PAPER 1

An attempt is made to distinguish Code switching from Language Choice. The relationship between the two may be envisioned as points on one continuum that extends from the borrowing of individual linguistic units at one end to the selections of extended discourse units in a different language at the other. Code mixing and Intrasentential code switching occur at intermediate points of that Continuum. Intersentential code switching and language choice are found, in turn, at the final stretch of it. It is the purpose of this presentation to focus on the latter but with special attention to the bilingual speech patterns used in formal settings at some professional university meetings and at selected court hearings. It will be argued that Malaysia is unique inasmuch as code switching events occur, not only in informal settings, but also at formal occasions. Data from university meetings and court hearings will illustrate the discussions.

PAPER 2

The quest for ways to improve language learning is indeed eternal. The question among language practitioners is how? Perhaps, the answer lies in the effectiveness of classroom approaches as well as methodology. Until today, the commonly practiced ways in the classroom is still teacher-centred. This paper sets out to show that language practitioners should be more open and adopt learner-centred approaches in the classroom.

From our small-scale research, we have discovered that collaborative approaches can help to enhance productive skills of our ESL learners. This paper attempts to discuss the changes that take place in the classroom as well as on the students themselves. Not only that, the writers will highlight the challenges that confront language practioners in making the collaborative learning a success in the language classroom.

PAPER 3

This paper argues that making use of electronic resources is a must in activities related to academic and professional environments. The terms 'electronic literacy' and 'academic and professional environments' will first be defined. Then it will argue that electronic resources in academic and professional environments are indispensable especially in activities dealing with learning and teaching as well as research. Examples on how such resources are utilized in these environments will be given. Finally, with the explosion of information over the Internet in this new millennium, it is concluded that novices must be electronically literate.

PAPER 4

The teaching of English in Malaysia has become more challenging in the 21'st century. Issues such as the declining proficiency of students as measured in national examinations are lamented on by society every time the results are announced. Questions are asked, sugesstions made but the practice of teaching English in school remains the same.

This paper proposes modifications to a common method of teaching used in schools where students are asked to read text from the school textbook orally either individually or in a group. While teachers may have set objectives for this activity, the question that can be asked is how valuable is this activity toward the development of the students' language ability?

This paper presents a different definition of reading aloud. Based on this definition and a qualitative study that was done, teachers are provided with a new perspective on how this method can be incorporated into their daily teaching. The paper ends with a discussion of the influences that reading aloud has on the language development of non-native English speaking elementary school children.

PAPER 5

As with most other institutions of higher learning in Malaysia and around the globe, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has also initiated steps to incorporate the use of the World Wide Web for the purpose of academic reading. In the engineering faculties especially, the Web is seen as an authentic vehicle for the learning and understanding of discipline-related topics. This paper describes a research that was carried out in order to gauge the extent of the use of the Web as a learning resource among students of the engineering disciplines in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and to investigate the reasons for its use. The findings conclude that although the use of the Web is not yet extensive, the academic community of the engineering disciplines find it a useful resource of information that helps to enhance learners' understanding of discipline-specific topics.

PAPER 6

Guru adalah salah satu faktor utama yang sering dikaitkan dengan isu-isu bahasa Melayu seperti prestasi matapelajaran Bahasa Melayu dalam peperiksaan awam, penggunaan bahasa Melayu baku, kemahiran berbahasa di kalangan pelajar-pelajar lulusan sekolah menengah, sikap masyarakat terhadap bahasa dan sehinggalah kepada keberkesanan pelaksanaan dasar-dasar bahasa. Secara langsung atau tidak langsung perbicaraan tentang isu-isu tersebut akan merujuk kepada peranan dan keberkesanan guru disekolah. Walaupun guru-guru sekolah kerajaan memiliki kelayakan bahasa Melayu, namun budaya kerja dan pendekatan banyak dipengaruhi oleh amalan bahasa, sikap dan persepsi guru-guru terhadap bahasa Melayu. Kertas ini adalah hasil kajian awal yang dijalankan di 10 buah sekolah menengah kerajaan untuk mengesan persepsi guru-guru terhadap bahasa Melayu dan sejauh mana wujud persamaan dan perbezaan persepsi guru-guru lelaki dan perempuan.

PAPER 7

Currently in Malaysia's primary schools, efforts have been made to teach young children beyond the basic 3R skills by providing them some knowledge for effective problem-solving, reasoning and thinking through the development of programmes aimed at teaching thinking skills to primary school children. In order to make this idea a reality, there exists a need to look at teachers as the agents responsible for change. This study aimed to examine the perceptions of needs among primary school teachers regarding 'thinking' in ELT and its influence in learning English among children. The research is qualitative in nature as multiple case studies were used. The findings showed that respondents were well prepared for their roles in disseminating these skills to the students and students are found to be more motivated to learn English due to the 'thinking' activities carried out. The respondents suggested that they need knowledge in terms of exposure to the most current issues surrounding 'thinking' in ELT to improve their teaching directly and to motivate the students indirectly.

PAPER 8

The pragmatic view is that one does not need literature to be productive and competitive workers in the global market. However, the teaching of literature in Malaysia is encouraged as it helps students to enhance their language skills and world knowledge. In fact, literature in English can be used across the curriculum to enable students to learn in a more meaningful way. Often enough, practitioners as well as students in Malaysian schools regard English literature as a difficult subject to teach or learn. Therefore, teaching methods should be revitalized by incorporating contemporary techniques or approaches that can appeal to the learners. This paper will suggest a number of ways and avenues of text exploitation based on Young Adult Literature, which can be applied in the classroom.

PAPER 9

The NIELNS was commissioned in March 2000 following a meeting at which all state and territory ministers agreed that "every child commencing school from 1998 will achieve a minimum acceptable literacy and numeracy standard". $27m was allocated to the project over four years (2001-2004) with another $11-$13m in existing funding. The objective of NIELNS is to achieve English literacy and numeracy for Indigenous students at levels comparable to those achieved by other young Australians. The objective is to be achieved by the implementation of the following six elements: lifting school attendance rates of Indigenous students to national levels; effectively addressing hearing and other health problems; providing pre-schooling opportunities; training sufficient numbers of teachers in skills and cultural awareness; ensuring that teaching methods known to be most effective are employed; and instituting transparent measures of success as a basis for accountability for schools and teachers. Developing an evaluation plan for this national strategy had to take into account over 181 projects that the states and private providers suggested. The US national programs Title 1, and Headstart provided useful sources of information as comparisons. This paper will describe the NIELNS Strategy in more detail and discuss an evaluation process.

PAPER 10

Language anxiety is believed to influence language performance. Facilitating anxiety produces positive effects on learners' performance; too much anxiety, on the other hand, may cause poor performance (Scovel, 1991). According to Krashen (1980), anxiety contributes an affective filter, which prevents students from receiving input, and consequently language acquisition fails to progress (Horwitz et al., 1991). In examining the background characteristics of Cambridge EFL examination candidates, a group of researchers from UCLES (The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) also found anxiety to play a part in test performance. This study aimed to show a relationship between apprehension, perception of students' writing abilities and their writing performance. The survey was confined to a sample of forty working adults who were enrolled in a part-time undergraduate executive program at the Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia. The researchers adapted a revised version of the Daly-Miller's apprehension test (1989) as well as the Shell, Murphy and Bruning's (1989) writing self-efficacy instrument. The findings suggest a relationship between apprehension, perception of writing ability and writing performance which is multi-faceted involving linguistic, academic, socio-cultural and cognitive dimensions .

PAPER 11

Penyelidikan ini menggunakan reka bentuk eksperimen-kuasi untuk mengkaji kesan pembelajaran melalui multimedia berbantukan komputer. Sampel penyelidikan ini ialah 40 orang pelajar yang mengikuti kursus bahasa Jepun peringkat asas sebagai opsyen di Pusat Bahasa dan Terjemahan, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Penyelidikan ini bertujuan mengkaji kesan mod persembahan yang berbeza (Mod 1- grafik, teks, video, animasi dan audio yang berbantukan komputer, Mod 2 - grafik, teks, video, animasi dan audio tanpa berbantukan komputer) terhadap pencapaian pelajar dalam bahasa Jepun yang berbeza kawalan lokusnya. Kajian ini menunjukkan Mod 1 dapat membantu pembelajaran pelajar sama ada yang bersifat kawalan lokus dalaman atau luaran. Terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan dalam skor pencapaian dalam kalangan pelajar yang berbeza kawalan lokusnya iaitu kawalan lokus dalaman dan kawalan lokus luaran. Walaubagaimanapun mod persembahan multimedia berbantukan komputer memberikan sumbangan varians yang terbanyak jika dibandingkan dengan kawalan lokus.

