<p class="apa">Writing skill is seen as a cornerstone of university students’ success in both academic and career life. This qualitative study was conducted to further explore the teachers’ and students’ perceptions on the relationship between writing apprehension and writing performance, contributing factors of writing apprehension, and strategies to reduce writing apprehension. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to get more in-depth information from two respondents: one experienced instructor of teaching writing at the Centre for Languages and Pre-University Academic Development (CELPAD), International Islamic University Malaysia, and another, a graduate student who was reported to having a high level of writing apprehension using Daly and Miller’s (1975) questionnaire on writing apprehension. Thematic analysis approach was used for data analysis. Both respondents were convinced that writing apprehension has a negative influence on students’ writing performance; the sources of contributing factors could be students, instructors, and teaching learning setting; and writing apprehension could be reduced through suggested strategies. It is recommended that instructors should be more aware of students’ problems in the writing skill.</p>

This study examined the level of L2 speaking anxiety among school teachers undertaking a master’s degree at the International Islamic University Malaysia and sought to determine if the anxiety level would differ by gender, school location and teaching subject. A convenience sample of 290 teachers completed a 12-item survey on L2 speaking anxiety adapted from Nazir et al. (2014). The survey data were analyzed using the Rasch measurement modeling for polytomous data, independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA. Overall, the respondents did not show high levels of speaking anxiety, [Mean -.89 logits]. Most were largely worried about being able to express themselves effectively in English [-.66 logits], making mistakes in speaking [-.31 logits], and how lecturers would react to their mistakes [-.38 logits]. The sample’s speaking anxiety scores were found to differ significantly by teaching subject, while no statistically significant differences were observed in regard to gender and school location. The results imply that the teachers need to be helped in terms of confronting the factors that cause them to be anxious about speaking in English. In terms of research, in-depth qualitative studies need to be undertaken to further understand the nature of L2 speaking anxiety among schoolteachers, while quantitative studies with larger samples are recommended to uncover underlying factors of speaking anxiety.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of student’s satisfaction on student’s trust, social identification, and loyalty amongst international students in Malaysian public higher institutions. It was conducted due to low research outputs on these variables among international students in Malaysia. A theoretical literature review was conducted, and an adapted survey of Student Loyalty Model was used to collect the data from four public universities in Malaysia, while regression analysis was performed to check for the effect of satisfaction on other variables. The findings showed that student’s trust, social identification, and loyalty can predict student’s satisfaction. International student satisfaction has a strong effect on trust (B=0.401), but a weak effect on social identification (B=0.220) and loyalty (B=0.131). The results indicated that the gaps in international students’ satisfaction can be minimized by improving the aspects of student loyalty and identification with the university through campus engagement and non-academic programs. The study also recommended carrying out further research within a larger population of students in public and private universities to compare their perceptions and to benefit from the experiences and successes of other international education destinations.

Purpose -The study sought to determine the hierarchical nature of reading skills. Whether reading is a 'unitary' or 'multi-divisible' skill is still a contentious issue. So is the hierarchical order of reading skills. Determining the hierarchy of reading skills is challenging as item difficulty is greatly influenced by factors related to test characteristics. To examine the interaction between these factors and item difficulty, and determine the possibility of such a hierarchy, this study used the multifaceted Rasch approach.Methodology -In this descriptive study, a 42-MCQ reading test was administered to 944 ESL lower secondary students, randomly selected from eleven Malaysian national-type schools in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and the state of Selangor. These student populations were selected as the development of reading ability was considered critical at this stage of schooling. The reading test items were identified according to the following aspects: Reading Skill Areas (Interpreting information, making Inference, Understanding figurative language, Drawing conclusions, Scanning for details and Long passage and weather forecast). Applying the Many-Facet Rasch model of measurement, the study analyzed student responses to the test items with the help of FACETS, version 3.7.1.4.Findings -The findings showed that context types, skill areas, and text types differed in difficulty (p<.01), with those items that required understanding and interpretation being more demanding. Test items based on linear contexts were more difficult than those based on non-linear contexts. Understanding figurative language was found to be the most difficult skill followed by Making inference and Interpreting information. The easiest reading skill was Scanning for details, followed by Finding word meanings. The reading skill, Drawing conclusions, was close to the average difficulty level. The findings also indicated that texts that were longer and had more information tended to be more difficult.Significance -This study has also shed new light on the theory and practice of reading. The findings support the hierarchical nature of reading skills. Different reading skills were found to exert differential cognitive demands, and those which required higher cognitive ability were more difficult for learners to acquire and perform. Understanding the hierarchy of reading skills will help language teachers to target their teaching more effectively; course designers to produce more appropriate teaching and learning materials; and test writers to develop test items that better meet students' reading competencies.

<p>In line with the vision and mission of the International Islamic University Malaysia, the study circle (<em>halaqah</em>) course is designed to improve undergraduate students in all aspects (intellectual, moral, spiritual, social, and physical) as well as develop their communication and critical thinking skills. Learning motivation and learning strategies are essential to achieve the desired learning outcomes of the course. Thus, this research aims to assess the students’ perception on their learning motivational orientations (i.e., self-efficacy and task performance and task value) and learning strategies (i.e., elaboration and peer learning). This research employed the quantitative approach in which a survey design method was used. A sample of 329 undergraduate students randomly selected form the students registered in study circle (<em>halaqah) </em>course were asked to complete sub-scales adopted from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Descriptive statistics using mean scores and standard deviations, t-test and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient were used in the data analysis. The students, regardless of gender, showed high level of learning motivational orientations in taking the study circle in terms of interest, importance and utility. They were motivated and confident to understand and perform the study circle tasks. Elaboration and peer learning strategies were used to perform such tasks. There was also a large positive relation between learning motivational orientations and learning strategies. Further qualitative and quantitative researches were recommended to get more in depth information.</p>