The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science w w w . m o j - e s . n e t ] 01.01.2013 The...

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01.01.2013

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational

Science Volume 1, Issue 1

January 2013

Editor-in-Chief

Professor Dr. Saedah Siraj

Editors

Dr. Zaharah Hussin

Onur Isbulan

Associate Editors

Professor Dr. Omar Abdull Kareem

Associate Prof. Dr. Ibrahem Narongsakhet Associate

Prof. Dr. Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin, Associate

Prof. Dr. Norani Mohd Salleh Associate Prof. Dr. Wan

Hasmah Wan Mamat

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science Volume 1, Issue 1

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Copyright © 2013 - THE MALAYSIAN ONLINE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE All rights reserved. No part of MOJES’s articles may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,

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The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Technology Volume 1, Issue 1

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The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences (MOJES) strives to provide a national and international academic forum to meet the professional interests of individuals in various educational disciplines. It is a professional refereed journal in the interdisciplinary fields sponsored by the Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. This journal serves as a platform for presenting and discussing a wide range of topics in Educational Sciences. It is committed to providing access to quality researches ranging from original research, theoretical articles and concept papers in educational sciences.

In order to produce a high quality journal, extensive effort has been put into selecting valuable researches that contributed to the journal. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the editorial board, reviewers and researchers for their valuable contributions to make this journal a reality.


January 2013

Editor in chief

Message from the editors

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences (MOJES) seeks to serve as an academic platform to researchers from the vast domains of Educational Sciences. The journal is published electronically four times a year.

This journal welcomes original and qualified researches on all aspects of Educational Sciences. Topics may include, but not limited to: pedagogy and educational sciences, adult education, education and curriculum, educational psychology, special education, sociology of education, Social Science Education, Art Education, Language Education, educational management, teacher education, distance education, interdisciplinary approaches, and scientific events.

Being the editor of this journal, it is a great pleasure to see the success of the journal. On behalf of the editorial team of the Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science (MOJES), we would like to thank to all the authors and editors for their contribution to the development of this journal.

Dr. Zaharah Hussin

Onur Isbulan

January 2013

Editors


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Editor-in-Chief

Professor Dr. Saedah Siraj, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Editors

Dr. Zaharah Hussin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Onur Isbulan, Sakarya University, Turkey

Associate Editors

Professor Dr. Omar Abdull Kareem, Sultan Idris University of Education, Malaysia

Associate Prof. Dr. Ibrahem Narongsakhet, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand

Associate Prof. Dr. Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin, Islamic Science University of Malaysia

Associate Prof. Dr. Norani Mohd Salleh, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Prof. Dr. Wan Hasmah Wan Mamat, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Advisory Board

Emeritus Professor Dr. Tian Po Oei, University of Queensland, Australia

Professor Dr. Fatimah Hashim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Jimwoong Song, Seoul National University, Korea

Professor Dr. H. Mohammad Ali, M.Pd, M.A., Indonesian University of Education, Indonesia

Professor Dr. Moses Samuel, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Nik Azis Nik Pa, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Richard Kiely, the University College of St. Mark and St. John, United Kingdom

Professor Dr. Sufean Hussin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zawawi Bin Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Editorial Board

Emeritus Professor Dr. Rahim Md. Sail, University Putra of Malaysia, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Abdul Rashid Mohamed, University of Science, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Ananda Kumar Palaniappan, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Bakhtiar Shabani Varaki, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran.

Professor Dr. H. Iskandar Wiryokusumo M.Sc, PGRI ADI Buana University, Surabaya, Indonesia

Professor Dr. Ramlee B. Mustapha, Sultan Idris University of Education, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Tamby Subahan Bin Mohd. Meerah, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Associate Professor Datin Dr. Sharifah Norul Akmar Syed Zamri, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dato’ Dr. Ab Halim Bin Tamuri, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Abdul Jalil Bin Othman, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Ajmain Bin Safar, University of Technology, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Habib Bin Mat Som, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Hj. Izaham Shah Bin Ismail, Mara University of Technology, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Jas Laile Suzana Binti Jaafar, University of Malaya, Malaysia


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Associate Professor Dr. Juliana Othman, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Loh Sau Cheong, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Mariani Binti Md Nor, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Mohamad Bin Bilal Ali, University of Technology, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Norazah Mohd Nordin, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Datuk Dr. Abdul Rahman Idris, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Datin Dr. Rahimah Binti Hj Ahmad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Abu Talib Bin Putih, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Abd Razak Bin Zakaria, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Adelina Binti Asmawi, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Chew Fong Peng, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Diana Lea Baranovich, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Fatanah Binti Mohamed, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Ghazali Bin Darusalam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Haslee Sharil Lim Bin Abdullah, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Kazi Enamul Hoque, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Latifah Binti Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Lau Poh Li, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Madhyazhagan Ganesan, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Melati Binti Sumari, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Mohammed Sani Bin Ibrahim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Mohd Rashid Mohd Saad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Muhammad Azhar Bin Zailaini, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Muhammad Faizal Bin A. Ghani, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Norlidah Binti Alias, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Pradip Kumar Mishra, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Rafidah Binti Aga Mohd Jaladin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Rahmad Sukor Bin Ab Samad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Selva Ranee Subramaniam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Sit Shabeshan Rengasamy, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Shahrir Bin Jamaluddin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Syed Kamaruzaman Syed Ali, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Vishalache Balakrishnan, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Wail Muin (Al-Haj Sa’id) Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Wong Seet Leng, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zahari Bin Ishak, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zahra Naimie, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zanaton Ikhsan, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia


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Cik Umi Kalsum Binti Mohd Salleh, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Ahmad Zabidi Abdul Razak, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Megat Ahmad Kamaluddin Megat Daud, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Mohd Faisal Bin Mohamed, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Rahimi Md Saad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Azni Yati Kamaruddin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Foziah Binti Mahmood, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Hamidah Binti Sulaiman, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Huzaina Binti Abdul Halim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Ida Hartina Ahmed Tharbe, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Roselina Johari Binti Md Khir, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Zuwati Binti Hashim, University of Malaya, Malaysia


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Table of Contents

CARING TEACHER IN DEVELOPING EMPATHY IN MORAL EDUCATION 1

Ilhavenil Narinasamy, Wan Hasmah Wan Mamat

NATIONAL INTEGRATION IN MULTICULTURAL SCHOOL SETTING IN MALAYSIA 20

Abu Bakar Nordin, Norlidah Alias, Saedah Siraj

RESEARCH AND TRENDS IN THE STUDIES OF NATIVE & NON-NATIVE SPEAKER TEACHERS OF LANGUAGES: A REVIEW ON SELECTED RESEARCHES AND THESES

30

Fathen SuriatiJusoh, Norlidah Alias, Saedah Siraj, Dorothy De Witt, Zaharah Hussin, Ghazali Darusalam

