Papers by Ratnawati Mohd Asraf
The field of engineering has workshops incorporated in its stream of study as a space for the res... more The field of engineering has workshops incorporated in its stream of study as a space for the research on and innovation of a unique idea. However, in the field of education, workshops are limited to teacher education and professional development programmes. This paper discusses the possibility of using workshops as a qualitative research approach for Educational Research. To elaborate on this concept, the authors of the paper will inform the readers of the procedures they used in conducting a series of five workshops titled, “Critical thinking through writing Workshop” with 15 pre-university students in a public university in Malaysia in the fall semester of 2017. The findings show that workshops accommodate many characteristics of a qualitative study and can be considered as a research approach for the field of education
International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE), 2022
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined as a lifetime developmental disorder usually identified... more Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined as a lifetime developmental disorder usually identified by social interaction impairment, communication deficits, and repetitive behavior. The cases of children detected with ASD are rising globally, including Malaysia. Parents, as the prime caregiver to these children, face numerous challenges due to what is entailed in taking care of their children. This paper describes a case study where we examined the views and experience of three mothers, each of whom has an ASD child. Data were gathered through face-to-face semi-structured interviews, after which they were transcribed and analyzed using the thematic analysis method. The mothers narrated that the challenges they encountered include the difficulty they had in initially accepting their child’s diagnosis; labelling and discrimination; phase-based temporal challenges; endless physical, emotional, and mental sacrifices; finding the strength and patience to deal with the situation; academic ...
Advanced Science Letters, 2017
Hate speech has been an issue of heated debate amongst legal scholars and human rights activists ... more Hate speech has been an issue of heated debate amongst legal scholars and human rights activists particularly between Western and Eastern countries. This is primarily due to the difference in our conceptions and prioritisation of rights. Freedom of speech is undoubtedly important due to the values it promotes, but too much emphasis on this right has resulted in the neglect of the due exercise of responsibility, often leading to, and perpetuating hate speech. While free speech should be protected, one should not disregard the preservation of public interest and peace within society. The authors argue that hate speech can be justifiably legislated, as it does not help in the attainment of free speech values. Then, the role of hate speech is spreading and reinforcing racism and discrimination are discussed. Focusing on Malaysia, the authors highlight the instances of racial and religious conflict and explain how hate speech aggravates race relations. Lastly, the authors propose a conce...
The last few decades have witnessed the widespread adoption of the communicative approach to teac... more The last few decades have witnessed the widespread adoption of the communicative approach to teaching English to students of other languages with a view of helping them achieve communicative competence. However, in terms of implementation, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has encountered various problems in the EFL and ESL contexts. Drawing on previous research, this article presents the reader with a critical review and synthesis of the issues precluding the usage of CLT in ESL/EFL countries around the world. Specifically, it examines the problems faced by teachers in using the approach and the constraints resulting from their lack of skills and capability, culture, and context and examination-oriented education systems. The article concludes with an emphasis on the need to develop teachers' English language proficiency, provide regular pedagogical training in CLT, adapt the approach to be more culture and context sensitive, and create more authentic language learning asse...
In the past few decades, data from numerous countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Austral... more In the past few decades, data from numerous countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia show that many boys are not performing well on a range of educational achievement measures such as literacy, and that the gap between boys' and girls' performance has increased over time. This paper discusses the results of a study that sought to determine the English literacy performance of Malaysian first graders in English. Using one of the states in the country as a case study, English literacy performance data on approximately 85,000 students from grade 1 were obtained. Teachers’ views were also sought through focus group interviews and journal entries. The results show that girls outperformed boys on all English literacy constructs.
International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 2016
The performance of boys in literacy has become an issue of increasing concern around the globe. T... more The performance of boys in literacy has become an issue of increasing concern around the globe. This paper discusses the results of a study that sought to determine the literacy performance of Malaysian primary schoolers. Using one of the states in the country as a case study, data on approximately 85,000 students from grades 1, 2, and 3 were obtained. Teachers' view were also sought through focus group interviews and journal entries. The results show that although there is an overall improvements in literacy performance in the national language among the students as they go into Grades 2 and 3, girls are found to outperform boys in every screening for all grade levels.
Advanced Science Letters, 2017
Islam places strong emphasis for Muslims to seek for knowledge and for them to think and reflect.... more Islam places strong emphasis for Muslims to seek for knowledge and for them to think and reflect. This paper discusses the importance of seeking knowledge in Islam and the importance of critical thinking in the quest for knowledge. It also discusses the critical and analytical thinking ability of Malaysian students and graduates, and the need to teach critical thinking in Malaysian schools. Further, it proposes that critical thinking be taught through critical reading and how this would best be achieved in the Literature classroom .
International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 2021
Even though listening comprehension is an important language skill in second language learning, i... more Even though listening comprehension is an important language skill in second language learning, it is considered to be the most difficult skill to learn. Besides, the teaching of listening comprehension among primary pupils is often neglected even though the role of listening comprehension in language teaching has been repeatedly emphasized. Using an action research design, this study explores the teaching of listening comprehension utilizing YouTube and Video-Podcast involving 40 Primary Year 4 pupils from one of the cluster schools of excellence in the northern region of Malaysia. This study attempts to investigate to what extent did the use of YouTube and Video-Podcast enhance Primary Year 4 pupils’ listening comprehension. This study adopted multiple data collection methods including pre-post tests, reflection, observation, and focused group interviews. However, the data analysis section was mostly pre and post tests data and observation. Only these data collection and analysis ...
