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Although the preservation of the Indonesian culture is deemed beneficial, the lack of folklore texts readily available for instructional purposes makes teaching and learning the Indonesian culture challenging. This study aims to develop web-based teaching materials, integrated with Indonesian folklore for intermediate-level students of Indonesian for foreign speakers (BIPA). A Research and Development (R&D) method was employed with a 4D research model (Define, Design, Develop, and Disseminate). Four teachers and seven students were purposively selected, based on prior experience in teaching BIPA and ownership of a device and ability to operate a software. A questionnaire, expert validation sheet, users assessment sheet, and interview guide were employed to obtain the expected data. The results of the study revealed that all teachers had used textbooks and the Internet, but not all teachers used enrichment materials from the government. They further stated that they were interested in the development of teaching materials with folklore texts. The expert validation results showed that the developed web-based teaching materials was feasible with a very good predicate. Based on a limited trial (independently) by users, BIPA teachers and students responded that the prototype was feasible with a very good predicate.

This paper is based on an action research that aimed to explore students' reflective thinking through reflective collaborative learning. Drawing on multiple methods collected through focus group interviews, reflections, and online feedback, this paper examines the processes in which students develop their collaborative reflective learning to provide peer feedback to improve each other's reflective writing. Two moments of intervention were set during the project to improve students' critical questioning and reflective writing. Overall, reflective thinking via collaborative reflective learning promotes knowledge sharing, enhances pedagogical methods and theory, increases understanding of learner characteristics, and fosters professional self-development.

The Malaysian Education Act in 1996 states that the national language which is the Malay language becomes the main medium of instruction in educational institutions and English is accorded the status of a second language. In Malaysian schools, teachers are given the freedom to use their own teaching and assessment methods in assessing their students' writing. However, majority of the English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers use a scoring method adapted from the Malaysian Examination to assess their students' writing. For the Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM) English Language 1119 subject, students are required to write an essay of more than 350 words and they must be eloquent in their writing style with flawless grammatical errors to obtain the highest score for the subject. The purpose of this study was to explore the ESL teachers' preference towards the most suitable scoring method to assess essay writing in the classrooms. The study used qualitative approach which involved 25 grade 10 ESL teachers at 12 secondary schools in one of the states in Malaysia. The teachers in this study were trained on how to use the three types of scoring method to examine the students' continuous essay writing based on the three types of scoring methods namely Holistic, Analytical and Primary Traits. After the training, a few teachers were selected to be interviewed to get their perspectives of the three scoring methods used for classroom-based assessment. The research involved multiple data collection methods: verbal protocol, documents in the form of students' essays and interviews with the teachers. The findings indicated that the majority of the ESL teachers in this study preferred the holistic scoring method over the other two scoring methods due to its time saving characteristic when it involved a large scale marking and the results were needed to be completed within a short period of time. In addition, the ESL teachers in this study liked the idea of having to give overall evaluation of the essays whereby they could identify not only the overall band, but also the strengths and weaknesses of their students' writing. The teachers discovered that the holistic scoring method helped them to improve their students' learning as they could evaluate their students' overall performance.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training has gained importance but there is a noticeable gap between its research and teaching. While its teaching is more dynamic the research writing is scarce despite the performance measure demands. Rapid technological advancements, the multifaceted roles of the teachers, and the second language barrier escalate the pressure on research performance measures. Language models for research writing can help to alleviate research writing language practices. This paper explores the language practices of highly cited research articles for the technical and vocational education and training application. Specifically, it looks at how prolific writers write. Given the pressing need for a more accessible and more descriptive language model for technical and vocational research writing, this paper aims to assist by presenting techniques derived from the analysis of 62 highly cited research articles indexed in Scopus. Using move analysis, the study identifies 14 emerging techniques used in the introduction sections, offering a model for the writers and instructors. The techniques highlighted in this study not only enhance the engagement of introductions but also aim to increase readership and citation rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper is the outcome of a study which examined teacher strategies in teaching descriptive writing to junior high school students in Delitua, North Sumatra, Indonesia. The study was based on two questions: 1) What are the teaching strategies used by EFL teachers in teaching descriptive writing? 2) To what extent did the descriptive writing intervention change the EFL teacher teaching strategies? Methodology: The qualitative data were obtained from observations, interviews and student writing. An intervention conducted with four teachers for four months using Spencer's Writing Model (2005) to enhance the teaching of writing strategies was examined. The data were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic coding. Findings: The findings revealed that the teachers used limited strategies in teaching writing due to their lack of knowledge and understanding of the writing approaches. However, after the writing intervention, they improved their instructional strategies by incorporating richer writing descriptions which contained sensory details, figurative language and vivid words. Significance: These findings can be used as teaching guidelines for EFL writing in any teacher professional development programmes. Training of teachers could be a starting point not only to increase teachers' knowledge and skills in teaching writing but also to increase their awareness of the beliefs about teaching and learning. Our study provided evidence that training can bring about changes in teachers' pedagogical practices which in turn, will lead to a more meaningful learning environment for their learners.

