Environmental education has long been introduced as early as the 18th century in western countries, but in Malaysia, it still can be considered as a new start in the year 1979. In relation to this, various programs have been conducted by the government to produce literate individuals that are aware of and concern of environmental issues. In primary English education, there are a few topics on the environment that should be taught by teachers, and environmental education is also considered as a cross-curricular subject. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of environmental problem-based learning (PBL) on Malaysian primary school learners' vocabulary achievement. Environmental PBL is an instructional method that provides learners the opportunities to learn cooperatively in groups to find solutions to any problem. This study employed experimental design, which involved 20 learners that came from an intermediate level of English proficiency. They were randomly divided into experimental group and control group. The experimental group was treated with environmental PBL in learning new vocabulary, while the other group was taught using the conventional memorisation method. A set of vocabulary test (pre and post) was used to measure learners' vocabulary achievement and the data were analysed by using independent sample t-test. From the data, it was found out that the learners who were taught by using environmental PBL improved their vocabulary acquisition significantly as being compared to the control group based on the means of marks obtained by the research participants in the experimental group with 12.80 and the mean achieved by the control group with 6.20. Next, this study also showed how environmental PBL helped the experimental group in learning vocabulary based on their orientations which included two themes (effectiveness and participation). Hence, it is suggested that English teachers should use environmental PBL as an effective method of teaching vocabulary to young learners.

Vocabulary is an integral part of a language and language education. In view of the close relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language learning, there is a significant need for language learners, especially in the ESL context, to develop, enrich and master their vocabulary in order to be proficient users of the language. ESL teachers could help learners acquire vocabulary knowledge if they have the pedagogical knowledge on how vocabulary may be learned and taught effectively. The study aimed to determine Malaysian primary school learners' vocabulary achievement by using cloze-test based tasks. A total of five primary schools from Sabah, Malaysia were selected in this study. The total number of research participants was 135 and they were at low to intermediate level of proficiency. This study made use of four different cloze-based passages as research instruments in assessing learners' vocabulary knowledge. This research primarily concerned on the descriptive data in the form of frequency and percentage of the learners' vocabulary achievement scores and qualitative data from semi-structured interview. The findings of this study revealed that the research participants scored well in the fourth task whereby cloze-based passages were given along with general pictures and multiple-choice items. A significant correlation between these four variants of cloze-based task with the learners' vocabulary achievement was established. The main pedagogical implication of the research is that teachers should ponder what type of variants to be used in vocabulary task as this could enhance ESL learners' vocabulary achievement.

Vocabulary is considered as an essential component of language teaching and learning, and its mastery is significant for all language learners. The process of learning vocabulary is sometimes referred to as vocabulary acquisition. In light of this, teachers need to conduct appropriate and enjoyable activities when teaching vocabulary. Effective techniques and interesting vocabulary materials are imperative especially for primary school ESL learners. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of employing word recognition instruction and visual aids in teaching action verbs to primary school learners in one of the primary schools in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia. The overall number of participants in the research was 50, and they represented a mixed abilities group of learners. They were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups of 25. The experimental group used word recognition instruction and visual aids to learn new vocabulary (action verbs), while the control group used traditional memorisation instruction to learn the same vocabulary. Following these instructions, the two groups were evaluated (Post-test). The study's findings indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group. Additionally, it recommends that English language teachers consider word recognition instruction and visual aids as successful vocabulary teaching strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the teaching and learning of the English language from face-to-face interactions to remote teaching. In my context, most of my students did not engage with remote teaching during school closures due to certain factors such as lack of internet connection and the readiness of their parents. When schools reopened during the post-pandemic, I used the WH-questions strategy and poetry to improve my students' writing skills. WH-questions are considered guiding questions that can direct students to get new ideas in writing a text. Poetry is a form of literature that can help young learners tap into creativity by using words in writing. By using an action research design lens, this study aims to describe the process of using WH-questions strategy and poetry to improve writing skills among Year 5 primary school learners. The process consisted of four steps: planning, acting, observing and reflecting. Data were collected using a multimodal approach, including students' daily journals and structured-interview and the data gained were analysed narratively. Based on the data obtained, it was found out that the intervention used had successfully improved my learners' writing skills, especially in constructing correct simple sentences. I learned how to plan, conduct and evaluate WH-questions strategy as well as how to modify poetry writing to teach writing skills in English language lessons in the post-pandemic times.