Advanced Science Letters, 2018
Arab World English Journal, 2017
Mobile Assisted Language Learning, known as MALL, is an approach to language learning that is enh... more Mobile Assisted Language Learning, known as MALL, is an approach to language learning that is enhanced through the use of a mobile device, such as mobile phones. The ubiquitousness of mobile phones has opened up more platforms for vocabulary learning, resulting in increased metacognition among learners; which can be seen as a predictor of successful vocabulary learning.This article describes the results of a study conducted on 21 undergraduates that analysed the most frequently used activities facilitating self-directed mobile-assisted vocabulary learning outside the classroom based on the pedagogical framework for mobile assisted language teaching and learning. The study also looked into to the extent these activities enhanced the learners' metacognition. Data was collected from video reports, interviews and an activity log, and analysed according to the pedagogical framework for mobile assisted language teaching (Kukulska-Hulme, Norris, & Donohue, 2015). The findings revealed that the most frequent activities utilized outside the classroom were (1) using online dictionaries to assist with understanding word meanings, (2) using video features on their phones for speaking and pronunciation practice of new words and (3) posting on social media as a means of practicing their newly acquired vocabulary in writing. The self-directed nature of these activities were reported by the participants as enhancing their metacognitive skills, resulting in increased learner confidence and deeper gains in vocabulary learning. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Science and technology are increasingly influencing the way society operates. New discoveries in ... more Science and technology are increasingly influencing the way society operates. New discoveries in science and technology are changing the social, ethical, political, and economic structures all over the world. Today, rich countries are not those endowed with abundant natural resources, but those which have managed to harness their human resources to produce innovations and solutions in the areas of science and technology. Hence, it is paramount importance to promote scientific knowledge and a scientific culture among citizens for any country that wants to be relevant in todayGCOs world. Given the importance of science and technology for the progress of our country, a nationwide survey was conducted using 18, 447 respondents randomly selected and stratified according to zone, location, ethnicity, gender, and age to address the following questions. How aware is the Malaysian public of S&T issues? What is the publicGCOs understanding of various S&T issues? How interested are they in S&T? What are their attitudes towards S&T? The study discusses the findings, including an international comparison of how Malaysia compares with other countries on the above issues.
The purpose of the study was to examine whether students were able to respond critically to acade... more The purpose of the study was to examine whether students were able to respond critically to academic texts given. Lack of critical thinking skills in reading, especially at tertiary level, is a great handicap to undergraduates, as they will find it difficult, or even unable, to analyze and evaluate reading materials. What were the critical reading strategies the students employed, and what were their perceptions of reading academic texts in English, were the two research questions addressed in this study. Data were gathered via the think-aloud protocol and the retrospective interview, the questionnaire, and the face-to-face semi-structured interview. These were transcribed, translated, segmented, and coded for analysis. The results of the study revealed that although undergraduates were able to utilize the critical reading strategies, they were only able to do so to a certain extent. It is therefore incumbent upon instructors and policy makers to seriously look into the teaching of critical reading to enhance the quality of education. Students need to be made more aware of the benefits of critical reading, and to acquire critical reading skills, as these skills will undoubtedly help them in tertiary level reading in their quest for knowledge.
The ability to read legal cases is one of the most essential skills for law students to be succes... more The ability to read legal cases is one of the most essential skills for law students to be successful in their discipline. It is particularly fundamental since case law is one of the main sources of law. Christensen (2006) in her research entitled "Legal Reading and Success in Law School: An Empirical Study" shows that students who are able to read judicial opinions effectively and efficiently are more successful in their studies. However, the most common assumption is that students would have possessed this skill when they enroll in a law school. This attitudinal fallacy is referred to as “skills deployment assumption” (Stratman, 1990). Thus, this paper describes a research which attempted to investigate the quintessential elements in the reading of legal cases among law students in a Malaysian public university. Specifically, it aimed to develop some understanding on the reading of this rhetorical genre and simultaneously uncover the problems related to the learning process. This study which adopted a case study design obtained the data through interview sessions with twelve law students. The major finding of this research showed that despite the training given to the students, they still faced a lot of problems in acquiring this crucial skill. These challenges emanated from three main aspects i.e. language, time management and nature of legal cases.
The purpose of this study was to examine whether tertiary level students were able to respond cri... more The purpose of this study was to examine whether tertiary level students were able to respond critically to English academic texts. Examining the extent to which critical reading strategies are used will give an insight into the reading process, a useful feedback in the teaching of reading. Based on the premise that critical thinking is an important educational objective, and that tertiary level reading is an interactive process involving higher order skills, it is only fitting to look into the critical reading process, specifically at the strategies the students adopt in their attempts at constructing meaning. For the purpose of this study, the critical reading strategies are defined based on the critical thinking skills model by Facione (2004). The think aloud data constituted the main source of data on the reading strategies. Findings revealed that although the students were able to utilize the critical reading strategies, they were only able to do so to a certain extent. It is also an indication that there is still a lot to be done to improve students’ ability to think and read critically, and should be reflected in the curriculum, especially when English is used as the medium of tertiary level instruction.
English Language Teaching, 2016
This paper describes the results of a study that examined the attitudes of Malaysian primary scho... more This paper describes the results of a study that examined the attitudes of Malaysian primary school boys and girls toward reading in English as a Second Language. Using the Students' Reading Attitude Survey, which the researchers adapted from McKenna and Kear (1990) Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, 2,666 responses were analysed using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. The findings reveal that the students had positive attitudes toward recreational and academic reading in English as a second language, but that the girls scored significantly higher on all the dimensions of reading attitudes compared to the boys. The results provide some insights into the gender gap between boys and girls in reading literacy.
Uploads
Papers by Ratnawati Mohd Asraf