Professional development activities are needed to enhance teachers performance. Likewise, in the ... more Professional development activities are needed to enhance teachers performance. Likewise, in the Malaysian educational system, teachers are encouraged to go through such activities each year. There is need to study teachers views on these activities in order to design more appropriate professional development programs. The present study sought to investigate a group of Malaysian Math and Science teachers interest in professional development. For this purpose, a survey study was conducted by administrating a questionnaire to a group of school teachers (n = 300) in the State of Melaka. Analysis of the data revealed that female teachers were more interested in participating in professional development activities. Furthermore, Math teachers reportedly indicated higher interest in these activities than Science teachers. Additionally, as the results showed, less experienced teachers were more eager to take part in professional development programs than those with higher teaching experience. Finally, it was found that providing administrative support encouraged teachers participation in professional development activities. The results can shed light on the steps that the administrators need to take in order to improve the quality of the professional development programs of this sort.
... He is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM, where he founded MIC... more ... He is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM, where he founded MICELT in 1995. ... Performance Noriko Iwashita The Use of Scaffolding Strategies Among ESL Learners in the Comprehension of Literary Texts Shameem Rafik-Galea and Premalatha ...
The present study was conducted on a group of Malaysian Math and Science teachers to investigate ... more The present study was conducted on a group of Malaysian Math and Science teachers to investigate their needs in the professional development activities. The findings indicated a majority of these teachers’ needs for such activities. Analysis of the data also revealed that most of the teachers regarded these activities as moderately or highly effective. Furthermore, as the results indicated, ‘release time’ was most teachers’ favorite incentive for their participation in professional development. However, a majority of the teachers regarded ‘advancement on the pay-scale’ as a not helpful way to encourage them to take part in the professional development program. Finally, it was found that the teachers with lower teaching experience expressed a higher need for the professional development activities than those who were more experienced. Finally, the statistical test results indicated that teachers in the less experienced group had a significantly higher need for such activities, X2 (1,...
Genre-specific scales are available to evaluate students’ writing in English as a Second Language... more Genre-specific scales are available to evaluate students’ writing in English as a Second Language (ESL) situations, but instructors may still feel a need to develop new scales to match their specific testing situations. To develop a valid instrument for their testing situation the researchers reviewed the literature and carried out a survey as well as a focus group study. These led them to a number of subscales, namely as the content, organization, vocabulary, language conventions and overall effectiveness. The paper reviews how the band descriptors for the content subscale of the Analytic Scale of Argumentative Writing (ASAW) were determined. Toulmin’s (1958/2003) model was used to analyze the patterns of argument in 20 purposely selected argumentative essays written by a group of Malaysian students. The results of the analysis provided the researchers with descriptors for five levels of writing ability. The subscale was tested for inter- and intra-rater reliability as well as conc...
Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities
After years of research on the effect of feedback provided by peers or teachers on learners’ writ... more After years of research on the effect of feedback provided by peers or teachers on learners’ writing performance, there is still call a need for further investigation in this area. In the present study, a group of learners were observed in the process of an English as a Second Language (ESL) writing course in order to investigate the effect of peer reviewing and tutor conferencing on learners’ writing performance in their narratives. For this end, an interrupted time-series design (O-X-O-X-O) was employed. It involved an observation of the samples followed by the first treatment; that is, peer feedback followed by a second observation. Then, a second treatment, or tutor conferencing, preceded another observation. Next, two raters were trained to use the Wong Scale (Wong, 1989) to score the stories written by the samples. The scores were tested for their inter-rater reliability, and an acceptable Cronbach’s Alpha was observed. The results of Repeated Measures ANOVA tests indicated ev...
Most teachers in Asia in the 1960s believed that writing could not be taught and learners who wro... more Most teachers in Asia in the 1960s believed that writing could not be taught and learners who wrote well did so probably because they inherited good genes (Campbell, 1998). Some other teachers believed that the large amount of time they spent editing students’ essays was teaching. Materials produced for writing were more for testing rather than teaching purposes and they usually took the format of models of good writing. Examinations in those years, especially those like the Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level School Leaving Examinations had writing sections which required full length essays and publishers produced Examination Preparation books with models essays for students to imitate. In most parts of Asia where writing was not taught the book with model essays was the essential learning tool. Most students memorized essays but the more sensible ones adapted them by studying patterns of good essays, usually ways in which the content was generated and organized. Writing instruct...
