Acrolectal English for tertiary students: individualised metaphonological awareness instruction

This paper explores the process of implementing the Individualised Metaphonological Awareness Instruction (IMAI) for the teaching and learning of acrolectal English in terms of the phonological aspect: selected suprasegmental features of English sound, namely, the schwa and catenation or linking features. For instance, not producing the neutral schwa vowel sound is in part what gives those whose second language is English an accent or pronunciation that is different from those whose first language is English. Producing or not producing schwa vowel sounds affects the quality of one’s pronunciation and how natural one sounds when speaking English. If the sophisticated learners aspire to approximate the RP model in their enunciation, schwa and catenation are deemed very important. The study assesses the instruction model in terms of its facilitative effects in assisting the teacher as well as in assisting the student to learn selected aspects of suprasegmental features of English sounds via scaffolding process. It is a qualitative case study which involves five (5) participant undergraduates at a public university in Sarawak. Only qualitative data involving one participant were reported and discussed in this paper. It was found that firstly the I-MAI model did assist both the teacher and the student in coaching and learning pronunciation respectively. The process of micro-scaffolding yielded varied scaffolding features/characteristics that explain the interactive dynamics occurring within the individualised instructional process itself. The I-MAI was also found to be positive and facilitative in enhancing the student’s metaphonological awareness of the suprasegmental features of English sounds

LEKA Lexical Knowledge Achieve Terminology in Social Sciences

The LEKA (Lexical Knowledge Archive) Project involves language modernization and modification through word formation/coinage, word blending and word borrowing which focuses on developing specialised terminology for Social sciences and Humanities in the Iban language. This may look like an ordinary wordlist, a form of bilingual archive of specialised terminology in Social Sciences and Humanities, but for the authors this is our labour of love. Years of research is finally manifested into a publication with hopes to further modernize the Iban language to elevate its function into becoming an academic language. Leka in Iban literally means a seed of fruits or vegetables or a seed of word, hence the term LEKA aptly represents this initiative

Metacognitive strategy instruction (MSI) for reading: Co-regulation of cognition

This paper aims to show how a teacher and ESL learners can successfully engage in mutual regulation of strategy use as they co-construct meaning from the reading text. It focuses on the teacher’s effort at giving direct explanation of various learning strategies for reading, that is, it illustrates how learners are explicitly taught not only the various components of a learning strategy but also the rationales of the “how”, “when” and “where” to use that particular strategy. The study on co-regulation of strategy use adopts a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis. It was conducted via the implementation of a Metacognitive Strategy Instruction (MSI) for academic reading. The instruction session started with an explicit direct explanation of learning strategies that include macro strategies such as planning, comprehension monitoring, problem solving, evaluating and modifying. Subsequently, the learners were taught how to apply the strategies using a strategic processing framework called Self-regulated Learning Approach to Strategic Learning (SRSL) to construct meanings from the reading text. The qualitative account of the learners’ strategy use was elicited using a qualitative retrospective written recall protocol (RWP). The study found that both the High Proficient (HP) and Low-proficient (LP) learners benefited reasonably well from the experience of the MSI sessions. The learners reported on how the strategies helped facilitate their reading process. The key issue revealed in the study is that the MSI sessions have managed to at least prepare if not transform the learners into becoming metacognitively sophisticated reader

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

Self-regulated approach to strategic learning (SRSL): a socio-cognitive perspective

This paper explores one salient feature of socio-cognitive theory, enactive learning principle (Schunk, 2000, 2001; Elliot, Kratochwill, Cook and Travels, 2000). It will examine within the broader framework of en active learning principle, how successes attained as a consequence of one's actions (strategy use) in actual task performance generate cognitive motivation on the part of the learner, which in turn enhances the learner's sense of self-efficacy in those actions (using learning strategies) to self-regulate his/her learning process. When the learner becomes cognitively motivated, his/her level of self-efficacy also increases which then expands and develops his/her capacity for the acquisition of knowledge in metacognition that enables effective self-regulation of the learning process. Having possessed knowledge in metacognition, the learner tends to become self-regulated or strategic in his/her learning approach via strategic formulation and irnplementation of learning strategies in the learning contexts. Such learner is considered as a self-regulated learner who is capable of engaging strategic learning particularly in the context of academic reading. An understanding of how enactive learning principle informs the development of a self-regulated learner is at best theoretical unless some pragmatic mediation of the principle is made. The conceptualization of the SRSL Approach is an effort at pragmatically mediating theory into practice. The approach is designed by the author to provide a strategic processing framework for self-regulated learners to engage efficaciously in academic reading context. The paper will therefore attempt to expound some plausible effort at mediating a theoretical strand

Exploring teacher cognition in Malaysian ESL classrooms

The paper addresses the key question in teaching English language, that is, how does teacher cognition interact with classroom practice. The paper is part of a larger study which was conducted in sub-urban schools in Sarawak, East Malaysia via qualitative case study method involving teachers in actual classroom practice. The teacher participants were video-recorded in two separate teaching sessions to capture as far as possible authentic teacher cognition practice. Each teacher was then asked to review his own recorded lessons and verbally report on his actions in the class via stimulated recall protocol technique. The qualitative data generated were analysed for specific features in relation to three main knowledge types representing teacher cognition namely, knowledge of students, pedagogical content knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge. Several features were identified and categorised according to the knowledge types. As far as Knowledge of students (KS) is concerned, it is important for teachers to be aware of their students’ preferred learning styles as well as their proficiency levels. On Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), teachers should allow their students a lot of freedom in choosing the activities they prefer. As regards General pedagogical knowledge (GPK), teachers need to be less dominating in the actual classroom practice but instead acting more as facilitator to help guide and facilitate the students’ learning process. For future research, it is recommended that longitudinal studies be conducted to further provide insights into teacher cognition via generation of larger corpus of data on evidence of teacher cognition processes

Strategic processing of academic text: identifying a strategic reader / Bromeley Philip and Nelson Anak Martin Noel

The study aimed to explore the strategic processing of an academic text by students to discover the types of strategies employed. The research employed a qualitative case study method to investigate the cognitive processes that the subjects experienced as they were engaged in a reading task. The study was conducted at Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak (UiTMS) involving 10 out of 23 students from the Bachelor of Administrative Science (BAS) Programme, where permission was obtained from both the university and the respondents. The number of sample was small because the study focused on individual cases to generate data on strategic processing. The subjects were given an academic text to read in one lecture session and immediately after the silent reading session, the subjects were required to do retrospective written recall protocols (RWRP). The RWRPs of the subjects were inter-rated and analysed for the presence and occurrence of strategies which were identified using the Metacognitive Awareness Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) as guideline for interpretation. The findings revealed that the subjects were actively engaging strategic processing; they were using strategies to make meaning from the text. It was found that the subjects used more of global and support strategies rather than problem-solving strategies. Hence, it is possible to say that the subjects were strategic in their reading approach as evidenced from the analysis of the written protocols