Rotational Learning: A New Hope for Learning Writing

Collaboratively in Malaysian ESL classrooms.

Prepared by:

Mohd Zamri bin Azmi (P69256)

“The English language syllabus for primary schools aims to equip learners with basic skills and knowledge of the English language so as to enable them to communicate, both orally and in writing, in and out of school”

(Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia, 2003)

“By the end of Year 6, pupils should be able to:i. communicate with peers and adults confidently and appropriately in formal and informal situations; ii. read and comprehend a range of English texts for information and enjoyment;iii. write a range of texts using appropriate language, style and form through a variety of media; iv. appreciate and demonstrate understanding of English language literary or creative works for enjoyment; and v.use correct and appropriate rules of grammar in speech and writing.”

(Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia, 2012)

1.0 Introduction ‘English in Malaysian Education System’

“Malaysian students do not seem to be able to attain reasonable English literacy even after going through 11 years of learning English in school”

(Naginder, 2006; Nor Hashimah Jalaludin, Norsimah Mat Awal & Kesumawati Abu Bakar, 2008)

“Many Malaysian students face problems with writing in English” (Noriah Ismail, Supyan & Saadiah Darus, 2012)

“The learners have difficulties in using correct English grammar in their writings. Three most frequent errors are wrong use of articles, subject-verb agreement, and copula be”

(Marlyna Maros, Tan Kim Hua, and Khazriyati, 2007)

Besides poor understanding of relative clauses (Eng & Heng, 2005), certain Malaysian ESL students can’t even differentiate simple present tense and past tense (Mohd Hilmi & Juliana, 2010).

2.0 Scenario of Malaysian ESL classroom

2.1 Why are these happening?

RL could be illustrated as an approach that stresses on the importance of learning styles in students’ learning

(Fortney, 2005)

It offers the students to learn according to their preferences by providing them with different stations to learn in the classroom

(Silver, Strong & Perini, 2007)

During the activity, students would alternately move from one station to another station, and collaboratively attempt to complete the different types of provided activities.

3.0 What is Rotational Learning (RL)?

3.1 Diagram of RL

Constructivism“learning is the active process of constructing rather than passively acquiring knowledge. Learners should be seen as the active clients who progressively involved in their learning acquisition”

(Santrock, 2008)

Interactionism“Social interactionism emphasizes the dynamic nature of the interplay between teachers, learners and tasks, and provides a view of learning as arising from interactions with others”

(Woofolk, 2007)

3.2 Underlying theories of RL

3.3.1 ‘Exam-orientedness in Malaysia’

3.3 How does RL benefit learners in learning writing?

Issue How? Explanation

“Malaysians treat examinations very seriously with teachers paying closer attention to classes taking public examinations and training students to be celik ujian (test wise)”

(Tan Kok Eng & Millner, 2007)

“Most Malaysian students experience school as examinations or practice for examinations, rather than as a broad education“

(Nesamalar, Saratha & Teh, 2005)

Teachers relies too heavily on past year examination questions, worksheets and exercise books in teaching certain language skills such as grammar.

(Ambigapathy, 2002)

The use of various

engaging writing-related

activities in different stations.

As rotational learning offers the mode of learning within different station, each station could offer various engaging ‘writing’ activities. This might increase the active participation from learners, as they might feel the provided writing activities are not ‘dry’, which hopefully could lead them to learn better in writing.

3.3.2 ‘Common language errors in writing’

Issue How? Explanation

“In writing, numbers of ESL learners in general have problems related to punctuations, language use and conventions”

(Neda , Mariann Edwina & Seyyed Hossein Kashef, 2012)

Malaysian ESL learners in general frequently commit mistakes in subject-verb agreement, adjectives, adverbs, plural forms and copula.

(Nor Hashimah, Norsimah, & Kesumawati, 2008)

“Many teachers complains students hesitate to write and leave their writing half done because writing appears difficult to them”

(Parlah, Wan Hamimah, Rosseni, Aminudin & Khalid, 2011)

The mastery learning

approach.

As RL focuses very much on the learner-centredness, this approach enables learners to learn step-by-step and ensure them to master certain basics of language completely before proceed to the advanced level; for example, in learning ‘Simple Sentence’, below are the suggested activities which could be considered:

-Station A : ‘Subj + Pred’ activity-Station B : ‘Jigsaw words’ activity-Station C : ‘Note expansion’.-Station D: Sentence construction

*Jigsaw word – Word strips would be given, and need to be arranged correctly in order to form a sentence.

Issue How? Explaination

“Many ESL learners are unable to write critically due to the low level of motivation and poor attitude towards writing”

(Noriah Ismail, Saadiyah Darus & Supyan Hussin, 2012)

“Feedbacks given by teachers regarding student’s writing are too grammar-based instead of focusing on the content”

(‘Grading and Giving Feedback on ESL Writing, n.d.)

- Feedback session.