PAPER 12

Many institutions of higher learning in Malaysia offer English language support courses to their students with the aim of providing the necessary language skills in order for students to cope and succeed in their academic disciplines. Among the measures of English language proficiency that have been used to determine the extent of language support courses that university students need are TOEFL, IELTS or the institutional (tailor made) proficiency tests. The most recent measure is the MUET by the Malaysian Examination Council. Since English language proficiency has always been seen as a major determinant of students' academic success, a longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the relationship between academic success and language proficiency level of students at the International Islamic University, Malaysia. In addition, it also investigated the role of variables that are not directly related to language support courses: attitude towards English language and students habit in English language usage. The results of the study showed that the two non-cognitive language factors significantly predicted academic success over a one-year study at the IIUM, while language intervention programs did not significantly do so. Further correlational and regression analysis investigated the extent of the non-cognitive linguistic factors' contribution to academic success. Finally, this paper will discuss the need for future research in investigation of factors affecting academic success and more importantly, the need for language courses to include these dimensions of support.

PAPER 13

This paper addresses an important issue pertaining to literacy i.e. phonological awareness and reading in English in ESL setting. It discusses what is phonological awareness and what are the various aspects of phonological awareness e.g. phonemes and onset and rime and why are they important in learning to read in English. Recent studies in the area of psycholinguistics and reading suggest that learning to read English with fluency and ease requires phonological awareness (Adams, 1990); Bryant and Goswamy (1990). The question is: are Malaysian readers equipped with English phonological awareness in order to make them better readers of English and in meeting new literacy and technological challenges in this millennium? The benefits of phonological awareness have proven to be enormous (Lundberg, Frost and Peterson, 1988).Ellis (1996) noted that phonological awareness is vital for reading. According to him, building strong, stable phonological representation of language facilitates all aspects of language learning from pronunciation to acquisition of vocabulary and grammar. This paper also examines the effectiveness of current approach of teaching reading in English employed by teachers in Malaysian elementary schools. It reports findings of the interviews with the teachers of English in order to ascertain to what extent they adopt phonological awareness method in their reading lessons and finally suggests how phonological awareness be improved or taught in order to produce better ESL readers.

PAPER 14

As the country goes fast-track towards modernisation, the standards of the second language have fallen to such extent that the situation requires some deep thinking on the part of decision makers, administrators and teachers. This paper will look at "roles" as they have been played, past and present, to see if there are traces of a lack of understanding of these (roles). The presenter will provide ideas on how he thinks ELT will benefit when the system fully understands roles, and plays accordingly.

PAPER 15

Studies reveal that writing apprehension is a serious condition that affects ESL students yet very few studies have been carried out on its effective treatment. Based on the researched benefits of cooperative learning on second language learning, a study was conducted to determine the relationship between writing collaboratively with students' levels of writing apprehension and attitudes toward writing. Using a modified version of Daly-Miller's (1975) Writing Apprehension Test, this study compared the levels of apprehension in 55 students in INTI International College Penang before and after participation in collaborative writing. Student's retrospective journal reports were also examined for qualitative data on their perceptions of collaborative writing for the improvement of their writing skills. This paper presents the results of its pilot study.

PAPER 16

The role of the Royal Australian Army Educational Corps (RAAEC) is to contribute to operational efficiency through the provision of educational support to soldiers. This presentation will concentrate on the provision of literacy in the Australian Army. For the purpose of this presentation, I will talk about Literacy in the Army by giving a general overview of the Training Technology Centre's (previously known as the School of Army Education) flexible delivery of literacy via the Subject Three Course. The Subject Three Course is conducted to develop communication skills and is one of the four training requirements prior to employment in the rank of sergeant and warrant officer, as well as attendance on specific trade courses.

PAPER 17

This research is a survey carried out in a number of schools in Penang on the use of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in the teaching of the English language.The objectives of the study were to find out if teachers understood what HOTS are,whether they were implementing it in their teaching , the problems if any, they  faced in integrating HOTS in their teaching; and how they could be assisted in implementing it in their teaching. The sample in this study consists of 120 teachers from twenty Primary and Secondary schools in Penang. They had to answer a questionnaire which was hand-delivered to them and collected in the same way. A sample of about 130 students were also interviewed and given a short exercise which tested the use of HOTS.The results of the study will be highlighted in this paper.

PAPER 18

This study seeks to examine the educational factors of ESL students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Specifically, the study seeks to investigate: (1) the role of the teacher in class, (2) methods of teaching, (3) instructional material, (4) class activities, and (5) classroom context. The participants in the study were 150 students who were attending English proficiency courses. The methodology employed in this study was a survey questionnaire. The analysis of the findings showed that students in this study preferred: (1) a teacher who gave them the chance to talk in English in class, (2) to learn all the four basic skills when they were integrated, (3) visual types of instructional materials, (4) to work in-group, and (5) classrooms with a small number of students. The information gathered in this study could be used by curriculum developers to provide language learners with favourable experiences, learning materials and conditions which may lead to positive perception towards English language learning.

PAPER 19

Using both a theoretical and qualitative case-study approach, this paper attempts to explore the literacy practices of two Chinese Malaysian teenagers in a middle class home. The paper begins by looking at some key constructs from the literature viz. literacy events, literacy practices, literacy as social practice, the role of gatekeepers in literacy interactions. I will then discuss these terms critically in relation to dominant Malaysian notions of epistemology and then, relate my discussion to the social, political and economic agendas of related sites viz. tuition centres, school and workplace sites. The discussion is anchored on my observations of the dominant literacy practices of these two Malaysian teenagers which attempt to illustrate how dominant literacy events and practices in the family are to some significant degree intertwined with privileged social and pedagogic interactions on related sites. Issues raised include the risks, benefits and costs of responding in hitherto dominant and privileged interactions with texts. In the wake of the 'new' trajectories of learning offered through the newer sites of learning such as the Internet, I argue that Malaysian leaders, employers, educators, parents, community groups and learners themselves need to re-examine their own literacy policies and practices and become aware of the continuities and discontinuities of such practices in the new worlds of literacies which demand particular ways of creating knowledges within and without textual spaces.

PAPER 20

Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk mengenal pasti masalah guru-guru dalam pengajian Bahasa Melayu di kalangan pelajar-pelajar bukan Melayu, meninjau masalah pendekatan kaedah dan teknik pengajaran yang digunakan oleh guru-guru Bahasa Melayu, mengenal pasti sikap dan minat pelajar-pelajar bukan Melayu serta kaitannya dengan faktor keluarga, faktor guru, faktor alat bantu mengajar dan faktor sekolah. Kaedah tinjauan dengan menggunakan soal selidik telah dilaksanakan di sekolah-sekolah yang dipilih di Negeri Sembilan. Seramai 300 responden pelajar bukan Melayu tingkatan dua dan 100 responden guru-guru yang mengajar Bahasa Melayu telah dipilih. Soal selidik terdiri daripada dua set. Set pertama ditujukan kepada pelajar-pelajar bukan Melayu dan set kedua untuk guru-guru yang mengajar Bahasa Melayu. Data dianalisis dengan menggunakan program Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Kajian ini mendapati bahawa guru-guru Bahasa melayu menghadapi pelbagai masalah mengajar pelajar-pelajar bukan Melayu, masalah sikap guru-guru Bahasa Melayu sendiri, masalah pendekatan, kaedah dan teknik yang sesuai digunakan, masalah alat Bantu mengajar dan bahan pengajaran yang tidak pelbagai dan penggunaan alat Bantu mengajar yang sama yang kerap digunakan. Selain itu, pelajar bukan Melayu juga mempunyai masalah dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Melayu iaitu didapati bahawa sikap dan minat pelajar bukan Melayu terhadap pembelajaran Bahasa Melayu tidak mempunyai perkaitan yang signifikan dengan faktor keluarga, factor guru, factor alat Bantu mengajar dan factor sekolah. Kesimpulannya, cadangan yang dapat diperakukan ialah guru-guru Bahasa Melayu yang kurang berminat untuk mengajar Bahasa Melayu perlulah diberi kursus motivasi dan menghadiri kursus dalam perkhidmatan supaya mereka lebih bersemangat dan bertanggungjawab terhadap kewajipan mereka. Pihak sekolah juga perlu menyediakan kursus perkembangan staf dan bengkel khas di peringkat sekolah dengan lebih kerap untuk memberi lebih banyak pendedahan ilmu-ilmu perguruan terkini kepada guru-guru Bahasa Melayu. Selain itu, untuk mengatasi masalah pelajar bukan Melayu yang tidak aktif dalam Persatuan Bahasa Melayu, dicadangkan agar pihak Persatuan Bahasa Melayu sekolah-sekolah yang dikaji menganjurkan aktiviti-aktitviti bahasa Melayu yang menepati minat pelajar dan di samping itu dapat mencungkil bakat serta kebolehan pelajar-pelajar berbahasa Melayu.

PAPER 21

Theoretical and practical issues are considered core issues in the development and administration of language tests. In view of increasing number of new intake students, a research project was undertaken to investigate the effects of practical issues on the implementation of the English Language Placement Test (EPT) at the International Islamic University Malaysia. The main objective of the project is to consider the possibility of simplifying the existing placement battery (which consists of 5 tests) without affecting validity and reliability. This paper describes the findings of the research project in terms of the overall performance of the EPT battery. Specifically, this paper discusses the distribution of scores, distribution statistics, concurrent validity and construct validity of each test. It also delineates the new test structure, its rationale and test specifications.

