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The ability to read and comprehend English text is one of the four core language abilities, hence ESL students need to develop strong reading skills. Reading is quite difficult to learn because many students are still struggling with reading in English. This study seeks to comprehend the reading habits and attitudes of undergraduate English as a Second Language (ESL) students in Malaysia. This research aims to investigate the preferred English reading materials of ESL undergraduate students, the amount of time they spend time reading each day, and their attitudes toward reading English materials. The information for this study was gathered via a survey. This study utilised an adapted version of Smith's (1991) Adult Survey of Reading Attitude (ASRA) and Pandian's (1997) Reading Habit questionnaire. The data was analysed using SPSS statistics and descriptive statistics was used to determine the respondents’ reading attitudes. The questionnaire was sent to 215 undergraduate ESL students currently enrolled in English proficiency courses. The study revealed that (i) ESL undergraduates enjoy reading English materials but still experience anxiety when doing so, and (ii) students enjoy reading as much as they enjoy visiting websites, such as social media sites. The paper will conclude by discussing the implications of the findings for the development of instructional materials within a reading context.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the teaching and learning of the English language from face-to-face interactions to remote teaching. In my context, most of my students did not engage with remote teaching during school closures due to certain factors such as lack of internet connection and the readiness of their parents. When schools reopened during the post-pandemic, I used the WH-questions strategy and poetry to improve my students' writing skills. WH-questions are considered guiding questions that can direct students to get new ideas in writing a text. Poetry is a form of literature that can help young learners tap into creativity by using words in writing. By using an action research design lens, this study aims to describe the process of using WH-questions strategy and poetry to improve writing skills among Year 5 primary school learners. The process consisted of four steps: planning, acting, observing and reflecting. Data were collected using a multimodal approach, including students' daily journals and structured-interview and the data gained were analysed narratively. Based on the data obtained, it was found out that the intervention used had successfully improved my learners' writing skills, especially in constructing correct simple sentences. I learned how to plan, conduct and evaluate WH-questions strategy as well as how to modify poetry writing to teach writing skills in English language lessons in the post-pandemic times.

Many language experts and researcher emphasised the crucial awareness and intervention to accentuate listening comprehension. However, listening skill is the least prominent and seldom tackled compared to other language skills. Listening is the key to an effective communication in university and in real life. It is used widely during tertiary education and associated to the overall academic achievement. Listening skill was not developed enough to effectively process the input from various resources across disciplines. Students also often perceive that listening is an innate skill and will be improved naturally. But listening skill can be very complex where students need to direct focus, derive meaning, and differentiate the sound. Therefore, they need to have a clear understanding of the processes involved in listening comprehension. Additionally, they need to integrate strategies that can be used to enhance comprehension. Having self-efficacy beliefs and employing the appropriate listening strategies can improve focus and promote listening comprehension. This study probe on the relationship between listening self-efficacy and metacognitive awareness of listening strategies (MALS). Two instruments were utilised in this study which are English Listening Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (ELSEQ) and Metacognitive Awareness of Listening Strategies Questionnaire (MALQ). Students showed moderate level of listening self-efficacy in this study. Next, students partly agreed with the metacognitive awareness of listening strategies, and problem solving has the highest average score followed by directed attention. Equally important, there was a positive correlation between the learner’s self-efficacy beliefs and the average score of their MALS. This study is hoped to shed the light on listening skill empirically so that students can progress their listening process during their degree study.

This study aimed to identify the extent to which vocabulary learning strategies influence the results of English writing in UPSR of the post-UPSR learners. The subjects were 267 high-achievers Form 1 learners from four secondary schools who had completed the UPSR in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The purpose of this study was to determine which VLSs was used the most frequently by the post-UPSR learners. Participants completed a VLS questionnaire and the findings revealed the strategies of vocabulary learning the post-UPSR inclined to employ from each category of determination, social, memory, cognitive, and metacognitive. We conclude that while VLSs use should be encouraged in general, instructors may not need to cater to individual vocabulary learning styles.

This survey study explored and identified the level as well as the employment of ESL writing strategies use among Malaysian lower secondary school students. This study utilised Petric & Czarl (2003) modified writing strategies use questionnaire as its data collection instrument. 124 Form One students from an urban school in Keningau, Sabah participated in this study. The results of the questionnaire showed that lower secondary school students are medium users of writing strategies. The results also indicated that lower secondary school students used during writing strategies more than pre-writing and revising strategies. Recommendations for future studies include approaching related studies with qualitative approaches.

Having a sense of willingness to communicate in the 2nd language (L2) is one of the important factors in improving L2 speaking skills. Willingness to Communicate (WTC) a model proposed by MacIntyre et. al (1998) is considered an indicator for successful English learning outcome. There are several factors that influences students’ WTC in English. Hence, the objective of this study is to look into the individual factors that influences pre-university students WTC in English in an ESL digital classroom setting. The result of the study was obtained through the use of qualitative method using a focused group interview of 25 voluntary pre-university students in a public university in Sabah, Malaysia. The data obtained revealed that individual factors which are self-confidence, language anxiety, motivation and grit play a role in influencing pre-university students’ WTC in English. This finding would be beneficial to language instructors as well as syllabus makers in providing and designing an English lesson that is geared to encouraging students to communicate in English.

