There are many factors that determine the success of research students in doing their postgraduate programs. Of these are the supervisors and effective supervision. The aim of this paper is to identify the attributes of supervisors and examine elements of effective supervision from the graduate research students" perspective. In addition, the study also examines whether the means of the students" opinions on their supervisors and effective supervision differ by demographic factors (program, faculty, course structure, gender and semester). Descriptive statistics will be used to describe the sample and Pearson chi-square test will be employed to test students" opinions on their supervisors and effective supervision and their relationships with demographic factors. Our results suggest that the three most important attributes of supervisors are: supervisors should be friendly, approachable and flexible; knowledgeable and resourceful; and encourage students to work and plan independently. In addition, the results indicate that effective supervision means that supervisors are able to establish good and professional relationships with students; give support and guidance; and provide continuous motivation and inspiration. Using Pearson chi-square test, the results suggest that there are no significant differences in means between attributes of supervisors and effective supervision based on program, faculty, course structure, gender and semester.
Student evaluation of teaching (SET) is carried out every semester at Malaysian universities and lecturers are evaluated based on student ratings. But very little is researched about what lecturers actually think about SET and whether it serves any meaningful purpose at all. This quantitative study involving six public universities on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia examines the extent to which male and female lecturers value their student evaluations of teaching (SET) and if their valuations differ significantly by gender. The study also elicits perceptions of male and female lecturers on the formative and summative functions the SET serves. A survey questionnaire comprising 29 Likert-scale items was employed to obtain data for this study. The respondents comprised 137 language instructors of English and Arabic proficiency courses for undergraduates from those six universities. Data were analysed descriptively and inferentially using descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test. The study produces several outcomes. The study found that although male lecturers value SET higher than their female colleagues, no significant differences are observed in their valuation of SET by gender. Also of significance is the observation that lecturers of both gender found SET more useful for formative rather than summative functions. This study itself is significant in order to understand the lecturers' perceptions of SET which will stimulate further discussions and thinking around the issue of strengthening the teaching practice as SET itself can be an effective tool for lecturer's development if lecturers themselves understand and value the process.
The Malaysian government has long recognized the significance of mastering the English language among its citizenry. The government has planned, and subsequently, implemented many policies to ensure Malaysians master the English language. Although civil servants have a strong desire to master the English language to perform their duties more efficiently, poor English communication skills have become a major concern in this regard. Therefore, this research aims to investigate common errors in writing the English language among non-academic staff at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), a public university in Malaysia. The study employed an Error Analysis approach by conducting document analysis where every respondent was required to write a paragraph in the English language in about 150-200 words on the topic“My greatest challenge as a UniSZA officer”. The findings revealed that a sizeable number of non-academic staff committed different types of errors in writing the English language, including errors related to subject-verb agreement, passive voice, plurality, choice of word, omission of word, use of article, tense sequence, word ordering, gerund, addition of word/redundancy, and comparison of adjective. It was observed that lack of linguistic skills, lack of exposure, and inadequate practices in written English were the main factors contributing to the English writing errors among the non-academic staff. These findings could help the university management to develop appropriate programs that can assist the non-academic staff to develop English writing competence. However, this study is limited to English writing errors. Further research may focus on other language skills such as speaking and listening.
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