SELF REGULATED LEARNING FOR DEVELOPING NURSING SKILLS VIA WEB-BASED 43

Rafiza Abdul Razak, Khor Bee Hua

STUDENTS’ ROLES DURING PEER RESPONSE SESSIONS 55

Sandra Sim Phek Lin, Moses Samuel

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CTT AND IRT APPROACHES IN ANALYZING ITEM CHARACTERISTICS 64

Nabeel Abedalaziz, Chin Hai Leng


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Caring Teacher in Developing Empathy in Moral EducationIlhavenil Narinasamy [1], Wan Hasmah Wan Mamat [2]

[1] Department of Foundational Education and Humanities, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya Tel: 017-3866711 [email protected]

[2] Department of Foundational Education and Humanities, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya [email protected]

ABSTRACT

In this paper, a case study of an experienced teacher is highlighted illuminating her understanding as a caring agent in the classroom, her caring ways to enhance teacher-student relationships and how she incorporated empathy as a basis of caring in her moral lessons. Methods such as non-participant observations, semi-structured interviews, teacher’s journal and document analysis were adopted in over eight months of this study. The findings highlighted teacher modelling, engaging students and pedagogical content knowledge as central themes in teacher exhibiting care to students. In displaying caring, it also accentuates the approaches the teacher embarked in developing empathy among the culturally diverse students in the classroom.

Keywords: Caring, Empathy, Teacher-student relationships

INTRODUCTION

Do teachers educate students to excel academically or do they educate them on values? This question has put many teachers in a dilemma as in recent times, curriculum standardization, high-stakes testing and emphasis on economically demanding subjects like mathematics and science (Zhao, 2010) has sidelined values needed to balance out the material world. In this era of globalization, challenges to education are on the rise and teachers face tough situations. While it is the responsibility of teachers to cultivate global competence among students (Wang et al., 2011), it is also necessary for teachers to instill values in the students. Zhao (2010) affirms that in cultivating global competence among students, teachers should also model caring behaviours in their students. Not only that, he asserts that teachers should guide students or make students aware of the existing global problems such as human conflicts from multiple perspectives. Kohn (1998) emphasises that the development of perspective taking is necessary for students to imagine others how they think or feel. As Goleman (1995) puts it, as one takes in the perspectives of others, not only the cognitive component is involved, the affective component is also taken into account. One needs to have emotional literacy in order to recognise, apprehend and attend to the concerns of others. Emotional literacy can be nurtured and Sharp (2001) believes that emotional learning matters most as it allows students to strive for the best and to contribute greatly to society.

Empathy is recognised as one of the elements of emotional literacy. In the Malaysian Moral Education Syllabus, emotional literacy comes under the affective component domain. Cognitive, affective and behavioural are the known three domains in Moral Education Syllabus and are taught to the non-Muslim students through the Moral Education lessons. These three domains are set to develop a child holistically as stipulated in the Malaysia’s National Philosophy of Education that forms the basis for the Ministry of Education’s emphasis to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable, skilful and able to exhibit exemplary moral attributes (Ministry of Education, 2003). Moral cognitive or moral reasoning has taken centre stage all this while (Myyry et al., 2010) and it is timely to look into moral affective. Empathy is considered under moral affective as it is derived as the ability to understand the perspectives of others and to feel the feelings of others (Goleman, 1995; Lyn, 2005) although cognitive processes is involved in it (Eisenberg, 2000). According to Damon (2010), a child’s moral sense that includes empathy, requires nurturing if he or she is to develop into a mature, responsible and caring adult. Although parents play an important role in developing

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empathy in their children, their contributions can be limited. The parents’ background may halt the good developing of empathy. Lickona (1993) acknowledged that schools have to instil values in students because of disintegration of families. Studies done by Wentzel (2002) and Zhang (2007) supported that teachers can have a greater influence on students’ motivation and behaviour displayed in their classrooms than can parents. Martin Jane Rowland (cited in Zhang, 2007) strongly advocated that ‘if the domestic sphere is shrinking at home, it must be expanded in the school’ (p. 157). Right from the beginning, society has given the task to teachers to instil acceptable behaviour in students. In fact, Skoe (2010) argues that teachers are moral models that contribute to development of care and empathy in students. Therefore, in order to accomplish this huge task, the teachers in schools need to play a very important role in developing empathy among students.

According to Hoffman (2003), empathy is congruence with caring. He states that “the link between empathic distress and caring are direct and obvious” (p. 225). His viewpoint is empathy is the basis of caring. In schools, caring teachers play vital role in instilling good values besides imparting knowledge to the students. Why a teacher should be caring? According to Rogers and Web (1991), caring teachers emerged from good and effective teachings. Caring teaching-learning relationships are prerequisite for cognitive growth and development (Goldstein, 2003; Lumpkin, 2007; Roberts, 2010), and Noddings (2005) believes that one needs to educate a child holistically that encompasses happiness to foster development. However, studies on teacher characteristics and teacher-student relationships have not been explored in secondary schools (Wentzel, 1997). Researches on caring teachers who model caring behaviour to students especially in secondary schools have not been much focused (Cooper, 2004; Gomez et al., 2004). For that reason, it is necessary to explore caring behaviour which is related to moral affective in Malaysian schools (Wan Hasmah, 2000). A caring teacher is one who is clear about the roles and responsibilities that he or she needs to have to impart the necessary skills to students (Abdul Jalil Othman, 2007). An effective teacher is one who cares to engage a lifelong quest to provide an optimal learning situation for the students and is committed to ensure that the enhancement of learning is taking place indefinitely (Day et al., 2007; Lumpkin, 2007; Shoffner, 2008). Therefore in order to develop empathy in students, caring teachers are needed to shoulder this responsibility.

The purpose of this article is to explore the ways a teacher exhibit her caring ways and steps taken to develop empathy among students in her moral lessons. The research questions conducted in this study is as follows: a) What is the teacher’s understanding as the caring agent in the classroom; b) How does the teacher display caring during moral lessons; and c) How does the teacher incorporate empathy as a basis of caring in her moral lessons?

Theoretical perspective

The Ethics of Care has been associated with the teaching and learning in the educational research. Much has been written about the notion of care propagated by Gilligan and Noddings. Although Gilligan (1982) is a pioneer in care theory, it is Noddings’ work which would be highlighted in this study as it is related to Moral Education.

Noddings (2002a) who is the proponent of Ethics of Care in Moral Education asserts that Moral Education that focuses on empathy should assist students to critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their society. In order for that to materialise, empathy in children must be properly nurtured or it will remain dormant. According to Noddings (1984, 2003), the teacher exhibits caring through modeling, dialogue, practice and confirmation. Noddings (1984, 1992, 2002a) has introduced the Ethics of Care that constitutes both the one-caring and cared-for. This stems from Hume (1988/1960) who strongly viewed that science of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Natural Religion are related to mankind. He states that Logic, Morals, Criticism and Politics are integrated into our lives that can improve our human mind. He gratified that morality is based on feelings where all living entity are involved in relationships and credulous to virtues and vices. Based on that, Noddings (1984) asserts that morality on virtues involves natural caring and ethical caring. It is in ethical caring that the relationship between the one-caring and cared-for is in a dual manner or relational. It allows one to grow in a wholly and integrated manner. In fact, Nodding’s Ethics of Care has some sense of connectedness to Mayeroff’s (1971) definition of caring when he states caring as “having another person’s growth and development in mind” (p.1).

