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Verbal input is integral and is the core component in any language learning materials. As such, despite the incorporation of non-verbal input to facilitate language learning, language learners, more often than not, give attention more to the verbal components as opposed to the non-verbal ones. This paper reports on a study undertaken to examine 28 ESL undergraduates' eye fixations when reading a science passage in English with an accompanying diagram. The data collection involves two stages. The first stage concerned the reading of the science passage and the second stage comprised short retrospective interviews conducted to explore the reasons behind the learners' processing. Results of the eye tracking analysis indicate that similar to the processing of language learning materials, the ESL learners' processing of the science passage was also mainly focused on the text (henceforth, "heavily text-based"). Findings from the retrospective interviews indicate that although a heavily text-based processing strategy was evident, most of the learners found the graphic input helpful. Analysis of the interviews also revealed that some learners were not aware of the strategies that they employed during the reading process. Although the eye tracking data imply that the ESL learners lacked the awareness and strategy to read and process multi-representational science texts in English effectively, the interviews suggest that they were aware of the potential and benefits of processing the accompanying diagram for overall comprehension. Effective design principles for multi-representational materials are suggested to promote more strategic processing among learners.

This study explored the perceptions of students from different types of schools in Malaysia towards their online learning engagement during COVID-19's movement control order using Fredricks et al.'s framework of behavioural, cognitive, and emotional engagement. In addition to these variables, external support provided to the students was also considered. To this end, a questionnaire that examined the students' general online practices and online learning engagement was administered. Seven hundred sixty-eight students from four different types of secondary schools (national, Chinese, international, and high performing schools) responded to the questionnaire. The findings from the ANOVA analysis indicated that generally the respondents demonstrated positive online learning practices. However, the amount of time spent interacting with teachers online should be much improved. The findings also indicated significant differences in perceptions towards online learning engagement and external support based on school types.

The use of graphic representations is ubiquitous and essential in science-related domains. Research into learners' reading of materials that incorporate verbal and graphic representations (i.e. multi-representational materials) however suggests that graphics receive very little attention compared to text. Such a tendency is not ideal as comprehension of multi-representational materials requires learners to attend to the graphics and integrate information contained in these representations with those in the text. This field of research, however, has focused primarily on native language learners. Since the number of people learning in their non-native language is growing rapidly, it is crucial to understand how they engage and learn with these materials. The present paper is part of a larger study that focuses on the multi-representational reading of 42 Malay ESL undergraduates. Their eye fixations during the reading of a science passage and an accompanying diagram were collected and analyzed. To our knowledge, no such study has been undertaken in the Malaysian context. Hence, the findings will be significant contributions to this field. The results indicate that similar to the reading of multi-representational texts by native speakers in other contexts, the multi-representational reading by the Malay ESL undergraduates was also heavily text-based.

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