Vocabulary knowledge and acquisition plays an important role in learning a second language as well as developing children’s literacy skills. The effectiveness of the read-aloud technique to increase children’s vocabulary knowledge and construction of meaning has been widely studied. Teachers need to employ effective instructional strategies to foster growth in vocabulary learning among pre-school children during the read-aloud sessions. Given this, this study has identified the vocabulary strategies that a teacher employed during her read-aloud sessions with her pre-school children in a rural school in Malaysia. A pre-school teacher from a pre-school situated in a rural area participated in this study. Qualitative research methods were used whereby primary data was obtained through observations and field notes while secondary data was obtained through interviews with teachers. Findings revealed that the pre-school teacher utilized four vocabulary strategies proposed by Beck, McKeow.....

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Kajian ini bertujuan untuk membina satu instrumen penilaian bagi menilai amalan pentaksiran guru Matematik sekolah menengah. Instrumen ini adalah berbentuk rubrik dua lapis. Berdasarkan tinjauan literatur, instrumen kajian dibina merangkumi dua komponen utama: (1) ciri-ciri sedia ada yang dimiliki guru; serta (2) amalan yang dilakukan. Komponen pertama terdiri daripada empat konstruk iaitu kepercayaan dan nilai guru, pengetahuan, kemahiran dan sikap. Komponen kedua, amalan yang dilakukan guru terdiri daripada lima konstruk iaitu blueprint mata pelajaran, hasil pembelajaran, hasil sasaran yang dijangka, folio A dan folio B. Adalah diharapkan artikel ini dapat memberi gambaran mengenai instrumen penilaian amalan pentaksiran guru Matematik sekolah menengah yang dibina...

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The article aims at explaining the authors’ proposal to develop parenting education for caregivers of an Islamic orphanage in Bandung namely Rumah Belajar (Rumbela) Muthmainnah in improving parenting skills of caregivers. The preliminary study conducted at Rumbela Muthmainnah indicated that the caregivers had limitations and practiced the parenting based on their nurtured experience or by “trial and error” ways. The observation and interview results showed that lack of nurturing experiences and participation in parenting training or education made the caregivers have limitations in overcoming the children’s problems effectively. Care by orphanage caregivers should be able to replace the parental care of biological parents/relatives for orphanage children with the purpose of making them grow into happy children and satisfied with their lives or have high subjective well-being. Non-biological parenting is not easy, even may cause stress either for caregivers and children. It requ.....

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This study is focused on conceptual paper and the purpose of this study is to conduct an empirical investigation into the Malaysian Preschool institutions, focusing on measuring their technical efficiency and productivity changes. This study is to examine the nature of productivity changes by means of bootstrapped Malmquist TFP indices. The study use a Three-year set of panel data (2009–2012) for analyzing the performance of 8307 KEMAS Preschools classes during the implementation of the (Government Transformation Program) GTP 1.0. The study considered all KEMAS Preschools classes operating in the sector. The input and output data were manually extracted from the Malaysia’s Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (MRRD) and all KEMAS Preschools. Non-parametric DEA models are employed to estimate efficiency and productivity changes of the institutions. Thus, this study is expected makes significant contributions to the literature of efficiency and productivity changes in Early Chi.....

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The present study was conducted mainly to investigate the applicability of children’s conception space presented in Piaget’s Cognitive Development theory to Sri Lankan children. The study attempted to identify whether there were variations in Sri Lankan children’s conception of space according to the sectors i.e. urban, rural and estate, they live in, factors affecting Sri Lankan children’s conception of space. The methodology of the study was quantitative and in nature. Piagetian tests modified to suit the Sri Lankan context and the case study method was used in achieving the objectives of the study. The sample of the study consisted of 75 children selected randomly from primary school children between the ages of 5-10 years from Urban, Rural and Estate sectors in the Kalutara district of the Western Province. Modified Piagetian instruments, Observation schedules and in-depth interview schedules were used as instruments for data collection. The findings of the study indicated .....