PAPER 22

Employers of business organisations often have specific ideas regarding the communication skills which they expect from their employees or potential employees. Despite overwhelming number of research on business communication, very few have dealt with this area, namely employers' expectations about their employees' guides written for job seekers. However, the information is largely based on the writers' intuition and is rarely supported by empirical evidence. It has even been said that the lists of skills stated in the materials are in fact instruments of torture dreamt up by career advisors who have no idea what a real job is.

The aim of this paper is to examine the communication skills of potential employees which are expected by employers in various business organisations. It seeks to answer three research questions:

1. What are the most common communication skills which employers expect from their potential employees?
2. Is there any relationship between communication skills expected and the types of jobs offered?
3. What are the relationships between communication skills expected and the types of jobs offered?

The data for this study was obtained from job advertisements which appeared in the 'Recruitment' section in Star Newspaper. The advertisements were classified according to the job types and the list of communication skills stated in them were then examined. The findings fron this study are important in two ways. One, they offer evidence to confirm the general beliefs about employers' communication expectations, and two, they provide a more comprehensive insight for practitioners of English for Specific Purposes.

PAPER 23

In this paper, I will outline the current work being done in the Department of Language and International Studies at RMIT University in Melbourne to reframe English language teaching in response to the impact of globalisation and new technologies. The reasons for the change in perspective and pedagogy will be discussed with examples drawn from the new courses in the "Global English" strand in the B.A. International Studies degree. The place of Australian English as a world variety of English provides the background for this discussion.

Amongst the issues to be discussed are:

• The driving forces behind the changes
• How to address global/local tensions in ELT
• Innovations in curriculum design and teaching methods
• Implications for assessment

In conclusion, an attempt will be made to summarise key areas for future research in "Global English."

PAPER 24

Workplace literacy in today's ever-changing technology and world markets require a re-examination of traditional concepts of literacy. Workplace literacy transcends functional literacy (the 3Rs) and involves a multi-literate person as being competent in assessing and using information while at the same time being able to face demands for increased skills in language, literacy and communication. A recent survey of several workplaces in urban sections of Georgetown reveals that a wide range of jobs (middle level) require moderate literacy skills, especially in relation to English language proficiency. Parrticipating employees and employers perceive the level of current mastery of the language as being adequate to perform job requirements. However, a close examination of the performance of workers in many communicative events calls for an improvement in several areas. Morever, the impact of globalization and the growing tourist and manufacturing industries in the new millennium in Malaysia suggests that this complacency should be eradicated.

PAPER 25

The continual use of various forms of verbal social control devices throughout the world is a testimony that they serve important functions in the up bringing of children. Almost infinite methods employed by parents and other adults to discipline or modify the behaviour of children. They include verbal threats, advice, proverbs, cautionary tales, put-offs, appeals, commands and instructions. The aim of this paper is to investigate how verbal social control devices function within the Malay cultural tradition. Two verbal devices; verbal threats and advice, have been specifically selected for this purpose. An earlier study on the use of verbal social control within the Malay cultural tradition has identified verbal threats as the device of negative control most commonly employed by the Malays while advice is the most commonly used positive control. This paper seeks to address several issues:

1. What are the roles played by these two verbal devices in maintaining the emotional bond between children and their carers?
2. What are the roles played by these two devices in the development of social and moral order of Malay children?
3. In what way do they contribute towards passing on and validating the culture and the traditions of the Malay people?

The data from this study derived from two stages of data collection; questionnaires and extended interviews. The findings of this study are important in many ways. A particular society can be seen to be mirrored in family configurations and the interaction between family members. Family life, particularly child-rearing techniques, may be seen as a metaphor for the society in which certain types of verbal social control devices are employed. This paper not only enhances our understanding of how vital language is to the socialization of children, it also allows us to gain valuable insight into the Malay people's mindset, philosophy of life, belief system and ethnic identity.

PAPER 26

Questioning is a dominant method of instruction in the classroom. A teacher can raise students' level of critical thinking by using questions. However, in many classrooms, the variety of thinking tasks required of students is limited and may often be restricted to nothing more than recalling known or memorized information. This paper looks at the use of high cognitive questions in group discussions. It attempts to determine whether there is a statistically significant mean difference in students' thinking abilities when they are exposed to questioning treatments. The study shows that the experimental group demonstrated better results in their thinking abilities than the control group. It is, therefore, suggested that teachers use high cognitive questions to help develop second language students' critical thinking skills.

PAPER 27

Kertas kerja ini akan cuba melihat kesan pengenalan tulisan (literasi Rumi/British) ke atas pertumbuhan kesadaran individu dalam masyarakat Melayu moden dan implikasinya ke atas budaya penulisan (writing culture). Premis perbincangan akan bertolak dari ide bahawa mekanisme tulisan adalah bertanggungjawab memecahkan budaya partisipatoris dalam masyarakat Melayu tradisional dan menjadi faktor utama dalam memperkenalkan modenisme dalam masyarakat Melayu awal kurun ke-20.

Perbincangan akan dibuat dalam konteks perbandingan dengan literasi Jawi (Islam) di zaman pra-moden. Zaman moden dalam kertas kerja ini merujuk kepada era berlangsungnya proses pembaratan yang dikenali sebagai era Pencerahan Timur.

PAPER 28

Penulis-penulis buku tradisional dan moden sering mengucapkan ungkapan terima kasih dan fenomena lain yang melambangkan ungkapan ini kepada 'pemberi sesuatu' di ruangan seperti prakata, penghargaan, dan pendahuluan. Contohnya, Za'ba telah mencatat ungkapan ini di ruangan pendahuluan yang berikut: Fa-lillahi 'l-hamdu wa'l-shukru, kerana taufiknya telah melorongkan jalan dapat ditamatkan kitab ini .... (Pelita Bahasa Melayu Penggal III, 1962: vi)Sementara, Tatabahasa Dewan (1994: xv -xvi) pula telah mencatatnya di ruangan penghargaan di dalam pengantarnya: Kami mengambil kesempatan ini untuk merakamkan penghargaan kepada semua pihak yang telah memberikan teguran dan cadangan membina. ...

Dari dua contoh bahasa bertulis yang dipaparkan di atas, kita dapat melihat bahawa suatu X mengucapkan terima kasih kepada suatu Y apabila menerima suatu Z. Za'ba (sebagai suatu X ) telah memanjat kesyukuran kepada Allah (suatu Y) kerana Allah telah memberi "taufik" (suatu Z) kepada beliau. Begitu juga dengan Tatabahasa Dewan. Tetapi bagaimana pula halnya dengan keadaan bahasa bukan bertulis, contohnya semasa seseorang berinteraksi dengan individu secara berhadapan di dalam kuliah atau di kafetaria. Soalan ini diajukan kerana kami mendapati bahawa terdapat beberapa bentuk pengungkapan terima kasih secara verbal dan bukan verbal yang ditujukan kepada 'pemberi sesuatu' wujud di kalangan pelajar kami. Bentuk-bentuk ini kami golongkan sebagai [+sopan] atau [-sopan]. Yang menjadi persoalan lanjutan dalam kertas ini ialah mengapa wujud bentuk [-sopan] ini di kalangan pelajar kami. Dan adakah fenomena ini wujud di kalangan masyarakat umum?

PAPER 29

The effectiveness of metacognitive training has been established in recent literature. The benefits of metacognitive training have been found in reading and in other domains like mathematics. The objective of this paper is to examine how a metacognitive training package in the classroom is to be evaluated. This package is to be taught to Secondary one good and poor readers in Singapore, during reading comprehension in the English language. Previous training packages have employed different ways of evaluating the outcome of training. This makes it difficult to compare the results and to draw strong conclusions about which aspects of training are most effective. This leaves unsolved questions about what kind of task is most effective, what kind of strategies, which method, and so on. Nevertheless, it is worth carrying out this type of research due to the inherent benefits to the students following metacognitive training.

PAPER 30

This paper explores issue of literacy from a literary perspective. In doing so it demonstrates the link between the study of literature and its contribution towards current discussions on literacy. John Steinbeck's novel The Pearl is used to explicate this link. This paper will demonstrate that The Pearl should not merely be seen and read in terms of the fact that it is based on an old Mexican folk story; rather it is to be seen as a powerful discursive strategy to highlight the issue of the marginalization and disenfranchisement of individuals and communities. And this ideological subtext that lurks beneath the folklorist ambience of the text manifests itself in the fact that the marginalization and disenfranchisement is a direct result of a systematic policy of denying certain sections of the community access to literacy. This paper will explore and map out the historical roots of such a situation as portrayed in The Pearl by the central protagonist Kino and his community through an application of post-colonial theory and ideas associated with the concept of Orientalism as theorised by Edward Said. This discussion of literacy and its historical roots in relation to The Pearl will demonstrate that literary text are a rich, potential source of material that could be utilised to generate discussion on pertinent issues that affect society at large as well as to exemplify through a literary perspective theories and issues usually developed and exemplified through non-literary contexts. And The Pearl as this paper will demonstrate provides an excellent example. Last but not least this discussion of The Pearl in relation to literacy and empowerment demonstrates that literary texts are not merely works of fiction, rather they are ideological and incorporate into their narratives issues that affect the real world.