The nature of listening is less visible compared to other skills such as speaking and writing. This might be challenging for teacher and students to monitor their proficiency progress and further make students become demotivated. Listening self-efficacy is one of the most important constructs to accentuate listening comprehension. Listening self-efficacy related to students’ belief in executing the task to produce the desired outcome. This study was conducted among science foundation students from Preparatory Centre for Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. The participants are from 2020/2021 enrolment. The study employs qualitative method where eighteen students were interviewed to answer questions that are adapted form English Listening Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (ELSEQ). Analysis of interview shows that there were five aspects that facilitated students’ listening self-efficacy which are repetition, language proficiency and deliverance of a speaker, listening setting, non- verbal communication and first language. Delving into listening self-efficacy will shed the light on the importance of listening skill not only in language testing but also in real-life communication. This will hope to further improve their listening comprehension throughout their tertiary education.

The Covid-19 pandemic that lasted more than a year affected the smooth running of education around the world. Starting with the closure of all schools in China in March 2019, the starting point of the Covid-19 pandemic virus was followed by the closure of all schools in many countries for long periods of time, which certainly affected teaching and learning in most countries including Malaysia. The honorouble mention includes the process of education which involves co-curriculum, physical education, and social skills. This study is a quantitative study to analyse students’ perception of learning the English language using online learning throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. SPSS statistical software was used to calculate and compare the mean of each variable in online learning and face-to-face learning consisting of knowledge acquisition, skills in language learning, social skills as well as their acceptance of online learning. In this survey study, it has been indicated that although there is a slightly different mean between online learning and face-to-face learning the perception of both learning strategies is positive. It also has been indicated that students found that online learning eased the access to online materials whilst it also bounded by technical problems that they encounter during online classes as well as their own disciplinary actions that have limited their online learning.

The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which reading strategies and English language proficiency influence reading comprehension among Chinese undergraduates studying abroad. In addition, the study also aims to determine the reading difficulties encountered by these students and to identify the effective reading strategies they employed to improve their reading comprehension. The quantitative information gathered via a questionnaire and a reading test. The SPSS (descriptive analysis) results indicate that reading strategies and language proficiency jointly account for the variance in the students' test scores. In addition to informing scholarly practises of academic reading, this research contributes to the development and teaching of ESL curricula by highlighting the essential components of an effective ESL academic reading module.

The COVID-19 outbreak quickly demonstrates the importance of adopting online education in teaching and learning. It has forced education systems worldwide to find alternatives to face-to-face interactions. Language instructors have made attempts to explore and utilise the e-learning tools to enrich their teaching and assist learners in improving their language learning. This paper, therefore, attempts to shed light on the effectiveness of implementing the Multiple Intelligences Instructions within the e-learning setting, thus present an unprecedented opportunity to continue adopting this digitally-enhanced approach post-pandemic. A Paper 800/4 (Writing) Task 2 of Malaysian University English Test (MUET) 2020 question was administered to 40 pre-university students from Preparatory Centre of Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. The study employed a quantitative methodology and the data were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U Test. The findings show that the adoption of the Multiple Intelligences Instructions in the English as a Second Language (ESL) writing classes improves the students’ skills in writing. This study calls Malaysian English educators to acknowledge students’ differences in learning, thus redesign the lessons by incorporating all intelligence for the students to actively manifest their preferred learning styles in acquiring the English language. The implementation of this writing module in an e-learning environment received positive feedbacks from the students, suggesting it would be a promising module to improve the students’ writing skills.

The purpose of this study is to identify the level of Multiple Intelligence knowledge among the English language instructors in Sabah. 32 respondents from four educational institutions in Kota Kinabalu participated in this research. The data was obtained through a set of questionnaire that was modified and adapted from Thomas Armstrong (1994) to suit the objectives of this research. The modification and adaptation of the research instruments was done to meet the research objectives and the situation of the research. The set of questionnaire comprises of three parts. Part A touches on the demographic characteristics of the English language instructors, part B focuses on the knowledge level of the theory, and Part C targets on the teaching strategies in the English language classrooms. The marks were counted manually to find the connection between the knowledge level of Multiple Intelligences and the teaching strategies of the instructors in the classrooms. The finding of this research indicates that the English language teachers with excellent level of Multiple Intelligence knowledge do not necessarily have excellent varieties of teaching strategies, and vice versa.

The recent Covid-19 pandemic has changed and impacted the country's education landscape, a paradigm shift from face-to-face teaching and learning style into home-based learning and teaching (PdPR). During the period, teachers had come out with various teaching strategies to assess pupils’ and some of these strategies are still relevant in this current post pandemic education. Speaking skills in the Malaysian Primary ESL classroom are five elements assessed in the Classroom-Based Assessment (CBA). The CBA achievement of a class in a rural school in Kudat, Sabah, showed that most students performed poorly in speaking skills. Based on the teacher's perspective as a researcher, the problem occurred due to the English Language's lack of exposure and usage. It is only spoken during an English class and not practised outside schooling hours. In this paper, the researcher aims to provide a literature review and past studies on enhancing primary ESL students' speaking skills through multimedia technology-assisted project-based learning. After investigating how multimedia technology-assisted project-based learning could improve the students' speaking skills from the literature review, the researcher proposes this study be carried out at a rural government school in Kudat, Sabah. This research aims to investigate students' speaking performance after the implementation of multimedia technology-assisted project-based learning.