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The present study investigates whether it may be possible to use Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) and Word Associates Test (WAT) for measuring language proficiency and placement purposes. In so doing, 85 upper-intermediate and 50 lower-intermediate EFL learners took Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT), Word Associates Test (WAT), and Oxford Placement Test (OPT). Results of correlation and regression analyses indicated that (a) Word Associates Test could not predict performance on Oxford Placement Test neither for the lower-intermediate nor the upper-intermediate group, (b) Vocabulary Levels Test could significantly predict performance on Oxford Placement Test for both proficiency groups, and (c) while the 2,000 word level correlated with and predicted performance on Oxford Placement Test for the lower-intermediate group, the 5,000 word level predicted performance on proficiency test for the upper-intermediate group. The findings point to the possibility of using VLT for measuring language profici.....

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Tipainduk dan mitos merupakan unsur sastera yang amat dominan dalam kesusasteraan Melayu tradisional. Kedua-unsur unsur ini penting bagi pengarang kesusasteraan Melayu tradisional dalam penghasilan karya. Kehebatan, keanehan, kesaktian dan keajaiban menjadi inti utama bagi pengarang sebagai strategi memancing perhatian khalayak terhadap karyanya. Sebagai senjatanya, pengarang menggunakan unsur mitos untuk menggambarkan kehebatan watak-watak yang terlibat dalam karyanya. Masyarakat pada ketika ini menganggap sesuatu yang ajaib, ghaib,aneh sebagai sesuatu yang suci dan kudus. Oleh itu pengarang memaksimumkan kepercayaan masyarakat terhadap unsur ini untuk mendapatkan perhatian khayalak akan kewujudan karyanya. Bagi mendapatkan keberkesanan penyampaian mitos ini, pengarang menjadikan tipainduk yang hebat sebagai model untuk mengarang. Tipainduk yang diambil adalah tipainduk yang hebat dalam sesebuah tradisi. Tujuan pengarang menggunakan tipainduk adalah untuk mengangkat martabat dan menga.....

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This research focuses on standardization of items for the purpose of testing knowledge with reference to language component ‘case marker’. An analysis is made with reference to the questions covering language component 'case marker' in Tamil language. Study was undertaken at the secondary school and university in the district of Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia. There are 24 question items (covering the said contents) included in the questionnaire. Analysis was made based on the information or data collected from 56 selected students of school and university. The aim of this research is to see the problems in studying case markers via language dimensions. In this study question items are analyzed on the basis of the difficulty index and discriminations index. The data is collected through the questionnaire prepared for this purpose. Through this method the raw data gathered will be analyzed using the descriptive statistic calculation and with the use of important formula from the cer.....

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Teks Hikayat Melayu adalah teks sastera sejarah yang lahir pada abad ke-19. Teks Hikayat Melayu versi Tengku Said dalam kajian ini juga dikenali sebagai Sejarah Melayu versi Panjang atau Long Version. Objektif utama kajian adalah untuk melihat hukum kepengarangan Melayu abad ke-19. Sastera sebagai produk sosial bermakna karya boleh difahami dari sudut perspektif sosiologikal. Kajian ini bertitik tolak daripada persoalan yang dikemukakan oleh Ken Plummer (1997) dalam bukunya Studying Culture: An Introductory Reader. Di antara persoalan yang disesuaikan dalam kajian ini adalah “the nature of stories” iaitu melihat tema Hikayat Melayu dan signifikannya, ia menjurus kepada jenis tema dan tujuan tema tersebut ditulis oleh penulis. Persoalan kedua ialah “the making of stories” yang disesuaikan sebagai kajian teks dan lapangan sosio budaya, yang melihat mengapa Hikayat Melayu itu dikarang, bagaimana cerita tersebut boleh membentuk masyarakat dan adakah Hikayat Melayu cuba mengesahkan .....

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This study empirically analyzed the item difficulty and discrimination indices of senior school certificate examination SSCE multiple choice biology tests used by West African Examinations Council and National Examinations Council in Nigeria. Sample for the study consisted of 1450 Senior Secondary Three students drawn from 20 randomly selected secondary schools. Item by item analysis was used for obtaining difficulty and discrimination indices. Findings from the study showed that 2008 SSCE Biology multiple choice test had mean difficulty index of 0.42 and slightly higher than NECO Biology multiple choice test with mean difficulty index of 0.40 and 2008 SSCE in Biology had a discriminating power of 0.43 and higher than NECO with mean discriminating power of 0.39. It was recommended that 4 option items in multiple choice Biology tests should be encouraged but if 5 options items should be used more attention should be given to psychometric properties of tests...

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