PAPER 31

Like other forms of literary texts, fairy tales have a deeper significance in that they represent psychological conditioning and societal values that continue to influence our lives. In today's society, standards towards which to strive and according to which to judge others, career goals and biases are all based on pre-conceived notions of gender roles. As such, children must be taught appropriate ways for them to behave and what to expect of themselves and others.

The contention of this paper is to examine several fairy tales in order to highlight the existence of gender roles. This study will also identify their message about gender roles and investigate how these roles are represented and changed through time. This study suggests that teachers should not only be sensitive to gwender roles in the literary texts used but to also discuss these gender representations in the classroom. Some classroom activities will be discussed.

PAPER 32

Kajian tentang kecekapan bahasa dan berbahasa di kalangan pelajar yang belajar di sekolah menengah swasta masih kurang dikaji, terutamanya dalam pendidikan Bahasa Melayu (BM). Justeru, pengkaji telah menjalankan satu kajian kes di kalangan pelajar sekolah menengah swasta, iaitu Sekolah Sri Garden. Untuk itu, seramai 87 orang pelajar Tingkatan 4 dan 114 orang pelajar Tingkatan 3 telah dijadikan responden kajian. Bagi mendapatkan data, soal selidik telah digunakan. Semua data dianalisis bagi mencari kekerapan dan peratusan. Hasil kajian mendapati kebanyakan pelajar menguasai BM pada peringkat sederhana. Pelajar-pelajar lebih cenderung menggunakan Bahasa Inggeris dan Bahasa Mandarin ketika belajar BM. Ini berlaku kerana hampir 95 % responden merupakan pelajar daripada kaum Cina. Sikap mereka terhadap pembelajaran BM juga menunjukkan peratusan yang berbeza-beza. Kesimpulannya, kajian ini mendapati kebanyakan pelajar sekolah swasta masih mengagung-agungkan Bahasa Inggeris dan bahasa ibunda mereka walaupun bahasa pengantar di sekolah swasta berkenaan ialah BM.

PAPER 33

Communication is sending and receiving of messages. In the classroom, the teacher is general seen as the sender of the messages and the students as the receivers. There are, at the teachers' disposal, various ways in which the message can be sent to the students. The most obvious ways are through verbal and written communications. However, many teachers are not aware that they have another method of doing so which is not necessarily better than verbal and written communications but perhaps as an alternative.

This paper reports on numerous observations across subject of the use of visuals as a vehicle to achieve various educational objectives. It presents on how this has been done, showing clear step by step consideration in order to achieve the teachers' intended educational goals. The objective of this paper ultimately is to present to educators novel to visual literacy an alternative framework which they could adopt in helping them achieve educational objectives.

PAPER 34

This paper presentation is based on the quasi experimental study conducted on 52 Social science undergraduates of Universiti Sains Malaysia. The study was carried out to determine the use of cooperative learning in helping learners in their reading comprehension activity. This study aims to achieve better understanding of the importance of two main elements of cooperative learning that are individual accountability and positive interdependence in enhancing learning activity through the method of cooperative learning. Four main research questions encompass the study. Two research questions are analysed in this paper and the findings indicate that the cooperative learning method helped in improving learner achievement in doing reading comprehension activity. Therefore, educators should find this method interesting as it reduces boredom among learners in conducting the reading comprehension activity and increases learner achievement.

PAPER 35

Kertas kerja ini membicarakan aspek strategi-strategi dalam penterjemahan berita bahasa Inggeris (BI) dalam akhbar Melayu berdasarkan pendekatan fungsian. Antara objektif utama penterjemahan berita dalam akhbar adalah untuk mneyebarkan maklumat dalam bentuk yang mudah difahami oleh khalayak pembaca. Oleh kerana berita ialah bahan bacaan yang mungkin berbentuk ilmiah dan mungkin bersifat umum, maka berita yang terhasil hendaklah bukan sahaja mengandungi berbagai-bagai maklumat, tetapi juga tertulis dalam bahasa yang dapat dibaca dan difahami oleh khalayak pembaca. Dengan demikian, maka diandaikan bahawa fungsi penterjemahan berita akan sedikit sebanyak mempengaruhi strategi pihak penterjemah: iaitu strategi-strategi diatur oleh para penterjemah sedemikian rupa untuk menentukan supaya: (a) output berita dalam versi terjemahan akan mampu menyampaikan maklumat asal dan (b) seterusnya maklumat berkaitan tertulis dalam bahasa yang sesuai dengan budaya dan faktor-faktor lain yang berkaitan dengan pembaca sasaran. Kertas ini akan memaparkan beberapa strategi penterjemahan dan seterusnya mengaitkannya dengan perkara-perkara yang perlu diambil kira untuk mencapai literasi (yakni memudahkan pembacaan dan pemahaman) dalam khalayak ramai bahasa sasaran seperti: hal-hal intrinsik, (seperti sistem linguistik dan wacana penulisan berita) dan estrinsik (seperti pembacaan, sistem politik, nilasi budaya dan agama para pembaca).

PAPER 36

Engrok (language) Semai is an indigenous language spoken in peninsular Malaysia particularly in the regions of northwest of Pahang and southern Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, central mountain region. It belongs to an Astro-Asiatic, Mon-Khmer, Aslian, Senoic group of languages (Grimes, 1996). The language is spoken by 18, 327 people (Wurm and Hatori, 1981). This paper explores issues related to the teaching of indigenous language i.e. Semai in Malaysia. It discusses the programme and current teaching situation of the language in schools and addresses some of the issues related to it. The paper among others also hope to find out whether, in meeting the challenges of the 21st century, is Semai suffering from the problems of language loss as happening to other indigenous languages of the world? As Greymorning (1997) pointed out that the pattern of language and the language of the majority population with the result of their children becoming monolingual, speaking only the language of the majority population. Left unattended and neglected, the language eventually slips into extinction. This paper also assesses the extent to which the current programme of teaching the language to the community help preserve the survival of the language.

PAPER 37

This paper takes a critical look at some of the fundamental principles underlying the current wave of increased educational attention to the learning of English in Taiwan. In so doing, I intend to show whether the practices relating to the learning of English on the Island nation are in line with the identified objectives. It is my view that, amongst other factors, increasing globalization, and in particular, the continued strong relationships between Taiwan and the United States have combined to fuel the growth in the learning of English. However, it would seem that, while the desire to quickly achieve the goal of widespread use of English amongst the populace is a well-considered move, certain practices aimed at achieving that objective are theoretically questionable, if not also pedagogically unsound. These include the uncoordinated rush to teach pre-school children English, use of ill-prepared and unqualified teachers, and large class sizes. The paper concludes with a suggestion that the present situation be carefully examined and corrected, so that the huge investment and commitment to EFL in Taiwan can produce desirable outcomes. Many of the views and conclusions made here are also relevant to some other EFL learning countries, including Japan, South Korea, China, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, where there has been increased attention to the learning of English as a foreign language in recent years.

PAPER 38

There is evidence that second languages are most efficiently acquired through use in meaningful naturalistic settings. In learning conversational skills, this should be inherently weaved into the learning and assessment procedures. In the course of teaching Interactive Speaking in Universiti Putra Malaysia, an experimentation with pragmatic and direct method indicators to reflect literacy attainment was explored. The experimentation adapted Schon's Reflective Model of Learning (1983) which incorporates practice and reflection in order to exit with professional competence, subscribing to "knowledge in action by practice". The monitoring system of students' progress entailed students transferring received knowledge into experiential knowledge. This included assessment of an integrative-reflective nature whereby language is situated in discourse to activate "expectancy grammar". Students' reflections in the form of critiques on selective performances were analysed. Data pertaining to this integrative-reflective analysis are reported to elaborate on a manner of assessment that reflects course objectives in the literacy programme which caters to meeting 'real world' needs.

PAPER 39

In schools and in institutions of higher learning in Malaysia, more and more students are resorting to the Internet as an important source of information for learning and the completion of projects.  Indeed, teachers should promote the use of the Internet as an invaluable source of information that can assist students in the construction of knowledge as well as promoting inquiry and creativity.  This also means that it has become imperative for students to be made aware and to be equipped with the skills required to critically evaluate the glut of raw and unfiltered information that is inherent with Internet searches. This paper discusses the potential pitfalls of navigating the Internet for information, and the need for critical information literacy skills to handle the pletora of information, misinformation and disinformation on the Internet.  A set of criteria to assess, evaluate and analyse Web sites is proposed to ensure effective research strategies.

PAPER 40

Sebagai sebuah negara yang mempunyai rakyat majmuk keturunan dan mengamalkan ajaran majmuk agama dan majmuk budaya, telah berjaya mewujudkan system moral yang agak stabil. Ini menjadi lebih mantap lagi apabila aspek moral itu dijadikan sebagai sebuah mata pelajaran di sekolah-sekolah rendah dan menengah oleh Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia. Pendidikan Moral dijadikan sebagai gandingan kepada Pendidikan Agama Islam. Pendidikan Moral hanya diajar kepada para pelajar yang bukan beragama Islam semasa para pelajar Islam mengikuti mata pelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam. Kandungan silabusnya yang mengandungi konsep teras moral dari agama-agama besar anutan rakyat Malaysia adalah diharapkan mampu menjadikan rakyatnya anjal dari segi sikap dan toleran dari segi amalan dalam kehidupan masyarakat majmuk gaya Malaysia.Kertas ini akan cuba mengupas dan menganalisis literasi moral gaya Malaysia untuk melihat apakah memang wujud apa yang dikatakan sebagai literasi moral merentas budaya rakyat Malaysia. Untuk itu kertas ini akan memberi perhatian kepada pemahaman konsep nilai-nilai murni seperti yang terdapat dalam silabus Pendidikan Moral; perlaksanaan pengajaran Pendidikan Moral; pemahaman, penerimaan dan perlaksanaan serta amalam konsep APNIEVE, dan kesannya kepada perkembangan budaya rakyat Malaysia. Perbincangan kertas ini akan diikuti dengan cadangan-cadangan yang difikirkan perlu dan akan dapat meningkatkan pemahaman dan amalan konsep literasi moral berteraskan amalan budaya rakyat yang majmuk sifatnya.