Modelling is the utmost important aspect in Moral Education. Teachers are required to exhibit moral behaviour to students as advocated by Aristotle (1985) who postulated that virtues can be taught. A student learns to be responsive when a teacher shows care. The adequate experience that one has to get in order to care for someone is vital here. The role as a carer and the role as a model work simultaneously. A child can be too young to be a carer, but he or she can acquire ways to reciprocate care (Noddings, 1992, 2005). In moral education, the function of a model is more important than the function of a carer. Lickona (1993) stressed that teachers should model caring behaviours to the students to motivate altruistic attitudes.

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Besides modelling, dialogue is a vital component where the carer or the teacher indulges in meaningful conversations with the cared-for or the students and not merely concentrating on intellectual discourse (Noddings, 2002a). The teacher makes connections with her students and interpersonal bonding is inevitable. Noddings (1984) equates engrossment as empathy when the teacher pays attention to and understands the feelings of students. Dialogue is a common search for understanding, empathy or appreciation (Noddings, 1984, 2003; Owens & Ennis, 2005). In other words, open communication reduces the gap between the teacher and students and thus deepens understanding between the two parties.

Modelling and dialogue can further be enhanced through practice. Students learn to care and empathise through social services. Co-operation among students should be encouraged as it fosters good relationships between them. The school and classroom settings are excellent platforms for students that provide opportunities for them to develop interpersonal skills before they embark into the real world. Wentzel (1998) asserts that children develop social skills, moral competencies and intellectual skills well when they are supported well by teachers and peers in the school.

Confirmation takes place when the teacher approves positive or caring acts by students. However, confirmation can only be utilised if there is a good relation between the teacher and the student (Noddings, 1984, 2002a). In other words, if the teacher knows the student well and approves his or her actions, only then confirmation is valid.

However, Noddings has received criticisms from other theories that assumed that she is only looking at the Western perspectives. Thompson (1998) criticises Noddings for not taking account of the cultural and political background of the child, however, Noddings (2002b) has conceded that one should take the cultural relevance associated to a child. Noddings stated that “two students in the same class are roughly in the same situation, but they may need very different forms of care from their teacher” (p.20).

Although Noddings’ (1984) Ethics of Care has focused less on the diverse background of the students or the cared for, her subsequent writings have shown that students from multicultural backgrounds need to be encouraged to engage in dialogues so that they are able to recognise the strengths and weaknesses in each other (Bergman, 2004).

METHODS

This eighth-month study adopted a case study approach which was seen as the relevant and befitting the way to investigate the understanding of the teacher regarding care and empathy and the approaches undertaken to develop empathy among students. It was also considered as an instrumental case study (Stake, 2005) as it revealed the caring notions in the classroom.

For this paper, Bing, a female, aged 43 years old was highlighted over four teacher-participants. Bing was chosen as she accentuated her caring behaviour to the students as well as demonstrates different approaches for developing empathy among the students more than the other three participants despite being not an Excellent Teacher in Moral Education. In the Malaysian system, teachers will be conferred as Excellent Teacher in their respective fields if they display exceptional traits in personality, teaching and learning in the classrooms as well as producing excellent results in public examinations. Bing was also chosen based on her willingness to participate. Nevertheless, she was also an experienced teacher and was considered an expert in this field. Bing was a recipient of an Excellent Service award in her school for her overall performance in 2005.

The selection process for the teacher began with the permission and facilitation of the State Education Department. A list of teachers that are considered as experts in Moral Education was made available to the researcher. The researcher then selected the school located in Petaling Jaya, in the state of Selangor where Bing was teaching. Visits to the school were made to seek permission from the principal to gain entry to the site as well as Bing’s consent to participate. Data was collected over a time frame of eight months (August 2010 – March 2011).

Data Collection Method and Analysis

In this study, triangulation method was employed to collect data. In order to achieve validity and reliability, ‘triangulation’ involves the use of multiple independent sources of data to establish the truth and accuracy of a claim

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(Sagor, 2000) as detailed explanation is needed so that others can see the situation themselves (Gay et al., 2009).

Non-participant observations, semi-structured interviews, teacher’s journal and document analysis were used in this study. Non-participant observer was undertaken to elicit information on the interactions between Bing and her students and the planned and unplanned activities that were taking place in the classroom. The observation in the classroom provided an opportunity to probe Bing in the interview session as this was necessary to gain more insights of her understanding of care, empathy, her approaches in teachings as well as her beliefs and values when instructing students in the classroom. No consent was given to video tape her lessons but she allowed the researcher to audio-tape them. Approximately, ten observations were done and seven semi-structured interviews were carried out. The purpose of the interviews was to gain insights on Bing’s feelings and thoughts on her caring relationships with her students. Besides prolonged engagement to ensure validity, member checking was also employed as every expanded fieldnotes, and interview transcriptions were given to the participant to ensure the accuracy of her opinions, thoughts, feelings and experiences. Besides, the Moral Education syllabus, Teachers’ Record Books, Minutes of Meetings and teacher’s journal were considered documents. The Moral Education syllabus was looked into to see whether moral affective has been properly addressed in the syllabus. It was also to ascertain whether care and empathy has been identified as one of the moral affective component. The teachers’ record books, as well as the minutes of the meetings were also examined thoroughly to see whether moral affection was given equal importance as content knowledge in developing the students’ character. The teacher’s journal was also an important source of data to interpret her thoughts and feelings in the teaching and learning of Moral Education.

After every round of observation (1 hour ten minutes), fieldnotes were expanded. All seven interviews (between 30 minutes to an hour) were transcribed verbatim. The expanded fieldnotes and transcribed interviews were uploaded in NVivo software. Bing’s entry journal, the fieldnotes and transcriptions were coded as free nodes initially. Names such as ‘encourage students’, ‘patience’, ‘showing concern for students’, ‘motivation’, ‘role-play’, ‘showing empathy’ and ‘explanation on content knowledge’ were coded as these depicted Bing’s understanding on caring, her display of caring towards her students and her incorporation of empathy in her lessons. After all rounds of observations and interviews, patterns that emerged from the various sources of data were identified. How Bing treated her students and interpreted her actions were understood more clearly. Codes that were similar were merged and categories were formed to identify Bing’s conduct towards her students. From 108 open codes, 13 categories were formed. From 13 categories, four themes emerged from the findings. The themes are Modelling, Engaging Students, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, and Developing Empathy.

