Malaysian Educational Context Research Articles

A Review of Learner’s Model for Programming in Teaching and Learning

Over recent years, computer science (CS) teachers and instructor have faced several challenges in assisting students to strengthen their understanding of programming. To make matters worse, existing assessment methods could be more effective in assessing students' programming skills and knowledge, thus entailing a review of issues surrounding the instructions of programming courses. Against this backdrop, the authors accomplished a systematic review of the current literature to identify several socio-cognitive factors that can help develop a learner model for learning programming. Specifically, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) technique was utilized to identify and select pertinent articles from three primary online databases: Scopus, Web of Science, and Eric. Initially, 401 relevant papers were identified and retrieved, which were further reduced to only 24 articles based on specific selection criteria. As revealed, several demographic factors (such as gender, age, ethnicity, and SES) and socio-cognitive factors (motivation, attitude, and interest) have been shown to wield significant impacts on student learning of programming. The authors' findings of the systematic literature review helped synthesize the learner model's essential elements that must be carefully considered and used. Arguably, the use of such a new learner model can oblige guide instructors to teach programming more efficaciously by crystallizing several students' socio-cognitive backgrounds, which collectively have a significant impact on student learning of programming courses or subjects at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of education, especially in the Malaysian educational context.

A Study on Awareness, Exposure and Attitude towards Digital Citizenship among University Students in Malaysia

Digital citizenship has received considerable huge attention from numerous researchers in recent years. Due to the tremendous work put forth by the scholars, the researchers aimed to explore in-depth the relationship between students’ aptitude towards digital citizenship in the Malaysian educational context. This survey gathered 256 responses from 17 public universities from the central region, north region, south region, and the east region as well as East Malaysia. Three independent variables namely students’ awareness, students’ exposure, and students’ attitude and their relationships with digital citizenship (digital security, digital etiquette, and digital rights and responsibilities) as dependent variables were examined. This study relied on Partial Least Square Modeling (PLS-SEM) to probe the relationship between the IV and DV. A higher-order construct was studied with a focus on the reflective model. The internal consistency, factor loading, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the constructs with their indicators were all tested using the measurement model. The structural model was applied to measure the relationship between the constructs. This research reported that there was a substantial relationship between students' awareness, exposure, and attitude toward digital citizenship. In conclusion, public university students in Malaysia were well informed, exposed, and had a meticulous attitude towards digital citizenship; however, proper training and well guidelines have to be emphasized in a certain area, especially from the spectrum of digital security. Further study is encouraged, and further recommendations were also discussed in this paper.

The cultural dimensions of inquiry-based practices: towards a comprehensive understanding

ABSTRACT Inquiry-based science teaching and learning (IBSTL) has been recognized as a powerful learning approach to develop students’ problem-solving abilities and higher-order thinking skills. Research has established cultural dimensions in determining successful implementation of IBSTL. Guided by the importance of context in inquiry, this qualitative study explored the cultural dimensions of IBSTL from Malaysian science teachers’ conceptualizations and practices of inquiry. A total of 223 volunteering primary and secondary school science teachers from Malaysian public schools were involved in answering open-ended questions to investigate the cultural dimensions of IBSTL. Data were analysed using thematic analysis approach. Teachers were found to reaffirm the following cultural aspects (maintaining social harmony, educator–learner relationship, balance in learning and failure avoidance) in the success and failure of implementing IBSTL. These cultural dimensions, namely educator–learner relationship and failure avoidance, were enacted both by the students and teachers. Thus, a successful IBSTL environment depends on both students’ and teachers’ roles that are aligned with the inquiry spirit. Therefore, unless and until the cultural influences are addressed, it can be argued that structured and guided IBSTL is the most compatible form of inquiry in the Malaysian education context and other Asian countries that share similar cultural values.