The available literature regarding the effect of intensive programs on students’ English as a Sec... more The available literature regarding the effect of intensive programs on students’ English as a Second Language (ESL) writing indicates inconsistencies that necessitate further research in the area. This paper presents the results of one of the phases of an on-going school adoption project that aims at developing lowscoring learners’ general English proficiency. The present study focused on the learners’ English writing performance before and after an intensive intervention program. A quantitative method with a single group quasi-experimental design was followed to meet this objective. The findings indicated that the participants’ writing skills improved in reference to five different domains of writing that included content, language use, organization, vocabulary and mechanics. The results of paired samples t-tests also showed that the mean differences between the pre- and post-test scores assigned for the participants’ written samples were statistically significant (p<.05) for al...
Textbook evaluation checklists are instruments that help teachers or program developers evaluate ... more Textbook evaluation checklists are instruments that help teachers or program developers evaluate teaching materials before or after using them. This paper presents one of the phases of a project that involved the survey of a group of evaluators’ (n=82) views on the usefulness of a newly developed checklist. The questionnaire that was used was a modified version of an instrument developed to evaluate the usefulness of a writing scale (Nimehchisalem, 2010). Based on the results, the checklist indicated high to very high levels of usefulness. The findings are expected to be very helpful for researchers who may intend to test similar instruments.
Today, with more emphasis on the student writers’ awareness of the genres of writing, there is a ... more Today, with more emphasis on the student writers’ awareness of the genres of writing, there is a need for writing scales that are sensitive to the variation in the text types. Numerous writing scales have been developed over the past decades, but new scales are required to be developed as the testing situations vary. As a part of a project that aimed at developing a genre-specific writing scale to evaluate tertiary level argumentative writing, a focus group study was conducted. For this purpose, a pre-existing group of experienced English as a Second Language (ESL) lecturers (n=4) discussed what traits of the argumentative writing skill should be included in a writing scale. They also discussed how much weight should be assigned to each trait. As a result of the study, the subscales of ‘task fulfilment’, ‘content’, ‘organization’, ‘vocabulary’, ‘style’, ‘grammar’ and ‘mechanics’ (in the order of their importance) were proposed by these experts. The study has implications for teachin...
Professional development activities are needed to enhance teachers performance. Likewise, in the ... more Professional development activities are needed to enhance teachers performance. Likewise, in the Malaysian educational system, teachers are encouraged to go through such activities each year. There is need to study teachers views on these activities in order to design more appropriate professional development programs. The present study sought to investigate a group of Malaysian Math and Science teachers interest in professional development. For this purpose, a survey study was conducted by administrating a questionnaire to a group of school teachers (n = 300) in the State of Melaka. Analysis of the data revealed that female teachers were more interested in participating in professional development activities. Furthermore, Math teachers reportedly indicated higher interest in these activities than Science teachers. Additionally, as the results showed, less experienced teachers were more eager to take part in professional development programs than those with higher teaching experience. Finally, it was found that providing administrative support encouraged teachers participation in professional development activities. The results can shed light on the steps that the administrators need to take in order to improve the quality of the professional development programs of this sort.
... He is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM, where he founded MIC... more ... He is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM, where he founded MICELT in 1995. ... Performance Noriko Iwashita The Use of Scaffolding Strategies Among ESL Learners in the Comprehension of Literary Texts Shameem Rafik-Galea and Premalatha ...
The present study was conducted on a group of Malaysian Math and Science teachers to investigate ... more The present study was conducted on a group of Malaysian Math and Science teachers to investigate their needs in the professional development activities. The findings indicated a majority of these teachers’ needs for such activities. Analysis of the data also revealed that most of the teachers regarded these activities as moderately or highly effective. Furthermore, as the results indicated, ‘release time’ was most teachers’ favorite incentive for their participation in professional development. However, a majority of the teachers regarded ‘advancement on the pay-scale’ as a not helpful way to encourage them to take part in the professional development program. Finally, it was found that the teachers with lower teaching experience expressed a higher need for the professional development activities than those who were more experienced. Finally, the statistical test results indicated that teachers in the less experienced group had a significantly higher need for such activities, X2 (1,...