FINDINGS

Modelling

From the analysis of observations, interviews, document analysis and Bing’s journal, it was found that Bing praised students who did their work. She praised a student who had done all the essays by saying ‘good’ and told the other students to emulate her (the student). In another lesson, she praised students for their efforts in answering questions regarding Patriotism by uttering the word ‘good’. Students who tried giving appropriate answers although not accurate were also praised as it was a good try from the group. In the very same way, Wentzel (1997) found that caring teachers makes special effort to recognize the effort and talent of students.

Besides that, Bing’s patience was also a good modelling for other students. From the observations meted out, she allowed them freedom to be in their groups as long as the work was done. In fact, a student went to her table and enlarged the font in her laptop so that he could see the words clearly on the LCD. She did not show any anger as caring teacher is perceived as one who remains calm and relaxed (Hayes et al. 1994). However she kept reminding them about their work. When probed further she said:

every week I will be reminding them, you know ,then one fine day they will be ready, then it shows that they are responsible… they have to give people time to mature and grow because we cannot sort off brush them aside,… we have to give them time and opportunity to grow…. Because last year I have this girl, she was in Form Four, when I did group activity, she was just on her own, she just didn’t bother, you scold her also, she won’t do… but this year I could see the change in her, she starts asking questions, you know ….ahm, you take time for the person to change…

(B-60910-124-130)

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Besides, Bing acted as a motivator to the students. Her praises acted as encouraging students to believe in themselves and also to support their friends. Once she told a student who did a class presentation to speak louder in class as the student seemed to be a little timid. She told her that she could not live in this way if she was always scared. The student tried and Bing praised her willingness to try, besides telling it was a good try from the group. Some students clapped their hands. Bing told the students that encouragement from friends was good.

In other lessons, it was noted that she encouraged students to give support to their group so that they would be able to progress in life.

Teacher: So, kudos to our friends, although they are shy at the beginning, you have

also succeed to act out and give your co-operation to your group.

Teacher: Ok, good, Wei Leong you cannot get the words from your mouth, the voice

comes from See Mei.

Wei Leong: Help the group.

Teacher: Ah, help the group, good.

The support of friends, teachers and parents are important. Like our three

friends, maybe they did not get support from their friends. The next time,

give support to one another, No reason why you cannot make the activities

successful. Your responsibility to understand and appreciate self-esteem.

When asked later the reason that she encouraged them to give support to their peers, she said:

Because all of us progress, by end of it all of us should progress, I believe, I strongly believe in their values, in wherever they are, in position they are. I care that they should be able to progress. If they are shy and they learn to be not so shy in front of the class. So I have to identify all this.

(B-170211-182-185)

Bing also showed concern to students who were not well or injured. In one lesson, she gave attention to one student who seemed to be injured in his leg. Bing wished him good morning and asked,

Teacher: What happened to your leg?

Student: I fell.

Teacher: Fell? You played football? Have you seen the doctor or not?

Her concern also showed that she did not give up on difficult students. By showing perseverance, students would realise the good intentions of the teacher and later change their behaviour. Wentzel (1997) stated that teacher who cares does not ignore and pays attention to a particular student who needs help.

Bing recalled:

What I did was…, one day she was showing her temper in the class, so I did not let it go because I found that she was rude to me and over reacted, because what I did was for her own good but she didn’t seem to see eye to eye over that situation. So, I called her mum and talked to her mum about it.

(B-290910-186-189)

Bing strongly believed that teachers need to show their caring ways to the students so that students emulate from them. She viewed:

We need to show our care for our students not only this and that and then I believe people say lessons

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are not taught are caught. If the teachers practice it, they will know.

(B-210311-156-158)

Her opinion was that the teachers need to display caring behaviour so that students improve their behaviour. It was further expounded in her journal that the difficult students changed because of her caring ways.

My conversation with two students revealed that they were not hostile towards me. They were more approachable. I commented to them, “You have changed to a better person. You are more attentive and less playful. What made you change?”

Their response was that my caring approach.

(B-J-300810)

Engaging Students

Bing engaged in dialogue session with students to enhance teacher-student relationship. When students were sleeping in the class, she gave personal attention to them and enquired their well-being. A particular student was sleeping and she spoke to him. At first she asked another student, ‘Why is he sleeping every time?’ A student answered, ‘He is like that in my class too.’ Then Bing proceeded to ask the student.

Teacher: What did you do last night? Ah… what did you do last night… play video games

or watching video.

Student: Work…

Teacher: Ah.

Student: Work.

Teacher: Work? What work?

Student: Sell clothes.

Teacher: Sell clothes… in Sunway Piramid, ya.. ah.. You came back at what time?

Student: Eleven.

Teacher: Then you went to work at what time? After school, … Ah? After this, are you

going to work?

Student: Today off.

Teacher: Ah?

Student: Today off.

Teacher: Today off, so Saturday and Sunday you work, Monday off.

The conversation that took place between Bing and the student allowed the student to give some attention to the lesson. Although he said that Moral Education was not an important subject, Bing thanked him and told him to pay attention in class. She was seen smiling at him and nodded her head and the student smiled too at Bing. The dialogue session that took place allowed Bing to get to know her student and understood his problem. It was written in her journal to indicate why she understood that he was sleeping.

Student A (a Chinese boy) slept late the previous night for he worked over the weekend. He slept at 11p.m. He said he was too tired. He mentioned that he works not because there is a financial need in the family. He works because he wants to save money for future use.

(B-J-230810)

However, Bing felt that she did not have enough time to take care of every student. She felt that the

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enrolment of the class was beyond her capacity. Noddings (2005) acknowledged that classes should be smaller so that teachers could give attention to the welfare of the students. Bing said:

Hmm, this class is too big, it a bit difficult to for me to care for everybody but when I observe something which is not right, I usually go to them and talk to them, you know individually,… Sometimes it’s too much then I had to reprimand him in front of the whole class.

(B-290910-64-67)

She also did not want to spend too much time engaging with a particular student as other students would consider her bias.

students perceive teachers as not fair, why teacher shower so much attention to that person and not me, you know and teacher is prejudice, you know teacher like certain people, or teacher don’t like certain people, so I try not to do that usually, you know in class, students class time.

(B-290910-73-76)

Giving advice was always one of Bing’s routine in the classroom. When a teacher advises, it is part of showing concern to the students that she cares and this inevitably engages the students. Bing often acted as advisor to the students. She told her students:

No reason why you cannot make the activities successful. Your responsibility to

understand and appreciate self-esteem. If you have low self-esteem, you won’t

be brave enough to voice out. For example, two friends at the back, when they

act, they’re quiet, when they are at the back, they make noise and disturb friends.

Ok, they have shown their low self esteem. Ok, I want you to improve your

image as students as friends to give support to your own group.

When asked later, she said that she wanted the students to improve themselves. She firmly states that:

Ahm, all of us, wherever we start from, there is always a beginning point, so there is always room for improvement, so I want to see that to improve further. Which ever level they are, I want them to improve further, not only just thinking emotion but later on maybe opportunities for them to show it out to their friends.

(B-210311-95-98)

She also advised students that they needed to have a balance in their lives as academic were not everything. She advised them to have time for resting, playing, eating and going for tuition. She told them not to study all the time – ‘study, study, and study’.

