The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science w w w . m o j - e s . n e t ] 2015 The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science Volume 3, Issue 4 October 2015 Editor-in-Chief

[ w w w . m o j - e s . n e t ]

2015

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational

Science Volume 3, Issue 4

October 2015

Editor-in-Chief

Professor Datuk Dr. Sufean Hussin

Editor

Assoc. Prof. Datin Dr. Sharifah Norul Akmar Syed Zamri

Dr. Onur İŞBULAN

Associate Editors

Professor Dr. Omar Abdull Kareem

Associate Prof. Dr. Ibrahem Narongsakhet

Associate Prof. Dr. Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin, Associate

Prof. Dr. Norani Mohd Salleh

Associate Prof. Dr. Wan Hasmah Wan Mamat

Inst. Aydın Kiper

ISSN: 2289-3024

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science 2015 (Volume 3 - Issue 4)

www.moj-es.net

,

Copyright © 2013 - THE MALAYSIAN ONLINE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE All rights reserved. No part of MOJES’s articles may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Contact Address:

Professor Dr. Saedah Siraj

MOJES, Editor in Chief

University of Malaya, Malaysia Published in Malaysia


www.moj-es.net

Message from the editor-in-chief

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences (MOJES) strives to provide a national and international academic forum to meet the professional interests of individuals in various educational disciplines. It is a professional refereed journal in the interdisciplinary fields sponsored by the Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. This journal serves as a platform for presenting and discussing a wide range of topics in Educational Sciences. It is committed to providing access to quality researches ranging from original research, theoretical articles and concept papers in educational sciences.

In order to produce a high quality journal, extensive effort has been put into selecting valuable researches that contributed to the journal. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the editorial board, reviewers and researchers for their valuable contributions to make this journal a reality.

Professor Datuk Dr. Sufean Hussin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

October 2015

Editor in chief

Message from the editor

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences (MOJES) seeks to serve as an academic platform to researchers from the vast domains of Educational Sciences. The journal is published electronically four times a year.

This journal welcomes original and qualified researches on all aspects of Educational Sciences. Topics may include, but not limited to: pedagogy and educational sciences, adult education, education and curriculum, educational psychology, special education, sociology of education, Social Science Education, Art Education, Language Education, educational management, teacher education, distance education, interdisciplinary approaches, and scientific events.

Being the editor of this journal, it is a great pleasure to see the success of the journal. On behalf of the editorial team of the Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science (MOJES), we would like to thank to all the authors and editors for their contribution to the development of this journal.

Assoc. Prof. Datin Dr. Sharifah Norul Akmar Syed Zamri & Dr. Onur İŞBULAN

October 2015

Editor


www.moj-es.net

Editor-in-Chief

Professor Datuk Dr. Sufean Hussin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Editors

Associate Professor Datin Dr. Sharifah Norul Akmar Syed Zamri, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Onur İŞBULAN, Sakarya University, Turkey

Associate Editors

Professor Dr. Omar Abdull Kareem, Sultan Idris University of Education, Malaysia

Associate Prof. Dr. Ibrahem Narongsakhet, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand

Associate Prof. Dr. Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin, Islamic Science University of Malaysia

Associate Prof. Dr. Norani Mohd Salleh, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Prof. Dr. Wan Hasmah Wan Mamat, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Inst. Aydın Kiper, Sakarya University, Turkey

Advisory Board

Emeritus Professor Dr. Tian Po Oei, University of Queensland, Australia

Professor Dr. Fatimah Hashim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Jinwoong Song, Seoul National University, Korea

Professor Dr. H. Mohammad Ali, M.Pd, M.A., Indonesian University of Education, Indonesia

Professor Dr. Moses Samuel, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Nik Azis Nik Pa, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Richard Kiely, the University College of St. Mark and St. John, United Kingdom

Professor Dr. Sufean Hussin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zawawi Bin Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Editorial Board

Emeritus Professor Dr. Rahim Md. Sail, University Putra of Malaysia, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Abdul Rashid Mohamed, University of Science, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Ananda Kumar Palaniappan, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Bakhtiar Shabani Varaki, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran.

Professor Dr. H. Iskandar Wiryokusumo M.Sc, PGRI ADI Buana University, Surabaya, Indonesia

Professor Dr. Ramlee B. Mustapha, Sultan Idris University of Education, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Tamby Subahan Bin Mohd. Meerah, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Associate Professor Datin Dr. Sharifah Norul Akmar Syed Zamri, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dato’ Dr. Ab Halim Bin Tamuri, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Abdul Jalil Bin Othman, University of Malaya, Malaysia


www.moj-es.net

Associate Professor Dr. Ajmain Bin Safar, University of Technology, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Habib Bin Mat Som, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Hj. Izaham Shah Bin Ismail, Mara University of Technology, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Jas Laile Suzana Binti Jaafar, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Juliana Othman, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Loh Sau Cheong, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Mariani Binti Md Nor, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Mohamad Bin Bilal Ali, University of Technology, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Norazah Mohd Nordin, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr.Rohaida Mohd Saat, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Dato’ Dr. Hussein Hj Ahmad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Datuk Dr. Abdul Rahman Idris, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Datin Dr. Rahimah Binti Hj Ahmad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Abu Talib Bin Putih, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Abd Razak Bin Zakaria, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Adelina Binti Asmawi, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Ahmad Zabidi Abdul Razak, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Chew Fong Peng, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Diana Lea Baranovich, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Fatanah Binti Mohamed, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Ghazali Bin Darusalam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Haslee Sharil Lim Bin Abdullah, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Husaina Banu Binti Kenayathulla, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Kazi Enamul Hoque, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Latifah Binti Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Lau Poh Li, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Leong Kwan Eu, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Madhyazhagan Ganesan, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Megat Ahmad Kamaluddin Megat Daud, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Melati Binti Sumari, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Mohammed Sani Bin Ibrahim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Mohd Rashid Mohd Saad, University of Malaya, Malaysia


www.moj-es.net

Dr. Muhammad Azhar Bin Zailaini, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Muhammad Faizal Bin A. Ghani, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Nabeel Abdallah Adedalaziz, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Norlidah Binti Alias, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Pradip Kumar Mishra, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Rafidah Binti Aga Mohd Jaladin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Rahmad Sukor Bin Ab Samad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Renuka V. Sathasivam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Rose Amnah Bt Abd Rauf, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Selva Ranee Subramaniam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Sit Shabeshan Rengasamy, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Shahrir Bin Jamaluddin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Suzieleez Syrene Abdul Rahim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Syed Kamaruzaman Syed Ali, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Vishalache Balakrishnan, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Wail Muin (Al-Haj Sa’id) Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Wong Seet Leng, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zahari Bin Ishak, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zahra Naimie, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zanaton Ikhsan, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Cik Umi Kalsum Binti Mohd Salleh, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Mohd Faisal Bin Mohamed, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Norjoharuddeen Mohd Nor, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Rahimi Md Saad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Alina A. Ranee, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Azni Yati Kamaruddin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Fatiha Senom, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Fonny Dameaty Hutagalung, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Foziah Binti Mahmood, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Hamidah Binti Sulaiman, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Huzaina Binti Abdul Halim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Ida Hartina Ahmed Tharbe, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Norini Abas, University of Malaya, Malaysia


www.moj-es.net

Pn. Roselina Johari Binti Md Khir, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Shanina Sharatol Ahmad Shah, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Zuwati Binti Hashim, University of Malaya, Malaysia


www.moj-es.net

Table of Contents

A NOVICE TEACHER’S EXPERIENCE OF PRACTICING ECLECTICISM IN A FOREIGN ADULT CLASSROOM 1

Jafar Paramboor

EFFECTS OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED STAD, LTM AND ICI COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES ON NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT, GENDER AND MOTIVATION IN PHYSICS

11

Amosa Isiaka Gambari, Mudasiru Olalere Yusuf, David Akpa Thomas

INVESTIGATING FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING ANXIETY AMONG STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH IN A PUBLIC SECTOR UNIVERSITY, PAKISTAN

27

Illahi Bux Gopang, Faraz Ali Bughio, Habibullah Pathan

TRAINED IN SCIENCE-BASE FIELD: CHANGE OF SPECIALIZATION AMONG EDUCATED WOMEN IN MALAYSIA

38

Suhaida Mohd Amin, Nurulhuda Mohd Satar, Su Fei Yap

USING PORTFOLIO TO ASSESS RURAL YOUNG LEARNERS’ WRITING SKILLS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

46

Muhammad Noor Abdul Aziz, Nurahimah Mohd. Yusoff

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science 2015 (Volume3 - Issue 4 )

A Novice Teacher’s Experience of Practicing Eclecticism in a Foreign Adult Classroom

Jafar Paramboor [1]

[1] Institute of Education International Islamic University Malaysia [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This article intends to highlight some of the experiences that an International novice English teacher had in the classroom of some pre-degree students of Malaysia, who werein their twenties. As a student of education, the author has some theoretical background in the field of teaching, with which he realized that an eclectic teacher is the one whom a classroom always needs; not a lesson plan-bounded teacher especially for adults, provided that he or she has an active and creative mind, not only inside, but also outside the four walls. The paper introduces some new approaches that the author practiced for a two-month Intensive English course for Malay students, whose local language is unfamiliar to the former. Among these approaches were some new dimensions of self-disclosing approach, free talking approach, labeling approach, behavior diversion approach, translation approach, and teacher-student conversion approach. Being cognizant of both positive and negative consequences of eclecticism, this study would analyze some of the pros and cons, underpinned by an experience-based understanding. The research design used in this paper is basically observational method after which a narrative analysis method is exercised. The article concludes with some of the implications for the pre-degree students as well as early University students arguing that eclecticism should be valued not only for schools but also for post-school periods.

Keywords: Eclecticism, self-disclosure approach, free talking approach, labeling approach, behavior diversion approaches, translation approach, teacher-student conversion approach.

INTRODUCTION

Recent trends in teaching have seen significant updates on creative teaching methods in various disciplines (Kochhar, 2008). To be creative, sometimes, means to be competitive in nature and being so in teaching is not something different. Most prominent educational institutions including primary schools and highly reputed universities excel because of, first of all, their concern about creative and practical ways of disseminating knowledge to their ‘customers’. In other words, creativity is a movement stemming from an active mindset towards different audiences, directly or indirectly. Referring to the act of creative teaching, it is an active participation of both teacher and student in the process of the movement. In current years of research, the nature and impact of creativity in teaching has been the focal point in a variety of subjects. Ministries of Education in many countries have come up with policies emphasizing the importance of creativity in the curriculum of each subject. For instance, a recent report from the UK contended that the economic prosperity and social cohesion of Britain stand upon establishing a strategy for a type of education which is creative and culture-oriented (Dörnyei, 2010).

Creative teaching needs a wide range of different skills according to the context. In an immediate classroom setting, the teacher is rigorously tested and judged if he or she is able to “rise to the

www.moj-es.net

1


occasion”. Nowadays the question, “what will you do if…” has been a cliché to many of us and we still continue to ask the same question mainly to the novice teachers. The present researcher is sure that many of the readers of this paper have faced this question from the recruiting authority. The reason is simple; creativity inclines with a long journey of experiments. It is the utilization of imaginative approaches to make learning more attractive and enjoyable (Jeffry & Craft, 2014) and the administrative body of the institutions, of which we are going to be the would be contributors, are in a sense aware of creativity. Before moving to one of the imaginative approaches practiced by the present author, it seems reasonable to have a review on creativity in teaching languages.

CREATIVITY IN TEACHING LANGUAGE The following is an example of language teaching classroom presented by Cameron (2006) in his

paper titled “Creativity in the Language Classroom”. Contending on the creative use of languages, he proposes the idea of ‘saying what you mean as a beginner in a foreign language’. From many of examples cited in his paper, the first one was from data collected in a class of 8 year old beginners in Japan by Ohashi (2005). The teacher, in his English classroom, is introducing a singing activity and pupil P1 uses Japanese to comment on this idea. When the teacher asks “Are you ready?” the pupils respond in chorus using a phrase they clearly know well: “Yes, we are”. However, two pupils (P2 and P3) respond differently – and using their limited English creatively. To the suggestion from the teacher “let’s sing Doh Re Mi. OK?” P1 replied as “really, do we have to do it every time?”which was in Japanese, while P2 and P3 responded “yes we no” and “no it isn’t” respectively.

P2 was trying to come up with the negative form of the phrase ‘yes we are’, using the negative indicator ‘no’ instead of ‘aren’t’. While at the same time, P3 wanted to convey the same meaning in a different way. ‘He picks a formulaic phrase – ‘no it isn’t’ - that he may have learnt in other contexts, e.g. ‘is it red?’ ‘No it isn’t’. Both students were creative enough to find the ways of convincing what they have inside through a second language with which they are not much familiar. In other words, although their knowledge of English language was limited, they were “creating” the language expressions with their own understanding (Cameron, 2006, p. 10).

This simple narration shows creativity matters much. Illustrating the linguistic creativity, Szerencsi (2010) argued that creativity in language teaching should not be belittled by any means as it could diminish student motivation to acquire different languages other than their local language. Creativity, like in every discipline, with its nature and impact has been highly discussed in recent researches in theoretical and practical manners. The term purposefully indicates the competitive dimensions of companies, organizations and educational institutions which are learning-centered, rather than test-oriented (Richards, 2013). Competition always requires the activeness of mind; this implies that the notion of creativity is a mental preparedness of teachers, when it comes to the profession of teaching, and students, when it is connected to learning or any other field.

Creativity in teaching has a social consequence too. That is to say, a society enriched with positive development and potential ability to cope up with advanced transformation, to some extent, is dependent upon creativity in schools. The students would be highly motivated to contribute to their society for a better tomorrow once they experience the creativity which is always a positive stroke in the teaching and learning process (Richards, 2013).Student academic achievement and teacher job satisfaction are inextricably connected to creativity. For the former, to be creative is working well with a variety of attitude in home works, presentations, assignments and classroom participation; while for the latter, it is about approaching the class room with dynamic and pragmatic teaching methods. This could be the conclusion for the abovementioned opinion.

A significant amount of literature has proven that creativity in language teaching is one of the cardinal predictor of better academic outcome and student performance (Maley, 1997;; Jeffry & Craft, 2004; Teresa, et. al., 2009; Kaufman, 2011). Creative intelligence can significantly influence language teaching and learning. Teachers who possess a variety of creative skills, including good communication, humor creation, spot narration, and the like to teach language can always put the key performance indicator into a high level. As Yavuz (2007) opines, the teacher with a creative mind can constructively influence student behavior; the teacher, by giving positive appraisal, encouraging environment, creative ideas, mutual respect and true stimulus is one of the best motivations for the students. Such teachers would also promote critical thinking in students.Thinking creatively means a lot in education; to think with an active mind can affect the

www.moj-es.net

2


individual and social process of learning and teaching. An active mind always results in positive outcome even it sometimes takes time for the result to manifest.

In a study held in Pakistan, a focus group of teachers defined creativity in their career as one’s mental ability to create something new. It means that originality is a must for creativity which is asserted by Runco and Jaeger (2012). However, originality alone is not sufficient according to them.

Originality is vital for creativity but is not sufficient. Ideas and products that are merely original might very well be useless. They may be unique or uncommon for good reason! Originality can be found in the word salad of a psychotic and can be produced by monkeys on word processors. A truly random process will often generate something that is merely original (Runco & Jaeger, 2012, p.92).

Originality, from this point of view, should be effective to show that it is worthwhile. And for anything to be effective, human intelligence should be used, as Robinson (2001) has contended in his definition of creativity. According to him creativity is an engagement of human intelligence. When it comes to teaching, the teachers themselves are the cardinal instrument to use intelligence for creativity. However, for effective learning, the students also must take responsibility for being creative which is to be a reflection of the teacher. This article is a narration of the author’s experience as a foreign novice teacher in applying eclecticism in a Malaysian classroom.

ECLECTICISM “Propel the language teaching profession beyond the limited and limiting concept of method.” The

words by Kumaravadivelu (2012, p.1), an eminent educator, imply that improvisation, which can be a part of eclecticism, has to be promoted by carefully understanding the meaning of both. In a normal classroom context, the teachers tend to keep themselves in a comfort zone, which is the traditional teacher-centered method. This traditional approach, in a way, restricts their motivation toward finding or experiencing any new approach. That is why eclecticism, otherwise known as effective or successful eclecticism, enlightened eclecticism, integrative eclecticism and new eclecticism has been an influential entity in the current classroom setting. The fact that it carries many names shows its popularity and acceptability among creative teachers (Wali, 2009). It is undoubted that nowadays it recently has been widely acceptable among teachers and some of them even use it as symbol of pride in their career.

A study conducted by Xiao-yun, Zhi-yang and Peixing (2007) in a Chinese context investigated the attitudes and perceptions of College English Teachers toward eclecticism and principled eclecticism in teaching of an Intensive English Program; they underpin the same fact that we mentioned before. Through that case study, after analyzing and interpreting the questionnaire from 155 teachers and 51 students, a 12-week classroom observation and person-to-person interviews, the authors found that the concept of eclecticism not only exists but also is widely practiced and promoted by the teachers. This is an indication of recognizing diversity in the classroom settings. In addition, it shows that even though the teachers do not know the concept by theoretical understanding, they are ready to practice it. As a result, a new concept known as ‘principled eclecticism’ was advocated by Mellow (2000, 2002) by which he meant a description of the desirable, coherent and futuristic approach toward teaching. The same concept was called ‘disciplined eclecticism’ by Rodgers (2001). He perceived that this approach seems to be something that will shape second language teaching in coming decades (Rodgers, 2001).

The concept of eclecticism was firstly advocated by some of the applied linguists from Britain in the1920s and 1930s. They promoted a theory in which the systematic selection of principles was a cardinal concern (Rodgers, 1986). Looking into the definition of the word, Johns and Butman (1991) view that the most frequently used psychological definition of eclecticism was that of English and English (1958), who explained the term as ‘selection and orderly combination of compatible features from diverse sources, sometimes from otherwise incompatible theories and systems; the effort to find valid elements in all doctrines and theories and to combine them into a harmonious whole’ (p.168).Before it was introduced as a systematic method, Sweets has highlighted some of its aspects in 1912, as he believed that a good method of language teaching must be, first of all, comprehensive and eclectic in nature. The scholars of linguistics such as Sweets argued that the language teaching programs should not be adhered to any invariable theory or approach; rather they should be flexible according to the needs of the context.

