English skills particularly in conversation are essential in workplace situations especially in the context of higher learning institutions. Little attention is being given to examining the needs of English communication skills and issues related to administrative support staff at their workplace particularly at public universities. A questionnaire was adopted to gauge the English language needs of support staff, their English skills perception as well as usage at the workplace. Data were collected from a group of 40 support administrative staff from Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) involving three administrative departments. The findings were gathered using survey and analyzed using content descriptive analysis. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the respondents strongly agreed that having a good English ability will increase their chance of being promoted to a higher position. Data also revealed that staff use English mostly during interaction with foreign staff and students. In addition, staff perceived that they need to improve their English writing skills the most. This study hopes to give better insight towards English proficiency among administrative support staff and explicit policy on English language at workplace. Therefore, English continuous professional development programmes should be developed and introduced to assist in improving their English language abilities.
Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) are essential to acquire and mastering English language skills. Previous research in the Malaysian context mainly takes students at the tertiary level, with few only done on secondary students and thus has been unable to thoroughly investigate the preferred VLS of secondary and tertiary ESL students. Examining the vocabulary-learning strategies preferred by ESL secondary and tertiary students in Malaysia is significant. VLS is important in determining Malaysian ESL students' English language communication performance. Quantitative convenience sampling methods were employed to determine the preferred VLS among Malaysian students. Data was gathered from 320 secondary and tertiary Malaysian ESL students using a revised Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaires (VLSQ) version 6.4. Findings indicated that secondary and tertiary Malaysian students preferred metacognitive compared to other dimensions. Regarding gender, results showed significant differences between male and female students in meta-cognitive and cognitive VLS dimensions. In addition, secondary students preferred to use dictionaries, whilst tertiary students preferred using meta-cognitive regulation to learn new English vocabulary. These results show that students employed different VLSs in learning new vocabulary. Also, it demonstrated that genders played a significant role when students learn vocabulary, as results showed a significant difference between male and female students in VLS dimension preferences.
Background/purpose -Game-based learning is becoming increasingly popular among educators in higher institutions. However, it can be a daunting task for educators to ascertain which of the currently available game-based learning platforms best suits their learners' needs. This study explored the suitability of Kahoot! as one of the most commonly used game-based learning platforms in education. The aim of study was to determine whether Kahoot! can be used to engage learners and reinforce learning for academic purposes in higher education institutions. Materials/methods -Data were collected among 80 science and technology undergraduate students enrolled to an "English for Academic Communication" course, which is compulsory for English language proficiency at the participant university. The students were exposed to the use of Kahoot! through several predetermined quizzes conducted during their lessons over a single 14-week semester. The study employed a two-part, 24-item, Likert-type scale administered via Google Forms. The questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach alpha reliability analysis, which yielded a score of .97, confirming the questionnaire to be a reliable instrument. Results -The study's findings revealed that the participant students found Kahoot! to be fun, enjoyable, engaging, and interesting to use. Conclusion -The participant students also believed that Kahoot! was able to consolidate and reinforce learning in academic courses, which is integral to the higher education context in terms of creating better classroom dynamics.
Education fields have rapidly transformed since the year 2020 from the traditional method to adapting more Web-based tools. Facebook has been regarded as one of the most popular social platforms teachers and learners use in education. It is perceived by teachers and learners as a tool that improves the teaching and learning processes significantly through its several features. This study aims to explore the Malaysian teachers’ views on Facebook in their teaching. Eighty teachers from different levels of Malaysia’s institutions participated in this study. This study adopted the quantitative method to gather teachers’ views on the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook and their reflections on Facebook usage in teaching and learning. Findings showed that teachers had a positive perception of the use of Facebook. This study also found no significant difference between male and female teachers in their perception of Facebook use. This study suggests that teachers optimise this tool in their teaching based on the advantages of using Facebook.
Oral communication had been regarded as one of the important elements especially in Malaysian workplace context and the use of English language had been deemed to be the necessary requirement for employees. Based on series of literature review, only a few studies had been done toward examining communication apprehension issue using English within Malaysian workplace context. With the aim of investigating English oral communication apprehension among Malaysian employees, the study adopted quantitative approach and use PRCA-24 as the main instruments to 352 respondents. From PRCA-24, four communicative events were measured which group discussion, meeting, conversation and public were speaking. Overall, Malaysian employees recorded a moderate level of CA using English at workplace. In addition, government employees are more apprehensive compare to their counterpart. Both private and government employees recorded higher level of CA during public speaking and meeting. In relation to demographic variables, gender, job sector and highest education levels were found to be significant in influencing level of CA among Malaysian employees whilst both age and years of service were not. The study inferred some important findings that could help in understanding English communication apprehension at workplace and Malaysian employers (private and government) need to consider continuous professional development to further enhancement English communication competency of their employees resulting in lowering CA level.
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