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.
Abstract-Communication is almost important without words. Learners with limited vocabulary face difficulties in conveying their messages to others. Therefore, they should acquire enough words to communicate their ideas in L2. Besides, knowing the right strategies to acquire words is also important to help learners in their study. Because of that, the study aims to unveil the usefulness of vocabulary learning strategies among students from the faculty of Accountancy in a public university in northern Malaysia. 52 participants (44 female and 8 male) from this faculty participated in the study. From the total of 52 participants, 30 are from the Diploma in Accountancy and the remaining 22 are the students from Diploma in Accounting Information System. The study focuses on second language vocabulary learning acquisition. Participants were asked to answer questionnaires during normal class time. The questionnaire contains seven questions on vocabulary learning strategies where participants had to choose the four options given from 'very useful' to 'not useful at all' based on their L2 study experience on their L2 vocabulary learning process. The findings show that learners preferred to communicate, read books and listen to English songs in order to acquire vocabulary. In addition, they also acquire vocabulary explicitly from their daily routine activities. These suggest that lecturers should focus more on explicit teaching vocabulary because previous research shows that this strategy helps learners in their vocabulary acquisition.Index Terms-Language learning strategies, vocabulary, vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary learning strategies.
Students in higher learning institutions need to write lots of reports based on the projects done. Since they are at the tertiary level of education, they are required to use English in their reports. This is to ensure that they are able to function well in English later at the workplace. Writing requires students to apply rules regarding sentence structures, grammar and also its mechanic that refers to punctuation and capitalization. However, many of the students have problems in applying these rules in their writing even though they have been learning English for about 12 years in school. This is a case study on BEL 311, semester 3 students at one local higher learning institution that comprises 'Bumiputra' (a Malay term widely used in Malaysia, embracing ethnic Malays, Javanese, Bugis, Minang and other indigenous ethnic groups such as the Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia and the tribal peoples in Sabah and Sarawak) students regarding their problems with subject-verb agreement in their writing. These students are required to write a term paper that worths 30% out of their 100% total score. They are taking their BEL 311, English for Academic Purposes -an undergraduate diploma course. The researcher gathered information for this study through her observation, interview and written assignment given to students. The findings from the study are of significant important since this will help the lecturers to further enhance their teaching methods and find ways to help students improve their writing and avoid making errors in subject-verb agreement as possible.
<p>The purpose of this study was to determine the languages used in Facebook wall posts and comments,<br />code-switching practice of these multilingual university students and functional orientation of their<br />Facebook wall posts and comments. This study was mainly based on the investigation of the latest 50<br />Facebook comments of 100 Malay public university students in Malaysia. The first language of these<br />university students is Bahasa Malaysia and English is their second language. The content analysis of<br />wall posts was used to analyze the code-switching language used in the Facebook and the primary<br />functions of the Facebook comments by categorizing them using Thurlow’s (2003) SMS categories that<br />contain nine orientations. The findings indicate that majority of the Facebook users comments are<br />categorized under friendship maintenance orientation to maintain existing relationships and create new<br />friendships. The findings indicate heavily abbreviated languages in English and Bahasa Malaysia. It is<br />found that situational code-switching between English and Bahasa Malaysia is heavily utilized by<br />multi-lingual Facebook users. The research is significant in a number of ways as it offers the<br />communication culture of Facebook among public university students in Malaysia. In addition, the<br />study indicates that Social Network Sites can also be a potential teaching and learning tool to teach<br />English since learners nowadays are members of various Social Network Sites.</p>
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