Ali (1981) contends that eclecticism has the following principles:

www.moj-es.net

3


1- Providing the teachers a chance to identify and select various types of methods that help teachers to

accomplish their classroom goals in a clear and apprehensible way. In other words, the more the chances to use different language teaching techniques, the easier the ways of success.

2- Flexibility for the teachers--regardless of the contents of what they want to teach-- in choosing the methods according to the classroom needs. The teachers are free to be creative.

3- With regard to the students, they experience a myriad of teaching techniques different from traditional approaches. The classroom monotony is abolished and a better comprehension of the subject is achieved accordingly.

4- Eclecticism can be considered as a ‘problem-solving treatment’ for students by which the content can be introduced to them in a different way.

5- The usage of ‘on the spot’ teaching aids in a creative way, for sure, will enhance the effectiveness of classroom participation; the students will be an active audience and participants for a longer time compared to the traditional classrooms.

6- Saving a lot of time and effort in presenting language activities (Wali, 2009, p. 40).

RESEARCH METHOD

The research design adopted here is a qualitative mode and the data were collected using observation method, after which the author could interpret his classroom experience in a narrative manner, with ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘who’, ‘why’, and ‘how I feel’ and analyze the new approaches stepping on the experiences. Narrative analysis “can be said to provide a portal into two realms” according to Bamberg (2010, p. 3). First one is the realm of experience where the narrator sketches the individual experiences related to certain events and they confer their subjective meaning on to the experiences. The second one is the realm of narrative means to make sense.The classroom contained 26 students including 6 males and 20 females who were intheir twenties. All these participants were Malays. The observation was made directly following the steps introduced by Creswell (2012). The researcher selected the site to be observed, and started taking initial notes, followed by identifying what and whom to observe. Then the author determined his role as an observer and conducted multiple observations within a period of two months. After all, it was the time of preparing field notes for the research purpose. Data were collected casually as proposed by Yin (2009). The author, while using some eclectic approaches, took the field notes while experiencing and observing the real classroom context.

EXPERIENCE OF BEING ECLECTIC IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGECLASSROOM As a novice teacher, in a foreign environment of 26 Malaysian adults who were preparing for their

first degree program, the researcher’s teaching environment started with a “matured classroom” capable of adopting and coping up with any new experiments in an eclectic approach. The class started on 30th July, 2014, according to the scheduled period and time. As usual, without showing any of the complexities likely to overwhelm any international novice teacher, the researcher started to get to know all of the participants. As for the first day, it was the day of engagement with some teaching methods that the researcher used to practice in other training sessions. However, all these were apt for the school students; not for those who werein their twenties(i.e., the pre-degree learners). Therefore, the researcher thought of planning to change all the previous usual ‘tactics’ being aware that the traditional classroom settings would not be an ‘eye opener’ for them.

During the two month English course, the researcher had also been occupied with some other academic research projects which dealt with counseling. As a teacher, at that time, the thought of applying some of these counseling lessons to the present ‘clients’ came to the researcher’s mind. The great psychiatrists including Jung, Adler and others from whose books the researcher planned to practice his first eclectic approach to the students, should be acknowledged at this moment.

It was a kind of self-disclosure that was done firstly in the classroom; starting from the second day of the first week, after the introduction part, the researcher began to talk about himself in a regular manner. This was the researcher’s attempt to be open by all means being one of their close friends at least for a two month period, with an intention that it might help further contribute to the research. The researcher spent a significant time to open some of his personal chapters, in order for the clients to feel

www.moj-es.net

4


comfortable with him and attract the 20-year-old ‘clients’. Further justifications of choosing self-disclosure as an eclectic approach, are strongly underpinned by Conte (2009) as he describes what the term refers to:

Self-disclosure means telling someone something about your life, something about you personally. Outside of the counseling world normal conversation involves a ping-pong game approach to sharing: One person tells a story from experience, then the listener takes a turn at disclosing her story. Everyday conversations are the way many people get to know each other. Conversations that occur in counseling, however, are professional ones intended for one person to get support and guidance from the other… (pp. 30 - 31)

The first reason for applying this approach was the students’ discouraging and disappointing responses to the daily questions the researcher had posed to each of them. Even though some normal conversations took place, nobody was up to the expectations, as they continued to be underexposed in the classroom due to some unknown pressures which haunt any regular student. The act of revealing by the researcher kept going on. Not much time was spent before some of them started speaking up; asking questions, and answering the questions. The result came out in a way that some of them, after completing the course, wrote to the teacher that it was their first time to converse in English, with a teacher who knew almost nothing from their language. It was a gradual process from asking about current status which the researcher was in educational field to the question: “Sir, why don’t you have a girl friend?!”

Following the same method of eclecticism, the next turn was of free-talking and labeling approach. Students were motivated enough to start, develop and maintain the conversation as usual. In response, not surprisingly, not even a single question other than “how are you?” was heard. It was the time for the teacher to show them how to talk about anything in mind; some of them tried to follow the talking tips which were given accordingly. Meanwhile, others were conversing with their mates. The researcher inquired in detail about what they were talking in their local language. They replied that they were “gossiping” about the teacher. Without any complex, they were welcomed and asked to narrate them in English. At the end of class the researcher approached each of those who made gossip to come up with something new every day, and they were labeled as ‘gossiping girls’. In the same way some of the males were given the title of ‘sporting stars’ and they started updating on each ‘label’ day by day. What distinguished from the usual free-talking approaches of a language class is that it was not the instructor who gave them the topic to talk; but they themselves were given the chance to choose their topics. The researcher not only asked to talk on their label, but also gave the same label for the writing task. This process of free-talking did not finish even after classes ended. Students came to meet the teacher during their leisure time to discuss on different labels and made personal conversation. It was understood that the more the teacher becomes an active listener during these personal meetings, the more interested the students were in maintaining dynamic conversation.

Behavior diversion approach was the most challenging of all the eclectic approaches chosen. It was fascinating to realize that the teacher’s anger could be turned to one positive dimension of eclecticism, provided that the procedures are carefully applied. In the fourth week of the class, one of the female students’ misbehavior caused some unexpected scene in the classroom. She was called by the researcher to the front. The classroom environment changed from excitement to seriousness. That is to say, the teacher was extremely angry with the student. Some disappointing words were used for everyone who made mistakes in the classroom on that day. The teacher kept voicing out his anger to them as if he was not a friendly man at all. All of them were down enough and silent till the end of the class. After the incident, nobody from the students was given a chance to meet the researcher at the café or somewhere outside, where the usual meeting took place. On the next day, the class started normally; the students were wished good morning and the researcher started talking about some grammatical point. Some of them were still in the hangover over the last day’s incident. After a pause, the researcher asked them to close their books and started apologizing for what happened. The researcher called the same female student, apologized to her and did some self-criticism. All of them started looking at what was going on at that moment. As usual, all the students were asked to pose some questions to develop their communication skills. Everybody kept silent. The researcher kept talking using some heart-touching words, and as a reader of counseling, it seemed that the words would deeply affect them positively. The effort was successful. After sometime, they started asking some questions. It was a beginning of deep friendship between the researcher and students. And unsurprisingly, they started apologizing to their teacher for not meeting his expectations. To his

www.moj-es.net

5


understanding, this was one of the best motivations for some of them, as they continued communicating with him until the end of the program without any formalities.

The weeks passed, with a comfortable environment both for teacher and students. The following weeks another experiment was tried. The researcher’s ignorance of ‘Bahasa Melayu’ (BM) was used as a positive point. Everybody was given a chance to teach their teacher any components of their native language. They began to talk in BM and translated into English as much as possible. Each of them used whatever available resources such as dictionaries, language learning books, Internet and so forth. Hence, this was the time when the researcher found that translation approach could be used as one of the eclectic teaching methods. The approach was highly emphasized and regularly practiced by both teacher and students inside and outside the classroom.

During the last week, the class carried out student-teacher conversion; the researcher asked everyone who was voluntarily ready, to act as a teacher for a maximum duration of twenty minutes. In turn, the teacher promised them to be a student, on condition that they had to treat him only as one of their students.

The students could choose any topic from the study material and were supposed to teach all of their students including the researcher using any resources. Ample preparation time was given to each student teacher. They started teaching; some‘controlled’ the researcher, checking his level of understanding, while others even got angry with the ‘researcher student’ for not taking notes during the lesson. They had to express everything in no language other than English. They were not only learning the content itself, but also realizing what problems they had in communicating and convincing students in a second language. As feedback, some of the students wrote to the researcher:

‘Usually what do we know about teaching...? As usual, teacher comes to class, take attendance, and then gives homework. Only these things we know as the job of the teacher. But it seems so difficult to become a teacher…’

‘I felt so happy when I became a teacher and I was so confident to face my classmate and also my Sir…Even though (I made some mistakes), I will try to not give up, try to be ready and more confident to face others before to do something…’

Table 1 shows the eclectic approaches used by the author in an explanatory manner followed by a reflection:

Table 1 Eclectic Approaches Used with Explanation and Reflection

EclecticApproach Explanation Reflection

Self disclosure

It is telling someone something about your life, something about you personally. Outside of the counseling world normal conversation involves a ping-pong game approach to sharing: One person tells a story from experience, then the listener takes a turn at disclosing his/her story (Conte, 2009).

Like in a group counseling session, the students in the classroom reacted once the teacher disclosed himself. It was observed that this approach is easily practical in a normal adult classroom setting. Yet, if the teacher possesses no proper communication skills this could be ineffective.

Free-talking and labeling

It refers to the act of engaging students with a variety of topics that come into their mind, followed by naming them according to what they converse and convince. The teacher would ask each of the students to talk and label them with anything with a positive stroke.

The labeling should be positively used; otherwise it may cause offense. The teacher should be able to manage the classroom situation well especially in choosing the topics for the discussion and conversation.

www.moj-es.net

6


Behavior diversion

The process of diverting one type of behavior into another one. Usually this approach could be acknowledged as a play of opposite emotions from one person, who is here the teacher.

This was the most challenging approach that the author practiced in the classroom as it took time for the students to comprehend what the teacher exactly meant.

Translation

This approach dealt with two languages. Students are supposed to teach the foreign teacher any components of their language; the teaching process is to happen in English. In the case of this study, Bahasa Melayu was taught by the students in English.

For a classroom of primary school, this eclectic approach is not suitable because it requires students who have acquired the basic language and communication skills.

Student-teacher conversion

Both students and teachers are converted into teachers and students respectively. In this individual act, each student teacher would teach any classroom material and clarify the subject to the real teacher, who for the time being is a normal student.

The practicality of student-teacher conversion approach is more in higher classes, particularly in degree level classrooms. The teacher must be tolerant in coping up with any type of ‘teachers’ with diversity in behavior.

WHY SHOULD WE BE ECLECTIC? DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS As a novice teacher, the following is my observation on practicing eclecticism in a foreign classroom.

During the period of a two month program, I could realize that generally speaking, eclecticism should be applied and practiced in every classroom context, regardless of age. Based on my classroom experience, I have had some observations, highlighting positive and negative dimensions of being eclectic in a foreign classroom, as follows:

1. Students were highly motivated to practice their lessons, and successful in terms of cooperation with their teacher.

2. Identification of problems in using second language was always the first concern of the classroom and it was done in creative ways depended upon the active mindedness of the teacher.

3. It was a term of experiencing the language in a creative mood with a mutual understanding between the teachers and the students, not studying or teaching in a traditional way. It was all about guidance.

4. For the teacher, being eclectic in teaching is one of the best ways of creativity as he can be versatile in using all the skills he possesses.

5. Supporting Brown’s (1994) view, “an enlightened eclectic teacher should take an approach that most if not all of the principles he has concluded. That is, teachers ought to take all the principles in the respects of cognition, affection and linguistics in to consideration at the same time.” (p. 74)

6. Being positive is to be a challenge for the eclectic teachers; to my perception, to be positive in teaching means to be as creative as a teacher can. It is totally an act of mind where thought is focused toward a positive engagement.

7. As a negative, eclecticism may not be always effective in poorly motivated students, who do not follow the language of their teacher. At least it would take time for them to “be in the classroom”.

8. If teachers do not have an effective chemistry of teaching, with some innate skills, they may fail in applying eclecticism in a creative way.

CONCLUSION

The paper highlighted some of the experiences the author had, as a novice teacher, in an adult English language classroom in Malaysia. Being a foreign teacher to the degree level students, the author, with an active observational mind, tried to draw the classroom scenario of two months, in a narrative analysis method, detailing what he meant by self-disclosing approach, free talking approach, labeling approach,

www.moj-es.net

7


behavior diversion approach, translation approach and teacher-student conversion approach. Introducing some of the literature in creativity in language teaching and theoretical basis of eclecticism, all these approaches were described with an experience-based narration. Before going to the conclusion, some observations in practicing eclecticism were made to imply that this could be one of the significant doors to step into new areas and concepts of the eclectic approach in teaching. As argumentative in nature, the paper observes some of the positive and negative dimensions of being eclectic in the classroom which could be implied not only for adult classrooms but also for some school settings as well as higher level classrooms, provided that the teachers or tutors have a proper understanding of the chemistry between themselves and their students.

REFERENCES

Bamberg, M. (2010).Narrative analysis. In H. Cooper (Ed.),APA handbook of research methods in psychology. Washington, DC: APA Press.

Brown D. (1994), Teaching by Principles: An interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy . NJ: Prentice Hall, Regends

Cameron, L. (2006). Creativity in the language classroom.CATS: The IATEFL Young Learners SIG Publication. 9-11

Cayanus, J., Martin, M., & Goodboy, A. (n.d.). The relation between teacher self-disclosure and student motives to communicate. Communication Research Reports,105-113.

Conte, C. (2009). Advanced Techniques for Counseling and Psychotherapy, New York: Springer Publishing Company

Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research, 4th ed. Boston: Pearson.

Cushing-Leubner, J., & Bigelow, M. (2013). Principled Eclecticism & the Holistic Approach to Language Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ci/people/profiles/documents/BigelowPricipledEclecticism.pdf.

Dörnyei, Z. (2010). The Psychology of Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition, New York: Routledge.

Gao, L. (2011). Eclecticism or Principled Eclecticism. Creative Education, 2(4),363-369.

Gerdes, E. (2013). Eclectic lessons from Taiwan: Hard-working dancers at Tsoying High School. Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship, 1-34.

Henderson, Robyn. (2005). A Faircloughian approach to CDA: Principled eclecticism or a method searching for a theory? Melbourne Studies in Education, 46(2),9-24.

Irfan Khan, H. (2012). English teachers’ perceptions about creativity and teaching creative writing in Pakistan. American International Journal of Contemporary Research,2(3), 57-67.

www.moj-es.net

8

http://www.iucat.iu.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/57/5/3?searchdata1=9670944%7BCKEY%7D&searchfield1=GENERAL%5ESUBJECT%5EGENERAL%5E%5E&user_id=WEBSERVER

http://www.iucat.iu.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/57/5/3?searchdata1=9670944%7BCKEY%7D&searchfield1=GENERAL%5ESUBJECT%5EGENERAL%5E%5E&user_id=WEBSERVER

http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ci/people/profiles/documents/BigelowPricipledEclecticism.pdf


Jaruszewicz, C. (n.d.). Responsible Eclecticism: Using a Structured Analysis Process to Facilitate Curriculum

Discourse with Graduate Pre-Service Early Childhood Students. Retrieved from http://ecdc.cofc.edu/documents/responsible-eclectiscm-article.pdf

Jeffrey, B., & Craft, Anna. (2004). Teaching creatively and teaching for creativity: Distinctions and relationships. Educational Studies, 30(1), pp. 77–87.

John, S.L.,& Butman, R.E. (1991). Modern Psychotherapies: Acomprehensive Christian appraisal. USA: Christian Association for Psychological Studies Books.

Kochhar, S.K. (2008). Methods and Techniques of Teaching, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private Limited.

Kaufman, R.M. (2011) Teacher disclosure: developing privacy rules, managing boundaries and building relationships. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of Kentucky. Retrieved from http://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_theses/154

Kumar, C.P. (2013). The Eclectic Method: Theory and is application to the learning of English. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 3(6),1-4.

Min, H. (2009). APrincipledEclectic approach to teaching EFL writinginTaiwan.BulletinofEducationalResearch, 55(1),63-95.

Mitchell, R.,& Martin, C. (1997). Rote learning, creativity and 'understanding' in classroom foreign language teaching. Language Teaching Research, 1-27.

Richerds, J.C. (2013, June). Creativity in language teaching, Plenary address given at the Summer Institute for English Teacher of Creativity and Discovery in Teaching University Writing, City University of Hong Kong

Robinson, K. (2001).Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. Oxford, UK: Capstone Publishing.

Runco, M.A.,& Jaeger, G.J. (2012). The standard definition of creativity. Creativity Research Journal,24(1),92–96.

Sanderson, S.K. (1987). Eclecticism and its alternatives. CurrentPerspectives in Social Theory,8, 313- 345.

Szerencsi, K. (2010). The need for linguistic creativity in foreign language classroom discourse.Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 2(2), 286-298.

Teresa, C., Jonathan, B. & Stephen, S. (2009). Creative Teaching for Tomorrow: Fostering a Creative State of Mind Deal. Kent, UK: Future Creative.

Wali, N. (2009). Eclecticism and language learning. Al- Fatih Journal, 34-41.

Weidemann, A. (2008). The old and the new: Reconsidering eclecticism in language teaching. Per Linguam,17(1), 1-13.

