This study assessed Malaysian tertiary students' levels of passive and controlled active vocabulary knowledge. Two tests from the Vocabulary Levels Test were used to collect the data namely the Passive Vocabulary Test and Controlled Active Vocabulary Test. When using the test, the researchers were not particularly interested in the students' total score on the tests, but were interested more in whether the students knew enough of the high-frequency words. 360 first-and second-year university students from five diploma programs were involved in the study. The findings revealed that majority of them did not have enough vocabulary knowledge and vocabulary size to use English as their second language though formal exposure to the language had been given to them for more than 12 years. This paper, besides discussing the students' levels of passive and controlled active vocabulary knowledge and their vocabulary size, highlights the vocabulary levels and vocabulary size they should attain. The probable impact vocabulary knowledge has on the acquisition of other English language skills is another area discussed. Some recommendations for teaching approaches are also put forward.
This study was to investigate Malaysian undergraduates' preference for collaborative learning activities that were carried out during English lessons. Gender, location and programme were studied in order to determine their influence on the undergraduates' preference.
Collaborative learning involves learners working together as a group in maximizing their learning experience and in developing the learners' sense of belonging to the group. This paper discusses the features of a collaborative writing activity, the dialogue journal, that exist during a writing activity. The features were discussed based on literature and a case study on a group of second-year ESL learners of Universiti Teknologi MARA Perlis, Malaysia. The selections of the students' dialogue journal writing were found to display features of the learners' self-expressions, learning and interactions among their classmates and teacher.
Students from B40 families do not really perform well in Malaysian education. In school, they are not motivated, and even when they get into university, some drop out or are expelled from tertiary education. The graduates from the B40 income group are among those who are in the statistics of unemployment. To overcome the problem, it is suggested that the B40 students be equipped with grit and resilience, a construct in educational and psychological field. It is important for university graduates to have a high level of grit in themselves so that they will be more motivated and sustainable in pursuing their academic success and later not easily give up during job hunting. The Ministry of Higher Education has also outlined resilience (grit) as one of the nine Malaysian future-proof skill sets that need to be learned and practiced by Malaysian graduates to face the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). By using a desk-based research approach, this paper aimed to discuss the importance of grit and resilience in education and how the two traits can be applied in Malaysian Education. Grit and resilience can be enhanced among B40 students through self-regulated learning and concerted efforts by parents, schools and the government.
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