- Dialogic Interaction (Tc-Ss | Ss-Ss) during the writing activities.

- RT offers more room for teachers and students to do the feedback session. Teachers could positively comment on student’s complete essay or perhaps during the writing process itself during the RL session for example, by responding to how the essay could be written critically.

- Meaningful interaction or discussion between learners and teacher during the RL session could stimulate critical thinking among them which hopefully could be seen through the given writing tasks.

3.3.3 ‘Lack of critical thinking in writing’

Challenges Suggestions

Time constrain

-Limited time to provide materials for the ‘big size’ classrooms.

- Limited contact hours of English

Propose for extra weekly English hours, so the modification in RL could be done effectively in term of having the numbers of ‘activity’ station in each session; for example, the 30-minute lesson might not able to accommodate for more than two stations; therefore, the extra weekly English hours could allow for more sessions of RL in the classroom.

Classroom management

-‘Big-size’ classroom might allow more disruptive behaviours to occur if the students start to off-task

(Nesamalar, Saratha & Teh 2005)

Besides having teacher assistant, the disruptive behaviours probably could be deterred by having an extra facilitator to assist the teacher. These facilitators could consist of parents, teachers or perhaps other reliable individuals. They could help to assist the learners in every station, so the learners would be consistently on- task.

4.0 Challenges & Workable solutions

Ambigapathy, P. (2002). English language teaching in Malaysia today. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 22(2), 35-52. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0218879020220205#preview

Eng, W. B., & Heng, C. S. (2005). English relative clause: what Malay learners know and use. Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Human, 13(1), 107-115

Fortney, B. (2005). Effective teaching using learning styles and multiple intelligences. Retrieved December 1, 2013 from http:/webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:nkBUEZZskmkJ:ad013.k12.sd.us/Amy%27s%2520Portfolio/S2.1/S2.1.doc+Bob+Fortney+EDUC+6615:+Effective+Teaching+Using+Learning+Styles+and+Multiple+Intelligences+December+18,+2005&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au

Grading and Giving Feedback on ESL Wrting. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2013 from http://www.ocadu.ca/Assets/pdf_media/ocad/faculty/esl2012/Grading+and+Giving+Feedback+on+ESL+Writing.pdf

Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia. (2003). Huraian Sukatan pelajaran kurikulum bersepadu sekolah Rendah [Curriculum Specification for Primary Schools]. Kuala Lumpur: Pusat Perkembangan Kurikulum, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.

Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia. (2012). Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah [Curriculum Standard for Primary Schools]. Kuala Lumpur: Pusat Perkembangan Kurikulum, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.

Marlyna Maros, Tan Kim Hua, & Khazriyati Salehuddin. (2007). Interference in learning English: Grammatical errors in English essay writing among rural Malay secondary school students in Malaysia. Journal e-Bangi, 2(2), 1-15.

Mohd.Hilmi, H., & Juliana Emilia, D. (2010). Using grammar games in teaching grammar: A case study in SMK Damai Jaya. Unpublished Manuscript

Naginder Kaur. (2006). Non-autonomy and low-English proficiency among Malaysian students: Insights from multiple perspectives. In Kamisah Ariffin, Mohd. Rozaidi Ismail, Ngo Kea Leng, & Roslina Abdul Aziz. (Eds.), English in the Malaysian context (pp 21-34). Shah Alam: University Publication Centre (UPENA) UiTM.

Neda, G., Mariann Edwina, M. & Seyyed Hossein Kashef. (2012). Investigating Malaysian ESL Students’ Writing Problems on Conventions, Punctuation and Language Use at Secondary School Level. Journal of Studies in Education, 2(3), 130-143

Nesamalar Chitravelu, Saratha Sithamparam & Teh Soo Choon (2005). ELT methodology: Principles and practice. 2nd Edition. Shah Alam: Fajar Bakti Sdn Bhd.

Nor Hashimah, J. Norsimah, M. A., & Kesumawati, A. B. (2008). The mastery of English language among lower secondary school students in Malaysia: A linguistic analysis. European Journal of Social Sciences, 7(2), 106-119.

Parilah, S.M., Wahidah, H. M., Rosseni, D., Aminuddin, Y. & Khalid, M. P. (2011). Self-Efficacy in the writing of Malaysian ESL learners. World Applied Sciences Journal (Innovation and Pedagogy for Lifelong Learning), 15, 08-11

Santrock, W. J. (2008). Educational Psychology (3rd ed). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

Silver, H.F., Strong, R.W. & Perini, M.J. (2007). The strategic teacher: Selecting the right research-based strategy for every lesson. Alexandria: Association for supervision and curriculum development.

Tan Kok Eng & Milner, J. (2007). Writing in English in Malaysian High Schools: The Discourse of Examinations, Language and Education, 21(2), 124-140

Woolfolk, A. (2007). Educational psychology (10th ed.). Pearson.

References