Xiao-yun, Y., Zhi-yang, Z., & Peixing, D. (2007). Principled Eclecticism in college Englishteaching in China. Asian EFL Journal, 17, 1-38.

www.moj-es.net

9

http://ecdc.cofc.edu/documents/responsible-eclectiscm-article.pdf

http://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_theses/154

http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/tmc242.html


Yavuz, A. (2010). Enhancing Creativity in the Communicative Language Classroom Through Poetry as a

Literary Genre, Retrieved from http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/27/1606/17292.pdf

Yin, R. K. (2009). Case Study Research: Design and Methods (Applied Social Research Methods). U.S.A: Sage

Ohashi, Y. (2005). Teaching and learning through interaction: a case study of Japanese children learning English as a foreign language, unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Leeds

Zafeiriadou, N. (2009). Drama in language teaching: A challenge for creative development. Issues, 23, 4-9.

www.moj-es.net

10

http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/27/1606/17292.pdf


www.moj-es.net

Effects of Computer-Assisted STAD, LTM and ICI Cooperative Learning Strategies on Nigerian Secondary School Students’ Achievement, Gender and Motivation in Physics

Amosa Isiaka Gambari [1], Mudasiru Olalere Yusuf [2], David Akpa Thomas [3]

[1] Associate Professor (Educational Technology), 1Science Education Department, Federal University of Technology, Minna E-mail: [email protected] & [email protected] Phone No: +234-803-689-7955; +234-805-558-6716 [2] Professor (Educational Technology), Department of Educational Technology, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria E-mail: [email protected] & [email protected] Phone No: 234-803-395-0774; +234-807-776-4779 [1] Research Student (Physics Education), 1Science Education Department, Federal University of Technology, Minna

ABSTRACT

This study examined the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction on Student Team Achievement Division (STAD) and Learning Together (LT) cooperative learning strategies on Nigerian secondary students’ achievement and motivation in physics. The effectiveness of computer assisted instructional package (CAI) for teaching physics concepts in cooperative settings was determined using Pretest-Posttest Experimental group design. The reliability coefficient of the research instruments were .71 and .82 using Kuder-Richardson KR-20 and 21 respectively. Some 90 (45 male and 45 female) students from three secondary schools in Minna, Nigeria made-up the sample. The schools were randomly assigned to experimental group I (STAD), experimental group II (LTM) and control group (Individualized Computer Instruction, ICI). Results revealed that the students taught with STAD and LTM performed significantly better than their counterparts taught using individualized computer instruction (ICI). The cooperative learning strategies were found to be gender friendly. Based on the findings, physics teachers should be encouraged to use computer-assisted STAD cooperative teaching strategy to enhance students’ academic achievement, retention and motivation in physics.

Keywords: Computer-Assisted Instruction Package; Physics, Achievement, Motivation, Gender.

INTRODUCTION

Education is a prerequisite for meaningful and sustained national economy. No nation can rise above the quality of its educated citizenry. The purpose of education is to assist individuals to maximize their potentials for optimal self and national development. The teacher at any level of education is the pivot of learning. Therefore, the teacher’s instructional method plays an important role in skill acquisition and meaningful learning (Ezenwa & Yaki, 2013).

In Nigerian schools, classroom teachers mostly prefer a teacher-centered approach to student-

centered teaching strategy. This is a one-way process in which the teacher directly presents information and skills dictated by a textbook. Students generally remain passive throughout the lesson. Adegoke (2011) reported that students are not actively involved in developing knowledge; they receive information passively and are less motivated. When students are not encouraged to contribute to class discussions by voicing their opinions and supporting their answers because of persistent use of a didactic teaching method in which

11


www.moj-es.net

acquisition of factual knowledge and memorization are over emphasized, school becomes a tedious chore. Schooling becomes suffused with anxiety and boredom, destructive of curiosity and imagination, producing cramming machines (Gambari, 2004; Gupta & Pasrija, 2012; Thomas 1990).

The teacher-centered approach has been has identified as one of the causes of poor performance in

science subjects especially in physics at senior secondary education level in Nigeria. According to the West African Examination Council (WAEC) Chief examiners’ reports, students’ performance in physics in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSSCE) in Nigeria from 2003 to 2012 has been poor. The percentage of students passing physics at credit level (A1 - C6) had consistently been less than 50% (West African Examination Council, WAEC, 2003-2012). Researchers have identified teacher-centered and poor teaching methods as a major cause of poor student performance in science subjects (Adegoke, 2011; Bajah, 2000; Chukwu, 2000; Gambari, 2010; Jegede, 2007, Olorukooba, 2007). To overcome this problem, students must be actively involved in the teaching and learning process.

Cooperative learning allows students to be actively involved in learning, communicate their ideas

with each other, brainstorm, provide immediate feedback, work to solve problems together and fostering their learning outcomes. The importance of students becoming more involved with the learning process has been emphasized and needs to be implemented in classrooms around the world (Slavin, 2005; Leikin & Zaslavsky, 1997). Compared to traditional instructions, cooperative learning strategies improve students' achievements both on teacher-made and standardized tests (Slavin, 1990). Johnson and Johnson (2008) recognized these improvements to increased student motivation, greater time on-task, and especially active student involvement. Students working together are engaged in the learning process, instead of being passive listeners in the classroom. Slavin (1990) also found that students’ self-esteem increased by working together. They felt more in control of their academic success and they began to link their success to their effort, an important factor in motivation. Low achievers tend to attribute their success or failure to luck or other forces outside their control, and cooperative learning helps them to change this perception. Now they can believe in themselves and be more confident.

Cooperative learning strategies promote student learning and academic achievement,

increase student retention, enhance student satisfaction with their learning experience, help students to develop skills in oral communication, develop their social skills (Johnson & Johnson, 2000).

Different cooperative learning strategies are suitable for different objectives. Student Team

Achievement Division (STAD) and Learning Together (LT) strategies of cooperative learning were specifically chosen because they allow more active involvement of students in the teaching and learning process in line with the design of science curriculum than other cooperative learning strategies (Bilesanmi-Awoderu & Oludipe, 2012).

STAD techniques were developed and researched at Johns Hopkins University in the United States in

1987. In STAD, the teacher presents the content or skill in a large group activity in a regular manner with opening, development and guided practice. Then as opposed to individual study, students are provided with learning materials (i.e., worksheets developed for STAD) that they use in groups to master the content. As students are provided with worksheets that they use in groups, the teacher circulates around the room to monitor group progress and interaction. When students are ready, they are administered formative test. The teacher scores this test and uses this information to compute improvement points. These are added up for each team, and teams earning a specific number of improvement points are recognized (e.g., award, free time, or certificate of achievement). Chen (2004) investigated the positive effect of Student Teams- Achievement Division (STAD) in teaching English as a foreign language; Tarim and Akdeniz (2007) found positive effects of STAD on Mathematics achievement and retention whereas Majoka, Dad, and Mahmood (2010) reported STAD as active co-operative learning strategy for teaching Mathematics. Zakaria, Chin and Daud (2010) and Gupta and Pasrija (2011) also revealed the encouraging effects of co-operative Learning (STAD) on students’ Mathematics achievement, retention and attitude towards Mathematics.

12


www.moj-es.net

Learning together model of co-operative learning (developed by Johnson & Johnson 1986) involves students working in four-or-five member heterogeneous groups on assignments. The groups complete a single assignment and receive praise and rewards based on the group product as this method emphasizes team building activities before students begin working together and regular discussions within groups about how well they are working together. Ghaith (2003) reported the upbeat effects of learning together model of co-operative learning on English achievement, academic self-esteem and feelings of school alienation while Keramati (2009) and Kaul (2010) found that learning together technique of co-operative learning is more effective than traditional teaching methods.

Adesanya (2000) stated that student performance in any subject could be enhanced by the quality of

technology employed by the teachers. A number of researchers (Abimbade, 1997; Gambari & Mogbo, 2006; Yusuf & Afolabi, 2010) have attested to the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI). It can also offer educators a new approach to learning. CAI is designed for individual learning, but, it is more effective and cost effective when implemented with small groups rather than alone (Cher, 1988; Yusuf & Afolabi, 2010).

Researchers in non-computer learning settings had indicated that cooperative learning groups are

positively effective in improving students’ academic achievement. Similarly, studies revealed that students learning with computer-based instruction in cooperative groups performed better than those taught using traditional teaching method and individualized instructional setting respectively (Gambari, 2010; Mohammad, 2004; Pandian, 2004; Yusuf & Afolabi, 2010; Yusuf, Gambari & Olumorin, 2012).

The uses of computer as a medium or resource for cooperative learning have been embraced by

earlier researchers. For instance, in a research project, Johnson and Johnson (1986) concluded that computer assisted cooperative instruction promotes “greater quantity and quality of daily achievement, more successful problem solving, more task related student-student interaction and increases the perceived status of female students”. Their results also indicated that putting students in groups at a computer is not enough, but that groups of students may need a clear cooperative goal structure.

Gender has been identified as one of the factors influencing students’ achievement in sciences at

senior secondary school level. Research on gender in cooperative learning has been conflicting; for instance, Olson (2002) reported females performed better than male students when taught mathematics using cooperative learning. In contrast, Aguele and Agwugah (2007), Adeyemi (2008), Kolawole (2007) and Khairulanuar, Nazre, Sairabanu, and Norasikin (2010) found gender differences in favor of male students. On the other hand, Annetta, Mangrum, Holmes, Collazo and Cheng (2009), Ajaja and Eravwoke (2010), Kost, Pollock and Finkelstein (2009), Oludipe (2010) and Yusuf and Afolabi (2010) Yusuf, Gambari and Olumorin (2012) reported that gender had no effect on academic performance of students in cooperative learning. These contradictory findings have prompted the inclusion of gender as one of the moderating variables for this study.

While empirical evidence supports the use of cooperative learning strategies with a variety of subject

areas and age groups within and outside Nigeria, the extent to which these strategies are beneficial to science in general and physics in particular in Nigeria, to the best of our knowledge, is unknown. In addition, many of the research studies on the effects of cooperative learning teaching strategy, most especially in Nigeria, were limited to students’ academic achievement and computers were not used as a medium of instruction. If the Learning-Together and STAD cooperative learning strategies of teaching are used to teach physics concepts, what would be their effects on students’ academic achievement and gender in physics? In view of this, the effects of two cooperative learning strategies (Learning Together and STAD) on Nigerian senior secondary students’ academic achievement, gender and motivation in physics were investigated in this study.

13

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Annetta+Leonard%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Mangrum+Jennifer%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Holmes+Shawn%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Collazo+Kimberly%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Cheng+Meng-Tzu%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Kost+Lauren+E.%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Pollock+Steven+J.%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Finkelstein+Noah+D.%22


www.moj-es.net

Research Questions The following research questions were raised to guide the study: (i) What are the differences in the achievement of students taught physics using computer-

assisted STAD, LTM and ICI? (ii) Is there any difference in the achievement of male and female students taught physics using

computer-assisted STAD cooperative strategy? (iii) Is there any difference in the achievement of male and female students taught physics using

computer-assisted Learning Together cooperative strategy? (iv) What are the differences in the motivation of students taught physics using cooperative

computer-assisted STAD, LTM and ICI? Research Hypotheses The following null hypotheses were formulated and tested at the 0.05 level of significance: (i) There is no significant difference in the achievement of students taught physics using

computer-assisted STAD, LTM and ICI. (ii) There is no significant difference in the achievement of male and female students taught

physics using computer-assisted STAD cooperative strategy. (iii) There is no significant difference in the achievement of male and female students taught

physics using computer-assisted Learning Together Model cooperative strategy. (iv) There is no significant difference in the motivation of students taught physics using

cooperative computer-assisted STAD, LTM and ICI.

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The research design adopted for the study is a pre-test-post-test experimental and control group design. Two levels of independent primary variable (one treatment and a control), two levels of gender (male and female) were investigated on students’ performance in Mathematics. The research design is illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1: Research design layout

Groups Pre-test Treatment Post-test

Experimental (Group 1) O1 STAD O2 Experimental (Group 2) O3 LT O4 Control (Group 3) O5 ICI O6

Sampling Procedure Purposive sampling procedure was adopted to obtain three secondary schools in Minna

metropolis, Niger State, Nigeria. These schools were sampled based on facilities, school type, gender composition and year of experience in external examination. The three schools were randomly assigned to experimental group I (STAD group) (n = 30), experimental group II (LT) (n = 30) and control group (ICI) (n =30) respectively. Some 90 SSII students were selected from three schools using stratified random sampling techniques. Each school has equal number of male (n = 15) and female (n = 15) students as participants. Research Instruments

Three research instruments were employed in this study: Test instrument (Physics Achievement Test), Questionnaire (Physics Motivation Scale), and a treatment instrument (Physics Computer-Assisted Instructional Package).

Physics Achievement Test (PAT) was used as a test instrument for collecting data on students’

achievement in the study. It consists of 50 multiple choice objective items with four options (A–D). The PAT was based on SS II physics curriculum on concepts of Structure of Matter (Molecule, Atom, Osmosis and

14


www.moj-es.net

Diffusion). The selected contents correspond to the SSII physics syllabus and scheme of work and correspond to what the students would be taught in the school at the time of the study. The researchers developed PAT and subjected it to facility and discriminating indices. The ideal ranges of the facility and discrimination indices are taken to be between 30% - 70%. The 50 questions that met the facility and discriminating indices criteria were validated by physics experts (secondary school physics teachers; physics lecturers from university; physics subject officers; and test and measurement specialists from the National Examination Council) and its reliability coefficient was determined as .79 using Kuder Richardson (KR-21).

The Physics Motivational Scale (PMS) was developed by the researchers to measure the students’

level of motivation toward physics before and after exposure to computer-supported STAD, LT and ICI learning strategies respectively. Section A of the PMS focused on demographic information of physics students while section B focused on students’ motivation towards physics subject. This section contained a 23-item four point response mode of Strongly Agree (coded 4), Agree (coded 3), Disagree (coded 2) and Strongly Disagree (coded 1) that reflect their degree of response to each question asked. To test the instrument validity and reliability, the initial draft of 28-item of PMS was validated by experts. The observations, comments, and suggestions were used to modify the final instrument. PAM was subjected to pilot test and the reliability coefficient of .82 was obtained using Kuder Richardson (KR-20). Some 90 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to physics students before and after the commencement of study; a 100% return rate was achieved and responses were found suitable for data analysis.

Treatment instrument, Physics Computer Assisted Instructional Package (PCAIP) was developed by

researchers and programmers. PCAIP was used for cooperative learning and individualized instruction respectively. The PCAIP consists of four topics in mechanics (Structure of Matter) in the Nigeria Senior Secondary School curriculum. These concepts were identified as one of the difficult concepts to understand (WAEC Chief Examiners’ report, 2012). PCAIP incorporated computer animated illustration to aid the understanding of the concepts; it allows students to interact, navigate, explore the contents, and listen to the audio narration. Tutorial mode of CAI was employed in this study.

Experimental Procedure

The teachers and students participating in the study were trained for two weeks. During the training objectives and the modalities of the experiments were specified and an operational guide was provided. The Physics Computer Assisted Instructional Package (PCAIP) with the physics content was installed in the system. The computer presents information and displays animation to the learner on each of the units after which the students assessed themselves with objective questions at the end of each unit. Immediate feedback is provided before students proceed to the next unit.

We administered the Physics Achievement Test (PAT) on sample students as pretest to ascertain the

cognitive achievement of the students before the treatment. During the four weeks treatment, the (STAD) and (LT) groups were exposed to the use of cooperative computer instruction as treatments, while students in control group were exposed to ICI. Each of the lessons in each school lasted for forty minutes duration (160

minutes per week) with four lessons per week. The following are the specific procedures for each group: (i) The cooperative computer instruction using Students Team Achievement Division (STAD)

cooperative learning strategy: In this strategy, students were assigned into three member heterogeneous groups. Each member was assigned with different responsibilities (e.g, group leader, time-keeper, scribe/quiet captain). The groups were exposed to CAIP where members complete the reading of the materials and perform the tasks together. To ascertain that there was no free rider, students were given an individual task which was marked and recorded against group scores. After the completion of a lesson, students take a quiz as a team and reach consensus with respect to the correct answers after which one answer sheet was submitted by the team for which all teammates receive the same ‘team score’. The scoring was done based on individual quiz score and team quiz score which were counted equally toward the student’s final course grade. High scoring teams are recognized and rewarded in the class. The group

15


www.moj-es.net

processing form was completed after each lesson to determine the group behavior and correct any irregularity within the teammates.

(ii) The cooperative computer instruction using Learning Together strategy: In this strategy,

students work in three heterogeneous groups on a group assignment sheet. During discussion, if students ask the teacher a question, the teacher will refer such students to their groups to find the answer. After the group discussion, a leader is chosen to present the group’s result to the entire class, and groups receive reward together. Scores are based on both individual performance and the success of the group, but individuals do not compete with one another.

(iii) Individualized Computer Instruction method: In this method, students were taught the

mathematics concepts using CAIP only. The computer presented the instruction on human-to-computer basis. Students proceeded with the physics contents and study at their own rate without any assistance from their colleagues. Students answered the PAT at pre-test and post-test individually.

Immediately after four weeks of treatment, PAT was administered as posttest to measure the

achievement of different groups. The scores obtained were subjected to data analysis based on the stated hypotheses using One-way Analysis of Variance and Scheffe’s post-hoc analysis. The significance of the various statistical analyses was ascertained at the 0.05 alpha level.

RESULTS

To test the hypotheses, the data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Scheffe’s test using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17 at the 0.05 alpha level. The results are presented based on the research hypotheses.

Hypothesis One: There is no significant difference in the performance of students taught physics using

computer-assisted STAD, LTM and individualized computer instruction (ICI). To determine whether there was significant difference in the posttest mean scores of the

experimental (computer-assisted STAD), Learning Together Model (LTM), and control groups (ICI), data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Table 2 shows the result of the analysis.

Table 2: ANCOVA post-test on experimental STAD, LTM and control (ICI) groups

Source of Variation Sum of Square df Mean Square F Significance of F

Covariate (Pre-test)

58.310 1 58.310 2.580 0.112

Main Effect (Treatment)

2354.489 2 1177.245 52.084 0.000

Model 2546.577 3 848.859 37.556 0.000

Residual 1943.823 86 22.603

Total 521598.000 90

Table 2 revealed that an F (1, 90) = 52.084, p = 0.000 for the main effect (treatment) was significant;

this indicates that the method of instruction produced a significant effect on the posttest achievement scores

16


www.moj-es.net

of students when covariate effect (pretest) was controlled. The results indicate that using computer assisted STAD, LTM and ICI accounted for the difference in the posttest achievement scores.

