The purpose of this research is analyzing the opportunities and challenges of emergency remote teaching based on experiences of the COVID-19 emergency among teachers and principals of Malaysian schools.  This study explores the perceptions of school teachers of online learning in a program developed in Malaysian school called School from Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic. A qualitative research method was undertaken in two steps.   In the first step, a thematic analysis a qualitative method was used based on a two-step process. The first step consisted a Qualitative study which involved 4 school principals from Grade A and Grade B schools which is selected from four state which is Selangor, Johor, Kedah and Kelantan. In the second step (a Malaysian case study), The results from the interview discussion represented the basis for the second step, in which starting from the main issues that emerged from the online discussion among researches, professors and also Higher Education Offices from Ministry of Education and State Education Officers. The analysis reveals several technological, pedagogical and social challenges. The technological challenges are mainly related to the unreliability of Internet connections and many students’ lack of necessary electronic devices. (Chandler. D, 2017)   The pedagogical challenges are principally associated with teachers’ and learners’ lack of digital skills, the lack of structured content versus the abundance of online resources, learners’ lack of interactivity and motivation and teachers’ lack of social and cognitive presence (the ability to construct meaning through sustained communication within a community of inquiry) (Gordon, 2020) The social challenges are mainly related to the lack of human interaction between teachers and students as well as among the latter, the lack of physical spaces at home to receive lessons and the lack of support of parents who are frequently working remotely in the same spaces. Based on the lessons learned from this worldwide emergency, challenges and proposals for action to face these same challenges, which should be and sometimes have been implemented, are provided.

This study aims to identify the importance of parental involvement in student academic achievement in Primary School in Selangor through school, family and community partnership from teacher's perspective. It focused on the involvement of parents based on six main aspects of Epstein's model i.e. parenting, communication, home-based learning, decision-making, community collaboration and volunteerism. These aspects enable parents' involvement and collaboration with schools and outside communities in order to improve students' academic achievement. This study used a qualitative method, where questionnaire and respondent interviews were used as the research instrument. Snowball sampling was used and a total of four primary school headmasters from high-and low-performing schools were interviewed using a naturalistic investigation technique with an open-ended semi-structured questionnaire containing 10 items in two domains. The purpose of this study was to obtain the information needed to understand parents' perceptions of the importance of their involvement in improving student academic achievement and the collaboration required among schools, families and the community. The data obtained was analyzed using Thematic analysis. The findings showed that, there was a significant positive relationship between parents' involvement and the improvement of academic achievement of the students, namely in the aspects of home teaching, parenting, decision-making and volunteerism. As a conclusion, some new suggestions were made to enhance the involvement of parents in the academic achievement of the Tamil school students.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the reason(s) for the failure of the usage of English proverbs among students in the English class, both at primary and secondary level. The results of the research is expected to revive the use of English proverbs in schools as they can be used as a pivotal tool in the teaching and learning of English language. This is a mixed method research utilizing both qualitative and quantitative research analysis techniques. Sample for the research were 100 students from primary and secondary schools (two urban and two rural schools) in Malaysia. Apart from students, 50 English teachers too were used to get their feedback on the teaching and learning of English proverbs. The research has positively answered the three Research Questions. The data collected clearly indicated that English proverbs were not popular among students and teachers. And the interview transcripts clearly showed that the reasons on why English proverbs were underused. The teachers felt that English proverbs were archaic and not trendy to be used in the classrooms. Furthermore, the teaching of proverbs were also not prescribed in the school syllabus. On the other hand, it was found that some proverbs were not suitable for this era, where students are more into the digital world. This paper concludes with a discussion on the pedagogical implications of the results.

Contribution/ Originality: This study is one of very few studies which have investigated insights into monolingual and bilingual ESL learners from Malaysia and Indonesia. The findings of this study will give new understandings on language learning strategies utilized by monolinguals and bilinguals.