Purpose: Howard Gardners' concept of multiple intelligence (MI) offers an alternative perspective on intelligence which highlights the importance of acknowledging learner diversity, individual talents and the development of human potentials. MI has been used as a basis for the construction of modular enrichment activities to facilitate the development of human potential among boarding school students. This study examines (1) the effects of such activities on students of different multiple intelligence profiles and (2) the teachers' views of the MI based module and activities. Methodology: The study employs a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-tests administered before and after treatment of the modular enrichment activities. Two groups of students from two Mara Junior Science Colleges (MRSM) in Malaysia participated in the study as the control and treatment groups. McKenzie's multiple intelligences instrument was used as the pre- and post-test measure. A semi-structured interview protocol was used to obtain teachers' views of the enrichment activities. Findings: The study found that the MI post-test was favourable towards the treatment group. Students in the treatment group improved on each multiple intelligence profile compared with students in the control group. The qualitative analysis of the interview data revealed favourable responses from the teachers towards the modular enrichment activities and the inclusion of MI. Significance: This study highlights the importance of recognising that each student has his/her distinct potential. These differences can be captured through the construction of various enrichment activities that emphasise on the different multiple intelligences. The modular learning experience simplifies the process of teaching and learning. It enables students and teachers to understand the objectives to be achieved through diverse problem solving and creative production activities. It is hoped that through this study, educators and teachers will gain ideas about ways in which a MI perspective can help them to tap student potential.

The article discusses the investment of L2 learners in the English language on Facebook that they portrayed through their Facebook activities. It studied four informants consisted of diploma students in a Malaysian university. The study consisted of 14 weeks of online observation and semi-structured interviews. Data were collected from online observation and semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and Second Cycle Coding. The findings revealed that there were five Facebook activities that were used by L2 learners to improve their English language proficiency: (a) writing posts and comments in English, (b) reading news feeds in English, (c) participating in interest-based Facebook groups, (d) watching movies in English, and (e) communicating with foreign Facebook friends. The most popular Facebook activities were writing posts and comments in English and reading news feeds in English.

As social network sites have become popular with university students, it is easier to understand how students employ social network sites seamlessly in their academic and personal lives. L2 learners often employ Facebook to improve their English language proficiency by communicating with their native and non-native English speakers. Facebook is considered as collapsed contexts where L2 learners navigate with their numerous multiple audiences at the same time. The study investigated the strategies L2 learners negotiate multiple audiences on Facebook. The study employed a qualitative multiple case study of three L2 learners who were Facebook users. The participants' Facebook accounts were observed for 14 weeks, and they were interviewed using semi-structured interview. The findings of the study suggest that L2 learners use four strategies to navigate their multiple audiences such as participating in closed Facebook group discussions, only commenting on relevant posts, constructing different online identities and choosing the language of the posts and comments depending on the audience. The audience management strategies used by L2 learners are determined by the informants' personal preferences.

This qualitative research investigates the practice of lurking among English as a second language (ESL) learners in a Facebook group discussion. Lurking is a term used to describe the activity of following and observing any online discussions or activities without contributing to the discussions. Lurkers are often accused of being invisible and passive participants. Facebook groups with international members usually uses English as the medium of communication in their group discussions. It is a norm for L2 learners to lurk in the group. These L2 learners often do not have the required English language proficiency and the confidence to participate actively in the group they join. This study explores lurking behaviours of three participants in learning English in informal Facebook contexts. This study uses a qualitative case study. The study involved three L2 learners who were university students and members of a Facebook group. The study involved online observation and semi-structured interviews with these three participants. Their Facebook accounts and a common Facebook group were observed for 14 weeks, and after the online observation, the participants were interviewed. Data collected from online observation and semi-structured interviewed were analysed and managed using Atlas.ti 7. The study reveals five emerging themes such as that lurkers have poor online communication skills, lack of confidence, learning by lurking, lack of a sense of belonging and lurking is the norm of Facebook groups.

Orphans are considered a minority and they should be given a greater emphasis so that they do not feel left out and can build their own lives without a sense of humility. This does not mean that the orphans should be pampered instead they should be given the confidence and motivation to strive for success in later life. Humility among orphans can be associated with interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. This study aims to evaluate the impact of problem-solving activity treatment based on the interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. 46 students from two orphanages were involved as the treatment group. The research design used was a one-group pretest-posttest design applied through a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Enrichment activities that provided interpersonal and intrapersonal skills as evidenced in this study should be carried out regularly at orphanages. Our study has proven that orphans' rights to learn cannot be neglected and "no child left behind" policy needs to be carried through by everybody involved with orphans' well-being. Teachers and carers need to be trained to use these enrichment activities at their orphanages to help maximize the orphans' potentials.