Based on the established significant difference in the post-test achievement scores of the groups,

Scheffe’s test was used for post-hoc analysis. The results are as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Scheffe’s post-hoc analyses of the groups mean scores

Groups Mean Scores

Group I (STAD)

Group II (LT) Group III (ICI)

Group I (STAD) 82.40 0.000

*0.000

Group II (LTM) 75.47 0.000

*0.000

Group III (ICI) 69.53 *0.000 *0.000

* The mean is significant at the .05 level. The result in Table 3 indicates that there was significant difference in the post-test mean scores of

students exposed to STAD (X = 82.40) and those exposed to LTM (X = 75.47). It also indicates significant difference in the post-test mean scores of students exposed to LTM (X = 75.47) and those exposed to ICI (69.53). Significant difference was also established in the post-test mean scores of students exposed to STAD (X = 82.40) and those exposed to ICI (X = 69.53).

The performance of students in both groups were further compared based on the mean gain scores

between the pretest and posttest for each group and the results are shown in Table 4 and graphically illustrated in Figure 1.

Table 4: Mean gain scores of students taught physics using STAD, LTM and ICI

Group Pretest Posttest Mean Gain Score

STAD 21.70 82.40 60.70

LTM 21.13 75.46 54.33 ICI 20.16 69.53 49.37

Table 4 shows that both groups had improved performance in posttest. For instance, STAD had the

mean gain scores of 60.70, LTM had 54.33 mean gain scores, while ICI had the mean gain scores of 49.37. This indicates that all the groups benefited from the treatment, with STAD having higher performance.

17


www.moj-es.net

Fig. 1: Graphical illustration of students in STAD, LTM and ICI groups at

pretest and posttest Hypothesis Two: There is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and

female students exposed to computer-assisted STAD cooperative instruction. To determine whether there was significant difference between male and female using computer-

assisted STAD, data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Table 5 shows the result of the analysis.

Table 5: ANCOVA result on male and female students in computer-assisted STAD

Source of Variation Type III Sum of Square

df Mean Square

F Significance of F


80.618 1 80.618 3.189 0.085


12.098 1 12.098 0.479 0.495

Model 110.618 2 55.309 2.188 0.132 Residual 682.582 27 25.281 Total 204486.000 30

Table 5 indicates that the main effect of treatment (group 1 – computer-assisted STAD on gender

produced an F (1, 27) = 0.479, p = 0.495 which was not significant at the 0.05 alpha level. This shows that there was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and female students. Male students’ scores did not differ significantly from their female counterparts when both were taught using computer-assisted STAD cooperative learning strategy. Therefore, hypothesis two was not rejected.

The mean gain scores between the pretest and posttest among male and female in the computer-assisted STAD group were tabulated and graphically illustrated as shown in Table 6 and Figure 2 respectively.

STAD

LTM

ICI

18


www.moj-es.net

Table 6: Mean gain scores of male and female students taught physics using computer-assisted STAD


Male 20.66 81.40 60.74

Female 22.73 83.40 60.67

From Table 6, it was observed that both male and female benefited from the treatment. The male

students had higher mean gain score of 60.74 while the female students had a mean gain score of 60.67. This indicates that all the groups benefited from the treatment. Furthermore, the comparison in the mean scores between their pretest and posttest is shown in Figure 2.

Fig. 2: Graphical illustration of male and female students in STAD groups at pretest and posttest Hypothesis Three: There is no significant difference in the mean scores of male and female students

exposed to computer-assisted LT cooperative instruction. To determine whether there was significant difference between male and female using computer-

assisted STAD, data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Table 7 shows the result of the analysis.

Table 7: ANCOVA result on male and female students in computer-assisted LTM

Source of Variation Type III Sum of Square

df Mean Square

F Significance of F


14.069 1 14.069 0.544 0.467


20.152 1 20.152 0.779 0.385

Model 33.269 2 16.635 0.643 0.533 Residual 698.198 27 25.859 Total 171588.000 30

Male

Female

19


www.moj-es.net

Table 7 indicates that the main effect of treatment (group 1 – computer-assisted LTM on gender produced an F (1, 27) = 0.479, p = 0.495 which was not significant at the 0.05 alpha level. This shows that there was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and female students. Male students’ scores did not differ significantly from their female counterparts when both were taught using computer-assisted LTM cooperative learning strategy. Therefore, hypothesis two was not rejected.

The mean gain scores between the pretest and posttest among male and female in the computer-

assisted LTM group were tabulated and graphically illustrated as shown in Table 8 and Figure 3 respectively.

Table 8: Mean gain scores of male and female students taught physics using computer-assisted LTM


Male 21.26 76.26 55.00

Female 21.00 74.66 53.66

From Table 8, it was observed that both male and female benefited from the treatment. The male

students had higher mean gain score of 55.00 while the female students had a mean gain score of 53.66. This indicates that the two groups benefited from the treatment. Furthermore, the comparison in the mean scores between their pretest and posttest is shown in Figure 3.

Fig. 3: Graphical illustration of male and female students in LTM groups at pretest and posttest Hypothesis Four: There is no significant difference in the motivation of students taught physics using

computer-assisted STAD, LTM and ICI instructional strategies. To determine whether there was significant difference in the posttest mean scores of the

experimental (computer-assisted STAD), Learning Together Model (LTM), and control groups (ICI), data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Table 9 contains the result of the analysis.

Male

Female

20


www.moj-es.net

Table 9: ANCOVA post-survey on experimental STAD, LTM and control (ICI) groups

Source of Variation Sum of Squares

df Mean Square F Significance of F


0.002 1 0.002 0.014 0.905

Main Effect (Motivation)

22.345 2 11.173 64.627 0.000

Model 23.498 3 7.833 45.308 0.000

Residual 14.867 86 0.173

Total 1161.895 90

Table 9 revealed that an F (1, 90) = 64.627, p = 0.000 for the main effect (motivation) was significant,

this indicates that the method of instruction produced motivation among the three groups. This implies that instructional strategy produced a significant effect on the students’ motivation when covariate effect (pretest) was controlled. The results indicate that using computer assisted STAD, LTM and ICI accounted for the difference in the students’ motivation toward learning.

Based on the established significant difference in the motivation mean scores of the groups, Scheffe’s

test was used for post-hoc analysis. The results are as shown in Table 10.

Table 10: Scheffe’s post-hoc analyses of the groups mean scores

Groups Mean Scores

Group I (STAD)

Group II (LTM)

Group III (ICI)

Group I (STAD) 4.068 0.003

*0.000

Group II (LTM) 3.686 0.003

*0.000

Group III (ICI) 2.845 *0.000 *0.000

* The mean is significant at the .05 level. The result in Table 10 indicates that there was significant difference in the post-test mean scores of

students exposed to STAD (X = 4.068) and those exposed to LTM (X = 3.686). It also indicates significant difference in the post-test mean scores of students exposed to LTM (X = 3.686) and those exposed to ICI (2.845). Significant difference was also established in the post-test mean scores of students exposed to STAD (X = 4.068) and those exposed to ICI (X = 2.845).

The performance of students in both groups were further compared based on the mean gain values between the pre-motivation and post-motivation for each group and the results are shown in Table 11 and graphically illustrated in Figure 4.

Table 11: Mean gain values of students taught physics using STAD, LTM and ICI

Group Pre-motivation Post-motivation Mean Gain Value

STAD 1.618 4.068 2.450

LTM 1.511 3.686 2.175

ICI 1.364 2.845 1.481

21


www.moj-es.net

Table 11 shows that both groups had improved performance in the posttest. For instance, STAD had the mean gain scores of 60.70, LTM had 54.33 mean gain scores, while ICI had the mean gain scores of 49.37. This indicates that all the groups benefited from the treatment, with STAD having higher performance.

Fig. 1: Graphical illustration of students in STAD, LTM and ICI groups at

Pre-motivation and post-motivation

DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS

The result of the ANCOVA on performance of students taught physics using computer-assisted STAD, LTM cooperative settings and individualized computer instruction (ICI) indicated a significant difference in favor of the students in the experimental groups (STAD and LT). Scheffe test was used as post hoc to locate the observed significant difference. It indicated that there was significant difference between the performances of students exposed to STAD and ICI, LTM, and ICI. However, there was no significant difference between the performance of those exposed to STAD and LTM.

These findings agree with earlier findings of Chen (2004), Fajola (2000), Yusuf and Afolabi (2010),

Majoka, Dad and Mahmood (2010) and Tarim and Akdeniz (2007) who reported that STAD enhanced students’ performance and retention than conventional methods in English language, Mathematics and biology respectively. Specifically, the findings agree with that in Mohammad (2004), Yusuf and Afolabi (2010), Gambari (2010), Pandian (2004), Yusuf, Gambari and Olumorin (2012) who found that students learning with computer based instruction in cooperative groups performed better than those taught using traditional teaching method and individualized computer instructional setting respectively. They also agree with the findings of Ghaith (2003), Keramati (2009) and Kaul (2010) who reported that Learning Together Model of cooperative learning technique of cooperative learning method is more effective than traditional teaching methods. The superiority of STAD and LTM cooperative strategies over ICI could be attributed to the fact that cooperative learning encourages students to be active participants in construction of their own knowledge, positive interdependence, group processing, face-to-face interaction, among others.

Hypotheses two and three examined the influence of gender on computer-assisted STAD and LTM

cooperative learning strategy respectively. The t-test analyses showed no significant difference between male and female students in STAD and LT respectively. The findings agree with the earlier findings of Annetta, Mangrum, Holmes, Collazo and Cheng (2009), Ajaja and Eravwoke (2010), Kost, Pollock and Finkelstein (2009), Oludipe (2010) and Yusuf and Afolabi (2010) Yusuf, Gambari and Olumorin (2012) who reported that gender had no effect on academic performance of students in cooperative learning. However, the findings disagree with the earlier findings of Olson (2002) who reported that female performed

STAD

LTM

ICI

22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Annetta+Leonard%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Mangrum+Jennifer%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Holmes+Shawn%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Collazo+Kimberly%22

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Cheng+Meng-Tzu%22






www.moj-es.net

better than male students when taught mathematics using cooperative learning, while Aguele and Agwugah (2007), Adeyemi (2008), Kolawole (2007) and Khairulanuar, Nazre, Sairabanu, and Norasikin (2010) found gender differences in favor of male students.

The influence of STAD, LTM cooperative settings and ICI on students’ motivation in physics was

examined using hypotheses four. The result of ANCOVA showed significant difference for learners exposed to computer-assisted STAD, LTM and ICI. Scheffe post-hoc test shows significant difference in favor of computer-assisted STAD and LTM cooperative settings. The findings agree with the earlier findings of Zakaria, Chin and Daud (2010) and Gupta and Pasrija (2011a) who reported the encouraging effects of cooperative learning on students’ Mathematics achievement, retention and attitude toward Mathematics. It also agreed with the findings of Slavin (1990) who found that cooperative learning increased students’ self-esteem while Johnson and Johnson (2008) reported that cooperative learning increased student motivation, greater time on-task, and especially active student involvement.

CONCLUSION

This study has very important contributions and high implication for the educational practices in Nigeria. The study revealed that students in the two cooperative learning strategies (STAD and Learning Together) groups had higher academic achievement mean scores than the students in the individualized computer instruction group. STAD and Learning together cooperative teaching strategies were found to be more effective in enhancing students’ academic achievement, retention and motivation in physics more than the individualized computer instruction. When friendliness is established, students are motivated to learn and are more confident to ask questions from one another for better understanding of the tasks being learnt.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that: Physics teachers should be encouraged to use computer-assisted STAD cooperative teaching strategy

to enhance students’ academic achievement, retention and motivation in physics. To implement this recommendation:

(i) The Ministry of Education, educational agencies, curriculum planners and other education

stakeholders should create awareness by organizing seminars and workshops on the use of STAD cooperative learning strategy in schools.

(ii) At teacher training (pre-service) level, the use of STAD cooperative learning strategy in the classrooms should be included in the school curriculum. This could be achieved by practical demonstration of STAD cooperative learning strategy in the classroom, during micro-teaching and teaching practice exercise.

REFERENCES

Abimbade, A. (1997). Principle and practice of educational technology. Ibadan, Nigeria: International Publishers.

Adegoke, B. A. (2011). Effect of multimedia instruction on senior secondary school students’ achievement in Physics. European Journal of Educational Studies, 3(3), 537-541.

Adesanya, L. (2000). The effect of learning environment factors on students’ motivation and achievement. International Journal of Science Education, 18(3), 204-215.

23


www.moj-es.net

Adeyemi, B. A. (2008). Effects of cooperative learning and problem-solving strategies on junior secondary school students’ achievement in social studies. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 6(3), 691-708. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/c19u25816754q5j5/

Aguele, L. I., & Agwugah, N.V. (2007). Female participation in science, technology and mathematics (STM) education in Nigeria and national development. Journal of Social Science, 15(2), 121-126.

Ajaja, O. P., & Eravwoke, O. U. (2010). Effects of cooperative learning strategy on junior secondary school students achievement in integrated science. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 14(1). Retrieved from http://ejse.southwestern.edu

Annetta, L., Mangrum, J., Holmes, S., Collazo, K. & Cheng, M. (2009). Bridging reality to virtual reality: Investigating gender effect and students’ engagement on learning through video game play in an elementary school classroom. International Journal of Science Education, 31(8), 1091-1113.

Artut, P. D., & Tarim, K. (2007). The effectiveness of jigsaw II on prospective elementary school teachers. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35(2), 129-141.

Bajah, S. T. (2000). The state of science technology and mathematics education in Africa. UNESCO, (925) 3 - 4.

Bilesanmi-Awoderu, J. B. & Oludipe, D. I. (2012). Effectiveness of cooperative learning strategies on Nigerian junior secondary students’ academic achievement in basic science. British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioural Science, 2(3), 307-325. Retrieved from www.sciencedomain.org

Cher, P. L. (1998). The effect of a Computer-Based Learning (CBL) support package on the learning outcomes of low performance economic students. Cheer, 12(1).

Gambari, I. A. (2010). Effect of computer-supported cooperative learning strategies on the performance of senior secondary students in physics, in Minna, Nigeria. (Unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of Ilorin, Nigeria).

Gambari, A. I., & Mogbo, I. N. (2006). Effect of computer-assisted instruction software for individualized physics instruction in secondary schools: Implication for counselling. Book of Proceedings, 1st Annual SSSE, FUT, Minna, (pp. 155-164).

Ghaith, G. (2003). Effects of the learning together model of cooperative learning on English as a Foreign Language reading achievement, academic self-esteem, and feelings of school alienation, American University of Beirut. Bilingual Research Journal, 27(3 ).

Gupta, M., & Pasrija, P. (2011). Cooperative learning versus traditional learning: Effect on achievement in mathematics. New Frontiers in Education, 44(4), 427-436.

Gupta, M., & Pasrija, P. (2011a). Team Assisted Individualisation (TAI): Impact on achievement and retention in mathematics learning community. An International Journal of Education and Psychology, 3(2), 387-396.

24

http://www.springerlink.com/content/c19u25816754q5j5/

http://ejse.southwestern.edu/

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ERICSearchResult&_urlType=action&newSearch=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=au&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=%22Artut+Perihan+Dinc%22

http://www.sciencedomain.org/


www.moj-es.net

Gupta, M., & Pasrija, P. (2012). Effect of cooperative learning on high school students’ mathematical achievement and retention using TAI and STAD methods. Indian Journal of Psychology and Education, 2(1), 75-86.

Jegede, S. A. (2007). Student’s anxiety towards the learning of Chemistry in some Nigerian secondary schools. Educational Research and Review, 2(7), 193-197. Retrieved from http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR.2011.2.10

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., Holubec, E. J. (1986). Circles of learning: Cooperation in the classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Kaul, P. (2010, August). The effect of learning together techniques of co-operative learning method on students achievement in mathematics. Edutracks, 9(12).

Khairulanuar, S., Nazre, A. R., Sairabanu, O. K., & Norasikin, F. (2010). Effects of training method and gender on learning 2D/3D geometry. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 29(2), 175 - 188. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/33188

Keramati, M. (2009). Effect of co-operative learning (learning together technique) on academic achievement of physics course. In T. Bastiaens et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on ELearning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2009 (pp. 2751-2756). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/32875

Kolawole, E. B. (2007). Effects of competitive and cooperative learning strategies on academic performance of Nigerian students in mathematics. Educational Research Review, 3(1), 33-37.

Kost, L. E., Pollock, S. J., & Finkelstein, N. D. (2009). Characterizing the gender gap in introductory physics. Physics Education Research, 5(1), 1-14.

Leikin, R., & Zaslavsky, O. (1997). Facilitating student interactions in mathematics in a cooperative learning setting. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28, 331-354. Retrieved from http://www.nctm.org/eresources/journal_home.asp?journal_id=1

Majoka, M. I., Dad, M. H., & Mahmood, T. (2010, December). Student team achievement division (STAD) as an active learning strategy: Empirical evidence from mathematics classroom. Journal of Education and Sociology, p. 16.

Mohammad, I. (2004). Effect of cooperative learning on academic achievement of secondary school students in mathematics. (Unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi, Pakistan).

Olorukooba, S. B. (2007). Science, technology and mathematics (STM) education is for all students: Promoting effective teaching of STM subjects in our schools through teacher preparation. Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Conference of Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (pp. 3-6).

Olson, V. E. (2002). Gender differences and the effects of cooperative learning in college level mathematics. (Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia).

Oludipe, D. I. (2012). Gender difference in Nigerian junior secondary students’ academic achievement in basic science. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 2(1), 93-99.

25

http://www.academicjournals.org/ERR.2011.2.10

http://www.editlib.org/p/33188

http://www.editlib.org/p/32875




http://www.nctm.org/eresources/journal_home.asp?journal_id=1


www.moj-es.net

Pandian, S. S. (2004). Cooperative learning in biology: The effect of computers. (Unpublished thesis, Department of Education, Arunachi University, India).

Slavin, R. (1990). Cooperative learning: Theory, research, and practice. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Tarim, K., & Akdeniz, F. (2007). The effects of cooperative learning on Turkish elementary students' mathematics achievement and attitude towards mathematics using TAI and STAD methods. Springer Science + Business Media B.V.

Thomas. (1990). International comparative education. New York, NY: Pergamon Press.

Yusuf, M. O., & Afolabi, A. O. (2010). Effects of computer assisted instruction (CAI) on secondary school students’ performance in biology. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 9(1). Retrieved from http://www.tojet.edu.com

Yusuf, M. O., Gambari, A. I., & Olumorin, C. O. (2012). Effectiveness of computer-supported cooperative learning strategies in learning physics. International J. Soc. Sci. & Education, 2(2), 94-109.