Assessing CEFR-Readiness Test in Malaysian ESL Classroom: An Insight from English Language Teachers in Pulau Pinang

Malaysian education has undergone several changes since the implementation of Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB) 2013-2025. The reformation of MEB has brought Common European Framework of References (CEFR) in Malaysian English Language Teaching (ELT). The implementation of CEFR was perceived as a great platform that can improve the standard of ELT in the country to be at the global standard. Realising this aspiration, the government proposed to relook and redevelop the proficiency among English language teachers. Hence, CEFR-Readiness Test was administered to measure the language proficiency level among the English language teachers in accordance with CEFR level descriptors. This paper will be looking into the awareness and the views of teachers towards the implementation of CEFR-Readiness Test. In addition, this study also will delve into looking at the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) measures that can be taken to improve the CEFR-Readiness Test based on the perspectives of secondary school teachers. The data was collected through mixed method approach by using the questionnaires and open-ended questions in the questionnaire to address the research objectives of the study. This study concluded that ESL teachers have a high level of awareness towards the implementation of CEFR-Readiness Test. However, they posited a negative view towards CEFR-Readiness initiative in measuring their language proficiency. Hence, several improvement measures like facilities improvement, task redesign, teachers’ training and time allocation have been proposed in the findings of the research. The findings of the research will be useful in upgrading the quality control of assessment tools pertaining to CEFR in Malaysian education context.

The 4th Wave Evolution of Digital Citizenship Concept? Proposing Digital Citizenship Concept for Malaysia Context

Online world demands new sets of characteristics to warrant the ability to cope with its constantly evolving challenges and risks. Digital citizenship, a concept introduced, focusing on new ways of learning and exploring in an online environment safely, securely, and appropriately. The evolution of digital citizenship could be seen along with the changes in technology used in education, and requires students to engage with technology longer hours than before. Thus, how can we approach the challenge of using technology actively and immersively, while maintaining sanity and wellness, and building resilience to potential online risk? Thus, this conceptual paper proposes a new concept of digital citizenship by bridging the notions of wellness and resilience from the psychology discipline into digital citizenship, for its feasibility in the Malaysian educational context. This paper argues the necessity and potential integration of the spiritual element that is lacking in the existing digital citizenship concept, which has proven its significance in enhancing wellness and resilience of adolescent in the literature. It is hoped this fourth wave of proposed digital citizenship concept would bring fruitful discussion and contribute to a better understanding of how one might better socialize online or participate with others in a positive and meaningful way. Thus, only then, digital resilience and digital wellness will be established and a better future online society will be formed.

Exploring Teachers’ Practices in Teaching Robotics Programming in Primary School

Programming and coding are important skills and competencies in the 21st century. Due to this importance, robotics programming has been introduced in the Malaysian education system since 2013. Robotics is important in education because it could be used to cultivate various skills. Various studies have been conducted on robotics and its applications in education, and proponents of robotics believe that using robotics to teach programming could be impactful and effective in the Malaysian education context. On the other hand, many students think that programming is challenging. Consequently, some questions have arisen, such as the suitable programming language or platform to be used in Malaysian Primary School and the best instructional method. Studies have also examined the existing robotics modules used in the teaching and facilitation (T&F) process, in which it was found that the current curriculum is focused on introducing robotic programming. In this regard, there is a need to explore the current teaching design, pedagogy, and teachers’ practices. Therefore, this study is aimed to explore the teachers’ practice in teaching robotics programming as part of the Design and Technology (RBT) subject in Primary School. This study discusses teachers’ practices, the issues in robotics programming education, the importance of robotics to education, especially in primary schools, and the robotics kits and programming languages or platforms commonly used in schools. This study is a qualitative case study, and data were collected using in-depth interviews. The findings of this study have produced several key themes, namely: (a) RBT teacher practices (GRBT) in T&F, (b) Strategies in lesson planning, (c) Challenges and obstacles of T&F, (d) Use of technology, and (e) Teacher’s commitment. These are hoped to help educators, education administrators, and policymakers to understand the implications of robotics teaching in teaching programming.

Malaysian ESL Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices Regarding the Use of Music and Songs in Second Language Teaching

Regardless of numerous studies supporting the effectiveness of utilizing music and songs in second language teaching, there is a remarkably limited amount of research investigating how music and songs are actually used by language teachers and the beliefs underpinning their practices, particularly in the Malaysian educational context. This qualitative study explored Malaysian ESL teachers’ beliefs and practices with regard to the use of music and songs in language instruction at different levels of education as well as factors influencing their instructional practices. The research participants consisted of five primary-level, five secondary-level and five tertiary-level ESL teachers working at public and private educational institutions, who were selected using purposeful sampling strategy. Data were gathered through individual semi-structured interviews and analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s (1994) framework for qualitative data analysis. Findings of the study indicated the ESL teachers from all three levels of education held overall positive beliefs about the benefits and appropriateness of music and songs as a teaching tool and utilized them in various ways to promote students’ language learning. A number of factors were found to influence the teachers’ use of music and songs in their classrooms. The findings of the study have implications for various educational stakeholders.