PAPER 41

In embarking on a voyage towards globalisation, a country like Malaysia would undoubtedly face major language-related challenges. One of these would be to cultivate multilingual literacy or, at the very least, bilingual literacy among its population while ensuring that its national identity (which as suggested by some theories may be achievable with national language literacy) is not threatened. The present paper sets out to formulate and address some key questions pertinent to meet the challenge. Among these would be questions related to the need for bilingual or multilingual literacy, the factors necessary for such litercies and the role of translation in relation to bilingual and multilingual literacies in the Malaysian context. This paper also attempts to stimulate thinking that might help towards achieving a practicable solution of which a country like Malaysia can take advantage.

PAPER 42

Language teaching and learning in Malaysia has changed considerably over the past decades. The setting up of SMART schools has made learner autonomy possible. Furthermore, the increasing awareness of the importance of learning English together with the growing use of multimedia has some link to autonomous language learning. Before, the teacher is the only as a source of information and being valued as the best informer. However, now their role has changed. The teacher responsibilities are not only to teach the students the target language but also to help them to learn the target language. Thus, this paper is going to discuss the role of the teacher in developing learner autonomy. Teacher plays a very important role in guiding learners. Autonomous language learners cannot be developed without the help and guide of teachers. In short, teacher plays a very important role in guiding learners to become autonomy.

PAPER 43

Learning about sexuality and reproductive health is part of the development process as children become adults. Though aspects of education on sexuality are incorporated into the curriculum, we should find ways to give youth the right information so that they can make better decisions about their sexual behaviour. Lately, the span of social ills related to sexual misconduct amongst youth have created an awareness towards a more effective reproductive health education which can succeed in various settings, including schools and community centres. Involving parents and community members is important in promoting a healthy lifestyle and the need for good training goes beyond the school-based curriculum. This paper will explore the role pf peer education in reference to an outreach program on Reproductive Health conducted by the Penang Family Planning Association. The interactive approach use in this focuses on active participation by the target audience. The Reproductive Health For Adolescents Module (RHAM) is an activity based module and as it is participatory, it involves the participants who share their knowledge including dispelling in accuracies, misconceptions and myths. Peer educators are being used in this program so that the participants who are mainly young adolescents would be able to share their views and also open up to their peers. A student peer educator in Zimbabwe said, "With someone your own age, you will be serious. You'll feel at ease. With someone older, you do not want to discuss some things, problems, what is in your heart."

PAPER 44

To develop successful educational programs 'on-line' presents a challenge for contemporary educators - both teachers and learners alike. For many adult learners the experience of learning 'on-line' has been compared to the experience of being illiterate or not being able to make sense from a given text. To achieve successful 'on-line learning' demands a multi-literacy approach rather than simply presenting a definitive text (similar to a textbook) on screen and expecting students to master the content of this text. Whilst this is true for all disciplines it is particularly true for programs in Leadership and Management that presume positive (transformational) outcomes accompanying the accretion of knowledge gained by the learners. Central to the success of this multi-literacy approach to on-line learning is an understanding of the many pedagogical frames that support adult learning and that proactively promote change (transformation) as a result of reflection on experience. A team of researchers at RMIT University in Australia has developed a pedagogical model - known as the Evidence, Critique, Impact (ECI) model - to respond to this challenge. This model invites adult learners to explore the ontological and epistemological frames supporting their management practice and challenges these learners to seek meaning and understanding within their lifeworld (of theory and action) to facilitate change that impacts on their success in leading and managing in day-to-day situations. This paper will outline the theoretical constructs of the ECI model and will provide illustrations of how on-line learning can be utilised to achieve an impact on the professional and personal performance of individuals in the many scenarios encountered as an educational leader and manager.

PAPER 45

A symbol is something that stands for, represents, or suggests another thing, very often that which is represented or signified is abstract in nature, transcending the categories of time, space and matter. In the human need to express and communicate the realities and principles that transcend the material, spatial and temporal order, symbols are often used. Symbols possess the unique capacity to disclose and uncover that which linguistic categories cannot describe. My paper will examine two major aspects concerning symbols. First, the nature and function of symbols, and the indispensable role they play in many areas of human concerns. Second, the diminishing significance accored to symbols in our world today. I will discuss both the possible causes and consequent implications, the disappearance of the language of symbols has on human existance and the universal search for meaning.

PAPER 46

Penyelidikan kemahiran berfikir secara kritis dan kreatif (KBKK) dalam Bahasa Melayu (BM) telah banyak dilakukan (lihat Zamri & Jamaluddin, 1999; Asmah, 1999). Walau bagaimanapun, masih terdapat guru-guru BM yang lemah pelaksanaan dan kurang menyebatikan KBKK dalam pengajaran mereka. Justeru, kajian ini cuba mengkaji sama ada guru-guru BM menyebati ataupun tidak KBKK dalam pengajaran mereka. Sebanyak lima pemboleh ubah digunakan, iaitu jantina, pengalaman mengajar, kelayakan akademik, kursus KBKK dan jenis sekolah. Seramai 128 orang guru BM yang mengajar dan pernah mengajar BM telah dipilih sebagai sampel kajian. Kajian tinjauan ini menggunakan soal selidik bagi mendapatkan data. Data dianalisis secara deskritif menggunakan min dan kekerapan serta ujian-t bagi menguji lima hipotesis. Dapatan kajian mendapati faktor jantina tidak mempengaruhi pelaksanaan KBKK dalam pengajaran guru BM. Bagaimanapun, faktor pengalaman mengajar, kelayakan akademik, pernah pergi kursus KBKK dan jenis sekolah guru BM mengajar mempengaruhi pelaksanaannya. Kesimpulannya, guru-guru BM menerapkan KBKK ketika mengajar.

PAPER 47

Women's writings are significant, for writers produce works to critique the social conditions which reveal the oppression of women. Writing brings to consciousness those subtle truths of human life that are learned through ineracting with the world. Women writers articulate experiences that involve understanding oneself who is both solitary and social. This study traces the difficulties faced by earlier women writers briefly. The long line of women who protested against the inequities of women include Christine Pisan in the fifteenth century and Mary Wollstonecroft in the eighteenth century. Some works of major female writers will be mentioned. Elaine Showalter explicates why the discussion of women writers has been so inaccurate and inadequate. Women's literary history has suffered from what John Gross calls "Residual Great Traditionalism". The range of women writers has been reduced to a tiny band of "the great" and the concept of greatness for women is linked to four or five writers such as Jane Austen, the Brontes and Virginia Woolf. The female writer's development is traced by Showalter and great authoresses have strived to produce literature which is unconstrained by dominant discourses. Thus this study reveals some feminist issues and themes such as motherhood, female identity and authentication, pre-oedipal theories, mother and daughter relationships, sisterhood and the use of memory in Drabble's novels. The narrative strategies and feminist vision of a contemporary women writer are delineated. More importantly her novels reflect an investigation of a woman's subjectivity in relation to her exploration of postmodernist techniques in her fiction.

PAPER 48

As we step into the third millennium, we need to take cognisance of the new waves of cultural literacy that are emerging to dominate and shape the world. This paper discusses the need to achieve a higher level of cultural literacy to remain competitive and avoid a severe swash and backwash as the waves sweep the Malaysian shores. The paper sets the discussion on the premise that culture is 'socially constructed' and it is dynamic. With globalisation and information and communication technology, new patterns of actions and reactions characterize people as consumer culture, as human resource culture, as dynamic and challenging teaching - learning culture, as creative and innovative knowledge culture that impact on the economic sphere. These environments at different spatial scales from the local to the global and in the reverse set in motion values, systems of belief and bodies of knowledge which demand a new focus to remain literate. The paper concludes that despite the crest of change the waves of harmony rest on time - tested values of honesty, reliability, diligence, transparency and fairness.

PAPER 49

Conducting a qualitative study of adults who self-report literacy difficulties is fraught with difficulty. Adults are extremely subjective and sensitive about their literacy skills making location of respondents frustrating and recording of their ideas complex. In a presentation of a work in progress this paper reports on how notions of repeated interviews and snowballing were extended to create a mesh in which ideas, common themes and experiences were collected and coded for analysis. This method has allowed the literacy learning experiences of nine men living in different Australian cities and engaged in very different work practices to be constructed for theoretical analysis.

