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Purpose: This study investigated rural English teachers' perceptions of factors which influence the literacy development of young learners in rural school settings. This investigation led to a further enquiry on the dimensions of an affective literacy framework to support the English learning of rural young learners. Methodology: The study employed a qualitative approach to provide a holistic view of the phenomena being studied. Two English optionist teachers and two non-optionist teachers volunteered to participate in the study. The first investigation was based on audio-taped interview sessions with the teachers, and the second enquiry was grounded in video-taped class observations. The raw data from these instruments were used for qualitative content analysis, which resulted in the proposed Affective Literacy Framework for Rural Young Learners (ALFRYL). Findings: The analysis of interviews indicated that the teachers acknowledged the critical need for creating effective and interesting activities that can engage young learners cognitively and affectively, while arguing that their training background and learning experiences primarily influenced their pedagogical approaches. Classroom observations noted that the optionist teachers were confident in their pedagogical delivery whereas the non-optionist teachers were more challenged in engaging their pupils through learning activities, and hence in need of more support. Based on the analysis of the affective teaching foci illustrated by the teachers in the classroom, six components of an affective literacy framework were identified as a tool to support affective literacy development among rural young learners: learner diversity, engaging pedagogy, meta-cognitive assessment, emotional management, pedagogical resources and positive interaction. Significance: Providing pedagogical examples of how teachers frame the task of teaching English in rural areas, this study illustrates the realities of their struggle, which teachers in similar situations may face in helping pupils learn English effectively. Positive affective literacy environments would provide opportunities for young learners not only to make meaning but also to reach new language materials and express themselves in new ways. The dimensions that constitute the affective literacy framework makes available an initial reference for teachers to stimulate pupils' learning in challenging contexts where English is used minimally.

The aim of this study is to examine whether gender and ethnicity differences are manifested in chemistry achievement and self-regulated learning among a matriculation programme students in Malaysia. The result of students' midterm chemistry exam was used as the measure of chemistry achievement. The information of self-regulated learning was collected by using a survey questionnaire that was adapted from the Motivated Strategies and Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Random sampling method was utilized to select 358 students of Matriculation Science One-Year Programme. The results of gender differences showed that male students obtained significantly higher achievement in chemistry compared to female counterparts whereas there was no significant gender difference in self-regulated learning. The results of ethnicity differences confirmed that there was a significant difference in chemistry achievement between Malay and Chinese students, Malay and Indian students, respectively. In terms of self-regulated learning, however, a significant difference was found only between Malay and Indian students. The findings suggest that science instructors in higher education institutions utilize the MSLQ to get the information about students' self-regulatory level and motivational level, design a "gender-based initiative" to address the lower science achievement of female students, and be ready to having learning resources and pedagogical practices available for a learning condition with diverse groups of different ethnicities.

This article discusses the pedagogical opportunities to use film as a tool to supplement lecture and classroom learning activities in a pre-service teachers' course in a Malaysian higher education setting. While the multicultural participants participated in two academic courses to learn how to teach spoken English to young learners, movie segments were usually introduced in the middle of lecture periods before the lecturer moved to another topic. Movie watching was connected to follow-up activities such as classroom discussion, and later in the second course, dramatic dialogue practices. Results indicated that film watching was effective in providing students with a healthy outlet for boredom or stress and refreshing moments to recharge their attention span. Furthermore, film watching was perceived as effective in promoting critical thinking and intercultural competence, resulting in attitudinal growth regarding openness to other cultures and different people. This study encourages the use of films during lecture periods to make the academic learning process fun and to provide significant opportunities to promote learners' intercultural competence and expand their perspective of multiple educational and social issues, which is the essence of critical pedagogy.

The ownership choice between full and shared ownership in MNEs' foreign affiliates is complex, especially when they confront various institutional conditions. Drawing on the theory of incomplete contracts, we hypothesize and empirically show that the influence of host country institutions on ownership choice arises differentially between market-seeking and resource-seeking affiliates. In particular, we use the relative importance of an MNE's versus a local partner's non-contractible investments derived from the theory of incomplete contracts as a primary ownership determinant in explaining these differential effects. Using data from 547 MNE affiliates in Malaysia and Thailand, we demonstrate that MNEs are more likely to choose shared ownership, as compared to full ownership, in both market-seeking and resource-seeking affiliates due to the amplified impact of local idiosyncrasies across all value chain activities. However, we find that in a relatively more institutionally developed environment (i.e., with stronger market governance), this tendency for an MNE to choose shared ownership is reduced in resource-seeking affiliates, whereas the tendency is further strengthened in market-seeking affiliates, consistent with our hypotheses based on the focal theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a post-mortem on Malaysian TeSME (Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English) program based on its comparison with Canadian immersion programs. Malaysia and Canada have some common sociological aspects such as the size of population, the ratio of indigenous people and immigrants, and multilingual contexts. It also has in common various core elements in the set of criteria proposed by Swain and Johnson (1997) to define a prototypical immersion program. Thus, the lessons Canadians have learned from immersion may be seen as significant guiding light for TeSME and other attempts of content-based instruction programs . Canadian immersion has been different from TeSME at least in terms of three core features: overt support exists for the L1; the teachers are bilingual; and the classroom culture is that of the local L1 community. These differences made four issues more prominent: Learning outcome of TeSME; mainstay of TeSME; judicious use of L1; and function of TeSME. Finally some suggestions are proposed: give higher priority to promoting concept development across languages for now; make English classes more effective; promote bilingualism in TeSME; and extend TeSME's function to understanding and integrating other cultures and languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]