In order to evaluate the methods for participant recruitment, the usability of the survey questionnaire, and the data collection processes, a pilot test was carried out prior to conducting a study on the impact of English-language films on ESL learners' speaking confidence in tertiary level education. The study's frameworks were adapted from Imitation Theory and Comprehensible Input Theory in order to categorise and list different elements that affected students' speaking confidence. Before beginning the main research study on the impact of English movies, the authors described the pilot testing procedures and feasibility issues explored, as well as the improvements made to the instrument and methodology, in an effort to add to the body of research in this area and to strengthen teaching methods.

Particularly persuasive, essay writing is challenging for rural ESL learners. They face difficulty producing organised and coherent writing, which results in their low achievement in the English language. Scaffolding through text modelling in the writing classroom has benefited learners. The present study employed the non-equivalent pre-test post-test control group design. Thirty learners in the experimental group and the control group took the pre-test. The experimental group was treated with a 10-hour intervention, while the control group underwent conventional teaching. Both groups then undertook the post-test. The findings revealed a significant difference between the two groups, with a large effect size of 3.68. The experimental group indicated improvement in using the five-paragraph framework to fulfil the purpose of writing. The group also indicated improvement in the content, organisation and language use marks. The study contributed to the research literature on rural ESL writing and recommended text modelling applied to scaffold persuasive writing.

The academic aspect plays a vital role as a 'transformative' element in bringing change into the life of each individual. One of the main goals of students continuing their studies abroad is to obtain a high-quality education. The first-year experience is considered an important phase involving self-assimilation, emotional change, cultural shock and social values that can influence the academic achievement of international students. The discussion of this paper elucidates the factors that contribute to the more meaningful first-year experience differences by comparing the process of self-assimilation and academic achievement of international students. In-depth interviews with 40 international students from four Malaysian public universities were conducted using a qualitative method approach that used objective sampling techniques. The findings lead to a self-reflection on the nature of international students, which is expressed through a narrative outpouring of emotions that describe the excitement, desire, and hope. The elements of transformation and self-assimilation of students in this study are interconnected with (i) the reputation of Malaysian public universities as a prestigious educational destination, (ii) the quality of a more comprehensive and 'versatile' higher education system, (iii) the flexibility and dynamics of the academic programs offered, and (iv) contemporary and ‘market driven' academic programs. The empirical data from this study is hoped to be useful information for the university's human resource management, which relies heavily on international student enrolment. This effort is in line with Malaysia's National Strategic Plan for Higher Education or PSPTN, which was created to transform the country into a global hub of higher education excellence.

21st Century Education: a phase of a dynamic change whereby academicians are required to equip advanced 21st Century skills, for instance, adaptability, creativity, citizenship, problem-solving, and others, while living in an increasingly globalised environment, full of sophisticated technology applications and software, while still be able to effectively respond the continuous shift in society, as technology held one of the significant influences in the current Education 4.0 scene. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic situation that has notably hindered physical contact between humans has slowly subdued, Standard Health Procedure is still implemented in buildings including physical lecture rooms in universities. Yet, English language educators still have difficulties encouraging students to think critically and implementing creativity in learning and creating new things. Hence, previous studies suggested a few teaching approaches such as Blended Learning that integrate technology to implement 21st Century skills among students. This paper canvassed some of the teaching approaches to integrate technology to inculcate the elements of the 21st Century Learning Framework in their English language courses. This review paper was administered via appropriate secondary data from previous studies form conducted by various researchers in the English Language discipline. Findings revealed that some educators had incorporated several teaching approaches such as Flipped Classroom, Game-Based Learning, Project-Based Learning, and others, to assist students in improving their learning achievement, concurrently enhancing English language educators’ teaching quality in the Post-Pandemic era as well.

Affective factors such as emotion and attitudes have long been identified as contributing factors to success and enjoyment in language learning. With the new movement of education in the new norm, a weightage needs to be focused on the affective dimensions among learners. This study aimed to discover the importance and factors of enjoyment in learning English as a Second Language (ESL) among Malaysian secondary school students. This multisite case study took place in five secondary schools in Malaysia. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was held among five ESL teachers and an open-ended questionnaire was distributed to 65 students in the respective schools. The findings reveal both teachers and students think enjoyment is important in learning ESL as it bridges up engagement in learning, enhances motivation and for the usefulness of learning the language. Furthermore, the study also discovers the factors of enjoyment in learning ESL namely teacher-factor, sense of achievement and relationship with peers. This study provides valuable information on the of the understudy topic of enjoyment in Malaysian ESL classroom.