PAPER 50

Literasi visual penting dalam konteks pendidikan memandangkan visual telah dikenalpasti sebagai salah satu medium yang dapat digunakan untuk mencapai objektif pendidikan. Oleh kerana visual yang terpampang di dalam buku-buku teks mempunyai mesej-mesej tersendiri, pelajar-pelajar dan para guru perlu mempunyai kebolehan menginterpretasi dan memahami mesej yang tepat sebagaimana yang dikehendaki oleh penggubal buku-buku tersebut. Visual juga telah terbukti sebagai satu wadah yang efisyen dan efektif dalam komunikasi am dan juga dalam konteks pendidikan, jadi penggunaannya bukan lagi satu isu yang perlu didebatkan. Persoalan penting sekarang,sejauh manakah penggubal buku teksmengambil peluang menggunakan wadah ini sebaik mungkin? Kertas ini membentangkan kajian dan analisis terhadap beberapa buah buku teks Bahasa Malayu yang digunakan di sekolah-sekolah rendah di Pulau Pinang. Hasil kajian mendapati penggunaan visual terhad dan kurang mempunyai nilai pendidikan. Kertas ini selanjutnya mencadangkan secara ringkas langkah-langkah yang dapat diambil untuk memastikan visual yang digunakan mempunyai nilai pendidikan yang maksimum.

PAPER 51

Humans can recall some 'words' from the word or the something that acts as the stimulus one. It can be considered that these response words are produced from knowledge, experience, image for the stimulus word, strategy and tactics for problem solving on the stimulus word - this is called the schema. By cognitive psychology, the learning is defined that the schema of the learner changes and on this basis, the content of schema appears out of human by association.

For measuring the change of concepts and knowledge in the class work (specifically the lessons taught) response words for the stimulus word from the 'Learning Concept' (or lesson) is extracted from the students in the class in every pre- and post-test of the lesson. Each stimulus word is allocated 30 seconds response time. The 'Test' need not be limited to the evaluation as a whole class work but can be utilized to facilitate for individual development in the course of the endeavour. The presentation will elucidate key features of the 'Test' and its effective use in classroom teaching.

PAPER 52

Di Malaysia, kepentingan mata pelajaran geografi dari segi kedudukannya dalam kurikulum sekolah semakin menurun. Geografi pernah menjadi mata pelajaran utama pada peringkat sekolah rendah dan sekolah menengah pada zaman awal pendidikan negara. Selepas Laporan Jawatankuasa Kabinet Mengkaji Pelaksanaan Dasar Pelajaran (1979), mata pelajaran geografi masih menjadi mata pelajaran utama bagi Tingkatan I, II dan III, sementara di peringkat Tingkatan IV dan V ia menjadi mata pelajaran pilihan kepada mata pelajaran sejarah. Selepas Kurikulum Baru Sekolah Menengah (KBSM) dilancarkan pada tahun 1988, geografi masih menjadi mata pelajaran utama pada peringkat menengah rendah (Tingkatan I hingga III) sahaja dan menjadi mata pelajaran pilihan (elektif) pada peringkat Tingkatan IV dan V. Tetapi ia tidak lagi menjadi pilihan utama, berbanding mata pelajaran Pendidikan Seni, Usulluddin dan Ekonomi Asas. Bilangan pelajar yang mengikuti mata pelajaran geografi menurun, dan bilangan kelas geografi tingkatan IV dan V juga berkurangan, dan ada sekolah yang tidak mengajar geografi peringkat menengah atas. Hal ini berlawanan dengan senario yang sedang berlaku di negara-negara maju seperti Amerika Syarikat dan Britain yang menerima kepentingan geografi sekolah bagi penduduk mudanya. Berbagai usaha telah mereka laksanakan bagi menarik minat murid-murid untuk mempelajari subjek ini. Salah satu usaha ke arah ini penggunaan teknologi maklumat yang berkaitan dengan pengendalian dan pengolahan data geografi yang dikenali sebagai sistem maklumat geografi (GIS). Kertas kerja bertujuan untuk memperkenal sistem maklumat geografi dan menghuraikan potensi peranan yang boleh dimainkan oleh sistem ini dalam menarik semula dan mempertingkatkan ilmu pendidikan geografi di peringkat sekolah seterusnya literasi geografi di kalangan masyarakat Malaysia di masa depan.

PAPER 53

Reading has been given a renewed emphasis in Malaysian schools. For example, Project Nilam is aimed at instilling the reading habit among students in secondary schools. Of the four components in MUET (Malaysian University English Test), reading comprehension has been given the highest weightage, i.e. 45% of the total score. This clearly shows the importance accorded to reading in English in Malaysian schools. To achieve effective reading, students need to know strategies which will help them to become good readers in English. This paper discusses about two important strategies which will greatly benefit students in their reading. Top-up and Bottom-up are the strategies students need to understand and apply in their reading process. I will demonstrate how both strategies can be successfully used in the classroom to improve reading. This paper identifies step-by-step approach in understanding the strategies.

PAPER 54

Online learning is predicted to be an area of substantial growth, not only within the higher education sector, but also within the online economy where it is widely expected to become one of the largest 'products'.. RMIT University's Teaching and Learning Strategy's main focus is towards flexible modes of delivery. How does one begin to reengineer an entire program for on-line delivery? The Faculty of Education Languages and Community Services (FELCS) in 1999 commenced development of the first fully online program for the University. A Project Team brought together academics, instructional designers, web designers, computer system operators, and information management specialists in order to complete the task. The question foremost on everyone's mind was is it possible and how can it be done? Do we have the technological know how and capacity to deliver such a program? The technology and technological know how presented many challenges for the team ranging from - what methodology should be used CD-ROM or website? - What sort of support materials do we prepare - hand written guides or is it fully online? How do students access the readings and resources? What are the copyright and IP issues? Do students have access to the appropriate technology and Internet? Is the Internet connection (bandwidth) adequate.

PAPER 55

The traditional literary world that purely survives on the written or spoken word is being broken down by a new concept of the word, now mostly defined by Bill Gates and the visual predominancee of contemporary life. Reading, which was beginning to take deeper roots in Malaysia in the 1980's and 1990's has now receded the video-clip, MTV images and the graphics of video games. In such a deconstructed world why worry about literature, why be literate in literature? Why read? Literature deals with real life, and real life experiences, with accompanying complexities that the movies, the comicsof the video clips cannot offer. Here is life in all its hues, colours, not just in black and white or green and red. Here we do not only findheroes/heroines and the rogues, but also the real people who are neither and /or combine both the qualities, qualities of real people. To know life at its most complex is to be culturally literate and sophisticated, to enjoy life in its various dimensions. Literature is the medium of sophisticated communication, which has given us the words and the strategies to define our realities, dreams and fantasies. Literature trains one to feel deeper and more subtly, think deeper and in a more complex approach and encourages you to give opinions. Opinions are importantfor without them human beings would be tyranised and dectated to. Literature is written by a people, its ideas, its values and eventually becomes an important part of its identity. To understand and to have an identity is important in a globalised world dictated to by the global capitalists, for it is like 'fighting back' against a waves that reduces everything to a monotonous similarly and mere consumerism. On the other hand a unique literature can reverse the trend and help contribute to a world culture that respects people, variety and local genius.

PAPER 56

Numerous factors have been proposed in linguistic literature as significant in the development of literacy in any language. One such factor is the role of attitude, which is the focus of this paper. The paper explores to what extent attitude affects the development of English literacy in Malaysia. In that connection, it reports the findings of a research conducted among 356 final year English language trainee-teachers from eight teacher-training colleges in Malaysia. By way of examining the attitudinal variables namely, peer- group pressure, lecturer-trainee relationshipand the perception of the trainee-teachers of their English studies programme the paper seeks to put the attitudinal factor in perspective and point to its centrality in the development of English literacy among English language trainee-teachers. The paper concludes with recommendations on how to develop positive attitudes among Malaysian trainee-teachers so that they can attain the desired level of literacy in English.

PAPER 57

In this era of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the growing importance of a knowledge-society (K-society), the impact of media such as magazines, newspapers, television, radio, and more lately and more importantly, the Internet, have lasting effects on the minds of people. These effects can be in various forms, which lead to diverse thoughts and perception about the world and life itself. Perceptions and thoughts about the mediated information are therefore shaped by one's ability to think and reason. Thus, thinking and reasoning are vital literacy skills, which would allow individuals to sieve, interpret and think through information, and to reflect and reason about that information. This indirectly involves emotions; and emotions play an important role in shaping the ability to think and reason constructively where the media is concerned. This paper will look at thinking and reasoning as literacy skills in relation to children's, teenagers' and young adults' abilities in media comprehension.

PAPER 58

Many studies have been done on factors that affect a student's performance on a test or exam (ref. Kunnan 1995, Purpura 1999, Douglas 2000). These studies look at characteristicsthat a candidate brings to a tst situation such as personal, cognitive, psychological and social attributes, and how these characteristics interact to affect performance on a test.