WAEC (2012). West African Examination Council, Chief Examiners’ reports. Lagos, Nigeria: Author.

Zakaria, E., Chin, L. C., & Daud, Y. (2010). The effects of co-operative learning (STAD) on students’ mathematics achievement and attitude towards mathematics. Journal of Social Sciences, 6(2), 272-275.

26

http://www.tojet.edu.com/


Investigating Foreign Language Learning Anxiety among Students Learning English in A Public Sector University, Pakistan

Illahi Bux Gopang [1], Faraz Ali Bughio [2], Habibullah Pathan [3]

[1] Lasbela University, Pakistan [2] University of Sindh, Pakistan [1] Mehran University, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated foreign language anxiety among students of Lasbela University, Baluchistan, Pakistan. The study adopted the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986). The respondents were (N = 240) including 26 female and 214 male. The data was run through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to present descriptive statistics of the respondents. Furthermore, ANOVA test indicated that there was no significant difference in majoring and non-majoring students’ level of anxiety, significantly, (F= value is equal to 3.348 and (P= value is equal to .011). Besides; no significant difference was also found in language anxiety between male and female respondents. Moreover, Pearson product-moment correlation showed a significant correlation among variables (CA=TA=FNE). The findings suggested that students of Lasbela University have fairly high anxiety in learning English

Keywords: Foreign language anxiety, Pakistani L2 learners, pedagogical implications

INTRODUCTION

Language anxiety has been investigated by researchers in different contexts in Pakistan. However, there has been a lack of a systematic study on the same issue. Therefore; we have designed this study to investigate and explore foreign language learning anxiety among Lasbela University students in a systematic way. As teacher researchers, we have observed language anxiety while teaching English in different disciplines such as Economics, Marine Sciences, English, Veterinary Sciences and Agriculture. During teaching English, we have observed and experienced that students avoid attending English class and feel nervous in speaking English. This observation during teaching has motivated us to address the language anxiety issue through research in order to create awareness among university students and teachers for learning and teaching improvements. In the context of Lasbela University, this study can be significant for further studies on L2 anxiety.

The following are the objectives of the study: 1. To investigate the level of foreign language anxiety among students at university level in Pakistan. 2. To explore different level of L2 anxiety between male and female students at university level.

Based on the research objectives, the study addresses the following research questions: 1. What is the level of foreign language anxiety among students at university level in Pakistan? 2. Does the level of anxiety vary between male and female university students?

Literature Review Since the mid-1960s, language anxiety became a focus for research and its relation was reported with

language learning. Later, some research studies indicated that people experienced language anxiety in

www.moj-es.net

27


leaning a foreign language and that type of anxiety is referred to as a ‘situation specific anxiety’ (Horwitz, 2010). Language anxiety interferes in learning and it also affects academic performance. This idea has been strengthened in the framework of L2 research. According to MacIntyre and Gardner (1994) “anxiety is the feeling of tension, apprehension related with second language learning” (p. 284). However, Scovel (1978) defines anxiety as a state of apprehension and a vague fear. Thus, Spieberger (1983) offers a widely cited definition that “anxiety is the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness and worry” (p. 125). More importantly, Horwitz et al. (1986) describes L2 anxiety as a “distinctive complex of self- perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (p. 128). Previous research by Scovel (1978) on L2 anxiety has produced ambiguous and confusing results because of investigation of general type of language anxiety. Additionally, Scovel (1978) suggested better solution to unpack the mystery. Thus, researchers have employed various models to measure types of anxiety, for example; test anxiety, facilitating and debilitating anxiety, and their studies have found different relationships between anxiety and language achievement. The solution is that researchers should be very specific and clarify which type of anxiety they are going to measure (Horwitz, 2001). It implies that research conducted on anxiety must be of specific type which indicates transparent results with no confusion or enigma. I agree to this idea that results of any research must be transparent and clear because readers can interpret and cite findings of research easily.

However, Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) introduced the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) to explore L2 anxiety as a specific of its type. They claimed that anxiety affected learners’ learning in classroom. The findings of various studies using this instrument for research were consistent and unvarying showing negative relationship between anxiety and achievement (Horwitz, 2001). Significantly, there are three components of FLCAS; Communication apprehension (CA) Test anxiety (TA) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE). Research suggests that 30-40% of the people experience communication apprehension. According to Horwitz et al. (1986) “communication apprehension is a type of shyness characterized by fear of anxiety about communicating with people” (p. 127). The individual with high communication apprehension fails in communicating well with others, whereas test anxiety refers to a type of performance anxiety emerging from a fear of failure (Gordon, 1955, cited in Horwitz, 1986). Last but not least, fear of negative evaluation is an apprehension about others’ evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations, and the expectation that others would evaluate oneself negatively (Watson et al., 1969, cited in Horwitz et al., 1986).

The exciting body of knowledge on foreign or second language anxiety shows that learners at all levels experience high or low levels of anxiety in learning language. For example, Mak (2011) reports that learners feel language anxiety when they tend to speak in front of their fellows in the classroom. The study indicated five factors which arouse language anxiety. Speech anxiety and fear of negative evaluation are two of them. This idea is also replicated in Gkonou (2011) which shows that the English classroom is a source of speaking anxiety.

Wei (2013, 2014) continuously researched foreign language anxiety among Chinese students. He used the foreign language classroom anxiety scale to investigate anxiety level of Chinese Bouyei college English foreign language learners. His research indicated a medium level of anxiety. Learners equally experienced communication anxiety, fear of negative evaluation and test anxiety in the foreign language classroom.

Research on language anxiety in Pakistan has been revealing in different contexts. Some of the research studies by Pakistani researchers (Adeel, 2011; Awan et al., 2010; Mari et al., 2012) have contributed in the existing literature and have paved the way for new researchers to continue research on the same area of interest in different contexts. The present study indicates that students from underdeveloped areas feel moderately high level of anxiety. However, a limited literature addresses the issue systematically. This issue was also highlighted in the study of Zahid and Ghani (2014) that learners from underdeveloped areas experience anxiety in English. Recently, Gopang et al. (2015) have reported speaking anxiety as moderate among undergraduate students in Pakistan. His study reported nervousness of learners in speaking English in the classroom.

The present study is different from others because it is the only study conducted in the context of Lasbela University, Pakistan. Second, the study is the only one of its kind done on students from underprivileged areas of Baluchistan. However, it is still uncommon to research learners’ issues in remote

www.moj-es.net

28


areas of Pakistan. This effort can encourage further research and invite insight of researchers about foreign language anxiety of students at Baluchistan universities. This step to address students’ phenomenon of anxiety at Lasbela University can hold its place in the literature available on foreign language anxiety.

METHODOLOGY

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) The present study employed the FLCAS questionnaire (Horwitz et al., 1986) as a research tool for

collecting data. It is based on 33 statements; with a five-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly agree 5) to strongly disagree 1). And the instrument has been proved valid and reliable with an alpha coefficient of .93, and an eight week test- retest coefficient of .83 (Horwitz, 1991; Horwitz et al, 1986). Interestingly enough, a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .94 was also reported in the study of Aida (1994) who used sample of 96 students in the 2nd year of a Japanese course. This implies that the instrument is reliable and valid for further studies on the foreign language classroom anxiety (see for validity, Horwitz, 1991).

Participants The study was conducted at Lasbela University, Baluchistan. The participants of the study were 240

students (female 26 & male 214) studying in English, Economics, Veterinary sciences, Agriculture and Marine Sciences disciplines. The study is not gender balanced. The reason to rationalize it is that the percentage of female students is very low at Lasbela University. The researchers included 26 females in order to have their level of FLA in the classroom. These locations seemed convenient for researchers to collect sampling from the selected population. The respondents willingly participated in the present study because their consent was taken verbally before we administered a questionnaire to them. All the participants were between 20 and 25 years old.

Departments/ Faculties N0. Respondents English 44 Economics 50 DVM 50 MS 50 Agriculture 46 Data collection The data were collected in April 2014. The participants were instructed about the questionnaire

adopted for data collection before we administered it to them. They were also ensured of confidentiality of their responses because the research tool FLCAS was self reporting about foreign language anxiety. However, some difficult words such as tremble, frighten, overwhelmed, used in the questionnaire were translated into Urdu because some students asked for their meanings. It was willingly done to get transparent and clear responses from participants.

Data analysis The data were analyzed by using SPSS to understand general descriptive of the study. The objective

of descriptive statistics is to show students responses in mean and standard deviation from which the results can be inferred and discussed in a systematic way. Second, ANOVA test was used to identify differences among groups. Likewise, the same test was also used to examine differences in level of L2 anxiety between male and female students. Thus, Pearson product-moment correlation test was run to find correlation among variables too.

RESULTS AND DATA ANALYSIS

Descriptive statistics were calculated to determine the level and extent students felt anxious in English. The mean, standard deviation showed some slight differences in the level of foreign language anxiety experienced by students in the classroom. The descriptive analysis of data is shown in the tables (see table

www.moj-es.net

29


1). Moreover, this analysis indicates some high anxiety provoking items and some low anxiety ones. High anxiety items such as statement 16 ‘Even if I am well prepared for English class, I feel anxious about it’ with mean sore 3.91. However item 33 ‘1 get nervous when the English teacher asks questions which I haven't prepared in advance’ with mean score of 3.88. On the other hand, the low anxiety statements are ‘I feel more tense and nervous in my English class than in my other classes’ with mean score of 2.14, and ‘During English class, I find myself thinking about things that have nothing to do with the course’ with mean score 2.28. However, for clear understanding of researchers and scholars, we did not inter full statements in the data, however, anxiety model is composed of three types( communication apprehension, test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation), therefore, statements are referred as Communication Apprehension (CA), likewise, Test Anxiety (TA), and Fear of negative evaluation (FNE). A result of data analyses is presented to answer research questions.

Research question 01 This question investigated students’ level of anxiety. To answer first research question, ANOVAs

results showed no significant difference among students learning English. More importantly, there exists a difference in Test anxiety among students from English and students from DVM (see tables 1 and 2). Significantly, (F= value is equal to 3.348 and (P= value is equal to .011). Post hoc multiple comparisons in ANOVAs was also run to determine differences in foreign language anxiety among the groups and the results show that there is no significant difference in all students from five different disciplines.

Table 1. Post hoc Multiple Comparisons

LSD

Dependent Variable (I) Group (J) Group

Mean Difference (I-J)

Std. Error Sig.

95% Confidence Interval

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

CA English

Economics -.13414 .08770 .127 -.3069 .0386 DVM -.01778 .08770 .840 -.1906 .1550 MS -.04869 .08770 .579 -.2215 .1241 Agri -.08410 .08949 .348 -.2604 .0922

TA English

Economics -.10400 .09305 .265 -.2873 .0793 DVM .20400* .09305 .029 .0207 .3873 MS .05733 .09305 .538 -.1260 .2407 Agri -.04609 .09495 .628 -.2331 .1410

FN English

Economics -.16286 .11890 .172 -.3971 .0714 DVM .08857 .11890 .457 -.1457 .3228 MS -.02000 .11890 .867 -.2542 .2142 Agri .01491 .12132 .902 -.2241 .2539

Research question 02 To answer research question 2, ANOVA test was used in the study. And the findings indicate that

male and female students’ anxiety level is the same in English. Moreover, results suggest that there is no significant difference in the level of anxiety between male and female students.

www.moj-es.net

30


Table 3. ANOVA: Gender

Sum of Squares df Mean

Square F Sig.

CA

Between Groups .187 2 .093 .512 .600

Within Groups 43.363 238 .182 Total 43.550 240

TA

Between Groups .664 2 .332 1.566 .211


FN

Between Groups .580 2 .290 .861 .424


Pearson product-moment correlation was used to show significance of variables among variables.

The results of the test indicate that three components of foreign language anxiety are significant. Communication apprehension and test anxiety are highly significant, while Communication apprehension and fear of negative evaluation are strongly significant.

Table 4. Correlations CA TA FN

CA

Pearson Correlation 1 .544** .400**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 N 241 241 241

TA

Pearson Correlation .544** 1 .408**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 N 241 241 241

FN

Pearson Correlation .400** .408** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 N 241 241 241

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

These various tests used in the study answer the research questions and confirm significant findings which indicate students’ fairly high level of language anxiety with no significant difference among groups and male and female respondents.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The results indicate that students feel fairly high anxiety in learning English as a Foreign Language. The level of anxiety among all students from different disciplines is moderately high. Furthermore, the findings suggest that there is no significant difference in the level of anxiety among Lasbela university students. Some of the items are high anxiety provoking and some are low anxiety generating as discussed before. The study also shows that the majority of students’ anxiety level is higher than 3.01 mean score which proves anxiety level more than moderate. The high anxiety provoking statement noticed in the study is that of test anxiety ‘Even if I am well prepared for English class, I feel anxious about it’ with mean sore = 3.91. (SD = 1.091). The second highest anxiety provoking statement is of fear of negative evaluation ‘1 get nervous when the English teacher asks questions which I haven't prepared in advance’ with mean score of 3.88 (SD = 1.303). On other hand, low anxiety provoking statements are of test anxiety ‘I feel more tense and nervous

www.moj-es.net

31


in my English class than in my other classes’ (mean = 2.14, SD = 1.277) and ‘During English class, I find myself thinking about things that have nothing to do with the course’ with (mean score= 2.28, SD = 1.246). It is confirmed that students are fairly high anxious in some statements and moderately relaxed in others. In this study, the highest mean score is reported in test anxiety followed by fear of negative evaluation, and last communication apprehension statement ‘I get nervous when I don't understand every word the English teacher says’ (mean= 3.72, SD = 1.262). Whereas Cheng’s (2005) research study reported highest score of fear of negative feedback with mean score 3.16 followed by communication apprehension, 3.12 and test anxiety, 3.05. The overall mean score of the his research 84.11 (s = 14.65). The study reports students being moderately anxious 3.30 s=10.33 with moderately relaxed 1.57 s=.618. The findings of this study do corroborate the research findings of Mari et al. (2012) on students’ anxiety in Pakistani context; whose results indicated the fair anxiety level in quantitative study. On the other hand, fairly high level of anxiety examined in this study and these results align with Wang (2005) whose findings reported fairly high anxiety among Chinese students with total mean score of 101 and standard deviation 12.62. However, the study proves Horwitz’ statement of the level of anxiety is there if mean score is 3.01 or above.

Furthermore, the study has also examined the level of language anxiety among male and female students. The results are obvious that the difference in anxiety level on the basis of gender is not significant. Data analysis shows that both male and female have fairly high level of anxiety in English. The results of the study are consistent with the findings of research study conducted by Waseem and Jibeen (2013) showing no significant difference in level of language anxiety by gender (male and female) in the Pakistani context. Generally speaking, this non-significant difference of anxiety in gender is very important because it sugegsts that female students studying English in underprivileged areas of Baluchistan, Pakistan, are not more anxious compared to male students. The respondents significantly experienced language anxiety in communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation.

Pearson product correlation was used to show significance of variables among variables. The findings are very significant because of significant relationship within variables. The FLCAS is composed of three components; communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Importantly, CA and TA are reported strongly significant while CA and FNE are highly significant. The findings summed up that students of Lasbela University are fairly high anxious L2 learners.

Pedagogical implications The study suggests some teaching implications for concerned teachers and respondents of the study.

It creates awareness also for us as researchers and for concerned teachers. Additionally, the study is also meaningful for students who self reported their levels of anxiety. Through this analysis, students’ language anxiety may be reduced by applying some strategies planned for inclusion in the next study on L2 anxiety. The study indicates fairly high level of language learning anxiety among respondents. With this, more teaching techniques must be developed to minimize language anxiety and maximize comfortable learning among students of Lasbela University, Baluchistan, Pakistan.

Keeping in mind the issue of foreign language anxiety among students, it can be of serious consideration for the teaching faculty of Lasbela University. Being a part of the same team, we suggest that a workshop be organized for teachers to inform them about their learners’ anxiety issues in the classroom. Teachers need to focus on their learners properly and remove the traditional gap between teacher and learner which states teachers teach and students are taught like parrots. Thus, teachers should let learners feel as easy and comfortable while communicating and sharing their problems of learning L2.

Pedagogically speaking, teachers of Lasbela University should take interest in their learners’ language learning and make the diary of their learning and teaching observations. Learning can be anxiety free when learners are able to decide freely what they learn and how that learning benefits them. Mistakes are part of language learning; teachers should assure learners that their mistakes are not negatively evaluated. Mak’s (2009) study reported that when learners mistakes are corrected by teachers this proved to be anxiety provoking. I may agree to the study of Wei (2014) concerning pedagogical implications. He suggested that teachers can lessen the foreign language anxiety of their learners while creating relationship with them. Teachers should provide equal opportunities to learners and show more regard to them. However, it is assumed that teaching scenario varies and so do methods of teaching in the foreign language classroom.

www.moj-es.net

32


Thus, language anxiety is a universal phenomenon existing in the context of learning a foreign or second language.

Limitations of the Study The present study is limited in sample size (N = 240) taken from Lasbela University, one of the public

sector universities in Pakistan. The findings of the study however may not be generalized to all population. Furthermore, the study is quantitative in nature. It would have been better if the qualitative aspect had been included; and this could not happen due to time constraints for researchers. In addition, longitudinal studies are also required on foreign language anxiety in Pakistan. However, there is also a need of systematic study on teachers’ perspectives on language anxiety in Pakistan.

CONCLUSION

The study has significantly addressed the issue of language learning anxiety as one of the important affective factors in second language learning. The data analyses of results reveal that students of Lasbela University have fairly high level of communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. The study has determined students’ level of language learning anxiety in the Pakistani context. Importantly, no significant difference in L2 anxiety among male and female students is found. However, the overall students perspective of language anxiety is quantified above average. It is concluded on the basis of findings that Lasbela University students experience high anxiety in learning and using English for academic and social purposes.

REFERENCES

Adeel, A. (2011). A study of anxiety among the graduation learners of English as a foreign language. Retrieved from eprints.ibu.edu.ba/id/file/198

Aida, Y. (1994). Examination of Horowitz, Horowitz, and Cope's construct of foreign language anxiety: The case of students of Japanese. Modern Language Journal, 78(2), 155-68.

Awan, R.N., Azher, M., Anwar, M. N., & Naz, A. (2010). An investigation of foreign language classroom anxiety and its relationship with students’ achievement. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 7, 11-33.