Genre-specific scales are available to evaluate students’ writing in English as a Second Language... more Genre-specific scales are available to evaluate students’ writing in English as a Second Language (ESL) situations, but instructors may still feel a need to develop new scales to match their specific testing situations. To develop a valid instrument for their testing situation the researchers reviewed the literature and carried out a survey as well as a focus group study. These led them to a number of subscales, namely as the content, organization, vocabulary, language conventions and overall effectiveness. The paper reviews how the band descriptors for the content subscale of the Analytic Scale of Argumentative Writing (ASAW) were determined. Toulmin’s (1958/2003) model was used to analyze the patterns of argument in 20 purposely selected argumentative essays written by a group of Malaysian students. The results of the analysis provided the researchers with descriptors for five levels of writing ability. The subscale was tested for inter- and intra-rater reliability as well as conc...
Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities
After years of research on the effect of feedback provided by peers or teachers on learners’ writ... more After years of research on the effect of feedback provided by peers or teachers on learners’ writing performance, there is still call a need for further investigation in this area. In the present study, a group of learners were observed in the process of an English as a Second Language (ESL) writing course in order to investigate the effect of peer reviewing and tutor conferencing on learners’ writing performance in their narratives. For this end, an interrupted time-series design (O-X-O-X-O) was employed. It involved an observation of the samples followed by the first treatment; that is, peer feedback followed by a second observation. Then, a second treatment, or tutor conferencing, preceded another observation. Next, two raters were trained to use the Wong Scale (Wong, 1989) to score the stories written by the samples. The scores were tested for their inter-rater reliability, and an acceptable Cronbach’s Alpha was observed. The results of Repeated Measures ANOVA tests indicated ev...
Most teachers in Asia in the 1960s believed that writing could not be taught and learners who wro... more Most teachers in Asia in the 1960s believed that writing could not be taught and learners who wrote well did so probably because they inherited good genes (Campbell, 1998). Some other teachers believed that the large amount of time they spent editing students’ essays was teaching. Materials produced for writing were more for testing rather than teaching purposes and they usually took the format of models of good writing. Examinations in those years, especially those like the Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level School Leaving Examinations had writing sections which required full length essays and publishers produced Examination Preparation books with models essays for students to imitate. In most parts of Asia where writing was not taught the book with model essays was the essential learning tool. Most students memorized essays but the more sensible ones adapted them by studying patterns of good essays, usually ways in which the content was generated and organized. Writing instruct...
The available literature regarding the effect of intensive programs on students’ English as a Sec... more The available literature regarding the effect of intensive programs on students’ English as a Second Language (ESL) writing indicates inconsistencies that necessitate further research in the area. This paper presents the results of one of the phases of an on-going school adoption project that aims at developing lowscoring learners’ general English proficiency. The present study focused on the learners’ English writing performance before and after an intensive intervention program. A quantitative method with a single group quasi-experimental design was followed to meet this objective. The findings indicated that the participants’ writing skills improved in reference to five different domains of writing that included content, language use, organization, vocabulary and mechanics. The results of paired samples t-tests also showed that the mean differences between the pre- and post-test scores assigned for the participants’ written samples were statistically significant (p<.05) for al...
Textbook evaluation checklists are instruments that help teachers or program developers evaluate ... more Textbook evaluation checklists are instruments that help teachers or program developers evaluate teaching materials before or after using them. This paper presents one of the phases of a project that involved the survey of a group of evaluators’ (n=82) views on the usefulness of a newly developed checklist. The questionnaire that was used was a modified version of an instrument developed to evaluate the usefulness of a writing scale (Nimehchisalem, 2010). Based on the results, the checklist indicated high to very high levels of usefulness. The findings are expected to be very helpful for researchers who may intend to test similar instruments.
Today, with more emphasis on the student writers’ awareness of the genres of writing, there is a ... more Today, with more emphasis on the student writers’ awareness of the genres of writing, there is a need for writing scales that are sensitive to the variation in the text types. Numerous writing scales have been developed over the past decades, but new scales are required to be developed as the testing situations vary. As a part of a project that aimed at developing a genre-specific writing scale to evaluate tertiary level argumentative writing, a focus group study was conducted. For this purpose, a pre-existing group of experienced English as a Second Language (ESL) lecturers (n=4) discussed what traits of the argumentative writing skill should be included in a writing scale. They also discussed how much weight should be assigned to each trait. As a result of the study, the subscales of ‘task fulfilment’, ‘content’, ‘organization’, ‘vocabulary’, ‘style’, ‘grammar’ and ‘mechanics’ (in the order of their importance) were proposed by these experts. The study has implications for teachin...
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