The traditional method of teaching and learning is found to fail in developing English language as a skill among the learners. E-learning is stated as a powerful tool for educational change and reform to improve English language teaching and learning. The implementation of e-learning in education has shown significant growth over the last decade with the rapid development of technology. The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic around the world in 2019 has risen the implementation of e-learning as an alternative way of teaching and learning. The major challenges faced by teachers in implementing e-learning involve issues such as low Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) level and technology acceptance. In line with this, this study aims to develop and validate an instrument to measure TPACK and e-learning acceptance, particularly for English teachers in Malaysia. This survey produced an adapted survey questionnaire that combines TPACK for English teachers’ questionnaire items and perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness questionnaire items. The content validity and face validity of the developed survey questionnaire were identified using CVI and FVI calculations. The experts and raters pointed out that all items are relevant and comprehensible. Some minor improvements can be done based on the suggestions given. The results of CVI (0.89) and FVI (0.94) show that the developed survey questionnaire is found to achieve a satisfactory level of both content validity and face validity and can be used for further study.

Communication plays a vital role in our everyday lives. Communication that is effective can aid in the resolution of numerous issues and problems. Therefore, effective communication skills are required. To be able to interact with others, it is necessary to develop communication skills and the ability to express one's thoughts and connect with others. This paper aims to look into communication theories and models in order to gain a deeper understanding of communication's origins. The purpose of this paper is to present the origins of communication and how this may influence students' willingness to communicate in the classroom, outside of the classroom, and on digital platforms.

Virtual Reality (VR) technology was crucial in aiding remote teaching and learning session during the Covid-19 pandemic. Transitioning to the post pandemic era, VR technologies are deemed as a useful tool to facilitate learning. Several literature reviews have analysed and synthesized the use of VR in education; however, academic activity lacks a recent systematic literature review (SLR) on VR in the field of English as a Second Language Learning (ESL) in the context of Malaysian ESL learning. 13 scholarly manuscripts from 12 journals were retrieved from the year 2011 to 2021, analysed, and synthesized under the following focus: (a) VR technology utilized, the duration of educational activities, and the language learning settings in the Malaysian ESL context; (b) the possible benefits and drawbacks of adopting VR as a teaching tool in the Malaysian ESL classroom; (c) future directions regarding the educational use of VR. The study concluded that VR technologies encourage English language learning; intrinsically motivate pupils to learn; provide convenience for feedback and communication; practicality; and creates an enjoyable authentic classroom environment. However, challenges like lacks of technical support for practitioners; limited internet access; limited application designated for language learning; participants’ unfamiliarity with VR; outdated software and/or hardware; and dearth number of research papers were also identified in this study. It is suggested that in the future, bigger-scale research on main language skills should be done; further research on VR technologies available; increase duration of study; research in other areas and levels of schools, and initiate more experimental studies.

The research study is commonly delivered using the traditional lecture format, followed by a question and answer session with students. Another approach is to divide students into groups, assign them themes to discuss, and then have them present the issues one by one. This learning technique, however, is not appropriate for use during a pandemic. In this study, students achieve the desired purpose of learning activities by utilizing the Active Learning approach and instructional strategy using Google Apps Learning Approach. Instructors can meet and talk with students both in-person and through the online system. This method is well-known as the Flipped Learning. This goal can be demonstrated by students arriving on time for individual discussion activities, explaining the topic, listening to other members' explanations, participating in conversations, exhibiting critical thinking, and leading physical or online discussion activities. However, because this activity takes place online, there are a number of challenges to overcome during the implementation phase, including internet network issues, data constraints, and device specs that do not allow learning activities—this study involved a total of five postgraduate students. This study was done from February to May 2022. The prior study used the questionnaire and got the expert's permission. The study was evaluated using descriptive quantitative statistics including standard deviation, percentage, frequency, and score. According to the report, students' average level of difficulty with Google Apps is 3.82.

There has been growing evidence that the lack of academic writing skills among university students who learn English as a Second Language (ESL) affects their overall academic performance. Higher education ESL students often find writing academic essays a complex process and hence struggle with academic writing convention issues. However, in order to encourage these students’ to be autonomous in their English academic writing, explicit and supportive instruction is necessary on the teacher’s part. This study aims to investigate thirty Foundation students’ revision activities pre- and post-intervention and whether there are any changes in their reviewing activities after being exposed to the intervention for twelve weeks. The reviewing activities were categories and analysed for inter-correlations. It is found that the students’ revision activities at first seem to concentrate mostly on Surface Changes-Meaning Preserving Changes activities. However, this changes in the second half of the intervention period where they seem to perform more Meaning Changes-Microstructure Changes and the least is Surface Changes-Formal Changes.

In a country where there is a diverse range of races and cultures, the influence of the first language comes almost naturally when using English as a second language. This influence has created a negative transfer which has affected learners’ communicative competence as well as performance. This study intends to investigate the pronunciation errors among undergraduates in a Malaysian university and explain the mispronunciations by comparing the phonetic system of English and Malay It is hoped that the results of this study will eventually provide some insights to producing effective strategies for teaching pronunciation that can help ESL learners to improve their oral proficiency skills and thus meeting their personal and professional needs.

Self-regulation is a necessary component of developing skilled writers. Self-regulation, on the other hand, is rarely discussed in Malaysian ESL contexts, particularly in terms of ESL writing. This quasi-experimental study evaluated an ESL writing instructional module based on self-regulation with the goal of improving secondary school students' narrative writing. This study, which was conducted as part of a larger study, presented the results of the pilot study. The findings indicated statistically significant improvements in the students' overall writing performance and in each of the four components of writing, namely content, communicative appropriateness, organisation, and language. The findings indicated that the self-regulation-based writing instructional module was effective at improving students' overall writing performance and performance in each of the four writing aspects. Future studies should include a larger sample size, extend the duration of the intervention, and investigate additional variables such as gender and level of proficiency.