Teacher: Do an appropriate time management – not only for academic only. Academic is not everything.’

One way of engaging students is Bing also showed that she was empathising with them. She understood a student who was sick and told the class to leave him alone.

Teacher: Today, we shall leave Vikneswarama alone because he is not well.

In one lesson, she showed a profile picture of a role-model student and asked a student how he felt when putting himself in that role-model’s shoes. He replied that he was sad. Immediately, she understood the feelings of that student by saying:

“Do you think your performance in as great as the student? Ah, he felt sad because if he compared himself to the student, his achievement is not as good as hers. He may not get the Co-curricular Achiever, am I right?”

The student agreed with Bing. When probed later, she said:

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Because somebody successful, I wish I am in that place but I cannot achieve it, so you feel sad but you know you are not doing enough to achieve that place. In fact, that student may feel that, I also should be the one going up, not somebody else.

(B-170211-89-91)

In all her lessons, Bing did not push the students very hard to do their presentations in front of the class. She understood their background and their personality very well as she has spoken to them individually. She commented:

Because of inferiority complex, maybe when they were young, they were being laughed at, some did share with me that when they were young, they were being laughed at, so they cannot come out and talk in front of a lot of people.

(B-170211-209-211)

In fact, she understood the feelings of a large female student in the class and never forced her to participate in the class discussions. When asked later, she said:

I believe that when you are very big, you are very self conscious. So you come up here, people will be looking at you and not the other two girls, so she won’t feel comfortable to act, so I have to understand that. And if she comes out there, maybe it’s our human nature, you know, so the boys will not let her go, you make her feel more shy and she will be withdrawing to her own corner, so I don’t want that to happen to her.

(B-170211-307-312)

Her feelings for the students were later enhanced in her thoughts as she penned in her journal. Her empathy with the student was clearly seen in her entry journal, she wrote:

I did not want to force because one of the group member is rather big size and I do not want to embarrass her. I will want to encourage her to overcome the low self-image of being laughed at.

(B-J-240111)

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Based on the observations done, a lot of focus on the content knowledge of the subject was done by Bing. But before she went into the subject matter, she engaged in small talks with the students. She praised students who attended school on Saturday. She also asked them whether they have received her e-mail regarding the course work which is due next year. Later, she introduced the topic by showing a video clip on the history of a legendary warrior. She explained a lot regarding the history of achieving independence in this country, the sufferings of the warriors that protected and defended the country. A lot of drilling was done and repeats need to be reinforced so that students remember not only the content but also the values. Bing further explained that they have achieved independence without blood shed, and without blood shed and war, they achieved it with peace and harmony. Bing showed a list of questions on the board through the LCD.

In another lesson, Bing explained about Vision 2020 and the nine challenges in attaining Vision 2020 in the country. Then she asked a student what he knew about One Malaysia. He replied by saying Malays, Chinese and Indians as three races together. Bing went on explaining about unity among various races to achieve stability, peace and unity that will make the nation progress. When the next observation was done, Bing resumed her teaching regarding ASEAN and asked the student to name the countries of ASEAN. She explained the traits of ZOPFAN. Bing believed that subject matter is important in the class and therefore could not afford the time to concentrate on a single student. She firmly stated that:

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our core business in the class is to present the subject matter and the objective and the lessons that we do but if you want to care during the group work you may do that time you can go individual time so I find that if I need to teach them, I need to teach those subject matter that being done for that day for certain, ahm… I mean for that students, you cannot say you know, you left 35 students and just concentrate on one student, what about the time for the 35 students, it’s not fair, you have to take care of the 35 and not the one. If you want to take care of the one, then you have to on your own call, them out and talk to them and you see them. Make an appointment and not using the class time, it’s not fair for the rest of them because the rest of them need to learn.

(B-290910-80-89)

From the observations done, Bing used IT to deliver her lessons to the students. In an earlier lesson, she showed a video clip on Leftenan Adnan, a legendary warrior who fought for independence for the country. After explaining to the students, she showed a list of questions on the LCD. In another lesson, Bing was in the class earlier to prepare her lesson, using the computer and LCD to show puzzles to the students. Only eight students came into the class. Bing told a prefect to call the other students from the assembly court to come into the classroom. While waiting for other students to come in, Bing told the others to try to do a cross-word puzzle shown on the LCD. Bing was also keen to put information on her facebook.

Teacher: Have you read this story? Or this e-mail. I’ll put in my facebook. Then you can read it.

Student: What’s your ID, teacher?

Teacher: ID? Type Mrs. B, then you get to find me.

Student: Mrs. B.

Teacher: ah… Ok, I’ve put Lesson 1 that is Unit 1- Notes in Facebook. Go and read.

Student: Teacher, your e-mail.

Bing’s expertise in using the ICT was also noticed. She believed in using ICT to gauge the students’ attention and engage the students’ learning.

……….I believe in using ICT, actually I can use charts, I can use revision books in the class. I can also use games, but then as I said the same method is the worst method so I try to vary….but most of the time I try to use ICT because it caters to the needs of the students because we have sound effect, we have visual, pictures… if I have much time I put in animation to make alive, to help them to be more focus to make lesson learning more fun… I believe in an interacting way of answering , so I ask them to join website to learn..

(B-60910-61-67)

In fact, she believed that her students would learn better if the teaching and learning process was done through information technology. Her reflection on this matter was written in her journal.

I felt the lesson could be improved if students have multimedia reference rather that printed material on revision books.

(B-J-90810)

I am happy with my lesson.

I included elements of fun in learning through games using power point games templates as evaluation. Students were interested and participated actively in giving the answers.

(B-J-160810)

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Developing Empathy

One of the approaches that Bing used to incorporate empathy among students is through role-play. She wanted the students to understand the perspectives of other people by requiring them to act out the roles. In one lesson, a group of students took the roles of residents and vandalises. Below is the excerpt of how the students carried out their roles.

S1: So boring.. look at the sign board it’s clean. Let us scribble on it. (Students scribble

on the sign board). (Then 2 girls come by)

G1: What are you doing?

S1: We are scribbling.

G1: How are we going to find the address?

S1: Is it?

G2: The ambulance will not be able to find the address. You are wasting other people’s

time.

S2: The lives of other people, I’m afraid.

S1: Sorry, we’ll erase it.

From the role-play, it was noted that the students were able to know the consequences of their actions and decided to not to vandalise the sign board so that the ambulance would be able to find the address of patients. Bing explained:

Because that girl actually able to portray out and cause the rest to think when they do vandalism, right? So, indirectly they are catching the values, instead of me teaching them. They have already caught it and they are portraying it out. This can be evaluated in that way.

(B-170211-286-289)

She also believed that students engaging in role-play could influence the others so that they act in appropriate way. She said:

They read more into my lesson, the values that I teach, because, in this kind of role play, when they portray their answers, it’s their group idea and yet they can show the maturity of the students, they can be evaluated in that way and in fact it will be very effective for them to do like that and influencing that class.

