scholarly journals Advancing Intercultural Competence among National Secondary School Students through Malaysian English Literary Texts (MELT)

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh ◽  
Fatin Najwa Amelia Marsani
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Extensive Reading ◽  
School Students ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
Text Selection

The aims of English literature component in the Malaysian English Language curriculum as outlined by the Ministry of Education (MoE) (2009) are to improve the students’ proficiency through reading, respond to texts, understand and appreciate other cultures and relate events and characters to one’s own life. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to assess the intercultural elements in a short story titled Tanjung Rhu used as the Form Four English literature component text and another Malaysian English literary text (MELT) titled Deep Fried Devils. The assessment of intercultural elements in the two MELTs will provide opportunity for a MELT that can better advance intercultural competence among national secondary school students. Qualitative data comparing two MELTs is collected using a checklist for selecting and evaluating multicultural MELT by Harper and Brand (2010). Content analysis comparison of the story, characters, plot and settings was conducted using Atlas.ti 7.0 version software. Findings indicate Deep Fried Devils has better intercultural elements to promote intercultural competence among Malaysian national secondary school students of diverse ethnicity. This research recommends Deep Fried Devils to be considered as part of the English literature component in next text selection cycle by the Malaysian MoE or as extensive reading material for Form Four students to develop their intercultural competence. The findings provide insights to guide policy makers, curriculum designers and literature text selection committee in recognizing cultural diversity elements in MELT and choosing suitable MELT for promoting intercultural competence among Malaysian national school students.

scholarly journals An Intercultural Reading Programme (IRP) to Enhance Intercultural Knowledge among Secondary School Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh ◽  
Fatin Najwa Amelia Marsani ◽  
Paramaswari Jaganathan ◽  
Ahmad Sofwan Nathan Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Reading Program ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Intercultural Understanding ◽  
School Students ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Group Interviews

As a multi ethnic country, Malaysia consists of three major ethnic groups mainly Malays, Chinese, and Indians with unity as its building block. Although education is seen as the best medium for the three major ethnic groups to work together, contemporary research shows that there is lack of intercultural understanding among these three ethnic groups. Therefore, this study focused on a classroom intervention to investigate how Malaysian based English literature can be utilized to promote intercultural understanding among Form Four secondary school students via reading. This qualitative research design study collected data through focus group interviews and journal entry. This research explored intercultural knowledge among Form Four students through the Intercultural Reading Program (IRP). Findings indicate that the IRP intervention improved Form Four students’ level of intercultural knowledge. This research puts forward suggestions to the Ministry of Education such as integrating IRP in its secondary schools’ English Literature curriculum.

scholarly journals PERCEPTIONS OF SPEECH COMPETENCES IN FIRST AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS (Percepcija govornih kompetencija u materinskome i stranome jeziku kod učenika završnih razreda srednje škole)

2019 ◽  
Vol X (28) ◽  
pp. 203-224
Author(s):  
Ivana Odža ◽  
Mirjana Matea Kovač
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Grammar School ◽  
School Students ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Speech Disfluency ◽  
Insufficient Knowledge ◽  
Speaking Skills

The paper examines the attitudes of secondary school students, e. g. grammar school and craftmanship secondary school, toward their own language competences in the native (Croatian) and foreign (English) language. The testing instrument is a questionnaire with statements compiled according to questionnaires used to study attitudes toward the native and / or foreign language. The aim of the research is to observe the level of awareness of the respondents about their own language competences. The results of the statistical analysis indicate that the students of both populations are satisfied with their speaking skills in both languages. They also claim to recognize their own errors, as well as the errors and speech disfluencies of others. Grammar school students, unlike students from the craftmanship secondary school, find the introduction of a course that would further develop speaking skills useful. The obtained results are not in line with the dominant curricular guidelines for teaching the native language, especially those related to the area of speaking competences, emphasizing the need to strengthen the basic, spoken, and consequently written competences of students. The reasons for such attitudes could be explained by insufficient knowledge of the underlying features of highly developed communication competence and consequently of insufficient awareness of their own, as a necessary prerequisite for successful interaction in the contemporary society. The research results point to the necessity of acquiring a more objective perception of students about their own language competences. Keywords: speaking competences; speech errors; speech disfluency; students’ attitudes.

scholarly journals Investigation the attitudes of secondary school students towards the use of saying and words of wisdom in learning English at secondary level in Gaza

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-199
Author(s):  
Wafaa Ibrahim Alnajjar ◽  
◽  
Reem Yahya Mahmoud Shehadh
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
School Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Secondary Female ◽  
Learning English

This paper examined the attitudes of secondary school students towards the use of saying and words of wisdom in learning English as a foreign language in secondary schools in Gaza. Saying and words of wisdom play a significant role in language learning as a part of gaining cultural knowledge. In addition, this study attempted to find out whether they could motivate students to learn English then improve language acquiring through time. 40 secondary female EFL learners were assigned in questionnaires and interviews. Through observation, the researcher convinced that saying and words of wisdom is an important segment in the English Language, and it is a useful piece that has been used to spread wisdom and truths about life. The study reveals the effectiveness and higher rate of retaining of learning vocabulary through the strategy of sayings and words of wisdom compared to the traditional method.

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