This study aimed to find out second language learners' perceptions on the use of blogs in their learning process. Participants were 20 secondary school students from a suburban school in Kelantan, Malaysia. The students read articles, discussed in their respective groups and posted their comments in their group blogs in two kinds of learning environment; being supervised face-to-face and virtually. A survey and also oral interview were administered to elicit participants' perceptions on the use of blogs. The results showed that although the incorporation of blogs in ESL learning were perceived positively among the learners, teachers need to be aware of several factors affect the effectiveness of using this technology in their teaching such as students' gender, personality and learning preferences. This paper also provides some pedagogical implications in the use of blogs for ESL learning.

Writers of research articles are expected to present research information in a structured manner by following a certain rhetorical patterns determined by the discourse community. Failures to keep to the writing standard and rhetorical pattern are likely to lower the acceptance rate. While producing a research article is understandably a complex task, it is even more difficult if one is writing in his or her second or third language. Even if grammatical mistakes can be ironed out by a language editor, researchers are on their own when it comes to rhetorical presentation of their research ideas. The available research writing guidelines constructed in the native speaker context often fall short in addressing rhetorical aspects related to cultural issues that have been known to influence most non native English (NNE) writings. Motivated by the complexity of rhetorical presentation in research articles and the problems on writing research articles by NNE writers, this paper is aimed to explore the rhetorical moves used by the Malaysian writers in the introduction section of Computer Science research articles for journal publication. CARS model (Swales, 2004) is used to analyze the rhetorical moves in the introduction section of Computer Science research articles by the Malaysian writers. The study begins with a corpus compilation of five research articles (RA) by the writers followed by move analysis use in the CARS model (Swales, 2004) was conducted to analyze the articles. The analysis revealed that majority of the writers adopted most of the rhetorical strategies in Swales model (2004). The paper concludes that CARS model is suitable in identifying the rhetorical moves in the RA by Malaysian writers.

The purpose of this action research was to investigate the use of YouTube videos and interactive activities in stimulating critical thinking among students from a public university in Malaysia. There were 50 students of mixed background, comprised of local and foreign students who participated in this study which lasted for one semester. Data was collected using a few approaches which included video recording of the lessons, students' and researcher's reflections and role play. In this paper, we specifically focus on the students' reflections of their experience while using YouTube videos. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine the themes that emerged in their reflections. Using Lewin's Action research model supported by Constructivism Theory, a-four stage action research consisted of planning, acting, observing and reflecting were conducted. We found that YouTube Videos were fun and interesting, increased students' participation and engagement and enhanced their critical thinking skills. The students were able to participate actively and demonstrated strong interest in the learning process as they were able to understand lectures better by visualizing the content and relating it to real workplace. Our study revealed the potential of YouTube video as a tool for stimulating students' learning and enhancing their critical thinking.

Purpose: In this study, 37 English Language Teaching (ELT) teacher trainees from a Malaysian university conducted an action-research project to determine whether journals kept during their fieldwork in primary schools located in an area close to the university allowed them to reflect on their beliefs and behaviors in the classroom. Methodology: Themes were revealed using emergent coding in their journals. Van Manen's (1977) three-stage model (practical, technical and critical) was used to determine the issues raised and the level of critical reflection reached in the journal entries. Findings: The findings indicated that the teacher trainees demonstrated practical and technical level thinking, but rarely rose to the critical level of reflection. Nonetheless, they also demonstrated changes in their beliefs and behaviours, essential for professional development. Significance: Reflective thinking is critical to teaching and is important in the United States and in countries striving to replicate its pedagogical tools and techniques. However, many Western practices associated with the nurturing of critical thinking are not familiar to Malaysian teacher trainees. We conclude that prospective teachers here do use their journals to reflect on their educational practice, but not at the deepest levels of insight. Critical thinking must be taught to Malaysian teacher trainees and filtered through the local culture if it is to improve teaching and learning in the nation's classrooms.