(B-170211-291-294)

Her thoughts in her journal also reflected that she wanted the students to understand other people’s perspectives or empathise with others through role-play.

I make them role-play so that they learn to say no to negative behaviour.

(B-J-240111)

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Bing also encouraged the students to spend time with their families so that they know their families better. She even asked them whether they were concerned for their parents’ well being. She asked them whether they knew their parents’ interest.

Teacher: Do you know whether your parents are sick, or not happy? Do you see their faces

and show concern? Do you know if your parents are sad?

When probed later, she explained:

Yes, I want them to understand their parents because I said in family charity work, they need to spend time with their parents because before that they won’t need, some of them even won’t have time for their parents, so I want to instil the values love for parents.

(B-170211-363-366)

so when they spend more time together, they can understand their parents point of view and their parents, when they have time to talk to the child, we are giving them opportunity to get to know each other better because most of the time, you find that you need money so they just give them money. They don’t have time communicating, but we provide them opportunity to do things together, which is very good.

(B-210211-85-90)

She also wanted them to communicate with their parents so that they would be able to look at their perspectives and later would be able to communicate with others effectively which would be beneficial in their career. She stated:

Because they are improving the communication skills to the people who are older than them, if they are able to communicate with their parents, treating them with respect and proper way, so when they go out to work, they are prepared to talk to their boss from the higher authority.

(B-210211-92-95)

It was also observed that Bing showed a movie to the students on one Saturday to instil empathy among the students. She wanted them to watch the movie so that they would be able to identify the roles and learn something from the values shown. From the movie, she needed the students to learn to understand others who were not as privileged like them. The students were supposed to take the perspective of other people and feel for others. When asked why she showed the movie, she said:

we can put ourselves in that person’s shoes. I’ve shown it, the first time I’ve seen it, I’ve shown it to many other people. It gave the same effect, that it help us to think about that situation, using that situation we realise that, we are so fortunate in sympathising with this character.

(B-210311-35-38)

In fact, in her journal, she wrote:

….I had consciously and carefully selected the movie “Home Run” because I want the students to catch the values which I intended them to have. I want them to think and feel like the characters in the movie.

(B-J-210311)

She also wanted the students to learn from the movie because it had the same effect on her. She explained:

Because it has the same effect and I have shown it to the student, the students were able to respond with that kind of emotion, like what I expected them to be… to be they actually learning from this different characters in life and they able to put themselves in that situation

(B-210311-46-49)

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Bing also explained how the students could acquire values from the character shown such as learn to understand other people and how that particular character changed when other characters showed tremendous love and support to one another. She commented:

So the rich boy didn’t understand that because he could not put himself into their shoes but after that race he began to see, he entered that cross country race, he wanted to get number one, he gave up number three and he was still not satisfied whereas that boy didn’t want to get number one, he just wanted to get number three in order to get the shoes

(B-210311-115-119)

He gave away to him and the number … the rich boy couldn’t understand it, you know but he went back and he threw the shoes away when the boy told him he didn’t want to get number one. He wanted to get number three to get the shoes for his sister. Then only he understood and from then realise, and he decided that he would supply shoes for both boys and girls so that they would be able to go to school.

(B-210311-122-126)

She also wanted the students to learn the empathy trait from the character of a poor girl who was so giving towards another character who was poorer than her. The poor girl understood that the poorer girl needed the shoes more than her.

She was so poor yet she didn’t ask from the girl who took her shoes because she noticed that that girl who took her shoes was worse than her, the father was blind and didn’t have a mother, so the father was actually collecting the recycle items and took her shoes by mistake, so that actually touched me.

(B-210311-134-137)

She also felt that the students could actually identify themselves with the characters and empathise with the character. In her journal, she said:

From the discussion which I had in class, I clearly noticed students, who were present, could actually identify and talk about the characters and their values learned. For example, how rich kid could not understand why and how the poor kid wanted the pair of school shoes and football boots. They could also identify how the poor girl who had lost her pair of school shoes, yet willingly gave them away to another girl who is less fortunate than her. In a way, I made them to put themselves in another person’s shoes.

(B-J-210311)

The One Malaysia concept was being encouraged by Bing so that students learn to understand one another. In a moral education classroom in Malaysia, students of non-Muslim faith such as the Chinese, Indian and other ethic race are considered compulsory to take up the subject. In all National schools, under the Education Act of 1961 and other subsequent education reports, Malay Language is used as a medium of instruction to achieve national unity from the 70’s onwards (Rahimah, 1998). From the observations done, Bing encouraged the use of National Language (Malay Language) or English as a unity of all races so that they understand each other in most lessons. In one lesson, Bing explained, six boys on the left side of the classroom were seen talking in Tamil language. She looked at them and reminded them about using the Malay or English language. In one lesson, Bing reminded the students again about using the language and made them understand her plight as she said:

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Teacher: Because you have to understand if this is a Tamil class, where it involves all

Indian, you can use Tamil but here we have the Chinese in class where the

Malay students are also here, we have three races in the class. So the use of

Tamil or Chinese Languages only will cause problems because we do not

understand one another, ok and make the situation very noisy. So, can I get your

permission from you to use BM in class?

In another lesson, she reminded the students who spoke in their mother tongue. Teacher wrote big letters on the board (I do not understand Tamil).

Teacher: I do not understand Tamil language. So… so… (looking at the boys).. for

us to understand each other, ok, I’m encouraging you to use the Malay

Language, ok. Can you co-operate?

It was obvious that Bing wanted the students to empathise with others who do not know their language so that their behaviour would not disrupt the learning process. She also told the students she encouraged the use of Malay Language because it is a unity language. Language plays as a tool for unity as misunderstanding of cultural differences could lead to racism (Cooper, 2011).

Teacher: I am encouraging you to use BM because it is a unity language. Because if we do not

understand each other, that’s why riot happens.

When probed later, she firmly believed that students need to live together and learn to understand each other to avoid misunderstanding. She explained:

Because whether we want to accept it or deny it, is a fact that we are living together, so how are we going to improve the situation if we don’t know their culture, you don’t know them, then you need to learn about them because they say to know Malaysia is to love Malaysia, right? So to know another race is to love them, then you get to know them.

(B-170211-492-496)

They have to learn, ahmm, learn to live with one another because we have to accept that we all are different… how different or how similar, we need to accept one another but if we don’t learn to live with one another, then we cannot accept… But I think there should have no problem but it’s just, you know, we have to give and take, so that everybody will win in the argument.

