This study explores the effectiveness of implementing literature circles to assist a group of ESL students to comprehend a graphic novel. Data were gathered from direct observation, interviews and transcripts of literature circles. The data obtained from the direct observation showed that the students participated actively in literature circles to comprehend the graphic novel. Besides, the data gathered from the transcripts of literature circles revealed that the students connected their responses with their personal values and experiences. Data collected from the transcripts of literature circles showed that the students made interpretations when they discussed the illustrations in the graphic novel. To gather data on the students’ perceptions of literature circles, evidence from the interviews showed that literature circles enhanced the students’ interaction, motivation and responsibility. Students also had the opportunities to share their personal responses in literature circles.....

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Pemahaman sejarah yang rendah terhadap fakta dan konsep sejarah yang abstrak dalam sesuatu peristiwa sejarah merupakan cabaran kepada murid berpencapaian rendah. Malah, penghafalan fakta daripada buku teks menyebabkan murid tidak memahami makna di sebalik peristiwa sejarah tersebut yang menjadikan proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran sejarah tidak menarik dan berpusatkan guru. Oleh itu, tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk mengenalpasti sama ada pencapaian pemahaman sejarah dapat dipertingkatkan melalui kaedah Sources-Peer Instruction yang diperkenalkan ke dalam mata pelajaran sejarah bagi murid berpencapaian rendah. Kajian ini dijalankan di sebuah sekolah menengah kategori luar bandar di negeri Perlis yang melibatkan seramai 31 orang murid Tingkatan Empat yang berpencapaian rendah yang dipilih dengan teknik persampelan bertujuan bagi Topik Tamadun Awal Manusia. Model Kemmis dan McTaggart, (1988) digunakan dalam reka bentuk kajian tindakan dalam kajian ini yang melibatkan pengumpulan data seca.....

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This study explores the discourse patterns produced by a group of ESL students and the roles played by the group discussion leaders in literature circles that effectively enhance their comprehension of the stories in graphic and non-graphic novels. Six ESL students were selected in this study and seven literature circles were conducted to gather data to address the research questions. Data were gathered from direct observation, interviews and transcripts of literature circles. The data obtained from the transcripts of literature circles showed that the students used different comprehension strategies during discussions such as questioning, evaluating, using prior knowledge, interpreting and summarising that effectively enhance their understanding of the texts. Turn-taking in discussions also showed that students with better language proficiency in English language dominated the discussions and could comprehend the stories more effectively. Data collected from the transcripts of the stu.....

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Reflection and the promotion of reflective practice have been extensively emphasised in the teacher training and preparation programmes. In teacher education, many researchers have argued the importance of student teachers (STs) being able to develop their skills of reflection. This study was conducted to investigate the STs’ level of reflection during teacher clinical experience (TCE) (or variously known as the teaching practicum). It sought to analyse the level of reflection among STs from the Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI) in the current practice of reflective writing and after given exposure to the critical reflection manual (CRM) during TCE. The present study employed Van Manen’s (1977) three-stage model (technical, practical and critical) to determine the level of reflection based on STs’ self-reflection notes in their daily lesson plan books (for the current practice of reflective writing) and weekly reflective journal writings (for STs who were given exposure to.....

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In this article, an attempt was made to explore English language teachers’ strategies for disciplining unauthorized behavior (misbehavior) in public high schools and private language institutes. To this end, two sets of general and specific teacher strategies for disciplining misbehavior were surveyed in two successive stages. First, American Teacher Strategies Questionnaire from the Incredible Years Programs (IYP) incorporation (2012) was examined to decide on the most appropriate teacher techniques for general Class Management (CM) scheme; secondly, teacher interview logs were used to decide on the specific CM strategies, which were characteristic of language classes. Then, a researcher-developed questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale was constructed and distributed among some fifty-five Iranian teachers from public high schools and private language institutes in four large cities in Tehran, Isfahan, and Khorasan Razavi Provinces, and their responses were analyzed using Multi.....

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This is an exploratory research examining written work in English of Malay college students, analysing lexical errors that occurred in their work, which were caused by the negative transfer from the students’ mother tongue. The study also categorized the errors and gave some pedagogical suggestions on reducing the lexical errors to improve students’ English writing. Students involved were Malays at foundation level, with an age range from 17 years to 19 years old. Out of 40 participants, 15 of them were males and 25 were females. The categorical analysis and findings of this study aim to gain educators' understandings on Malay-based lexical negative transfer problems in learning English and trigger educators to take note on the problems in order to improve students' language learning strategy...

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The purpose of this study was to investigate whether inner speech instruction had any significant effect on upper-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension. To this end, 60 female subjects participated in this study and were assigned to the experimental and control groups each consisting of 30 participants. The same teaching materials comprising twelve reading texts were taught to both groups through a 10-session treatment with a difference in the procedure during which the experimental group underwent an inner speech instruction while the control group did not receive such an instruction. Results of paired samples t-test indicated the effectiveness of inner speech instruction in the experimental group. Moreover, the interview analysis revealed that the visual and auditory learners preferred to visualize and hear voices while completing the task and developing a positive perception towards the use of inner speech as a tool to enhance their reading ability. It is assumed that a.....

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This study investigates the cultural content and covert syllabus of one well-known widely printed English Language Teaching (ELT) course book: Passages 1. In order to analyse the content, two coding systems the Five Dimensions of Culture and the Categories of Culture by Chao (2011) were used. The findings indicate that Passages 1 has encouraged various aspects of culture with an emphasis on the presentation of products, persons and viewpoints of the West. The partiality for the Target Culture (countries with English as the native language) is clear throughout the course book in terms of the selection of reading texts, listening tracks, and the images. Findings indicate that there is a minimal focus on the introduction of local and the Middle Eastern cultures. The theme of 'universality across cultures', as a specific classification in this study, is mostly placed in the speaking practices which revolves around sharing personal experiences rather than engaging in intercultural thinking .....

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School-based print texts and didactic teaching appear slow and unexciting, thus there is a need to integrate social networking sites in the teaching and learning process. Facebook is one of the social networking sites that has captured the attention of educators in language teaching and learning. The use of Facebook in teaching Literature is beneficial and gives teachers the chance to improve teaching via a lively classroom. This study surveyed the perceptions of secondary school teachers on the use of Facebook in teaching literature. A 30-item questionnaire was administered to 100 secondary school teachers in Malaysia. The teachers from 10 states were involved in this study and they are currently teaching English language in secondary schools in Malaysia. The findings indicated that teachers found Facebook as the most useful aspect of Internet in teaching literature and they prefer to use Facebook as a teaching tool compared to the classroom blackboard. This study recommends the use o.....

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Creativity is one of the assests for developing countries to move towards industrialized nations. Therefore, elements of creativity should be developed from preschool level. Based on the findings from the literature in 2000-2016 on elements, criteria, process, products, and creative behaviors, a set of elements for creative assessment for preschool education was identified. These include inventiveness, authenticity, originality, flexibility, fluency, and imagination. This is useful to be used in a later study on how teachers incorporate creativity elements in designing creative assessment...

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