Cheng, C. J (2005). The relationship to foreign language anxiety of oral performance achievement, teacher characteristics and in class activities. (Unpublished Master dissertation, Ming Chuan University, China).

Gkonou, C. (2011) Anxiety over EFL speaking and writing: A view from language classrooms. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 1(2), 267-281 Retrieved from http://www.ssllt.amu.edu.pl

Gopang, I. B., Umrani, T. H., Bughio, F. A., & Lohar, S. (2015). English speaking anxiety: A study of undergraduate students of English. International Researcher, 4(1)54-61.

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70, 725-732.

Horwitz, E. K. (2001). Language anxiety and achievement. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 21, 112–126.

Horwitz, E. K. (2010). Foreign and second language anxiety. Language Teaching, 43, pp. 154-167.

www.moj-es.net

33

http://www.ssllt.amu.edu.pl/

http://www.ssllt.amu.edu.pl/


MacIntyre, P. D., & Gardner, R. C. (1994). The subtle effects of language anxiety on cognitive processing in

the second language learning. Language learning, 44(2), 283-305.

Mak, B. (2011). An exploration of speaking-in-class anxiety with Chinese ESL learners. System, 39, 202-214. Retrieved from http://staff.neu.edu.tr/~cise.cavusoglu/Documents/Advaced%20Research%20Methods/Quantitative/Mak%20Speaking%20in%20class%20anxiety%20survey.pdf

Mari, M. A., Umrani, T. H., & Umrani, S. (2012). An investigation of Pakistani EFL learners’ communication anxiety. ELF Annual Research Journal, 14, pp. 31-43. Retrieved from http://www.salu.edu.pk/publications/research_journals/elf/04%20ELF%20Annual%20Research%20Journal%20Vol-%2014,%202012.pdf

Scovel, T. (1978). The effect of affect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety research. Language Learning, 28(1), 129-142.

Spielberger, C. D. (1983). State trait anxiety inventory for adults: Sampler Set: Manual, Test, Scoring Key; [form Y]; STAIS-AD. Mind Garden.

Wang, N. (2005). Beliefs about language learning and foreign language anxiety. A study of university students learning English as a foreign language in Mainland China. (Master dissertation, University of Victoria)

Waseem, F., & Jibeen, T. (2013). Anxiety amongst learners of English as a second language: An examination of motivational patterns in the Pakistani context. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3, 16.

Wei, J. (2014). A Study via interviews of the Chinese Bouyei College learners’ EFL classroom anxiety arousals. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(2), 419-428.

Wei, J. (2013). A study via interviews of the Chinese Bouyei College learners’ EFL classroom anxiety coping strategies. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(4), 660-668.

Zahid, Z., & Ghani, M. (2014). An association of learners’ attitude with anxiety: Effects and implications. European Academic Research, 1 (10) 3760-3778.

www.moj-es.net

34


Appendix Dear Participants The questionnaire presented to you is purely intended for research purpose. All your honest

responses would be respected and valued. Therefore; your cooperation and honest answers to the following questions are required. All information provided will be treated as confidential. Your participation is very important because it will support me to complete my research.

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) Instruction: Please circle the answer that best matches your feelings about each Statement: 5 = SA (strongly agree) 4 = A (agree) 3 = N (neither agree nor disagree) 2 =D (disagree) 1 = SD (strongly disagree). ______________________________________________________________________________ 1. I never feel quite sure of myself when I am speaking in my English class. 2. I don't worry about making mistakes in English class. 3. I tremble when I know that I'm going to be called in English class. 4. It frightens me when I don't understand what the teacher is saying in English. 5. It wouldn't bother me at all to take more English classes 6. During English class, I find myself thinking about things that have nothing to do with the course. 7. I keep thinking that the other students are better at English than me 8. I am usually at ease during tests in my English class. 9. I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in English class. 10. I worry about the consequences of failing my English class 11. I don't understand why some people get so upset over English classes. 12. In English class, I can get so nervous I forget things I know. 13. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my English class.14. I would not be nervous speaking

English with native speakers. 15. I get upset when I don't understand what the teacher is correcting 16. Even if I am well prepared for English class, I feel anxious about it. 17. I often feel like not going to my English class. 18. I feel confident when I speak in English class. 19. I am afraid that my English teacher is ready to correct every mistake I make. 20. I can feel my heart pounding when I'm going to be called on in English class. 21. The more I study for English test, the more confused I get. 22. I don't feel pressure to prepare very well for English class. 23. I always feel that the other students speak English better than I do. 24. I feel very self-conscious about speaking English in front of other students. 25. English class moves so quickly I worry about getting left behind. 26. I feel more tense and nervous in my English class than in my other classes. 27. I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in my English class. 28. When I'm on my way to English class, I feel sure and relaxed. 29. I get nervous when I don't understand every word the English teacher says 30. I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules you have to learn to speak English. 31. I am afraid that the other students will laugh at me when I speak English. 32. 1 would probably feel comfortable around native speakers of English. 33. 1 get nervous when the English teacher asks questions which I haven't prepared in advance. Thank you for participation and cooperation

www.moj-es.net

35


Economics

DVM MS Agriculture

Std. Deviation

Mean Std. Deviation

Mean Std. Deviation

Mean

Std. Deviation

Mean Std. Deviation

1.14 3.50 1.40 2.84 1.50 3.46 1.29 3.26 1.18

1.29 3.32 1.18 2.80 1.41 2.76 1.23 2.50 1.34

1.30 3.12 1.25 2.86 1.24 3.08 1.39 3.56 1.42

1.21 3.36 1.30 3.44 1.29 3.22 1.43 3.02 1.32

1.29 3.02 1.51 2.70 1.38 3.30 1.41 3.54 1.34

1.20 3.16 1.21 2.28 1.24 2.86 1.37 3.08 1.33

1.28 3.14 1.30 2.98 1.23 3.42 1.31 3.28 1.36

.849 3.50 .994 3.54 1.26 3.64 1.13 3.26 1.18

1.34 3.80 1.17 3.08 1.30 3.46 1.32 3.76 1.19

1.38 3.60 1.21 3.58 1.24 3.46 1.21 3.28 1.10

1.32 3.52 1.16 3.18 1.24 3.50 1.05 3.32 1.09

1.31 3.44 1.41 3.14 1.56 3.34 1.43 3.26 1.34

1.17 3.40 1.19 2.84 1.31 3.14 1.21 3.41 .832

1.24 3.54 1.19 3.60 1.27 3.58 1.21 3.58 1.22

1.11 3.74 1.17 3.64 1.27 3.60 1.21 3.65 1.11

1.30 3.34 1.18 3.04 1.33 3.34 1.33 3.91 1.09

1.56 2.96 1.47 2.32 1.44 2.32 1.33 2.47 1.04

1.50 3.68 1.40 3.56 1.45 3.66 1.30 3.52 1.14

1.31 3.46 1.26 3.26 1.39 3.36 1.49 3.32 1.30

1.23 3.10 1.31 3.30 1.29 2.88 1.22 3.00 1.03

1.30 3.26 1.24 2.48 1.14 3.24 1.39 3.50 1.29

1.06 3.48 1.31 3.54 1.24 3.14 1.24 3.21 1.24

1.28 3.42 1.26 3.28 1.29 3.68 1.15 3.32 1.17

1.22 3.48 1.23 3.04 1.29 3.44 1.24 3.50 1.09

www.moj-es.net

36


1.26 3.60 1.17 3.42 1.32 2.88 1.22 2.97 1.14

1.34 2.80 1.38 2.14 1.27 2.68 1.36 2.82 1.16

1.32 3.18 1.49 3.42 1.53 3.24 1.40 3.43 1.32

1.14 3.86 1.29 3.62 1.24 3.68 1.26 3.65 1.15

1.23 3.58 1.35 3.72 1.26 3.34 1.36 3.50 1.16

1.05 3.42 1.21 3.70 .952 3.36 1.10 3.63 .974

1.40 3.32 1.15 3.32 1.43 3.06 1.42 3.28 1.37

1.25 3.64 1.17 3.60 1.27 3.62 1.21 3.50 1.13

.998 3.88 1.30 3.70 1.12 3.52 1.46 3.56 1.34

www.moj-es.net

37


Trained In Science-Base Field: Change of Specialization among Educated Women in Malaysia

Suhaida Mohd Amin [1], Nurulhuda Mohd Satar [2], Su Fei Yap [3]

[1] Faculty of Economics & Administration, University of Malay [email protected] [2] Faculty of Economics & Administration, University of Malay [email protected] [3] Faculty of Economics & Administration, University of Malay [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The theoretical model for economic development states that development in science and technology is the key to increased productivity. Upon realizing this, the Malaysian government has targeted 60 to 40 per cent of students for Science to Arts field at the tertiary level of education. However the rate of participation in science-based programs hardly achieved 60 percent even after more than four decades of efforts taken and incentives given by the government. Despite the policy’s under-achievement, this article aimed at examining another dimension of the issue. It sets to explore to what extent would Science based graduates remained working in the same field after their graduation. Given that female has been dominating the enrolment in tertiary education while low rate of female participation in the labor market is recorded, this study focuses on women who have completed their tertiary education. Based on data collected through survey on educated women, this study found 36.9% of women who have graduated with science-based degree opted to non-science type of job. The study also found that those who opted out experienced difficulty in finding a job and earned less than those who remained in the same field. Unsurprisingly, these respondents found that knowledge acquired from their tertiary education is less helpful in their career advancement. The findings highlighted the under-achievement of the policy implemented by the government.

Keywords: scientist, educational migration, educated women

INTRODUCTION

Specializing in certain fields of study enable people to develop a specific set of knowledge and skills related to a functional area or also known as specialization. In Malaysia, the Ministry of Education has divided the field of study into five categories namely science, technical, ICT, social sciences and education (MOE, 2010, 2012). At the secondary school level, a student is classified as a science student if they take at least two elective courses in the science field whereas arts students are those classified as non-science students (Phang, Abu, Bilal Ali, & Salleh, 2012). At the tertiary level, the faculty affiliation will determine the areas or specialization of the study.

In 1969, the Malaysian government has set a target to achieve a 60-40 percent composition of students in science versus arts field at tertiary level of education. This policy aimed at producing more scientists, engineers, doctors and technicians who would be highly specialized for the development of various economic and social sectors, in line with the increase in population and quality of life. It continues to be emphasized in every five-year development plans because it is believed that the supply of manpower in science and technology can further develop the economy sectors such as agriculture, industry and trade (Hussin & Zakuan, 2009). Based on the aspiration to achieve the status of a developed country by 2020 where

www.moj-es.net

38


Malaysia would needs more expertise, the formulation of this policy is to provide an adequate manpower in science and technology.

To ensure the success of the plan, the Higher Education Planning Committee has set a transition ratio of the projected enrolment of students in science and technical compared to arts students. It gradually began in 1970 with a ratio of 45% of students in science and technical to 55% of students in the arts. The Committee has recommended that the projected enrolment, especially at the level of upper secondary education and higher levels in the ratio of 60% in science and technical and 40% in the field of arts (Hussin & Zakuan, 2009).

However, Phang et al. (2012) reported that until 2012, the percentage of student participation in science-based programs has never even achieved 60% implying the underachievement of the government effort. Another important concern, besides the underachievement of the policy, is the declining academic performance of students in science subject. Based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study Report in 1999, 2003 and 2007, the science and mathematics scores of students aged 14 years have been declining.

There is however an equally serious issue concerning the composition of science-arts trained Malaysians namely the withdrawal of science-based trained graduates from science related jobs. There is a dearth of research looking at the choice of occupation among these graduates in which those who are trained in the field of science and technology are no longer contributing their expertise when they get into the labor market. This issue magnifies the underachievement of government’s aim to increase the number of scientists in the country.

Research objectives and focus In this paper, the term changed in specialization is emphasized to reflect those educated women with

science based educational backgrounds who change to a non-Science field when entering the workplace. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine to what extent women graduates who specialized in Science would remain in the same field when they enter the working world. This study also examined whether the selected field is in accordance with their interest and how the respondents view their career prospects when choosing the field of study.

Subsequently, this study also tried to examine the implications of such decision on job search, career path, income and career development. While the central focus is put on the failure to achieve the national education policy of a 60% student participation in science and technology programs, we argue that the decision to choose non-science based jobs among science graduates further amplify the problem.

The scientific and technical fields are generally dominated by men. However, there is an increase in the number of female students in technical and vocational institutions. Besides, the number of females in related fields such as engineering, architecture and medicine has also increased (Daud, 1999). Recently, women have been dominating the enrolment in tertiary education (Suhaida, 2013). As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) emphasized the empowerment of women, this study will focus on women with tertiary educational attainment in Malaysia and examine their choice of career.

Literature Review Human Capital Theory suggests that education or training raises worker productivity by imparting

useful knowledge and skills, thus raising workers’ future income by increasing their lifetime earnings (Becker, 1962). Because of the positive association between wealth and human capital, capability of people can be increased through education and training (Theodore, 1961). Human capital theory explains that schooling and training are a form of investment that can enhance skills and competencies (Mincer, 1962). For that reason, the differences in educational background and skills acquired will influence income level.

In ensuring Vision 2020 could be achieved, the investment in education at all levels is highly encouraged. The emphasis is on investment in higher education and to enhance student participation in science and technology. This is because the stock of human capital in the field was used as an indicator of a developed country (OECD, 1998). Besides, employers regularly voice out their concern about current or future shortages of science and engineering graduates and occasionally threaten to relocate R&D activity to other countries, where the supply is more abundant (Noaillya, Webbinka, & Jacobs, 2011).

According to Ministry of Education statistics from 1981 to 2010, the percentage of high school students in the sciences has never reached the targeted ratio of 60:40 (Phang et al., 2012). The main problem is the participation of students in science and technology is not encouraging enough (Phang et al., 2012) and this issues is also common in other developing countries (Harris & Farrell, 2007; Noaillya et al., 2011).

www.moj-es.net

39


According to Phang et al. (2012), the Malaysian government has enacted the existing policy and introduced a range of policies and educational plans and taken a variety of approaches to overcome the shortage of students in science. However, target is still unreachable.

Meanwhile, the only support from families to their children in choosing Science and technology field comes in the form of encouragement. For examples, most families will involve in the early stages to select the field of study when students enter upper secondary school (Hassan, Awang, Ibrahim, & Zakariah, 2013). According to Hussin and Zakuan (2009), students in science and technology said that their own interests and ambitions had led them to choose the field of study. The selection of field also varied between urban and rural areas. Compared to those living in rural areas, people in the urban area are much more exposed to career information, which plays an important role in determining the chosen field of study at the tertiary level.

Semeijn, Boone, Van Der Velden, and Van Witteloostuijn (2005) highlighted that personality features have an effect on labor market outcomes, net of traditional human capital variables (e.g., study results) and individual domain preferences (e.g., study fields). Individuals pursuing their studies and career in science are influenced by five main driving factors namely family background, socioeconomics of the family, community background, school background and personality or attitude. Gender is another factor contributing to the field preference. According to Hussin and Zakuan (2009), female students showed negative attitudes towards science and science-related careers.

At tertiary level, four issues have been identified related to students’ participation in science and technology. The first issue is the ability of higher education institutions to improve the accessibility and participation of students in terms of quantity and quality, and the second is the resource allocation for improving teaching and learning quality. Also discussed are the performance of students in secondary schools to prepare for higher education, and the fourth issue is related to the students’ interests as well as courses related to science and technology (Hussin & Zakuan, 2009).

The Manpower Development Model is the model used by developing countries including Malaysia to forecast the number of places that will be offered to the students at the tertiary level. However, the disadvantage of using this model is the occurrence of a mismatch between production of graduates with job opportunities. According to Hussin and Zakuan (2009), the mismatch will form a few phenomenon. Mismatch problems will contribute to unemployment or not getting a suitable job. If graduates are employed in jobs not matching their education qualification, underemployment occurs. Consequently, in order to facilitate job search after graduating, students must ensure that their choices in the field of study will meet the employers’ demands (Yussof, 2008).

When entering higher education, women constitute the majority in many countries, and yet it seems that at each consecutive stage, from graduation to PhD to full professorships, more and more women prefer to drop out (Müller, Castaño, González, & Palmén, 2011). Furthermore, when starting to work, most females have jobs not related to their qualification. As a result, they cannot utilize their abilities and education properly (Chaudhry & Jabeen, 2010). The main worry is that those women would have spent at least five years of their lives being enrolled in tertiary level within their specialized field, cannot fit in with their own life expectations, facing direct consequences in terms of individual well-being and life circumstances besides a loss of transferability of skills (Mora, 2010).

METHODOLOGY

According to Sue and Ritter (2007), if the sample size is large and widely distributed geographically, online survey is a convenient option. Besides, online surveys work best in closed populations where the potential respondents are known to have access to email and the internet. It is also relevant with Malaysia’s statistics showing that those who are more educated are frequent users of internet (MCMC, 2013). Therefore, according to Krejcie and Morgan (1970), to represent Malaysia sample size should be 384 of women in the science and technical field.

Based on the statistics of graduates in the labor force (DOSM, 2011), there are 525.3 thousand employed women working with degree level. To represent this large population, this study utilized respondent from Tracer Study (Subsequent) 2008/2009 done by the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE). The Ministry has supplied email addresses of 7,716 females from those who participated in their study.

www.moj-es.net

40


Respondents were approached via email and those who wanted to participate in the survey needed to click on the link provided in the email. Since the purpose of the study was to see whether those who are in science remain in their field, descriptive analysis was used. In addition, the respondents also answered an online questionnaire in the form of a Likert scale with a value of 1 for strongly agree and 5 strongly disagree on questions related to selection of the field of study and how it impacts respondents.

FINDINGS

From 7,694 valid email addresses, 1,171 emails were bounced and 30 respondents did not qualify as respondents (because they did not have the characteristics required). As 45 respondents opted out, only 6,448 respondents received the online questionnaires. From this figure, only 943 (14.6%) educated women have completed the questionnaires (848 working, 95 not working).

However, when examining each respondent by field of study, few of them have changed their field when pursuing their studies to a higher level. To avoid biasness, only those respondents with degree qualification have been analyzed (the analysis has excluded those who pursued their study). The drop-out rate is determined based on respondents’ field of study while studying at the university with the selected field and occupation when starting a career.