Technology adoption in Malaysian schools: An analysis of national ICT in education policy initiatives

Educational change, particularly change involving the adoption of educational innovations, is a complex process. In Malaysia, the significant role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in promoting digital education is reflected in the national ICT in education policy. Nevertheless, studies in the Malaysian educational context have shown that the policy implementation resulted in varying degrees of success. Through a discourse analysis approach, this paper aims to examine the evaluation studies on large scale initiatives introduced to digitize the Malaysian education system, from the Smart Schools programme to the incorporation of the Frog Virtual Learning Environment in classroom. The rationale behind these top-down initiatives and how they affected the stakeholders at the micro level, namely, teachers and students, are reviewed and analysed. The analysis informs our understanding of the factors that contribute to the successful and unsuccessful implementation of these initiatives and guide the planning of future policies.

ITEM ANALYSIS FOR THE MODIFIED VERSION OF ADOLESCENT PARENTING ATTITUDE FOUR FACTOR QUESTIONNAIRE USING RASCH MEASUREMENT MODEL

This study aims to conduct a validity and reliability test on the modified version of adolescent parenting attitude four factor questionnaire (APA-FFQ) with rasch measurement model. The adapted instrument consisted of 40 items based on 4 constructs namely authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and uninvolved parenting style. Some modifications have been carried out to improve the item clarity and to capture the type of maternal and paternal parenting style. Based on the sample size of 70 adolescents from one of the private higher education institution in Malaysia, the analysis revealed that all items from the modified version of APA-FFQ fits the model as the value of infor and outfit mean square (MNSQ) fell within the acceptable range of 0.50 to 1.50 with positive Point Measure Correlation (PTMEA) value. The dimensionality analysis also revealed that all items involved were measured what it supposed to measure and possessed a strong unidimensionality. Furthermore, the separation and reliability analysis showed that all items and respondents are stable and consistent when tested with different items in measuring the same construct. Therefore, the instrument can be adapted in the Malaysian educational context.

Validity and Reliability of the Teacher Leadership Inventory in Malaysian Educational Context

The aims of this article is to report the validity and reliability of the Teacher Leadership Self Assessment (TLSA). The sample of the study consists of 244 trained teachers who are chosen using random sampling technique from 19 secondary schools in Perak. The content validity, criterion validity and construct validity analyses have been carried out by using this set of data. The findings of this study using panel of expert views, Pearson correlation analysis and exploratory factor analysis through orthogonal rotation with varimax method has formed six factors, consisted of twenty eight-items of TLSA with factor loadings range from .52 -.74. The reliability Cronbach Alpha coefficient for the overall item is .91, meanwhile for each factor developed ranged from .66 to .83. As the conclusion, these analyses have generate a new pool of TLSA item to measure the construct of teacher leadership in Malaysian Educational context. However, the findings are valuable for the ministry of education, researchers, teachers, and teacher educators' references, which are interested more in exploring teacher leadership self assessment.

Technology-Assisted Mind Mapping Technique in Writing Classrooms: An Innovative Approach

In language acquisition research, four important language skills form complete communication components consisting of listening, speaking, reading and writing. To aid in the acquisition of these core language skills, mind maps can be used in a multitude of ways, for instance to generate, to visualize, to structure and also to organize ideas. Other than these, mind mapping techniques can be employed to study and collect new information, to solve difficulties, to make decisions and finally to write purposefully. The present study was carried out to investigate the multipronged approach that can be adopted to inspire and support students who want to use mind mapping techniques in their English language writing classrooms. In this paper, we review previous work in this area and highlight present studies that explore the implementation of technology-assisted mind mapping techniques in the pre-writing stage. The results of the study reported in this paper indicate that attitudes of writing students became significantly more positive toward the adoption of technology-assisted mind mapping techniques. This is particularly true with reference to their pre-writing activities, in order to enhance their writing skills in ESL (English as a Second Language) classrooms in the Malaysian education context.

