There is a major concern among educators and parents about children who cannot read but more seriously about those who can read but do not have the motivation to read. The study investigated 245 undergraduates’ level of reading motivation and their reading strategies use when they read academic texts. This study aims at finding the connection between reading motivation and reading strategy, to discover the differences between male and female students’ reading motivation and reading strategy and the relationship between variables such as program of study and family’s income. The results showed that the undergraduates’ reading motivation was of moderate level and they mostly use the cognitive reading strategy instead of the metacognitive reading strategy. There seemed to be a connection between the undergraduates’ reading motivation and the reading strategy used. The results indicated that the undergraduates’ motivation to read had an influence on the use of the reading strategy. Though female students had higher reading motivation compared to male students, both groups only use the cognitive reading strategy. Therefore, the results showed that undergraduates having moderate reading motivation tend to use only cognitive reading strategy. Thus, reading motivation does influence the acquisition of reading skills and there is a possibility that the higher reading motivation, the higher the tendency to use high level reading skills such as metacognitive which is a necessity for students’ effective reading. Instructors should motivate students to become active readers by improving students’ intrinsic motivation and decreasing their extrinsic motivation. Other results revealed that there was a significant difference among the five Diploma programs and finally, the students’ reading motivation had no significant relationship with their economic background

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A teaching practicum is a course of study in which pre-service teachers get to experience actual teaching in real classrooms. Mentor teachers who are assigned to mentor and supervise pre-service teachers have many important roles to play in the practicum experience, yet no extensive research has been conducted on these roles. This study sought to determine the roles played by mentor teachers in pre-service teachers’ teaching practicum. Using an explanatory, sequential, mixed-methods research design pertaining to the Malaysian context, we recruited 385 pre-service teachers who had attended teaching practicum and 6 mentor teachers who had previously mentored pre-service teachers. Online questionnaires and telephone interviews were used sequentially. Findings showed that mentor teachers played moderate roles in mentoring pre-service teachers; mentor teachers perceived themselves to play many roles yet regarded certain roles as unnecessary and unimportant. Universities, secondary schools, and the Malaysian Ministry of Education must address the importance of producing quality teachers by intervening as early as pre-service teachers’ teaching practicum.

Notwithstanding the prevalence of Autism in Malaysian society, addressing the outdated lack of data on the needed skills of therapy practitioners is needed as updated data implicates significant impacts beneficial to all parties. Providing the latest data also informs the specific actions needed to reduce Autistic-related problems in Malaysia. Hence, this study seeks to conduct a situational analysis of the needs of therapy practitioners at autism rehabilitation centres in Perlis. A qualitative survey method is used. Ten therapy practitioners from two autism rehabilitation centres in Perlis participated in the survey. Findings indicate that therapy practitioners require skills to communicate, socialise, provide treatments, teach, obtain knowledge, control emotions, and think. Additionally, reflex integration, speech therapy, handling behavioural cases, and hippotherapy are skills that participants have not learned but are considered essential in treating autistic children. Further, therapy practitioners stay in their profession because of their love for children, desire to improve skills