The present study is a Type 1 design and developmental research (DDR) study that aims to analyse the situation, design, develop and evaluate an instructional Place-Based Process Genre Module (PBPGM). Upon completing the needs analysis, design and development of the module, it underwent a pilot test. The validity and reliability were then conducted. A panel of experts were involved in determining the validity of the module's content, sessions, and activities. A group of 30 ESL learners were involved in determining its reliability. All content, sessions and activities were rated above 70%, and all sessions and activities were rated over alpha value of 0.70 indicating that PBPGM was valid and reliable to be experimented with.

Despite great appreciation on the important roles played by metacognitive reading strategies in the attainment of comprehension, heightened prevalence of reading difficulties is depicted among Malaysian learners. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the current status of self-perceived use of metacognitive reading strategies among the ESL learners in six secondary schools in one of the districts in Sabah. Utilizing an adapted version of Revised Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Inventory (MARSI-R), data was obtained from 274 ESL learners in the same district. Descriptive analysis was used to determine the mean scores of three sub reading strategies, namely global reading strategies, problem-solving strategies and support strategies. The findings revealed that despite being aware of the use of metacognitive reading strategies, little emphasis was given on optimizing the use of global reading and support strategies, resulting in only medium usage of these two strategies. Therefore, it may be concluded that the findings implied the need to develop a reading comprehension module that incorporates the use of metacognitive reading strategies within reading comprehension instruction to facilitate Malaysian ESL learners to improve their reading comprehension.

ESL learners have varying perceptions towards their English language learning experience because no one student is alike with the other. Gender differences is an important aspect of ESL learners’ identity which is frequently overlooked because English curriculums and teaching methods are usually carried out in classrooms with a one-size-fits-all concept, and does not cater to the different needs and learning styles of their students. This study aims to determine whether gender plays a significant role in shaping ESL learners’ perceptions towards English language learning. This study was conducted via the systematic literature review method. A total of ten literatures were chosen for inclusion in this study based on specified criteria and gathered from various online journal databases. Based on the results, it was found that gender does play an important role on ESL learners’ perception due to societal and environment factors that feed into stereotypical gender roles. Also, the inherent biological and psychological differences between males and females can affect ESL learners’ perceptions and attitudes when learning English.

The COVID-19 outbreak quickly demonstrates the importance of adopting online education in teaching and learning. It has forced education systems worldwide to find alternatives to face-to-face interactions. Language instructors have made attempts to explore and utilise e-learning tools to enrich their teaching and assist learners in improving their language learning. This paper, therefore, attempts to shed light on the effectiveness of adopting e-learning tools in ESL speaking class and their perception of it. Fifty-three pre-university students from the Foundation Programme of the Preparatory Centre for Science and Technology were involved in this study. Data analysed in this paper were derived from a threaded online discussion via Dotstorming. The structured interview questions were carefully designed based on the objectives to elicit the students’ opinions on the topic of interest. To explore the effectiveness of e-learning in developing the students’ speaking skills, scores of Individual Speaking Assessment and Group Speaking Assessment of each student were collected. These assessments were marked based on the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) Speaking Rubric – Task Fulfilment, Language, and Communicative Ability. The findings show that the adoption of technology in ESL speaking classes improves the students’ speaking abilities. The thematic analysis also shows that the use of e-learning tools in language learning received positive feedbacks from the students, suggesting it would be a promising virtual platform to improve the student's confidence, knowledge, and language.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a stir in the field of education. As higher educational institution (HEI) closes its lecture halls and tutorial rooms due to the pandemic, lecturers in HEI are scrambling to adjust to the curriculum transition from having a face-to-face lecture to teaching remotely using an online platform. ESL instructors in HEI were among those affected by the sudden curriculum transition. Therefore, this paper aims to systematically review the challenges faced by ESL instructors from HEI on how they adapted to the curriculum transition post-COVID-19. Related articles were obtained from two prominent databases namely ProQuest and Scopus using specific keyword search terms. A total of six articles were selected for review out of 933 articles that were initially detected from the databases after executing a thorough selection criteria. After that, the challenges faced by ESL instructors and how they cope with the challenges were identified and discussed. Our findings suggest that ESL instructors from different parts of the world are all experiencing an adverse struggle in adapting to the curriculum transition caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, more studies in the context of ESL curriculum are needed to fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on ESL instructors’ teaching performance.