(B-210211-115-119)

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DISCUSSION

Teacher modelling, engaging students and pedagogical caring are the main traits of the teacher displaying caring to students in this study. The emergent data are seen to correlate to the Ethics of Care propagated by Noddings except Pedagogical Caring. McAllister and Irvine (2002) found that teachers who listen, being patient and supportive effectively contribute to the enhancement of classroom interactions between teacher and student as how Bing portrayed to her students. Caring is a two-way relation and should be part of teachers’ professionalism (Vogt, 2002). Teachers who show emphatic behaviour have an edge compared to those who showed none as they are able to foster better relationships with their students. As Noddings (2010) puts it, good teachers are always observant of the students’ behaviour and affirmed their actions. Teacher modelling is always the most important trait in Moral Education (Noddings, 2010) and students at this impressionable age will always consciously or unconsciously emulate teachers’ behaviour in schools. In this study, praises were given to students who showed effort in doing their work. The teacher who provided praise as a form of encouragement is one of the traits of a caring teacher (Hayes, Ryan & Zsellar, 1994).

Noddings (2005) affirmed that caring relations is the foundation for pedagogical activity. In this study, Bing took effort to explain and give information to students to equip themselves with knowledge and for examinations. Wentzel (1997) found that teachers who were caring were considered interested in encouraging students to do their best in academic achievements. Besides, the teacher engages in dialogue session with students to enhance teacher-student relationship. Murray and Pianta (2007) advocated that one-on-one interactions between students and teachers can promote students motivation in learning and enhance social-emotional functioning. Zhang (2007) stated that teacher should get to know the students emotionally and establish an attachment with them so that they know they could trust the teacher although they are ‘unlikeable’.

Since Moral Education is taken up by students of non-Muslim faith, which means students of other races or non-Malays are compulsory to take up this subject, it is imperative that Moral Education teachers should have caring and emphatic dispositions in dealing with culturally diverse students. Gay (2002) advocated that taking the perspectives of ethnically diverse students is a necessary form of effective teachings. Mastery of content knowledge and pedagogical skills are not enough. It is culturally responsive caring that will allow the teachers to act in the best interest of their students. Gay (2000) equates teachers who practice culturally responsive caring as ‘teachers is an ethical, emotional, and academic partnership with ethnically diverse students, a partnership that is anchored in respect, honor, integrity, resource sharing, and a deep believe in the possibility of transcendence’ (p. 52).

As discussed earlier, nurturing empathy which is part of caring is considered as a desirable trait to be embedded in students from various ethnic backgrounds. Students need to take the perspective of others in order for them to be caring individuals and exhibit prosocial behaviour (Kohn, 1998). Therefore, various approaches such as role playing or watching a meaningful movie inevitably projecting students in other people’s situations so that they will be able to function effectively in a culturally diverse society (Hollingsworth, Didelot & Smith, 2003; Richardson, Tolson, Tse-Yang Huang & Yi-Huan Lee, 2009; Stetson, Hurley & Miller, 2003). This is especially so in Moral Education. Slote (2010) proposed that inductive training should be practiced in schools so that students learn to be emphatic of others before they move on to be caring people. In fact, he asserts that if Care Ethics takes more interest in applying empathy in Moral Education, it will make Care Ethics more compelling and forceful.

CONCLUSION

Care ethics, despite being in existence for more than thirty years, has received many criticisms. Although it may be thought that care practiced in the classroom prevents adequate time for formal testing (Noddings, 2005), it may not be so. It takes an exemplary teacher to balance up between the two. Caring can be executed effectively through the support of school administrators, colleagues, parents and community associated with the school. It is also noteworthy that the present teachers’ training colleges should consider care ethics more seriously as it deals more with culturally diverse groups in this era of globalization. As Gomes, Allen & Clinton (2004) stress, teachers must absorb in their system that care should be seen as core ethics in their teaching profession to develop a student’s whole being in terms of physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual dimensions in tandem with Malaysia’s National Philosophy of Education.

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19

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science Volume 1, Issue1

www.moj-es.net

National Integration in Multicultural School Setting In Malaysia Abu Bakar Nordin [1], Norlidah Alias [2], Saedah Siraj [3]

[1] Faculty of Education University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur [email protected] [2] Faculty of Education University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur [email protected] [3] Faculty of Education University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Malaysia is a multicultural country constituting three major ethno-cultural groups, Malay and Bumiputera, Chinese and Indian. Owing to its diverse cultures attempts through a number of channels, politics, economics and social were made to bring about national integration. School is thought to be the most effective platform to bring about national integration based on the multicultural framework. This study examines the influence of both the selected school and student background variables on integration. The survey conducted on Form Four and Form Five students found that integration is not monolithic but tends to be interpreted into three frameworks or models: assimilation, multiple-identities and multiculturalism. Ethno-religious-cultural backgrounds seem to be much more influential than the school variables in determining not only the strength but also student preference for a specific integration framework or model..

Keywords: National Integration, Multicultural Schools, Multicultural integration, Integration In Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

Malaysia with a population of 28.3 millions (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2010) is pluralistic and multicultural. The three main ethnic groups constituting the Malays and Bumiputera (67.4%), Chinese (24.6%), Indians (7.3%) have their own unique culture and heritage, such as language, belief system, tradition and religion. The lifestyle patterns of the different groups have direct links to thedifferences in their values and expectations(Syed Serajul Islam, 2008). Since achieving independence fifty-five years ago, Malaysia has undergone economic transformation in terms of diversification of its agriculturein the 1960s to manufacturing in the 1970s-1980s, and then to technology-based development since the 1990s. These achievements came as a result of the ability of Malaysians, diverse in their culture, to tolerate, and to live and work together in realising the country’s overall goals of growth and prosperity. But then as pointed out by Musa Hitam (2007), nation-building is not just about providing highways, byways and hospitals. It is also about weaving together national values for the citizenry to live by and devising greater missions to galvanize their camaraderie and spirit. Such a vision of weaving together national values is still far from the set goal.

For Malaysia up to the present day, except for the 1969 race riot between the Malays and the Chinese, and the 2001 clashes between the Malays and the Indians, race relations have been peaceful unlike what had been experienced in countries with mixed populations such as Nigeria, Rwanda, Bosnia, Thailand, Sudan, and India (Zaid, 2007).The basis for conflict between the ethnic groups stems from identity contestation in the form of language and culture (Shamsul, 2006). In the 1970s, the Malays advocated that the core of the national culture should be that of the Malay. This assimilative approach was unkindly viewed by the Chinese and the Indians. Relationships between the ethnic groups are rather complex, intricate and sensitive, especially when dealing with matters of religion, culture and language. These features are important in identity contestation, a phenomenon created by the British in the context of colonial knowledge and its investigative modalities (Shamsul, 2006). According to Shamsul, it is through the colonial practice of codifying, documenting and representing the social, cultural, economic and political state in history that modern identities in Malaysia like Malay/Malayness, Chinese/Chineseness and Indian/Indianess have emerged, consolidated and fortified. Realizing the danger of creating distrust among the ethnic groups the government had rescinded the assimilation strategy and sought the policy based on the multicultural model.