THE MALAYSIAN EFL LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY AND THE IMPACT ON EFL READING PROFICIENCY: A REVIEW

Within the Malaysian setting, the English language is a foreign language that is widely used and has gained its status as a prominent linguistic liaison not only in the political, economic and social domains, but also within the educational context. Hailed as a lingua franca, the English language maintains its significance at the global level and due to such status; it has been made a mandatory subject at the elementary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions in Malaysia. The purpose of this paper is to present the review of English as a foreign language (EFL) in terms of its historical path and its connection to EFL literacy issues within the Malaysian educational context. The historical review of the Malaysian education with regards to EFL reveals that the mandatory inclusion of the English language in the school and higher institutions’ curriculum could be traced back as a linguistic culturalization effect of the British colonization. The review also indicates that the pattern of inclusion of the EFL in the Malaysian educational system seems to be developmental in nature but with some patterns of consistency at the initial stage of its inclusion. As with regards to the EFL literacy issues, the review shows that the shifting from the English medium to the Malay medium in Malaysian public schools could be inferred as one of the causes of the emergence of issues in the EFL literacy amongst Malaysian learners. The outcomes of the review have implications on EFL policy and curriculum development as well as their future revisions in the Malaysian context.

The Malaysian EFL Education: A Brief Historical Review and Literacy Issues

Hailed as a lingua franca, the English language maintains its significance at the global level and due to such status, ithas been made a mandatory subject at the elementary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Malaysia. This paperpresents the review of English literacy in terms of its historical path and its status as a second language (EFL) issueswithin the Malaysian educational context. Document review was conducted for the study to find out the MalaysianEnglish literacy historical path. A library research on mainstream journals was carried out to find out EFL literacyissues in Malaysia. The historical review reveals that the mandatory inclusion of the English literacy in the schooland higher institutions’ curriculum could be traced back as a linguistic culturalization effect of the Britishcolonization. The review also indicates that the pattern of inclusion of the English literacy in the Malaysianeducational system seems to be developmental in nature but with some patterns of consistency at the initial stage ofits inclusion. With regards to the EFL literacy issues, the review shows that the shifting from the English to theMalay medium in public schools could be inferred as one of the root causes of the emergence of issues in the EFLliteracy amongst Malaysian learners. The outcomes of the review have implications on English literacy policy, futurerevisions of English literacy curriculum to alleviate the current EFL literacy issues and to increase its effectiveness inEFL teaching and learning in the Malaysian context.

Online Teaching Portfolio as a Catalyst for Professional Development

In today’s world that is constantly changing with new technologies, teachers are faced with significant challenges which they can meet by engaging in optimal professional development. As an effective tool to deepen teachers’ understanding of their role and prospects, teaching portfolios have been traditionally used in teacher education and development. Made possible by recent technological innovations, online teaching portfolios have naturally emerged as a value-added form of professional development to be employed by teachers who are willing to respond to the constant changes in our digital age. The present paper aims to analyse the role, potential and advantages of online teaching portfolios within the context of teacher professional development in view of current research and literature, as compared to traditional paper-based teaching portfolios. Research findings suggest that the advantages and positive effects of utilizing online teaching portfolios on professional development outweigh the drawbacks and difficulties encountered by teachers. Online teaching portfolios not only spur reflection, creativity and collaboration among teachers, but also yield such complementary benefits as the enhancement of their social and linguistic competences as well as ICT skills. The employment of online teaching portfolios perfectly captures the very nature of self-directed professional learning and provides a rationale for undertaking other forms of professional development. It is anticipated that the online teaching portfolio, if implemented within the Malaysian educational context, will catalyse the personal and professional growth of both in- service and pre-service teachers through its capacity to foster and maintain continuous development and reflection on competences and accomplishments.

Exploring the Conceptual and Psychometric Properties of Alternative Assessment using the Rasch Measurement Model

The aim of this study is to develop and provide the evidence of psychometric evaluation of an instrument to measure the implementation of an alternative assessment in the context of Islamic education teachings at primary school level. In order to conceptualize alternative assessment implementation, a 32-item questionnaire was designed and administered to a group of 105 primary school teachers teaching Islamic education subject. The respondents were selected through purposive sampling. Content validity is conducted by two experts in the field from an education university. Then, the construct validity and reliability are assessed using the Rasch Measurement Model by identifying the scale rating, uni-dimensionality, item polarity, item fit, item difficulty index, item reliability, person reliability and separation index. The findings revealed that the structure calibration value with the difference of threshold is between 1.4 and 5.0. The values of PMC range from 0.46 to 0.72. All items are in the range of 0.6 to 1.4. Item C17 is removed, and it is the most difficult item. Item reliability is 0.88, person reliability is 0.97 and the separation index is 8.82 for items and 3.68 for person. The overall item quality is good. Obviously, this study does look into the implementation of AA from the sources available, the teaching strategies used by teachers and also the challenges they face in the Malaysian educational context. This validated instrument could be used for real study and also as a self-assessment tools for teachers. Teachers could then determine their strength and weaknesses.