In this 21st century, traditional ways of teaching and learning have been changed with the evolution of technology. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is one of the conceptual models developed by researchers to facilitate teachers’ professional development. It is believed that TPACK should be developed and mastered by teachers to achieve effective implementation of technology in teaching and learning. This systematic literature review aims to investigate current trends in TPACK research in English language education literature published between 2017 to 2021. The keywords “Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge”, “TPACK”, “English language”, “ESL”, “EFL” and “English teachers” with some modifications using “AND” and “OR” were used to obtain relevant articles from Scopus and ProQuest databases. The study inclusion process was done following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020’s framework. There were 14 articles yielded and included in this systematic literature review. The results show that TPACK studies in English language education were carried out worldwide. Moreover, half of the reviewed studies used pre-service English language teachers as the participants while others used in-service or both of them. Meanwhile, some studies used English language learners as the participants. In addition, there are a variety of methods including quantitative, qualitative and mixed method employed by the researchers of reviewed studies. We also identified 5 key emerging themes of the reviewed studies including measurement of TPACK level (64%), the relationship between TPACK and other variables (29%), strategy to develop TPACK (29%), implementation of TPACK (14%) and development of TPACK instrument (21%). This paper implies researchers in the English language education field, especially in Malaysia. Further studies on TPACK need to be conducted due to the limited current research in Malaysia.

Corona virus disease 2019 has become a current pandemic and many countries have been affected by it. At the end of January 2020, the WHO Emergency Committee declared a global health emergency state as COVID-19 confirmed cases have been increasing internationally. Since then, online learning has been actively implemented globally including Malaysia. This research is purely qualitative where data was collected via online interview with four willing secondary students. The findings highlight that there are a few weaknesses regarding online learning. Poor internet connection contributes to one of the weaknesses in online learning in Malaysia. Furthermore, not understanding teachers’ teaching is also one of the limitations of online education. Online learning limitations might vary depending on the students' technological capability to access online sites and use computers. These limitations are more evident for young children or school-age students who may not have online access. Although online learning has its flaws however it comprises several strengths too. Online learning enables the students to have flexible time in participating in the lesson. Avoiding from the virus is the next advantage of conducting online learning. Although schools are closed however students still could get connected with their teachers through several devices like computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Hence, online learning is deemed to be the best alternative to continue the learning process and at the same time protects young learners from this deadly virus.

Reading deficiency in reading English texts or materials among ESL undergraduate students has been one of the most significant problems in Malaysia. Educators in Malaysia are currently facing the problem as it reflects on their students’ academic performance. This study aims to investigate Malaysian ESL undergraduate students’ reading difficulties in reading English texts. 25 Malaysian students who are taking advanced English courses in a university, were selected to participate in this study. A quantitative method was employed for this study. The questionnaires were designed to fit the purpose of this study. Data analysis was done using SPSS to analyse the data collected. The result shows that students are weak in grasping the main idea when they are reading, having poor vocabulary, lack of reading habit and interest in reading English texts, and are pressured with the lack of time when reading. It can be concluded that reading deficiency affects their academic performance and their English proficiency. In overcoming their difficulties, students must equip themselves with some reading strategies to help them to comprehend the English texts that they are reading.

Critical reading is regarded by many as the most important of the four skills, and the desire to enhance the ability of ESL students to read critically is grounded in the knowledge that increased capability will give them an extra advantage in not only extracting valuable information from texts and acquiring knowledge but also in using it more effectively in their academic assignments. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully consider how to develop a module aimed at such outcomes, and this paper reports on a study that examines the opinions of a group of Malaysian undergraduate students at a Malaysian University with regard to their experience with the Critical Reading Module and to highlight the development of these ESL readers. Data for this paper was collected from a questionnaire distributed at two phases (week 1 and week 14) to sixty undergraduate students. The findings show that at the start of the research this group of Malaysian students demonstrated a lack of analytic skill. However, post-research they did show increased confidence as readers and they became more critical in their reading.

The English language is one of the most important language in the world the fact that it is considered as a universal language by the fact that how much it is used in peoples communication accord the world. Not everyone in the world certainly speaks fluently in English, but the fact that it is widely used wherever we are whether locally or even travelling in the foreign countries. Out of the four skills of language acquiring writing skill is undeniably the hardest skill to be taught and learnt in classroom with a short time constraint in a school day, which is one of the reasons that it is always to be given as a homework for students to do at their home. However, the writing product written by learner is fairly disappointing and does not seem to correlate with their abilities in some other language abilities. Thus, this paper will be discussing about Flipped Classroom Approach and Process-based Approach would help in enhancing students writing performance respectively. This SLR paper are using few inclusions in order to retrieve related articles using the right keywords. At the end of this paper, authors will proposed a combination of the two approaches using the post-method pedagogy.

21st Century era marks where internet and technology become a necessity throughout every aspects of life; added with current Covid-19 pandemic situation which hinders physical contact between humans to prevent the virus keep spreading. Eventually, traditional teaching approach requires to shift towards new norm that integrates technology in all courses, including English Language Courses, as well as to adhere the Standard Health procedure. This paper enlightened the benefits and challenges when implementing Blended Learning in the classroom efficiently among ESL educators and learners. This review paper was administered through appropriate vicarious data in previous studies form conducted by various researchers in English as Second Language (ESL). The findings revealed that Blended Learning incorporation brought advantages for both ESL educators and students when this 21st Century teaching strategies being incorporated in ESL classrooms. In addition, this paper may help students improve their learning achievement, as well as increase ESL educators’ self-efficacy to fully employ Blended Learning that leads to their advancement of their teaching quality skills, especially during Covid-19 pandemic era.

