Revisiting integrative motivation: Validation of International Posture among Malaysian undergraduates

Gardner’s (1985) in his socio-educational model introduced the variable of ‘integrativeness’ as a construct that focuses on English as a Second Language (ESL) learners’ attitudes towards the native English community. Later, Yashima (2002) proposed ‘international posture’ as an affective construct that re-examined ‘integrativeness’. Research conducted to reach a common operationalisation of ‘international posture’ is very limited. Hence, our objective in this study is to determine the level of each measurement construct under the affective variable of International Posture as well as to validate the measurement constructs of this variable among Malaysian undergraduates. In this quantitative study, 540 undergraduate students from a public university were selected. These students responded to a questionnaire that contained the four measurement constructs. For analysing the data, we used Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Our results have proven that the International Posture among Malaysian undergraduates is high, and the measurement constructs of this variable are valid and can be operationalised in the Malaysian English language learning context. The scale validated in the study can contribute to future studies on this variable in the Malaysian English language learning context.

Willingness to communicate in English among Malaysian undergraduates at a public university

Willingness to Communicate (WTC) is notably the most significant construct to facilitate second language (L2) communication. However, studies related to WTC in Malaysia remain scarce and few available past studies failed to simultaneously include the three most significant variables predicting WTC (MacIntyre et al., 1998 & Yashima, 2002). Hence, this study aimed to investigate the interrelationships between the three affective variables affecting L2 WTC namely (1) communicative confidence, (2) motivation in learning L2, (3) international posture as conceptualised in the Heuristic Model of L2 WTC by MacIntyre et al. (1998) and Yashima (2002). The present study added three other constructs to help demonstrate the social circumstance in Malaysia among Malaysian undergraduates in a public university. The three constructs demonstrating the Malaysian social circumstance are (1) WTC in English based on four language use domains (education, family, friendship, and transaction), (2) Ethnic Group Affiliation (EGA), and (3) living area. Specifically, this quantitative study utilised Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) as the tool of data analysis. . The data was gathered from 540 public university undergraduates with a nine-construct questionnaire structured and adapted to address the study constructs. Following the data analysis, it was revealed that communicative confidence was the strongest predictor of WTC in English among all language use domains. The implicit motivation-WTC relationships through communicative confidence were also substantial in all language use domains. Notably, direct relationships between motivation in language-learning and WTC in all language use domains were significant. On another note, international posture was significant to WTC in English involving all language use domains excluding the family domain. Although EGA positively correlated to the education domain, a negative relationship was detected in the family domain. Additionally, the mediating effect of international posture between the EGA-WTC in English correlation was significant in all domains excluding the family domain. Regarding the living area, the outcome revealed that undergraduates living in urban areas possessed higher communicative confidence that encouraged more WTC in English than undergraduates in rural counterparts across all language use domains. In this light, this research affirmed the implementation and used of the Heuristic Model of L2 WTC by MacIntyre et al. (1998) in the local context. As such, the accountability of various language use domains, intra-group EGA factors, and undergraduates’ living areas was unquestionably essential as proven in the current research. Overall, the study has suggested the affective variable of communicative confidence as the variable that should be given utmost attention in English language learning alongside other affective variables. The study has also pointed out communicative confidence as the affective variable most lacking among the English language learners living in rural areas as compared to the English language learners living in the urban areas. Hence, future studies can be conducted to test the validation of these results in different contexts of language learning. Focus should also be given towards identifying ways to increase English language learners’ communicative confidence especially through reducing their language anxiety and increasing their self-perceived competency

The relationship between ethnic group affiliation (EGA) and willingness to communicate (WTC) in English among undergraduates in a public university in Malaysia

This study aimed to examine the relationship between ethnic group affiliation (EGA) and Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in English among the undergraduates in a public university in Malaysia. The three ethnic groups involved in the study were Malays, Chinese, and Indians. An EGA questionnaire was adapted from Phinney (1992), Magid (2004), and Gatbonton and Trofimovich (2008), while a WTC questionnaire was adapted from McCroskey (1992), Fishman (1972), and Granhemat (2015). The questionnaires were distributed to 39 participants representing the three major races. The analysis showed that the level of EGA for the Malays was the highest with 83% as compared to the Chinese with 73% and the Indians with 81%. Meanwhile, the level of WTC of the Chinese received the highest score of 75%, while the Malays and the Indians were at 63%. Results of the Pearson Correlation, r= -0.323, p= 0.045, indicated a significantly weak and negative association between EGA and WTC. This implicated that high levels of EGA would result in low levels of WTC. Hence, in addressing that, attention needs to be given to the aspect of EGA in language learning and teaching approaches in order to achieve better language proficiency among the English language learners in Malaysia

Measuring Willingness to Communicate in English among Malaysian Language Learners through Domains of Language Use

In the field of second language acquisition (SLA) and language teaching, willingness to communicate (WTC), a construct of oral communication, has been extensively researched as it is considered a facilitative factor for language development. Most studies examine this construct using the quantitative method. There are fewer studies that have examined how languages are codeswitched and used interchangeably across different social domains, a common practice among Malaysian English language users. The purpose of this research was to develop and validate a WTC measuring tool for Malaysian English language learners. In the questionnaire, WTC in English was examined and determined via four language use domains—education, friendship, transaction and family. The validity of the four domain factors was tested using the two-stage approach factor analysis. The results suggest that WTC can be seen as a domain-based construct where learner social domains are contextualized. This paper aims to briefly introduce the study and presents its validation results

Measuring Willingness to Communicate in English among Malaysian Language Learners through Domains of Language Use

In the field of second language acquisition (SLA) and language teaching, willingness to communicate (WTC), a construct of oral communication, has been extensively researched as it is considered a facilitative factor for language development. Most studies examine this construct using the quantitative method. There are fewer studies that have examined how languages are codeswitched and used interchangeably across different social domains, a common practice among Malaysian English language users. The purpose of this research was to develop and validate a WTC measuring tool for Malaysian English language learners. In the questionnaire, WTC in English was examined and determined via four language use domains—education, friendship, transaction and family. The validity of the four domain factors was tested using the two-stage approach factor analysis. The results suggest that WTC can be seen as a domain-based construct where learner social domains are contextualized. This paper aims to briefly introduce the study and presents its validation results

Web-Based Parametric Effort Estimation for Mobile Application Development

Estimation methods are continuously being adapted to obtain better and clearer estimations needed to achieve development goals. Some estimation methods were invented before the modern mobile application technology that is currently available. Thus, these methods are unable to cater to the requirements for estimating modern mobile application features. The objective of this paper is to propose a web-based system as a method to estimate the effort and cost of developing a mobile application. The key idea behind this study is to identify cost drivers that can be applied in mobile application development through literature review. From the analysis, 19 cost drivers are found to fit the vision of this study. In addition, this study also seeks to investigate the price range of cost drivers acquired from existing similar systems. The total price range is accumulated, and the mean value of each cost driver is obtained, which is then inserted further into the new estimation metric. The proposed system is then evaluated by comparing the obtained results with six similar systems according to basic user needs requirements in an application. The results demonstrate that the proposed system is a more enhanced cost estimation software that contains more cost driver options, which users can utilize to estimate mobile application development costs