Browsing by Author "Ainul Azmin Md Zamin, Ph.D"

This study examines the development of English as a second language in Malaysia among public preschool children. In Malaysia, children learn English as early as 4 years of age. However, it is largely unknown how most Malaysian children acquire English in a Malaysian context, as studies investigating early English development are scant. Therefore, this study investigates the development of English, specifically the English plural expressions, among Malaysian kindergarten children. This study also investigates the effectiveness of developmentally moderated focus-on-form (DMFonF) instruction on learning English plurals in the Malaysian context within ten weeks. The participants in this study were six kindergarten children from two preschools under the Ministry of Education. They are divided into two groups: group A (experimental) and group B (control). The developmentally focus-on-form instruction is designated to group A and administered by trained undergraduate research assistants throughout the study period. Meanwhile, group B continued their lessons without any intervention. At the beginning of the study, a pre-test was administered to establish the children’s English baseline (T0). After six lessons, post-test 1 (T1) was administered, and after another four lessons, post-test 2 (T2) was administered. T0 was conducted physically at school, while T1 and T2 were done online via ZOOM due to school closure. The data from the pre-test and post-tests were audio and video recorded. The development of plural expressions between group A and B is analysed and compared. The findings indicate that the plural expressions of children in group A, who received the DMFonF instruction, developed significantly faster than children in group B who did not receive the DMFonF instruction in their English lessons.

Previous findings have discovered an increase in swearing phenomenon among Malaysian youth. This is unexpected considering the emphasis on politeness and conflict avoidance in the Malaysian culture. This research aims to identify the common swear words and phrases among Malaysian youth in Malay and English languages. This research also focuses on revealing the functions of swearing and the factors influencing the usage of swear words among Malaysian youth. All in all, 1100 tweets, retweets and comments on the 14th Malaysian General Election (GE14) were collected and ten interview sessions were conducted with 28 university students from different races in Malaysia. From the tweets, retweets and comments, 49 Malay and 22 English individual swear words as well as phrases were identified by the researcher. The most common swear words among Malaysian youth identified from both tweets and interviews are ‘bodoh’ for the Malay language and ‘fuck’ for the English language. From the analyses, among the functions of expressing emotions, insulting others, making jokes and expressing solidarity, the highest occurrence is in insulting others. However, the data from the interviews demonstrate that making jokes and strengthening relationships are the most popular functions among the Malaysian youth. Co-participants, setting of interaction, topic of conversation and mood of the speakers are factors affecting the usage of swear words with co-participants as the most important one. These findings justified why swearing phenomenon is currently in the rise among Malaysian youth. However, they still adhere to their culture of politeness and maintaining harmony. Most of the time, they use swear words and phrases with close friends with the intention of making jokes and strengthening their bonds.

The flipped classroom approach has garnered significant attention for its potential to enhance various educational outcomes. This study focuses on its effects on students' speaking skills within a pharmacy classroom setting, aiming to understand student perceptions and the factors influencing their participation and communication. This study aims to explore the impact of the flipped classroom model on improving speaking skills among intermediate-level pharmacy students learning English for pharmaceutical purposes. It seeks to compare these outcomes with those achieved through conventional teaching methods and to analyze students' perceptions of the flipped classroom. A mixed-methods approach was employed, involving 60 intermediate-level pharmacy students divided into a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group was taught using the flipped classroom model, while the control group followed traditional teaching methods. Data collection included pre- and post-intervention speaking tests, surveys, and thematic analysis of student feedback. The investigation revealed a significant improvement in the speaking skills of students in the experimental group, particularly in fluency, accuracy, vocabulary utilization, and pronunciation. Additionally, these students exhibited increased self-assurance and comfort in oral expression, leading to a heightened sense of confidence and improved communication capabilities. Students in the flipped classroom reported increased engagement, motivation, and more opportunities for English communication with peers. They perceived the flipped model as enhancing their learning experience, fostering independence, and better preparing them for class activities. Thematic analysis identified key factors affecting participation and communication, including student engagement, autonomy and accountability, and overall perceptions of the flipped classroom. Lecturers observed that the flipped classroom approach also required them to adapt their teaching methods, become more responsive to student needs, and provide more individualized support, ultimately leading to a more dynamic and interactive learning environment.

This research is an investigation on how Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) applications facilitate writing improvement among English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. The study employed WriteLab, a technology-enabled innovation feedback tool which could contribute to developing English language proficiency of students through lexical, syntactical and rhetorical developments and raising grammatical sensitivity. There is a need to find possible means to increase learners’ proficiency level as those who are proficient in English are more likely to have better employment and opportunities in the global arena. This study involved ESL students from Universiti Teknologi Mara Terengganu (n=80) who were enrolled in a writing course namely Integrated Language Skills: Writing. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to conduct a quasi-experimental research as well as content analyses. Data analyses included descriptive analysis techniques, t-test and ANCOVA. The non-equivalent groups’ pre-test/post-test design was applied to explore the overall effect of using AWE in improving students’ writing in terms of lexical, syntactical, rhetorical and grammatical sensitivity developments. The treatment involved four series of essay writing tasks whereby the experimental group received the treatment (AWE) after completing each task consecutively while the control group only received teacher feedback. The findings indicate that, based on the lexical analysis conducted by using Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD), Latent Semantic Analyses (LSA) and Academic Word List (AWL) with the aid of Coh-Metrix 3.0 and Vocabprofiler BNC, lexical diversity increased among the 40 participants who received the treatment using AWE. For the syntactical analysis administered using Mean Length of T-unit (MLTU), Mean Number of Dependent Clauses per T-unit (DC/T) and Mean Number of Complex Nominals per T-unit (CN/T) with the aid of L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (L2SCA), the treatment group also showed improvement. For rhetorical development, the analysis measured by Coh-Metrix 3.0 in the aspects of Referential Cohesion, Verb Cohesion and Connectives, the findings show greater improvement performed by the treatment group in all four series of essays. The 40 participants who were in the control group and therefore did not use AWE in their writing tasks did not show greater development in their four series of essays as compared to the participants in the experimental group. For grammatical sensitivity, the result shows that the treatment group demonstrated improvement after AWE was applied. Therefore, the overall result asserts that the use of AWE (WriteLab) has substantial potential to complement teacher feedback in developing ESL learners’ writing proficiency.