This paper highlights the association of language use skills with self-confidence as a contributing factor to the determination of expatriate self-adaptability in a foreign cultural environment. The objective of this study was to examine whether the skills of using the local language of the host country are considered as a universal skill requirement for improvisation and self-skills among expatriate academics in Malaysian Public Universities. Utilisation of qualitative methods of semi-structured interviews on 35 lecturers with international staff status in four Malaysian Public Universities which were subsequently processed by inductive analysis for dominant and subdominant thematic classifications. The findings prove that the informants utilised language proficiency as a backup to recognise their ability to respond to external stimuli, thus producing positive value to themselves. The proactive process is done by trying to find answers to change and self-transformation while in a foreign country. Studies linking the elements of confidence and self-identity skills among expatriates are often highlighted, but the approach taken is to put the advantage to be utilised on the part of the organisation and not expatriates as the subject of the study. Therefore, the results of this study fulfil the search for answers regarding their identity as an expatriate, including exploring foreign cultures, releasing the culture of the country of origin, developing a network of contacts and assessing their potential and ability to deal with the challenges of life abroad. The direction of future research refers to the addition of value in the expatriate management literature by making basic concepts of interaction such as language proficiency as an element capable of increasing self-confidence and sketching the career development of self-initiated expatriates.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the writing problems faced by the Post-UPSR learners during their primary school years. The data was obtained from 217 high achiever learners who scored an A on the UPSR. These learners, who had completed primary schools and taken the UPSR exam, are now enrolled in secondary schools as Form 1 learners. The method used is a quantitative study. A questionnaire was used as the instrument in the study. The analysis of the study uses SPSS which involves frequency and percentage. The data revealed that Malaysian ESL primary school learners struggle with writing tasks, particularly due to insufficient of vocabulary knowledge. The findings of the study will be valuable to ESL researchers and educators in assisting learners with their writing difficulties. Teachers or researchers can develop appropriate solutions to the issues once the writing issue has been identified.

Composition writing has always been an integral part of the English Language curriculum in primary, secondary and tertiary education in Malaysia, yet being the most difficult of the four skills in English as a Second Language; the teaching of writing has often been neglected. Process writing, as distinguished from ‘Product Writing’, is playing a large role in ESL classes. Writing is seen as a communicative act with an intended purpose and audience. The teacher and other learners help the writer find a topic and revise drafts of a written piece until it conveys the intended meaning. While working to make their meanings clear, learners are assumed to acquire competence using the style, syntax, grammar and surface features of the language. During the writing process, students engage in pre-writing, planning, drafting and post-writing activities. However, learners do not necessarily engage in these activities in that order because the writing process is recursive in nature. Language rules are taught in teacher-led- mini-lessons but always in the context of expressing the learners’ own ideas. This paper reports on a study that explores how a process-oriented approach to writing influences a group of university ESL students.

In higher education, reading of academic texts is considered as an essential access to scientific knowledge. Therefore, in this survey study will utilize the inventory of Survey on Reading Strategies Questionnaire (SOR) developed by Mokhtari and Sheory. It is explored to identify the two types of readers: high (HPR) and low (LPR) proficient readers at Form Sixth Cenre of Government School in Sabah, Malaysia. There are three major reading strategies: GLOB (Global), SUPP (Support) and PROB (Problem Solving) strategies. This quantitative approach is done by operating the descriptive (mean and standard of deviation) and inferential (Magnitude of effect) statistics. 250 participants from pre-university students randomly selected to respond to the questionnaire The questionnaire finding revealed that PROB strategy was favoured by both readers. To strengthen scrupulous answer, Effect size had given a better interpretation of the finding. The questionnaire provided all reading strategies to be negative effect to the high proficient readers (HPR) yet large positive effect to the low proficient readers (LPR).

The online classes associated with the Covid-19 pandemic have resulted in the magnitude of remote learning of ESL (English as a second language). Sustaining the quality of teaching and learning of listening skills has become more challenging for everyone. Listening is one of the fundamental skills to acquire knowledge in an academic setting. Every instructor and learner need to perceive that listening is not an innate skill, understand the processes involved in listening comprehension, and integrate strategies while listening. The present study explores Metacognitive Awareness of Listening Strategies (MALS) and students’ perceptions about learning listening skills during remote learning. The current study was conducted through a multimethod research design where both quantitative and qualitative data were involved. Two instruments were utilised, which are the Metacognitive Awareness of Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) and the online discussion board. The participants were chosen based on simple random sampling consisting of 51 pre-university students enrolled in the Science Foundation programme in the 2020/2021 session. The first part of the results depicted students had an average level of MALS with directed attention strategies as the factor with the highest average. The second part of the results reported that students who scored a higher average score of MALS tend to use problem-solving strategies. Lastly, the board postings were analysed thematically and categorised to three different themes which are challenges, strategies, and activities of learning skills. It is hoped that this study will shed light on empirical strategies and evidence of listening practices during online classes. Both teachers and learners may have clearer insights on how to manage listening comprehension effort and use learning inherent to tackle remote learning.