Validity and Reliability of Locomotor Development Inventory in Malaysian Education Context

The purpose of this article is to report the, validity and reliability of locomotor development inventory that has been used to evaluate locomotor development of children aged 7, 8 and 9 years old. The first phase of the study has been carried out through Exploratory Factor Analysis and test re-test procedure by using data from 90 boys from a primary school in Penang, Malaysia. The Exploratory Factor Analysis through orthogonal rotation varimax method has shown six sub test have been developed. Meanwhile, the test re-test coefficient is .98. The reliability and objectivity of the assistant examiner also have been obtained, the r coefficient ranged from .88 to .95 and ranged from .84 to .92, accordingly. The Cronbach Alpha of the overall items is .82. For the second phase of the study, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis as well as Pearson correlation analysis has been carried out toward data of 192 boys from the primary schools in Malaysia. The purpose of this analysis is to support the factor structure developed from the first phase of the study. The Cronbach Alpha of the items is .82, meanwhile for each subtest developed ranged from .74 to .89. As the conclusion, the result of Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the six subtest developed from the first phase of the study and the subtest are distinctive.

An Analysis of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale within the Malaysian Context using the Rasch Measurement Model

Many concerns have been raised about the psychometric properties of instruments when used in different culture. Studies show that adaptation of instrument within a particular context sometimes has different meaning since a particular psychology construct is considered cultural specific. The purpose of the present study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) within the Malaysian educational context A total of 191 Malaysian in-service and 122 pre-service teachers participated in the study. A Rasch Measurement Model analysis is used to examine the psychometric properties of the scale, particularly the reliability and construct validity. Analyses showed somewhat similar variability with the in-service group demonstrated wider spread of item difficulty compared to the pre-service teachers. One important observation was that both group endorsed different set of items. Consistency of both item difficulty and teachers’ efficacy were high and threats to construct validity in terms of construct irrelevant-variance and construct under-representation were minimum. One worrying finding, however, was that the differential item function (DIF) analysis showed that 13 items (54.17%) behaved significantly different across groups of teachers. Even though several items shown to behave differently across both group of teachers, overall results are encouraging and seem to support the suitability of the TSES to assess teachers’ sense of efficacy within the Malaysian educational context.

Qualitative findings of students’ perception on practice of self-regulated strategies in online community discussion

With rapid emergence to the birth of the knowledge era, an active and interactive learning environment is fundamental to any teaching and learning process. Over time, negative implications of traditional learning environment are mounting, and measures must be taken to challenge it. With extensive research on available learning tools, it has become more feasible to provide our students with better learning opportunities. Such was the anticipation in the Malaysian educational context. Hence, this paper aims to address qualitative findings of a study on self-regulated learning strategies conveyed through the proposed interactive e-learning community ( iELC). In duration of eight weeks, students ( n = 50) from regular national secondary schools were subjected to online learning tasks aimed to advance strategies on self-regulated learning. To date, strategies of self-regulated learning have been perceived as key to learner to succeed academically and after the schooling years. By means of semi-structured interview, data were collected from small group and one-to-one perception. Results were directed at the overall development of self-regulated learning strategies and its diffusion in the iELC discussion platform. Conclusively, these findings add significantly to the understanding of self-regulated learning strategies in an online learning environment.

The Quality of Interface Design for Educational Courseware Development in Malaysian Educational Context

Interactive educational courseware has been adopted in diverse education sectors such as primary, secondary, tertiary education, vocational and professional training. In Malaysian educational context, the ministry of education has implemented Smart School Project that aims to increase high level of academic achievement in primary and secondary schools by using interactive educational courseware. However, many researchers have reported that many coursewares fail to accommodate the learner and teacher needs. In particular, the interface design is not appropriately designed in terms of quality of learning. This paper reviews educational courseware development process in terms of defining quality of interface design and suggests a conceptual model of interface design through the integration of design components and interactive learning experience into the development process. As a result, it defines the concept of interactive learning experience in a more practical approach in order to implement each stage of the development process in a seamless and integrated way.