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Sequencing The Presentation Of Grammar Items To Attract Student Interest, Arshad Abd Samad Oct 2014

Sequencing The Presentation Of Grammar Items To Attract Student Interest, Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

The teaching of grammar is a challenging task as teachers need to present technical information about the language in such a way that would interest and attract the attention of students. In addition to the lesson itself, the presentation sequence of grammatical items as in the grammar syllabus can also influence how well students respond. Teachers often decide to present and focus on grammatical items to beginner, intermediate and advanced level students based on criteria such as level of difficulty and order of acquisition. Biber (1998), however, proposed that grammar should be presented according to narrative, informational and interactive text …


Discourse Contexts And Article Use Among Malaysian School Students, Arshad Abd Samad Jan 2010

Discourse Contexts And Article Use Among Malaysian School Students, Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

Several studies have examined the interconnection between discourse contexts and structural form. Chaudron and Parker (1990), for example, investigated the structural form used to encode the referent subject Noun Phrase in new, known, and current discourse contexts. These three contexts relate to when a new referent is used as the topic of a discourse, when a known referent is used as the topic and when there is continued reference to the topic after it has been established in the discourse. Mellow and Fuller (1995) also used the same three discourse contexts to examine article use for specific referent nouns. Investigating …


Teaching Grammar And What Students Errors In The Use Of The English Auxiliary "Be" Can Tell Us, Arshad Abd Samad, Hawanum Hussein Jan 2010

Teaching Grammar And What Students Errors In The Use Of The English Auxiliary "Be" Can Tell Us, Arshad Abd Samad, Hawanum Hussein

Arshad Abd Samad

In teaching grammar, teachers often are faced with the dilemma of either emphasising the formal properties of the language or its meaning aspect. One of the more popular language teaching approaches of the last three decades has been the communicative approach. This approach has had a signifi cant impact on the teaching of grammar as its objective of communicative competence has led to a diminished role for grammar teaching. However, of late, numerous voices have advocated a more prominent role for grammar in achieving this objective. The question of whether to emphasise form or meaning remains central. Several theorists have …


English Language Teachers’ Perception And Management Of Learners’ Oral Communication Apprehension, Arshad Abd Samad, Annisa Nor Jettey, Khairuddin Md.Idris, Samsilah Roslan Jan 2010

English Language Teachers’ Perception And Management Of Learners’ Oral Communication Apprehension, Arshad Abd Samad, Annisa Nor Jettey, Khairuddin Md.Idris, Samsilah Roslan

Arshad Abd Samad

This study reports on how English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers perceive and manage oral communication apprehension (CA) among learners in the language classrooms. The main purpose of this qualitative study was to understand language teachers’ perception and how they think they are addressing the phenomenon. A qualitative methodology was employed with data generated through interviews, classroom observations and document reviews. A total of twelve respondents from five Malaysian secondary schools were involved in this study. They comprised eight ESL teachers, who were the primary respondents, as well as one principal and three heads of the English language department. …


Choices In Grammar Teaching And The Grammar Curriculum, Arshad Abd Samad, Hawanum Hussein Jun 2009

Choices In Grammar Teaching And The Grammar Curriculum, Arshad Abd Samad, Hawanum Hussein

Arshad Abd Samad

The communicative language teaching approach has had a significant impact on the teaching of grammar. In general, the communicative approach, and its objective of communicative competence, has led to a diminished role for grammar teaching. However, of late, numerous voices have advocated a more prominent role for grammar in achieving this objective. As a result, various broad approaches as well as specific techniques have been suggested in teaching grammar to English as a Second language students. Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, for example, suggests that teachers use the challenge principle in order to identify the challenge a grammatical structure poses according to …


Teaching Grammar And The Need To Ensure That Techniques Match Grammatical Structures, Arshad Abd Samad Jan 2008

Teaching Grammar And The Need To Ensure That Techniques Match Grammatical Structures, Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

The teaching of grammar has always been bogged down by the issue of whether it should be taught explicitly or implicitly. The history of language teaching has seen numerous pendulum swings from teaching grammar explicitly to a more discovery or implicit teaching of grammar and back to didactic, teacher fronted approaches. We are aware of the Grammar Translation Method, the Direct Method, the Audiolingual Method, and more recently the Communicative Approach – all of which presented grammar either explicitly or implicitly to varying degrees. Writing recently, however, DeKeyser (2005) bemoans the lack of a serious and concerted effort to teach …


The School Based Oral English Test (Oet): Perceptions And Practices Of Selected Mara Junior Science College Teachers, Zaitun Abd. Majid, Mimi Looi Lin Eng, Arshad Abd Samad Jan 2007