This study is the beginning of a series of studies on factors that influence how a student might perform in an exam, particularlyfrom the student's perspective. In this study, some of these factors are investigated by way of distributing a set of questionnaires to about 200 students from various levels of study at Mara University of Technology (UiTM) in Shah Alam, Selangor. 155 responses were returned and analyzed. The researchers discovered that among the major factors that affected performance were:

1) course-related matters, such as workload and time constraint

2) students' ability to cope

3) language problems

The study concludes by making suggestions/ recommendations on how students can be taught to overcome these difficulties, such as how anxiety can be reduced, how to develop test-taking strategies and what the department / institution can do to help students overcome language problems.

PAPER 59

It has long been realized that there are many pervasive problems in the teaching and learning of Reading Comprehension in the ESL context. Bearing this in mind, it was therefore imperative to find some solutions to overcome these problems. This study explored the problems that students of a General English course in USM faced in the Reading Comprehension component with a view to finding solutions to specific problems. Having identified the major difficulties faced by the students, the ACTIVE Reading Framework was used and a certain measure of success was achieved within the limited time of the study. This small measure of success was indeed an eye-opener. It showed that difficulties students faced in Reading Comprehension could be overcome with a workable framework. Moreover, the study had implications on curriculum development as well as L2 learning and instruction which needed to be addressed.

PAPER 60

Since the 1980's, hedging as a pragmatic-discourse phenomenon has gained much attention among linguists and researchers in written communication. Claims made by writers in academic writing have been known to be face threatening as they may supersede established findings. Therefore, hedging is an important strategy for a writer to downtone his claims in order to minimise the negative response of the reader. This study investigates whether Malaysian ESL learners use hedging in their writing. The subjects for this study are 30 undergraduate students from a local university. Their written reports in English will be analysed for the different types of hedges used (if any) based on Hyland's (1996) categorization. It is hoped that the findings will give ESL teachers an insight into this important aspect of writing. It is also hoped that the findings will create an awareness among textbook writers to include hedging as one of the components in their writing.

PAPER 61

Disruptive misbehaviour, reduced academic learning time, untidiness and poor lighting in the classrooms are common problems adversely affecting the core business of the school i.e. teaching and learning. Is there a system to monitor the situation and help solve problems at the same tim ? In 1998 a classroom monitoring system was introduced in a suburban school followed by a pilot project involving 25 schools two years later. In 2001,this programme has been implemented in all primary and secondary schools in the state of Penang. An evaluation of the programme shows that discipline problems has dropped considerably, classrooms are visibly cleaner and academic learning time has increased - with other benefits - resulting in an orderly atmosphere in the school within a short period of time. The paper presents the details of this "multi-purpose system" with a guideline on the action plan, the instrument used and explains how it can also bring about an overall improvement in the schools. Feedback received from education officers, school heads, teachers, parents and students alike will also be reported in this presentation.

PAPER 62

Kerajaan sering mewar-warkan pengitaran semula bahan-bahan yang kita gunakan demi untuk pengekalan dan pemuliharaan alam sekitar. Sebagai menyahut seruan ini, kami telah menyarankan kepada pelajar kami agar mereka menggunakan bahan-bahan yang terbuang, terpakai, dan kitaran semula, tanpa mengeluarkan walaupun sesen, untuk merekabentuk alat-alat bantuan pembentangan. Antara hal yang menarik perhatian kami apabila saranan ini diberikan ialah kekeliruan pelajar tentang apa itu 'bahan terbuang', 'bahan terpakai' dan 'bahan kitaran semula". Di samping itu timbul juga persoalan bagaimana tidak mengeluarkan wang untuk tujuan merekabentuk alat tersebut. Sebagai pengguna kepada bahan-bahan ini, kita harus sedar bahawa pengekalan dan pemuliharaan alam sekitar bukan sahaja menjadi tanggungjawab persatuan pengguna, pencinta alam, dan kerajaan, tetapi juga rakyat jelata seperti kita - guru dan pelajar, tanpa mengira bidang yang diceburi, sama ada bidang yang berkaitan dengan alam sekitar, seperti geografi, atau tidak seperti, linguistik.

PAPER 63

Kertas kerja ini akan membincangkan masalah literasi Bahasa Melayu di kalangan pelajar Tingkatan IV di sebuah kelas dan bagaimana masalah ini mempunyai hubungan dengan proses pembelajaran dan disiplin pelajar dalam kelas tersebut. Subjek kajian terdiri daripada 10 orang pelajar di sebuah Sekolah menengah di Buterworth yang tidak dapat menulis dan membaca dalam Bahasa Melayu dan tidak dapat mengikuti pengajaran mata pelajaran Geografi yang diajar oleh guru pelatih yang sedang menjalani Latihan Mengajar di sekolah tersebut. Kertas kerja ini memaparkan bagaimana masalah literasi dalam Bahasa Melayu menjejaskan pembelajaran mata pelajaran akademik subjek di sekolah. Data bagi kajian ini dikumpul oleh guru pelatih yang mengajar kelas tersebut. Selain itu data tentang latar belakang social subjek diperolehi dengan mengadakan temubual. Subjek kajian ini didapati menimbulkan pelbagai masalah disiplin semasa guru mengajar kerana penguasaan Bahasa Melayu mereka berada pada aras yang sangat rendah dan mereka tidak dapat memahami apa yang diajar oleh guru. Dapatan temubual menunjukkan subjek terdiri daripada pelajar yang normal tetapi malangnya pembelajaran Bahasa Melayu mereka telah terabai dari peringkat sekolah rendah lagi dan jurang keupayaan bahasa mereka dengan pelajar-pelajar yang lain menjadi semakin renggang dari tahun ke tahun sehinggalah ke Tingkatan IV. Dalam kertas kerja ini juga disarankan beberapa cadangan untuk menangani masalah literasi Bahasa Melayu dari peringkat sekolah rendah lagi dan beberapa cadangan untuk memperkenalkan kursus-kursus yang berasaskan kemahiran bagi pelajar-pelajar yang menghadapi masalah dalam literasi Bahasa Melayu di peringkat sekolah menengah.

PAPER 64

Philosophies of education are the foundations on which educational systems of nations are built. Throughout the ages different philosophies of education have emerged and influenced the nature and direction of educational systems and programmes. Changes in educational systems have invariably catalysed changes in teacher education curriculum and practices. The pervasiveness of globalization and the advent of knowledge era coupled with the emergence of new literacies have made it imperative for nations to refocus and reposition teacher education curriculum and consequently review the role of teacher educators. This paper will attempt a critical analysis of the impact of pragmatic philosophies, constructivist learning theories and new literacies vis-a-vis teacher education curriculum and its implications for teacher educators. The focus will be on changes in teacher education in Malaysia, with particular emphasis on the response of Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris and the Teacher Education Division, Ministry of Education Malaysia to the emerging challenges. The discussion will involve an analysis of the measures being taken to accommodate the philosophical, pedagogical and cultural demands.

PAPER 65

The challenge of preparing students for the 21st century employment and eventually for life-long learning is tremendous. While our educational system has done some terrific job in instilling various life-long learning skills to our children at school level, it has overlooked the skills that are required in the workplace. As we know, the workplace has undergone some drastic changes lately with the introduction of new technology such as computer and the Internet, we need to identify the literacy skills that are needed in workplace. Therefore, with the exposure to these various skills such as information literacy, critical literacy, academic literacy and workplace literacy, the gap between school and tertiary level would be lessened, which ultimate would reduce the disparity between what higher education and working life. These skills would be harnessed at every educational level and when they leave their university and join the work force, these students would perform successfully in the 21st century workplace.

PAPER 66

An error analysis can give a teacher an idea of the difficulty, her learners are facing (Richards, 1974). In a multiethnic country such as ours, such an analysis can provide useful information regarding problems common to all and problems common to particular groups. E.g. most Malaysian students do not use the articles in their mother tongues. If two or three surveys are carried out at intervals, the teacher can build up a profile of each individual's problems and see to what extent his grasp of the target language improving. By using error analysis as a monitoring device, the teacher can assess more objectively how her teaching is helping her students.

In this paper, the writer shares with the delegates a survey on errors made by 100 students in a national school. The approach that she uses is proposed by Etherton (1977) which sets up the different categories of error, based on a set of preconceptions about the learner's most common problems. This paper also highlights the most frequently - made errors and explores their possible causes. It also discusses some tips on how to overcome them.

PAPER 67

The status of the English language in the Malaysian Educational System is more of a second language than that of a Foreign Language. The term Second Language is language that is acquired socially and used in actual situations for the purpose of communication alongside the first language. A Foreign Language on the other hand is denoted as a learned language which is acquired for the purpose of job opportunities and has a low priority for communication, (Smith, 1981). Currently, English is taught formally as a single compulsory subject (but not as a compulsory passing subject) in any public examination in schools. As compared to the past, students in Malaysian rural schools at present have less exposure and fewer occasions (outside the classroom) to use English, (Lowenberg, 1991). The importance of parents and teachers' role in upgrading the standard of English in the home environment and school are of major concern today. The exposure to the use of English in schools however, is limited as academic tasks for knowledge attainment is of major importance today in the advent of new technologies. Therefore a study was conducted to find out whether English is a second or Foreign language especially in rural schools. About 300 students from a rural school in Kulim, Kedah have participated in this study. Accordingly, this paper reports the findings of the study.

