREs was elicited in the dictogloss group compared to the opinion-gap group. However, more than 50% of the LREs in both groups were unresolved or wrongly resolved. These results imply the need to train learners to notice linguistic errors and engage in negotiations of form and meaning and could also indicate the need for teacher feedback on language use, perhaps during pre-task and post-task activities. The types of linguistic errors learners focused on might be an indication of learner developmental readiness which could influence task and text selection

NOTICING AND GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY IN ESL LEARNERS’ WRITING

This paper presents an overview of an exploratory study on the role of noticing in improving written accuracy. The noticing hypothesis, as conceptualised by Schmidt (1990, 2001), focuses on the need to enhance learners’ awareness of target language items in order to convert input into intake and subsequently internalise input as part of interlanguage. This study also takes into account the comprehensible output hypothesis (Swain, 1985, 1998) that proposes that output can promote noticing as it encourages learners to become aware of the gap between their interlanguage and the target language usage. These concepts have been translated into three types of feedback techniques for written output and the techniques are Enhancement, Reformulation, and Sequential. All three techniques function as a means to enhance learners’ awareness of past time forms and are therefore form-focused in nature but avoid explicit explanations of those target forms. Results indicate that noticing is influenced by the types of learner responses to the techniques. The structural components of a target form may influence the success of its acquisition. Statistical results suggest that all three instructional techniques were equally successful in enhancing noticing and in increasing learners’ written accuracy. Keywords: noticing   hypothesis,   input,   intake,   interlanguage, comprehensibe   output    hypothesis,   enhancement, reformulation, sequentia

The use of portfolio as an assessment tool in the Malaysian L2 classroom

This article focuses on the use of portfolio as an assessment tool for learning in two Malaysian secondary ESL classrooms. Participants included nine experienced lower and upper secondary school classroom ESL teachers who had utilised portfolio as an assessment tool in their classrooms. A qualitative research design was employed within the interpretive research paradigm as to provide an in-depth description of ESL teachers’ understanding of the use of portfolio as an assessment tool in the classroom. The interview data were used for triangulating data obtained from the classroom observations. Data collected through both techniques were transcribed and analyzed manually. The nine ESL teachers reported that student’s self-reflection and self-assessment helped them to improve their instruction in the classroom. Moreover, the ESL teachers found students showed progress in learning via supplementary exercises which were assessed and then graded. The teachers disclosed that the core features of a portfolio assessment include purpose, content and structure which were considered crucial to bring about effective results of student learning. The qualitative findings contribute to a better understanding of the use of portfolio as an assessment tool and have some implications for teaching and assessment

Identity formation of TEFL graduate students through oral discourse socialization

This paper reports on academic discourse socialization of several EFL teachers in a TEFL graduate program in Iran through oral discourse practices over the first year of the program. It explores how the professional identity of the in-service teachers is affected by the socialization process, their prior histories and contextual factors. It concludes that dialogical interactions through oral discourse practices are likely to result in re-consideration of their prior professional identity. The paper is likely to make a contribution to our understanding of professional identity construction of EFL teachers in graduate programs as far as academic oral discourse practices are concerned

Refining English language tests for university admission: a Malaysian example

English has now become the lingua franca of much of technological, business and academic endeavours. Consequently, learning the English language is now seen as vital, especially at the university level where proficiency in the language has become a selection criterion. At present, the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) has been adopted by Malaysian public universities as an indicator of English language proficiency. A student’s overall result depends on all the four language components of the MUET and often determines the number and nature of the English language courses he or she has to attend at university. This study seeks to examine whether MUET is an accurate predictor of performance and success at university and how the MUET can be finetuned as an entry level English language test. It was carried out among 52 third year undergraduates of the Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia, admitted into the Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) programme. The findings of the study do not offer conclusive evidence about the validity of MUET as a predictor of academic success. However, six models of various combinations of scores on language components on the MUET scores are examined in terms of their effectiveness in increasing the accuracy in selecting students for the TESL programme. The correlations obtained using these models indicate that the combination of various components of the MUET can be used to more accurately predict student achievement at tertiary level than the cumulative MUET score itself. The results of these correlations and their implications in using language tests as admission requirements in general are also discussed

Pressure to improve scores in standardized English examinations and their effects on classroom practices.

This study surveys English language teachers’ pressure to improve students’ scores in standardized English examinations and how it has affected their classroom practices. The purpose of this study is to explore the teachers’ level of pressure to improve students’ performance in the examination. This study also seeks to investigate whether there are any differences in terms of classroom practices between teachers who express high pressure and low pressure. In this study, classroom practices are determined by four variables which are; (i) test preparation activities, (ii) mode of instruction during English lesson, (iii) instructional content, and (iv) teachers’ involvement in motivational practices. Responses were analysed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) to determine whether there is any significant difference in terms of the four classroom practices variables and the pressure subgroups. This study found that teachers are pressured to improve students’ scores in standardized English examinations. Further, there are significant differences between teachers experiencing high pressure and low pressure in terms of their classroom practices, mode of instruction, instructional content and motivational practices

The efficacy of immediate and delayed corrective feedback in the correct use of English definite and indefinite articles

The process of giving effective feedback is a central concern for teachers and researchers in both first language and second language writing. Many teachers correct students’ written errors in the hope that this will help them improve the students’ mastery over the correct use of targeted linguistic forms, while Truscott (1996) considered this approach as a misguided endeavour due to his claim that feedback on grammar errors had no place in writing classrooms and it should be abandoned. Regarding this issue, the current study investigated the results of nine weeks treatment on the efficacy of immediate and delayed corrective feedback in the correct use of definite and indefinite articles. Data were collected from a sample of 51 (34 males and 17 females) first year Iranian EFL medical students. The students were administered three rational cloze tests (pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test). The finding of the study revealed that immediate corrective feedback had a significant effect on the correct use of English articles and the students received corrective feedback significantly improved their ability in using English article system correctly and that they retained this ability when they were given a new test four weeks after the treatment session. This study also indicated that there was a change in article scores across the three different time periods. Thus, the main effect for time was significant

Effects of task complexity and types of negotiation on language-related episodes in ESL classrooms

While the use of pedagogical tasks to encourage learner-learner interaction has gained recognition in promoting interlanguage development, the ways in which language forms are dealt with during these interactions remain underexplored. This study addressed the noticing of gaps in language use while dealing with tasks which are reflected by the negotiation of meaning and negotiation of form that occurred. Employing classroom-based research, this study investigated the effects of task reasoning demand and type of negotiation on frequency of language-related episodes (LREs). The grammatical items that learners focused on during their interactions were also identified and tabulated. A repeated-measures design was adopted. The participants were 76 pre-university students randomly assigned into four groups. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and repeatedmeasures ANOVA. Results indicate that there was a significantly higher number of LREs with negotiation of meaning as opposed to negotiation of form in the task with the high reasoning demand as opposed to the task with the low reasoning demand. The current research also shows that certain grammatical features were problematic for learners across both tasks. The results have implications on the utilization of tasks for L2 learning to optimize focus on meaning and form in learner-learner interaction