The School Based Oral English Test (Oet): Perceptions And Practices Of Selected Mara Junior Science College Teachers, Zaitun Abd. Majid, Mimi Looi Lin Eng, Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

The school-based oral English test (OET) is one of the more recent innovations in assessment in the Malaysian school system. However, since its inception in 2002, the OET has been the topic of various discussions. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the perceptions and practices among a small group of MARA Junior Science College English teachers in relation to the OET. Teacher perceptions of the OET will not only influence the effective implementation of the test, but also teaching techniques in the classroom. Specifically, this study sought teacher views regarding the fairness and validity of the OET, …


Self Reports Of First And Second Language Ability By Academically Inclined And Challenged Students, Arshad Abd Samad Jan 2006

Self Reports Of First And Second Language Ability By Academically Inclined And Challenged Students, Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

Becoming proficient in a second language may involve several factors that are different from those involved in the first language. One factor that may influence performance in either language is academic aptitude. In this study, responses to statements regarding language abilities in Bahasa Malaysia and English by academically inclined and challenged students were analysed using the Chi-Square technique. The results indicate that while the academically inclined students do not have major difficulties in performance in either of the two languages, the academically challenged students report problems in basic linguistic abilities in the English language but not in Bahasa Malaysia. Several …


Article Use And Specific And Known Reference Among Higher Proficiency Malaysian Esl Students., Arshad Abd Samad Jan 2005

Article Use And Specific And Known Reference Among Higher Proficiency Malaysian Esl Students., Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

Huebner (1979) categorises articles into 4 categories according to whether the noun phrase the articles encode is of specific reference and whether it is known to the hearer. Ekiert (2002) adds a fifth category which is made up of the use of the article to encode noun phrases in idioms. In Ekiert’s study, the accuracy rates of ESL and EFL native speakers of Polish in these five categories were examined. This paper will report on a exploratory study that adopts and modifies the instrument used by Ekiert and examines the accuracy rates of Malaysian advanced ESL students. The results indicate …


Corpus Data And The Teaching And Learning Of Science In English In Malaysian Primary And Secondary Schools, Arshad Abd Samad Jan 2005

Corpus Data And The Teaching And Learning Of Science In English In Malaysian Primary And Secondary Schools, Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

The post independence Malaysian school system has gone through several curricular revisions not only in terms of content and subject matter but also in the medium of instruction used. In 1980, the national language, Malay, was adopted as the medium of instruction in schools in place of the English language. After more than twenty years of instruction in the national language, the medium of instruction for Science based subjects at the first year of primary and secondary schools in Malaysia has recently reverted to the English language. This has largely been due to increasing concern over perceived falling standards of …


The Written Recall Protocol As An Alternative Reading Comprehension Test, Rafiah Abd Rahman, Zaitun Abd Majid, Arshad Abd Samad Jan 2005

The Written Recall Protocol As An Alternative Reading Comprehension Test, Rafiah Abd Rahman, Zaitun Abd Majid, Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

Reading comprehension is a complex behaviour involving conscious and unconscious use of various strategies. Its assessment, therefore, cannot be taken for granted as it may require specialised test formats that can effectively measure the use of these strategies. According to Alderson (2000), no single test method can fulfil all the varied purposes for which we might test. Certain methods are commonly used merely for reasons of convenience and efficiency, often at the expense of validity. Therefore, it is naïve to assume that a single method commonly applied to all students and situations can be the most valid. Several test formats …


Essentials Of Language Testing For Malaysian Teachers, Arshad Abd Samad Jan 2004

Essentials Of Language Testing For Malaysian Teachers, Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

This is a chapter from a book on language testing that was written to address the need to use tests to not only measure language output or product alone but also to utilize tests as an impetus to language learning. This book is intended as a bridge between the more traditional concepts of testing and measurement in teaching English as a Second Language to one that is more contemporary and compatible with modern views of language learning and education.


Just What Is Incidental, Integrated And Implicit About Grammar Instruction?, Arshad Abd Samad Jan 2002

Just What Is Incidental, Integrated And Implicit About Grammar Instruction?, Arshad Abd Samad

Arshad Abd Samad

This paper discusses popular notions of how grammar should be presented in the ESL classroom. Reference will especially be made to recent empirical and theoretical bases to grammar instruction which incorporate the role of various language sub-systems and acquisition processes. Drawing particularly on the findings of a study that examines the roles of meaning and structural aspects in processing language, this paper will make suggestions for grammar instruction in Malaysia.