Those who took a degree in pure science, technical and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are classified as graduates from the science field. Table 1 shows demographic information of 268 educated women who were analyzed.

Table 1: Respondent background

Frequency % Ethnic Bumiputera 232 86.6 Chinese 29 10.8 Indian 5 1.9 Others 2 0.7 Field of study Science 109 40.7 Technical 92 34.3 ICT 67 25 Marital status Never married 105 39.2 Married 161 60.1 Others marital status 2 0.7 Age group 25 – 34 years 254 94.8 35 – 44 years 14 5.2 Total 268 100 A total of 109 women (40.7%) of respondents majored in pure science, 92 women (34.3%) in technical

while 67 women (25.0%) majored in ICT. As reflected in the racial composition of Malaysia the respondents were dominated by the bumiputera, 86.6% from the total respondents. The majority of respondents consist of those between the age of 25 to 34 years (94.8%) and those who are married (60.1%).

In order to find out whether the respondents change their specialization while working, they were asked whether their current career was in parallel with their field of study. To further confirm their answer,

www.moj-es.net

41


the respondents were also asked to state the name of their career. Table 2 shows that 36.9% of graduates from science remarked that they do not consistently work in the same field of their studies. Among those in the science-based, the highest number of respondents who have changed to other fields when working are Pure Science graduates.

Table 2: Field of study and field of work

In the same field?

Field of study while bachelor degree Science Technical ICT Total n % n % n % n %

No, I change 50 45.9 22 23.9 27 40.3 99 36.9 Yes, similar 59 54.1 70 76.1 40 59.7 169 63.1 Total 109 100.0 92 100.0 67 100.0 268 100.0

Table 3 shows a comparison of the suitability of personality, confidence that their chosen fields of

study have a good career prospects in the future, the relevance of studies with work process, level of difficulty in getting a job, worthwhile salary and confidence in career advancement among educated women who remain in their field compared to those who changed to other fields.

A summary of the findings are as follows: i. The chosen field of study suited to personality: Table 3 shows that 142 (84.0%) of respondents who

continued in the same field when working stated that their chosen field of study is consistent with their personalities. Only 8.9% from those who remain in science field said the opposite. 18.2% of the group that changed to other field when working, feel that their personalities are not in accordance with the chosen field of study.

ii. Field of study is chosen because the career prospects are bright: Data for this variable seems consistent with previous ones. Those who remain in their field have better percentage (78.7%) in believing that they have bright career prospect. 21.2% of those who have changed their fields disagree with that statement.

iii. Field of study helps to facilitate the process of work: The analysis shows that 95.9% of respondents who remained with the field of study agreed that what their study helps them in the workplace. Implication of exchange field, only 46.5% benefited from their studies and 28.3% were found facing difficulties in managing their work.

Table 3: Comparison between those who change and remain in their field of study while working

Not change field Change field f % f % The chosen field of study suited to personality Agree 142 84.0 69 69.7 Not sure 12 7.1 12 12.1 Disagree 15 8.9 18 18.2 Total 169 100.0 99 100.0 Field of study is chosen for bright career prospects Agree 133 78.7 54 54.5 Not sure 21 12.4 24 24.2 Disagree 15 8.9 21 21.2 Total 169 100.0 99 100.0 Field of study helps facilitate process of work Agree 162 95.9 46 46.5 Not sure 4 2.4 25 25.3 Disagree 3 1.8 28 28.3 Total 169 100.0 99 100.0

www.moj-es.net

42


Not change field Change field No problem finding a job in field of study Agree 119 70.4 43 43.4 Not sure 24 14.2 16 16.2 Disagree 26 15.4 40 40.4 Total 169 100.0 99 100.0 The salary offered in field of study is worthwhile Agree 93 55.0 36 36.4 Not sure 36 21.3 26 26.3 Disagree 40 23.7 37 37.4 Total 169 100.0 99 100.0 Working in field of study could advance the career Agree 141 83.4 45 45.5 Not sure 19 11.2 28 28.3 Disagree 9 5.3 26 26.3 Total 169 100.0 99 100.0

iv. No problem finding a job in field of study: among women who remained with their field, 70.4% did

not have a problem in finding a job compared to only 43.4% among those who changed fields. Change to the other fields also resulted in 40.4% respondents having difficulties in finding a job

v. The salary offered in field of study is worthwhile: The data showed that those who remain in the field still have an advantage of worthwhile earnings compared to those who have changed to another field when working. However, only 55.0% of respondents among those who remained in the field agreed with this statement; the others are undecided and disagree. Those who have changed their field of study showed a lower percentage, only 37.4% agreed that the income received is worthwhile

vi. Working in field of study face no problem to advance career: 83.4% of educated women in the science and technical that remain in the same field stated that they have no problem in expanding their careers. For those who have changed field, only 45.5% have no problem while the other 26.3% indicated difficulties expanding their careers in the future Discussion The main findings of this study showed that many of the women were indeed trained in science-base

have changed their field. More than a third of respondents have changed to other areas of their specialization and it is hard to ignore the numbers. Changing from their specialization of study still occurs even if they have solid interests in Science and technology and they are confident of a bright future for their careers. This means that interest of the respondent and confidence about the future of their areas is not enough to sustain them in the chosen field of specialization.

The study also found that graduates in science who change into another field face a difficult situation to find a job and earn a salary that is worthy of their qualification. This is certainly related to the change of field which created difficulties in finding a job and having to compete with those existing job seekers in the market. Their skills in science and technical fields probably are not required by the employer and lack of knowledge in the field of arts will impact them in the form of a lower salary than what they actually deserve.

Similarly, when they have started working, what they have learned in higher education institutions previously are less helpful in developing their careers. Maybe, more needs to be learned through experience. This result is consistent with Chaudhry and Jabeen (2010), emphasizing that educated women can utilize their abilities and education properly only if they get jobs according to their subjects or fields.

However, the change in specialization is not happening only in Malaysia. For example, Australian teachers revealed another trend of the high level of uncertainty among younger and early-career of teachers about whether to remain in the teaching profesion. Nearly half of the surveyed respondents were unsure whether they would still be teaching in five years’ time (Harris & Farrell, 2007). For that reason, according to Mora (2010), judgment of the graduates are usually inconsistent and could make people reconsider their choices whether they have made the right choices several years ago.

www.moj-es.net

43


CONCLUSION

All individuals are free to choose the type of work they will undertake. However, when people who are educated in science shift to other areas, the government’s intention to add more experts in science and technology will be further away from the target. Accordingly, as the government is trying various measures to increase enrolment to 60% of students in science, many of those who are indeed in science dropped out from the field.

Most women who originally were educated in science change to the field of education (such as teachers and lecturers) and administration (an officer in the government without specializing in the field). Some even work with lower positions than their qualifications as clerks, assistant officers, technical assistants, sales assistants, and office secretary.

What is essential to be highlighted in this study is that Malaysia is facing a harder situation to achieve its target of 60% in science and technology because those who were trained have changed to different fields outside their specialization. This means that the government's desire to produce more skilled workers by 2020 becomes a difficult task. Further studies should evaluate why the women have changed their field. By finding out why they have changed their specialization, the government could prevent the drop-out situation.

REFERENCES

Chaudhry, I. S., & Jabeen, T. (2010). Factors and Constraints Affecting Labour Force Participation of Postgraduate Women: The Case of Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan. Oeconomica, 55(3), 18–42.

Daud, N. M. (1999). Women’s participation in scientific and technical fields in Malaysia. Intellectual Discourse, 7(2), 197-214.

DOSM. (2011). Statistics of Graduates in the Labor Force Malaysia.

Harris, K.-L., & Farrell, K. (2007). The Science shortfall: An analysis of the shortage of suitably qualified science teachers in Australian schools and the policy implications for universities. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 29(2), 159–171.

Hassan, R., Awang, H., Ibrahim, B., & Zakariah, S. H. (2013). Seminar Kebangsaan Kali ke-4 Majlis Dekan Pendidikan IPTA 2013. In UIAM (Ed.), Memacu pelan transformasi pendidikan : peranan IPTA dalam membantu meningkatkan kuantiti dan kualiti Pendidikan Aliran Sains dan Teknikal di Malaysia (pp. 1–17). Selangor, Malaysia.

Hussin, S., & Zakuan, N. (2009). Dasar Modal Insan (60 : 40 dalam Sains dan Teknologi) / Human Capital Policy (60: 40 in Science and Technology) (1st ed.). Kuala Lumpur: Tinta Publishers.

Krejcie, R. V, & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining Sample Size For Research Activities. Educational And Psychological Measurement, 30, 607–610.

MCMC. (2013). Internet Users Survey 2012.

Mincer, J. (1962). Labor Force Participation of Married Women : A Study of Labor Supply. In Aspects of Labor Economics (Vol. I, pp. 63–106).

www.moj-es.net

44


MOE. (2010). Laporan Kajian Pengesanan Graduan Susulan 2008/09 (Tracer Study Follow-up Report

2008/09).

MOE. (2012). Laporan Kajian Pengesanan Graduan Susulan 2011 (Tracer Study Follow-up Report 2011).

Mora, T. (2010). Why do higher graduates regret their field of studies? Some evidence from Catalonia, Spain. Education Economics, 18(1), 93–109.

Müller, J., Castaño, C., González, A., & Palmén, R. (2011). Policy towards gender equality in science and research. Brussels Economic Review, 54(2/3), 295–316.

Noaillya, J., Webbinka, D., & Jacobs, B. (2011). Should the government stimulate enrolment in science and engineering studies? Applied Economics Letters, 18, 371–375.

OECD. (1998). Human Capital Investment : An International Comparison.

Phang, F. A., Abu, M. S., Bilal Ali, M., & Salleh, S. (2012). Seminar Majlis Dekan Pendidikan IPTA (Seminar on Dean’s Council of Public University Institution). In Faktor penyumbang kepada kemerosotan penyertaan pelajar dalam aliran sains (Factors contributing to the decline in student participation in science). Johor Bahru, Johor.

Semeijn, J., Boone, C., Van Der Velden, R., & Van Witteloostuijn, A. (2005). Graduates’ personality characteristics and labor market entry an empirical study among dutch economics graduates. Economics of Education Review, 24(1), 67–83. doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2004.03.006

Sue, V. M., & Ritter, L. A. (2007). Conducting Online Surveys. Sage Publication.

Suhaida, M. A. (2013). 1st International Conference On Human Capital and Knowledge Management. In Shortage phenomenon among educated and skilled labor in Malaysia.

Theodore, W. S. (1961). Investment in Human Capital. The American Economic Review, 51(1), 1–17.

Yussof, I. (2008). The 2nd International Conference on Educational Economics. In Shortage of skilled workers in Malaysia’s economy : A mismatch phenomenon.

www.moj-es.net

45


Using portfolio to assess Rural young learners’ writing skills in English language classroom

Muhammad Noor Abdul Aziz [1], Nurahimah Mohd. Yusoff [2]

[1] Prof. Dr., [email protected] School of Education and Modern Languages, UUM College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah Darul Aman. [2] [email protected] School of Education and Modern Languages, UUM College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah Darul Aman.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed at discussing the benefits of portfolio assessment in assessing students’ writing skills. The study explores the use of authentic assessment in the classroom. Eleven primary school children from Year 4 in a rural school in Sabah participated in this study. Data were collected by observing them during the English Language lessons and at the end of the series of observations, an interview session was conducted with each of them for triangulation. Through the observation, the children can be categorized into 4 groups of improvement, which are “emerging”, “beginning”, “developing” and “expanding” using the coding from British Columbia (1999). The results of this study revealed that using portfolio to assess young learners’ writing skills is beneficial and effective in helping them to write in the English language classroom. The value of this study is to suggest the use of a more authentic classroom assessment, particularly in English language teaching and learning.

Keywords:

INTRODUCTION

Portfolios are emerging as one of the many types of alternative assessment being carried out today. McMillan (2007) stated that a portfolio has significant advantages over conventional approaches to assessment pertaining to collecting of and evaluating students’ work. In addition, Popham (1999, p. 181) wrote in his book that “Assessment should be a part of instruction, not apart from it”. Popham (1999) highlighted that portfolios measure each student’s achievements and at the same time allowing individual differences between them. He also provided an overview on the differences between portfolios and standardized testing practices.

The core of a portfolio lies in the reflection the teacher and the students do on a task given. Stiggins (2001) highlighted that reflection from the students’ part is significant in making the portfolio a meaningful one. Stiggins (2001, p. 476) provided one reflective question that students can always ask themselves, “What do I think is very special about my work and why?” regardless of the task they are working at.

All in all, portfolio is seen as a popular educational tool to assess students’ performance. It is meant to reduce stress on the students as well as on the teachers. We hope to find the answer for the central question of this research – How does portfolio help in improving students’ writing skills? – and that will answer how effective portfolio assessment is in my English language classroom.

Birgin and Baki (2007) felt that recent developments and demands in science and society have deeply affected education in a way that theories such as constructivism and multiple-intelligence as well as new social trends such as changing labor market, information-age needs engendered to radical change in traditional approaches of learning, teaching and assessment. This has led to a more student-centered

www.moj-es.net

46


teaching elsewhere because teachers are getting more frustrated day after day with standardized examinations (Hansen, 1993, as cited by Thomas et al., 2004).

It is positively argued that traditional tests do not assess the child as a whole. They do not reflect the current theories in learning, do not portray a vivid image of how the child excels in the classroom, and also do not provide constructive feedback for growth (Chen & Martin, 2000). As such, to curb the problem of standardized exams, many scholars such as Popham (1999), Stiggins (2001) and McMillan (2007) suggested that portfolio should be given consideration in an attempt to see changes in assessment. They agreed upon a common basis – Portfolios are much more than large student folders containing examples of student work. They come with terms to the idea that portfolio prepares the platform for a more relaxed assessment, where stress is no more on getting distinctions but the emphasis is on the learning.

In relation to the English language, students’ writing has always been a problem and a focus (Mohd. Saat Abbas, Suzihana Saharan, Yahya Che Lah & Abd. Rashid Mohamad, 2005). What more for students in rural areas where access to the English language is limited. To add to the problem, students and teachers are burdened with an exam-oriented education system which does not emphasize creativity but focuses only on achieving A’s in the examination (Mohd Sofi Ali, 2003 & Gomez, 2003).

According to Mitchell (1992) as cited by Thomas et al. (2004), portfolios are becoming the most well-known form of performance assessment being used from kindergarten through graduate school. This shows that alternative assessment such as portfolio seems to win the hearts of the teachers and is attracting them to use a more on-going and authentic assessment to evaluate students’ performance.

To date, to our knowledge, massive studies on portfolio effectiveness are only carried out at tertiary education level. Angelo (2009) highlighted a similar study to this paper in the context of higher learning. Angelo found that portfolio assessment helped in guiding and motivating students in their writing. Fewer studies (Garcia, Meyer & Walsh, 2002; Lipson, Mosenthal, Daniels, & Woodside-Iron, 2000) have been conducted on how portfolio assessment improves students’ English language writing skills particularly at the primary school level. Thus, we would like to see how much an alternative assessment, in this case study -- portfolio assessment, as opposed to traditional standardized multiple-choice tests -- is effective in improving students’ English language proficiency and in particular, their writing skill.

The Study This study focused on getting to understand how portfolio helps in improving students’ writing skills.

It was carried out in a school in Kudat district in Sabah. The design of the research was an interpretive one (Creswell, 2008) because we used qualitative approach in gathering the data for this study.

In this research, purposeful sampling (Creswell, 2008) was used to select the participants of the study. Purposeful sampling was adopted in order to understand the phenomenon and to develop a more in-depth understanding of the problem faced (Creswell, 2008). Participant observation was also carried out during the lessons. A writing process checklist adapted from McKenzie and Tompkins (1984) was used in observing the students’ gradual improvement in the writing tasks given namely pair writing, dialogue scripting, picture description and journal entries.

We prepared a set of interview questions adapted from Wafa Fahed (2007) and Losardo and Notari-Syverson (2001). The interview questions consisted of process writing as well as how the students felt about portfolio, what they liked most about portfolio, what put them down, how much the teacher helped them in their writing, what should be done to improve the assessment and how they felt about the ‘new’ assessment that was taking place in their classroom.

There are 11 participants in this research. The following are descriptions of each participant. We maintain the ethics of research by not revealing the real name of the participants who were also our pupils (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

Ema: A girl of 10 years old, very neat and tidy in appearance, she comes to school every day without fail. Her attendance record is good. She acquires satisfying level of understanding for most subjects and English, in particular. Her father is a woodcutter who works on contract basis while her mother is a full time home maker. She is the eldest in her family and she has two younger brothers who are in the same school. Based on the interaction in the classroom, she loves English Language so much and wants to be an English Language teacher when she grows up. Both her parents studied until PMR (formerly known as SRP) level and

www.moj-es.net

47


they put some effort to guide Ema with her homework every night. She finishes all her homework in time and she is also the class monitor. She is the school’s target of 5A candidate for UPSR.

Ros: Comes from a medium family of 8 members and has only 2 rooms in the house. They have to share everything. Her attendance to school is good, just like Ema. She is Ema’s best friend. They come to school together. Ros has never failed to greet all the teachers in school every morning in English. Compared to Ema, Ros is not proficient in the English Language. She has problems saying new words out loud and is quite a shy girl if she is alone. Her father is a fisherman who comes home only thrice a week. So, they are left with their mother most of the time. Ros has two elder brothers and one elder sister. Her younger sisters are 5 and 2 years old respectively. Ros is left alone to study at home because all the three elder siblings are in boarding school and they only come back once every fortnight. Both her parents are illiterates. Despite that, she does finish her work but she makes a lot of errors in spelling and sentence construction.

Arif: A cute boy who was registered to school a year later of his actual date. So, he is 11 years old but he is in Year 4. Arif is a very active boy but he has some eye-sight problem. He has to squint his eyes every time he reads notes on the board. The school has taken proper measures to inform his parents about his condition. His parents are very protective and blame the school for accusing that their son is blind. The school is serious about Arif’s condition. Due to that, we assign Arif to sit in the front row seat closest to the board. Arif usually gets 30%-40% in his English Language exams. Arif does not always complete his homework and his attendance is at a worrying stage. He only comes to school 2 or 3 days. This is because he has to take his father’s boat to school. Arif lives in Kampung Palak Laut as opposed to Ema and Ros who live in Kampung Palak Darat. Arif’s reason for absence is no fuel for the boat. Arif comes to school with his best friend, Haziz. Arif’s mother is an immigrant from the Philippines while his father is a local. Both his parents are also illiterates. Arif has 3 siblings. His eldest sister is in Form 1.