Essay writing is known to be a difficult skill among ESL learners, particularly rural students. The present study aims to measure the effects of a Place-Based Process Genre Module (PBPGM) on form four rural ESL learners’ persuasive and expository essay writing from the lens of Sociocultural Theory. A mixed-methods approach adopting a pre-test post-test control group quasi-experimental is employed to determine the significant difference and the Cohen’s d effect size. Purposive random sampling is used, and 30 students in control undergo the conventional teaching, and 30 students in the experimental group undergo a 16-hour intervention of the module. The results of the study indicate that there are significant differences and large effect sizes between the two groups. The experimental group outperforms the control group in both genres. The present study contributes to the field of teaching essay writing to rural ESL learners. The study recommends that process genre approach combined with place-based model texts be incorporated to strengthen and diversify scaffolding for teaching essay writing.

Can English movies improve ESL learners’ speaking confidence? What are the suggested ways to implement English movies in acquiring speaking confidence for ESL learners? The main goal of the review is to study how English movies can aid ESL learners in higher education who struggle with speaking confidence. The search phrases used in these databases were “English movies” AND “confidence” and “English movies” AND “speaking” in order to acquire a list of relevant research. The first aspect that we will discuss in this review is the issue of low speaking confidence that is usually caused by language anxiety, lack of self-esteem and fear of judgement among other reasons. The articles collected represent language learners from different age ranges such as young kindergarten learners until university level learners. In addition to that, we will also investigate further into the research from the databases available for English movies that can be utilized as instructional aid for ESL learners to acquire speaking confidence. To find relevant research publications, four databases were used: ProQuest, Science Direct, Scopus and JSTOR. The review was carried out by using the UMS Library's access to subscribed databases. As part of this systematic review, we devised a search strategy to collect relevant literature. Researchers over the years have differing opinions on the current situation. The majority of the study indicates that language learners often struggled from speaking anxiety and fear of public speaking whether it is due to judgement of others or their own limited speaking abilities. We have mapped the literature to enable readers to understand the lessons from past literature that can be learned as well as provide a future agenda to the issue.

The disparity of the English language performance between the Malaysian rural and urban students remains a crucial issue, yet much is to be known about factors that actually influence the students' English proficiency across levels, especially those who live outside the cities. The objectives of this paper are to identify the Multiple Intelligence profiles and the significant intelligence of the urban and rural pre-university students at a public university in Malaysia, and to investigate whether there is any difference in the English writing test scores between the two groups. A demographic questionnaire, Multiple Intelligence Profiling Questionnaire (MIPQ III) and a Paper 800/4 (Writing) Question 2 of Malaysian University English Test (MUET) March 2016 question were used in this study. Sixty pre-university students were purposively selected for the current research from Preparatory Centre of Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia. The data were collected and analyzed using the Independent Sample t-test. Results suggest that there is a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of Interpersonal, Environmental, and Visual-Spatial intelligences between the urban and rural pre-university students. Unexpectedly, the findings show that the urban students display higher Environmental intelligence compared to the rural group. Additionally, a significant difference is also identified between urban and rural students in their writing scores, as the results show that the urban students performed better in the writing tests than the students in the rural areas. This study calls Malaysian English educators to acknowledge students' differences in learning, thus creating a conducive classroom experience and redesigning the lessons by incorporating all intelligences for the students to actively manifest their preferred learning styles in acquiring English language. Future research would include more language skills to be examined in a bigger number of students.

Listening is one of the fundamental skills to acquire knowledge in an academic setting. Employing appropriate listening strategies can improve focus and stimulate listening comprehension. Looking into the cognitive process from the perspective of metacognitive awareness during listening activity could enhance their performance in listening test. Despite that, listening skill in learning English as a second language (ESL) is often overlooked and the least practiced compared to other skills. There is a need to address the dearth of focus and research on approaching listening skills to improve the students' proficiency. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between Metacognitive Awareness of Listening Strategies (MALS) and listening achievement. To attain this, one hundred and sixty-nine science foundation students answered Metacognitive Awareness of Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) and took Malaysian University English Test (MUET). The result of the analysis shows that there was a significant relationship between students' MALS and listening performance. Subsequently, listening performance marks were found to be positively related to person knowledge strategies and inversely to mental translation strategies. Triangulation data was also done where 20 students were involved in further discussion of strategies that they have applied. The study also recommends looking into the practice of listening in Malaysia, particularly in pre-university level.

Vocabulary is an integral part of a language and language education. In view of the close relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language learning, there is a significant need for language learners, especially in the ESL context, to develop, enrich and master their vocabulary in order to be proficient users of the language. ESL teachers could help learners acquire vocabulary knowledge if they have the pedagogical knowledge on how vocabulary may be learned and taught effectively. The study aimed to determine Malaysian primary school learners' vocabulary achievement by using cloze-test based tasks. A total of five primary schools from Sabah, Malaysia were selected in this study. The total number of research participants was 135 and they were at low to intermediate level of proficiency. This study made use of four different cloze-based passages as research instruments in assessing learners' vocabulary knowledge. This research primarily concerned on the descriptive data in the form of frequency and percentage of the learners' vocabulary achievement scores and qualitative data from semi-structured interview. The findings of this study revealed that the research participants scored well in the fourth task whereby cloze-based passages were given along with general pictures and multiple-choice items. A significant correlation between these four variants of cloze-based task with the learners' vocabulary achievement was established. The main pedagogical implication of the research is that teachers should ponder what type of variants to be used in vocabulary task as this could enhance ESL learners' vocabulary achievement.