This study is dedicated to the research of vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) employed by a group of Saudi Arabian learners in an EFL (English as a foreign language) context. The rationale for the study is to clarify a pronounced lack of research on the EFL context in Saudi Schools Abroad (SSA), and a dearth of prior research into VLSs in this context. In particular, this research intends to explore how do students at Saudi School Malaysia (SSM) employ VLSs in their actual learning process. Therefore, this study is conducted on cognitive theory of learning studies, the mental processes involved in the learning process. Moreover, this study conducted an analysis of studies dedicated to VLSs through secondary students at Saudi school in Malaysia based on previous research problems of models and theories. In addition, this study applied quantitative approach, and the questionnaire was conducted using 105 students. The results of this study revealed the percentage and frequency have further underscored this role and the significance of vocabulary learning in both students and teachers. Also, the results show that students at SSM have employed the five categories of VLSs at a medium level and almost at a close range.

The number of publication has been one of the measurement values in the performance evaluation for higher education academicians. Over the years, the obligation to publish has amplified to not just on getting published but also on getting published in high quality journal whereby the quality ranking is determined by publication categories. This paper gives an account on the publication output in Scopus by the Malaysian private and the public universities in 2010. The study employed a query search on the Malaysian universities affiliation using Scopus database. The result of the search was tabulated and narrowed to journal publications and the other types of publication such as reviews, proceedings and letters were omitted. The number of journal publications by each university was listed out and comparison on the average was made. Comparison was made between the average number of publications by the private and the public universities. Findings show that the spur on publishing among Malaysian universities has taken effect. The study found that the Malaysian private universities published a distinctively smaller number of documents in Scopus compared to the public universities. The percentage for publication of journal article from the overall Scopus publication type journal articles published by the private universities was also smaller compared to the public universities. In other words, compared to the public universities, the authors in the Malaysian private universities had lower inclination to publish journal articles and were more likely to publish in conference proceedings, reviews and articles in press. The discussion section explores the reasons for these differences and presents the possible trending on the issue of publication in Malaysia.

Purpose: This paper is part of a larger study which explored postgraduate students talk around academic texts via Facebook (FB). Our exploration is largely guided by the idea of reading as a social practice. In this paper, we specifically focus on the students' reflections of their online experience of talking around academic texts. Method: The qualitative data used in this paper were derived from students' reflective diaries, students' FB interactions, and informal conversations and were collected from a group of students (27) attending a master's class in distance learning mode. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine the themes that emerged to represent their reflections. Findings: The students' reflections were grouped into two major categories: convenience and facilitation of learning. Students' reflection on the convenience afforded by the FB talk centered mainly on the idea of distance and time. Their reflections on the facilitation of learning were broken down into the following themes: safe environment to explore, social support, self-regulation and autonomy. A separate category, "FB entries need responding", was assigned to students' comments about the importance of lecturer's and group members' feedback. Value: This study revealed the potential of FB as a convenient, safe and an informal avenue for students to share their understandings and reading-related problems. The informal nature of their FB experience supported free exploration of ideas without the worry of having to appear "clever".

While the importance of reflective writing is widely acknowledged worldwide, the lack of exposure to systematic reflective models to enhance reflexivity is a major concern among in-service teachers in many developing countries. This paper presents a qualitative case study that aimed to explore the elements reflected by a group of English as a Second Language in-service teachers through their reflective writing. Specifically, it explored how the in-service teachers wrote reflections before Gibb's reflective model was introduced to them as well as examined to what extent the systematic model managed to help them write better reflections. This study contributed to the body of knowledge on reflective writing among in-service teachers. Gibbs' reflective model was introduced as a systematic framework to guide their reflective writing for eight weeks. Multiple methods such as semi-structured interviews, reflection logs and field notes were collected and thematically analysed. The findings indicated that the teachers managed to write better reflections on their teaching after using the model. The teachers reported that Gibb's reflective model provided clearer guidelines for writing reflection, minimized difficulties in the evaluation and analysis of their teaching, and provided a space for thinking about their action plans. Gibbs's reflective model can be used as a tool to enhance ESL teachers' reflexivity and professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CD-ROM affordances are explored in this article through participation in classroom interaction. CD-ROMs for shared reading of animated stories and language work were introduced to all Malaysian primary schools in 2003 for the Year 1 English Literacy Hour. We present classroom interaction extracts that show how the same CD-ROMs offer different affordances in their support of seven teaching styles differentiated along eight dimensions. The meaning potential of the CD-ROMs emerges as teachers make salient different combinations of modes in the materials. Despite these interactional differences, the introduction of CD-ROMs is essentially a "benign addition" in that it generates interest and motivation among students and is appreciated by teachers for "lightening the load", but has done little to transform traditional ways of teaching in these Year 1 classrooms: there was no evidence of the increased interaction and student participation desired by the Ministry. Our findings resonate with research internationally which calls for clear guidelines about "what works". Our classification of teaching styles based on interactions afforded by the Malaysian CD-ROMs enables us to identify what might work in different contexts. (Contains 1 table, 7 extracts, and 1 figure.)