Haziz: Petite, but he is the school sprinter. Haziz lives in the fishing village or affectionately known as Kampung Palak Laut. He has 11 siblings. Both his parents are immigrants from the Philippines. Haziz is not good in the English Language but he is a very hardworking boy. He makes sure that he finishes all his work and indeed, his work is of good quality. The only problem with Haziz is his attendance. He can only come to school if Arif is around. Haziz’s family does not have a boat of their own. Some of Haziz’s elder brothers and sisters are schooling; meanwhile three have dropped out. Haziz is the school librarian and is very active in sports too. He is a very polite boy and all the teachers like him so much. The teachers in the school are planning to ‘adopt’ him until UPSR so that his academic performance can be improved.

Lily: Lily is a very sweet girl. She is never talkative and is very neat with all her work. She has always been the one to help out with class decoration and cleaning. Lily is an average student. She loves reading, both Bahasa Melayu and English Language books. Lily is the third in her family of 6 siblings. Her two elder sisters are in secondary school while her eldest sister is a nurse in a government hospital. Her father is the religious teacher (ustaz) who teaches quran recitation in the surau at the village while her mother is a housewife. Lily is quite slow in sentence construction but she is very good in spelling. She is usually top of the class after Ema. She is liked by all the teachers because she is a responsible girl and she makes sure she finishes all the homework given daily.

Nita: This 10 year old has just been registered in the school in June. Nita was schooling in another school before both her parents passed away. Her mother died when she was much younger and recently, in May, her father passed away from cancer. She is now looked after by her two elder brothers who are working as woodcutters. Nita is just like Lily, very soft spoken and diligent. In comparison to Lily, Nita is weaker in studies and is a slow learner. She needs a lot of drills in the subject and she seeks help from her brothers who only studied until SPM. Nita comes to school with Ros and Lily. They are best friends. They also sit in the same row in the class. Nita loves to work with Lily and Ros. Nita is a very creative girl. She created the reading corner in the classroom by bringing old newspapers and story books from home. She encouraged her friends to do so and now, our class has a reading corner. Apart from that, Nita was also a school librarian in her previous school. She usually spends her time reading and she is neat in her work too. All her textbooks and exercises books are neatly wrapped and kept in her school bag. Nita has never been absent from school since registering in this school in June.

Steve: This boy is from the remedial kelas (Kelas Pemulihan). Steve has a lot of problems in reading and writing, both in Bahasa Melayu and even weaker in English. Steve comes from a very big family. There are 14 of them in Steve’s family. A surprise is that Man (will be described later) is Steve’s nephew and both

www.moj-es.net

48


of them are in the same class! Steve has an elder brother in Year 6 and younger brothers, one each in Year 1, 2 and 3. Steve is very good in skill work but is weak in academics. He has a lot of problems in attendance to school and this affects his studies even more. Both his parents are illiterates and will rarely be present in any of the school meetings. This makes it even difficult for us to discuss Steve’s affairs with his parents. Other than that, Steve is just like other boys, playful and funny but he has never caused any serious disciplinary problems in the school.

Asran: Asran and Steve are cousins. Asran is much better in academic performance in comparison to Steve. Asran does have an attendance problem but not as serious as Steve. Asran has personally told us that he likes English Language because he likes games that we use in the classroom. Unlike Steve, Asran is from a small family of 4 members. He only has a younger brother in Year 3. His father does not stay with them because he works in the town. He only comes home once a month with groceries and money for them. Asran and his brother are taken care of by their mother who washes clothes from house to house to generate more income for the family. Asran’s mother studied until Year 6. This helps him with his studies. His mother will be with him and his brother every night until they finish their homework. Asran comes in as number 3 after Ema and Lily in class. Asran has got potential but needs to be polished well so that he can perform in the UPSR. Asran is active in class and liked by all his friends.

Man: This nephew of Steve is just the size of Haziz. He loves to joke in the class and he will always have something to say that will make the whole class laugh. Man has the most beautiful writing among the boys. He writes neatly and he keeps his books clean and tidy. Man loves tenses so much but has much difficulty stringing words into sentences. Man, similar to Steve, is from a big family. There are 12 of them in his family. Man is the youngest. All his brothers, except one, are married. Man is slow in writing because he makes sure that he does not make any errors when he writes. This leaves him with not being able to copy what is written on the board in time. The teachers complain that Man is a very slow learner. As for us, we do disagree with that. Man, as we see him, is active and just wants to make sure his work is tidy. He is not like other children who will erase the mistake until the paper is torn. Man uses a pen to write and he makes sure he only puts a small line on the wrongly spelt words before continuing the work.

Rafi: It is a unique case with Rafi. He only came in to Year 4 in June after the school decided that he was no longer suitable for Year 3. Rafi was registered to Year 1 together with his younger brother but Rafi was 8 years old compared to the others in Year 1 who were only 7. Rafi acquired the lessons much faster than his classmates. The school discussed with his parents that he could be performing well in his studies if he is moved to Year 4, suitable with his age and maturity. Rafi is another active student in class. Even though he joined the class only in June, he is doing much better than his new classmates in Year 4 now. Rafi is the son of our school gardener. His father can speak English at a satisfactory level where message conveyed is understood. Rafi’s father has asked me personally to give extra guidance to Rafi as his situation is different from his classmates. Rafi has a brother in Year 3 and a sister in Form 1. All the three of them are good in their studies and excel in class. Rafi wants to be a policeman when he grows up. He has never failed to offer us a smile every time he walks in front of us with “Hello” always the next word from that sweet boy.

Fida: Lastly, the cute Fida. Fida is like Nita, an orphan. Fida is looked after by her grandmother. This leaves her with a lot of house chores to be completed after school. Fida has an attendance problem and it is escalating weekly. Fida tells us that she was absent because she was tired after washing the clothes early in the morning! Like other girls in the class, Fida loves pink and her writing is neat too. She comes to school with her best friend in Year 3, Haridah. Fida is a very quiet girl. She does not talk until she is approached. We had difficulty in the beginning of the year identifying and relating to this girl because she did not talk at all when she was asked a few questions about herself. As days went on and activities were done in the class, Fida started talking a little. She still remains silent and will only ask question when probed. Fida needs a lot of guidance in reading and writing, what more in speaking where English language is concerned. She does not have any contacts with the language except in the classroom, just like her other classmates. In reference to the observation checklist, we can say that Fida’s attendance is similar to Steve’s. Fida’s attendance is worrying teachers.

Findings and Discussion We realize that all the participants did have some improvement in their writing process and this is

evident in their samples of work. The only participant who did not improve at all was Steve. Steve had serious

www.moj-es.net

49


problem with attendance and in fact, he also lost many of his writing activity sheets which were supposed to be put together in his portfolio in the classroom.

Table 1 Findings from the observation analysis

Categories Expanding Developing Beginning Emerging

Name Ema, Man & Rafi Asran & Haziz Ros, Arif, Nita & Lily Steve & Fida

Features of improvement

-Tremendous -More confident in writing -Helped friends by proofreading

-Gradual -Active in brainstorming but silent from volunteering -Improved on punctuation

-Minor -Had problems identifying errors -Motivation problem -Focus on draft work -Constantly put their work in the portfolio even after data collection ended

-Very little -Attendance problem

Based on the observation checklist analysis as presented in Table 1, we did a case by case analysis

and also a cross-case analysis. In cross case analysis, we divided the participants into 4 categories of improvement. We coded their observation checklist by looking at the patterns of improvement. The coding used here was adapted from the British Columbia study (1999) in which they put the students’ improvement into four bands as below:

i) Emerging ii) Beginning iii) Developing iv) Expanding Ema, Man and Rafi (Expanding) They showed tremendous improvement in their writing skills. Based on the observation checklist and

the overall view of the portfolio, they constantly improved on their mechanics of writing because all their draft work helped them to make every piece of their writing a better one every time. We also realized that three of them became more confident in writing with some inclusion of Bahasa Melayu words in their reflection entries. All their work was neat in the portfolio and they made sure that they kept all the class tasks given in the drawer in the classroom. Besides that, Ema, Man and Rafi also helped to proofread their friends’ work during the classes. They would always volunteer for their work to be read in front of the classroom even though there were times when each of their work had major grammatical errors. We can say that these three participants have shown that portfolio assessment is indeed a great learning tool in helping them to improve their writing skills.

Asran and Haziz (Developing) These two boys are of similar improvement traits. We can see that they both enjoyed working

together every time there was pair work. They corrected each other’s work and they would only present their work on volunteer basis occasionally. Most of the time, we would just call their names and they would come forward to share their writing with the rest of the class. Both Asran and Haziz were very active in brainstorming activities but they would remain silent when called to read or write voluntarily. They also showed that they love topics related to transportation and building. These boys had much difficulty recalling stories and they said that the stories are ‘girl-type’ of reading. They passed funny comments and remarks but

www.moj-es.net

50


showed major improvement in their writing activities. They acquired punctuation very well after a series of drilling. They can now write simple sentences in paragraphs.

Ros, Arif, Lily and Nita (Beginning) What we mean by minor improvement is that these students showed only little improvement in the

writing activities when portfolio was used in the class. We can say that these four students can be categorized as improving but needing a lot of guidance. Although their work was neat and tidy, they needed much reminding on punctuation. We instructed them to use the dictionary all the time to check on the spelling of the words that they were unsure. These four students have problems identifying their own errors and they rarely helped their friends with proof reading of the final draft. They also had something in common-- problems coming forward to present their work. Even after we offered some reward for those who volunteered to present their work, these students still remained in their seats. We also realized that they like to focus very much on the draft and as we moved on to the revising component, they tend to be slow there. They needed more time in drafting their work. This is evident in the work in their portfolio.

Steve and Fida (Emerging) As described earlier, these two students had serious attendance problems. Based on the observation

checklist, we can see that they only attended the class twice throughout the data collection period. The percentage of their attendance was 25%. They did have a portfolio each but nothing much was in the content. Steven did publish his writing on the bulletin board once but Fida did not at all. We can say that portfolio assessment did not work with these students because of their attendance problem.

When we asked the participants for their response on what they think if their portfolios were assessed and awarded marks, and later the marks were made as their final marks for English Language, all the nine of them were ecstatic. They agreed and the following excerpts of what they said proved their liking for this authentic assessment:

‘I like it. I will get good marks in English. Not like now, I get low marks because I can’t do well in exam.

If marks are taken from my portfolio, I will be happy. Portfolio is easy. I can discuss with my friends and can share answers. I like projects in portfolio where I can work with my friends.’

(Participant 2) ‘I like portfolio as my marks because with portfolio I will get high marks. Sir gave me 35/50 for my

portfolio. Usually I will only get 10/40 for my paper II. I will be sad. With portfolio, I get high marks and I am happy.’ (Participant 8)

Participants were also asked if the portfolio helped them in writing. The responses were

overwhelming because all of them agreed that it helped them in many ways. ‘There is improvement in my writing. My writing becomes neater and my paragraphing is better.

Now, I think my writing is better because I keep all my exercises from class work in the portfolio and I will refer to it before I start with my new exercise that Sir gives in class.’

(Participant 1) ‘Portfolio really helps me in writing. If I don’t have portfolio, I may have lost all the photocopied

exercises and I will never know how to write sentences. Now, with portfolio, I can write better and Sir says that my writing is neat.

(Participant 6) When asked about what they liked best in the assessment, their responses were: ‘I like to work with friends because when I forget, my friends remind me and when my friends forget,

I remind them. It was fun to do the labelling of the parts of a bicycle, where we work together to get the highest marks for our group.’

(Participant 6)

www.moj-es.net

51


‘I like portfolio because most of the time I don’t have to work alone. Sir will divide us into groups and

pairs and we get to discuss answers. That is what I like the most in portfolio.’ (Participant 2) The participants were clear about the purpose of portfolio use in the classroom. They came to the

realization that, with portfolio, they could learn English better without having to think of low grades that they used to get previously. Their work was systematic and organized with all the task sheets and exercises documented with days and dates written on every sheet.

Portfolio helps in their writing. This is not merely from what is stated in the literature review, but indeed it is proven in the present study. We saw tremendous and gradual improvement in mechanics of writing in our students’ work. This is parallel with Hatcher and Goddard (2005) who noted that if students follow closely to the writing format given by the teacher, their writing will eventually improve and it will make them more confident to enjoy their work.

It was also evident in the data analysis that compilation of work helps the students for future references. This goes along with Collins (1992, p. 452) who defined portfolio as “a container of collected evidence with a purpose” where the evidence consists of documents that can be used by “one person or group of persons to infer another person’s knowledge, skill, and/or disposition”. We agree to this because in this study this is what we found the most. The students use their previous tasks as a guide for the present one as well as to reflect on what was missing in the previous one to avoid the mistake in the present task.

From the portfolio, the students learned to check their work and to help their friends. This is evident in the observation where we saw participants helping their weak friends (not to mention some did scold the others!). The important point is that learning takes place with the portfolio.

Besides sentence construction, we realized that portfolio was also helpful in group work. This is said by the students themselves when they were asked how it helps them:

‘I like group work the best in portfolio. I love to see us working in groups and Sir awards something for the group which finishes early and gets the highest marks. I can see my friends and I are all happy with that.’

(Participant 7)

CONCLUSIONS

As far as portfolio assessment is concerned, we believe that educators must be open to an array of ideas from authentic assessment. It is much talked about in today’s agenda of educational issues where meaningful, authentic assessment is the key to improving the quality of education.

When portfolio assessment is to be used in the classroom, teachers must be prepared for the workload where if the number of students is unmanageable, teachers must be able to devise a method on monitoring the progress of each child. With that, an assistant teacher would be a helping hand.

The findings from our study suggest that students need attention from the teacher. We understand that from the portfolio, the teacher is able to see where the child is standing on the line of progress and can provide appropriate guidance and remedial activities to help the child further. Baack (1997) and Melville (1996) justified that portfolios also allow the teachers to track progress, view individual growth, and foster student reflection in a less stressful way.

Besides that, as far as teaching and learning is concerned, teachers are always looking for patterns in the students’ improvement. The portfolio is the helping tool for teachers to make decisions upon a child’s progress and thus, leads to the discussion with parents where evidence of the child’s work in the classroom will make parents see where the child is going in his or her academic achievement. Ocak and Ulu (2009) elaborated that by using portfolio, parents agree that their children’s progress is clearly evident with the proof of their work being kept and documented well in the portfolio.

Using portfolio in a classroom of young learners in a rural school is beneficial and effective in helping them in writing instruction in the English Language. This is evident from the abovementioned analysis and discussion. Much has been said and it is proven that portfolio use among young learners in assessing their writing skill is indeed a good, valuable idea. Portfolio assessment helps the students to ‘tell’ their teacher their problems in writing. However, most of the time, teachers tend to cross out mistakes and instruct students to do correction. Worse still, if the corrections are not made by the students and no follow up from

www.moj-es.net

52


the teacher is evident to see if the students completed the corrections. With portfolio assessment, teachers have a “device” to see if the work is completed and students have a means to use it to express their problems to their teachers.

REFERENCES

Baack, E. (1997). Portfolio development. English Teaching Forum, 35(2), 38-43.

Chen, Y., & Martin, M. A. (2000). Using performance assessment and portfolio assessment together in elementary classroom. Reading Improvement, 37(1), 32-38.

Collins, A. (1992). Portfolios in Science education: Issue in purpose, structure and authenticity. Science Education, 76(4), 451-463.

Columbia, B. (1999). English as a second language learners: A guide for classroom teachers. Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data.

Creswell, J. W. (2008). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

D’Angelo, B. J. (2009). Using portfolio assessment to discover student learning. Paper presented at the 74th Annual Convention of the Association for Business Communication, November 4-7, Portsmouth, Virginia.

Fahed Al-Serhani, W. (2007). The effect of portfolio assessment on the writing performance of EFL secondary school students in Saudi Arabia. (Unpublished M.A thesis, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia).

Garcia, L., Meyer, J., & Walsh, L. (2002). Improving student writing skills in the primary grades. (Master of Arts Action Research Project, St. Xavier University and SkyLight Professional Development, 2002). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 469 150)

Gürbüz Ocak, & Mustafa Ulu (2009). The views of students, teachers and parents and the use of portfolio at the primary level. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1, 28–36.

Hatcher, D. & Goddard, L. (2005). The writing process: A step by step approach for everyday writers. ........Landa Books.

Lipson, M. Y., Mosenthal, J., Daniels, P., & Woodside-Iron, H. (2000). Process writing in the classrooms of eleven fifth-grade teachers with different orientations to teaching and learning. The Elementary School Journal, 101(2), 209-232.

Losardo, A., & Syverson, A. N. (2001). Alternative approaches to assessing young children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Melville, C. (1996). Portfolios in the world language classroom. Northeast Conference, 40, 52-54.

www.moj-es.net

53


Millan, J. M. (2007). Classroom assessment: Principles and practices for effective standard-based instruction

(4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Mohd. Saat Abbas, Suzihana Saharan, Yahya Che Lah, & Abd. Rashid Mohamad. (2005). Teaching English language writing the photocopy method. The Proceeding of the 3nd International Conference On Measurement and Evaluation in Education (ICEMEE 2005) (pp. 265-275). Penang.

Mohd. Sofi Ali. (2003). English language teaching in primary schools: Policy and implementation concerns. Retrieved from http://www2.moe.gov.my/~ipba/EJournal/Mohdsofi.pdf/

Osman Birgin, & Adnan Baki. (2007). The use of portfolio to assess student’s performance. [Electronic version]. Journal of Turkish Science Education, 4(2), 75-90.

Popham, W. J. (1999). Classroom assessment: What teachers need to know (2nd. ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Stiggins, J. R. (2001). Student-involved classroom assessment (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merill Prentice Hall.

Thomas,C., Britt, P., Blackbourn, J.M., Blackbourn, R., Papason, B., Tyler, J. L., & Williams, F. K. (2004-2005). Portfolio assessment: A guide for teachers and administrators. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal Electronic, 23(4), 1-8.

www.moj-es.net

54

http://www2.moe.gov.my/%7Eipba/EJournal/Mohdsofi.pdf/