PAPER 68

This study explores the different dimensions of reading readiness among 57 five and six year old pre-school children at Intan Shafinaz Child development Centre. It examines five dimensions involved in reading readiness i.e. vocabulary and concepts, auditory discrimination, visual discrimination, age group and gender. The authors decided to re-examine reading readiness in light of its ability to indicate a child's predisposition to undertake a learning task especially reading in English. The findings indicate that the distribution of grades for the three tests was rather dispersed. The majority of the respondents did very well in the Visual Discrimination Test. There was also a significant difference between the male and female subjects in the Visual Discrimination Test where the female subjects performed better. There was also a significant difference between the two groups of six year old subjects in the Vocabulary and Concepts Test. Thus, reading readiness should be viewed in amore holistic manner as it not only helps in detecting the strengths and weaknesses of the child's reading ability but it can also help teachers and parents to detect visual impairment, hearing problems on the current reading programme at the centre.

PAPER 69

Bahasa Melayu is the official language of Malaysia and is a compulsory subject taught in schools. However, demographically, more than half of Malaysia's population are non-native speakers of Malay and a significant number of these receive instructions of BM either in national schools and national-type schools. This paper is a preliminary study on the needs of introducing the learning of Malay as a second language to such demographic group. Some considerations would be: (1) to explore what existing curriculum and resources are available to such national-type schools viz. Chinese and Tamil schools, (2) to conduct a survey in these respective schools to establish the need of BM2L from the perspective of teachers and parents while considering the students' overall performance in BM.

PAPER 70

Bahasa Melayu telah menyumbangkan peranan pentingnya sebagai media untuk manyatupadukan berbagai suku kaum di Malaysia. Ini bermakna, bahasa Melayu memiliki ciri keistimewaan yang tersendiri sehingga mudah dituturkan dan diterima oleh mereka. Walau bagaimanapun timbul satu persoalan mengapa bahasa yang begitu istimewa sudah mulai rendah martabatnya. Hal ini terbukti dangan wujudnya pengadukan penggunaan perkataanyang rendah martabatnya sama ada di dalam pertuturan lebih-lebih lagi di dalam penampilan di TV, filem, karya sastera dan lain-lain. Kertas kerja ini akan membincangkan dan mencadangkan beberapa usulan yang dianggap dapat membantu pengguna bahasa Melayu, terutama di kalangan akademik bagaimana seharusnya mereka berperanan untuk memartabatkan bahasa Melayu. Dengan itu diharapkan supaya bahasa Melayu akan terus berkembang dan bermartabat tinggi.

PAPER 71

Spekulasi gunatanah bandar berlebihan menyebabkan kemerosotan kualiti alam sekitar termasuklah kemerosotan tahap kualiti air dan udara, fenomena banjir kilat, hakisan dan pemendakan. Perubahan demografi melalui pertumbuhan semulajadi dan migrasi meningkatkan lagi tekanan permintaan dan penggunaan sumber. Penggunaan melampaui had daya tampungan (carrying capacity) menggugat kestabilan alam sekitar bandar keseluruhan. Kertas kerja ini meninjau aspek pengurusan bandar dalam usaha menerapkan konsep pembangunan mapan(sustainable development) dan kepentingan literasi alam sekitar di kalangan komuniti bandar. Perkara pokok yang hendak diketengahkan ialah literasi alam sekitar di kalangan komuniti bandar adalah penting ditingkatkan ke arahmemupuk kesedaran kepentingan alam sekitar seterusnya penerapan pembangunan mapan seperti yang terkandung di dalam Rancangan Malaysia Ketujuh iaitu untuk menyediakan petunjuk pembangunan mapan sebagai kayu ukur bagi pemantauan dan penilaian pembangunan bandar. Dalam perbincangan ini, isu-isu kemapanan bandar akan diberi perhatian termasuklah isu-isu kemapanan sektor perumahan, ekonomi, alam sekitar, demografi, kemudahan masyarakat, dan lain-lain sektor yang dianggap meruncing. Tumpuan seterusnya akan diberikan kepada kriteria pemilihan petunjuk khususnya petunjuk alam sekitar bandar yang dianggap sesuai. Juga disentuh dalam perbincangan ialah isu dan masalah yang dihadapi dalam menyediakan sumber data yang terkini dan berterusan. Di akhir kertas kerja dirumuskan bahawa di antara isu dan masalah yang perlu diberi perhatian termasuklah masalah pangkalan data, sumber data, pemilihan kriteria dalam penentuan dan pemilihan petunjuk, pengemaskinian data dan wujudnya saiz bandar yang berbagai.

PAPER 72

While the demand for English grows, its effects on other people and their languages are not always not positive benefit they hope or we promise. Teachers of English to speakers of other languages, and those who make a business out of this educational work, now have a difficult choice of either using their power to further the project of globalising English or to be agents working fot the sustainability of the world's biolinguistic diversity. The complex issue involves in counteracting the global dominance of English are central to any consideration of the equitable power relations among the world's speakers of diverse languages. This paper adds to the calls for a paradigmatic innovation in the ELT industry, a new frame of refence for reinventing the project of globalising English that situates it within a framework of risk analysis and makes use of multivocal Englishes to help sustain the biolinguistic diversity of humanity.

PAPER 73

Memasuki millennium baru ini, banyak yang sudah diperkatakan tentang peranan dan kepentingan ilmu dan maklumat. Dengan itu lahirlah konsep-konsep baru seperti K- Economy, K-Society dan sebagainya. Tanpa ilmu dan maklumat individu atau sesebuah masyarakat akan ditinggalkan dan terkapai-kapai menumpang arus pergerakan tamadun dunia yang sangat laju dan rancak ini. Bagaimanapun hakikat peri pentingnya ilmu pengetahun sebagai agen perubahan masyarakat dan individu dari segi pemikiran, budaya dan cara hidup ini bukanlah sesuatu yang baru. Islam memahami hakikat ini sejak dari awal sejarahnya lagi. Ayat pertama yang diwahyukan kepada Nabi yang diutuskan untuk merubah dan memajukan masyarakatnya pada peringkat individu atau masyarakat, mikro atau makro ialah ayat yang memerintahkan baginda menjalani proses mendapatkan ilmu, iaitu membaca. Pembacaan merupakan satu kaedah mencari dan memiliki ilmu yang paling ampuh dan asasi. Kertas ini akan cuba mengimbau kembali kedudukan dan kepentingan ilmu dalam Islam serta penghayatannya di sepanjang sejarah dan seterusnya menghuraikan konsep membaca dan etikanya seperti yang dikehendaki oleh Islam.

PAPER 74

This study examines early literacy of two participants aged 3 (male) and 4 (female) years old at thier preschool and in their mother's office. Observations were done in both physical settings to obtain data and interviews were conducted with the participants' teachers and mothers. Specifically, the present study examines the reading and writing activities, which the participants engaged themselves in to develop their literacy. Findings indicated that opportunities to learn provided in both physical settings do influence the participants' literacy practices. Learning activities provided in the preschool help to develop the participants' literacy. In the mother's office, the 3 year old being provided with the educational CD and computer was able to enhance his computer literacy in using the mouse to complete his task. The 4 year old being provided with colour pencils or pens and workbooks was expressing her literacy through writing, colouring and drawing.

PAPER 75

Current research in reading reveal that many children who fail to read in Year 4 are likely to falter in reading attainment for the remaining years in school (Stanovich, 1985; Lyon, 1997;Hempenstall, 1999) without support many of these children would lose hope in becoming successful in reading; thus, forming a gap. Stanovich termed this the "Matthew Effect". Early intervention with emphasis on decoding is likely to help these children overcome the failure. This reading problem is not just prevalent in countries such as Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand but possibly a Malaysian phenomenon as well. This paper will report findings of a pilot study conducted by the author to investigate the decoding abilities of ESL primary four children in a rural school in Kulim, Kedah.

PAPER 76

Penggunaan teknologi maklumat kini sangat meluas di kalangan industri-industri dan perniagaan-perniagaan besar di Malaysia. Industri-industri dan perniagaan-perniagaan besar itu mempunyai kepakaran yang ramai danmodal yang besar untuk teknologi maklumat itu dan ini telah membantu meningkatkan kecekapan prestasi keseluruhan operasi mereka. Satu persoalan timbul tentang sejauhmana tahap penggunaan teknologi maklumat itu dalam enterprais kecil dan sederhana di negara ini. Adakah mereka mempunyai kepakaran dan modal yang cukup untuk meningkatkan prestasi operasi mereka dengan menggunakan teknologi maklumat itu. Untuk ini, satu kajian telah dilakukan di kalangan enterprais kecil dan sederhana di sebelah utara Semenanjung Malaysia tentang penggunaan teknologi maklumat ini. Secara perbandingan, memang didapati tahap penggunaan teknologi maklumat ini tidak sama. Masalah literasi komputer merupakan salah satu masalah utama yang dihadapi di samping masalah modal yang tidak mencukupi. Tahap literasi komputer yang tinggi di kalangan sebahagian ebterprais kecil dan sederhana dapat meningkatkan penggunaan teknologi maklumat dalam operasi mereka dan sangat membantu dalam peningkatan kecekapan dan prestasi enterprais-enterprais itu.

Workshop 1

Mind Mapping was creat