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In any society, the educational system is closely related to societal needs and thus it cannot ignore the political,economic and cultural-ideological factors which influence its functions. As a result, educational systemshave environments that give them purpose andmeaning and define their functions, limitationsand conflicts. In Malaysia, since independenceone of the national objectives has been unity;henceforth, all the enacted educational policies have stated that unity is their overarchingobjective. The Razak Report of 1956 and Rahman Talib Report (Federation of Malaya, 1958, 1960) were the foundation for subsequent national policieson education. The National Language Policy declared that Malay languageis the national language and medium of instruction inthe national schools. The centralized schoolcurriculum and examination, and the inclusionof subjects like civic studies, are attempts toensure integration, tolerance, and national consciousness.

Until independence in 1957, Malaysia (Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak) was very much a plural society and very much a model as described by Furnivall(1949) inheriting social, economic and politicalvestiges of the colonial policy of divide andrule.Relations between ethnic groups were full of distrust. A nation would not be able to be forged in such a situation. Thus, thetask of national integration has to be seriously and immediately undertaken and indeed this is a massive challenge. The term integration hasbeen defined as a process whereby politicalactors in several distinct national settings arepersuaded to shift their loyalties, expectationsand political activities towards a new centre(HaasinSyedSerajul Islam, 2008). In brief, national integration is a process of bringing together discrete elements of a society intoa more integrated whole, or to make out ofmany small and diverse societies a closerapproximation of one nation (Wriggins in Syed Serajul Islam, 2008).

Studies on integration in schools have shown the tendency that student attitudes are polarized. A research report on Practicess Towards Unity in Six Schools by the Planning and Research Unit of the Ministry of Education (1995) shows that these schools have yet to achieve their objectives of shared values and practices towards unity. Instructional methods such as group discussions, student presentations, shared assignments and many other modes of shared and cooperative learning may activate inter ethnic participation. However, this is not the case for Malaysian students in general are taught to sit, listen, and recite memorized information. Interactions among students of different ethnic origins in both co-curricular activities and during recess were found to be at the minimum level. The scenario at the tertiary level is much the same as in schools. According to Sagawa (2007) current campuses are in danger of breeding intolerance, ethnocentrism and segregated communities. In Malaysia, nation building and forging of national unity amongst the various ethnic groups rank very high in the educational and political agendas. In fact, national unity and integration is the cornerstone of the education policy.

Social scientists have studied the process of national integration from three universal theoretical perspectives. First, the general systems theory analyzes whether there is a regular and continuing inter-connectedness in the subsets or elements of a system. Inter-connectedness is the main ingredient in the formation of value congruence in a system. Von Bertalanffy (1972)noted that the formation of value congruence is why all ongoing social systems actually show a tendency toward a general system of common cultural orientation. Second, the transactional or communication salience theory of Deutsch (1964), Jacob and Toscano (1964) and others has also been used to explain both the degree to which people are connected and the way changes in the direction of communication affect the direction of integration. Deutsch explains that when a community experiences many transactions the people who have experienced these transactions will like them. If these transactions were rewarded, the image of community may be strongly positive. He says the perception of a sense of community allowed diverse groups to exchange norms, values and expressive symbols unconsciously. Third, the spatial perspective sees integration as a function of the geographic distribution of people. According to Mabogunje (1981), the movement of mass populations into different regions of a country is a significant way of achieving integration between a people and its territory, and also between different groups within the population.

These theories help to identify the main areas for the proposed strategy. Within this context, analyses of the construct usually begin with the question: Do the people of a social system possess common ideals and believe these ideals are important? This question is foremost because, as Abernethy (1969) has noted, when people believe they belong to a terminal community, whose values and institutions they consider worth preserving, they become less likely to permit conflicts that could threaten the existence of the community. The renowned African political scientist Ali Mazrui (1972) identifies five interrelated aspects of national integration and one of these is the fusion of norms and cultures (including the sharing of values, mode of expression,lifestyles and a common language). This can be achieved through linkages which facilitate connections between disparate communities and consequently encourage interaction between groups, and facilitate national identification and integrative tendencies.

Heidmets (1981), examining society in the context of Estonia, proposed to look at integration through four different possible strategies or models. These four models are assimilation, integration, separation and confrontation. However, in reviewing literature on integration faced by many of the pluralistic society three basic models to achieve

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a solution to the problem of national integration seemed to bemuch more realistic. These three models are cultural assimilation, multiple identities and muticulturalism. First, those countries that have chosen the cultural assimilation model have sought to integrate the cultures the ethnic minorities into a centralized national culture or central political ideology of a dominant ethnic group. Second, the multiple identities approach sought to cultivate the sense of political unity among diverse ethnic groups, while at the same time upholding and maintaining the social structures and cultural norms that make the groups disparate. Proponents assume that the acceptance of common political institutions is sufficient to make cohesive the disparate groups. Third, multiculturalism which is understoodas a system of beliefs and behaviors that recognizes and respects the presence of all diverse groups in an organization or society, acknowledges and values their socio-cultural differences, and encourages and enables their continued contribution within an inclusive cultural context which empowers all within the organization or society.

In general writers in the field of national integration are in agreement on the meaning of the concept of national integration. Henry Binder (1964) for example, writes that the achievement of integration involved the evolution of a cultural-ideological consensus of a very high degree of comprehensiveness. For Coleman and Rosberg (1964) integration is the progressive lessening of ethnic, cultural and regional tensions and discontinuities in the process of creating a homogenous political community. Smock and Bentsi-Enchil (1976) describe national integration as the development of identification with the national community that supersedes in certain situations more parochial loyalties. Many governments over the world, for example the Estonian government, also take this position in the integration strategy.

Together, these definitions suggest that for national integration to occur in a nation, a significant number of citizens must develop identification with the nation that supersede identification with ethnic, cultural or religious group, acquire political awareness, share common norms and values and develop attitudes favorable to the display of integrative behavior among people of different groups. However, Heidmets (1981) an Estonian sociologist, warned that this concept of integration often implies a one-sided process, where the only active partners in his study arethe non-Estonians. For him integration must be a two-sided process where Estonians, and the Estonian state, also need to take active measures in order to promote the process of integration and receive non-Estonians as full-fledged members of society.

From the perspective of the Inter-group contact theory it was believed thatcontinuous interactions among members of the majority and the minority groupswouldlead to improvement in relationships among them. According to Allport (1958), this expectation will have a positive result if certain conditions prevail. He hasformalized the theory, stating that inter-group contact would lead to reduced intergroupprejudice if the contact situation embodies four conditions: 1) equal statusbetween the groups in the situation; 2) common goals; 3) no competition betweenthe groups; and 4) authority sanction for the contact. Allport emphasizes that cooperative interracial interaction aimed at attaining shared goals must bepromoted to ensure positive inter-group relations.One way to achieve these goals is to provide an opportunity for students of different ethnic groups to interact with each other. In essence, the argument holds that bringing all ethnic groups together will lead to cross-racial contact, which will lead to better understanding of other races or ethnic groups and would promote greater social tolerance and interaction. This belief which has guided much of the educational promoting school desegregation especially in the USA influenced the advocacy of promoting inter-ethnic interaction in schools.

Convinced of the contact policy in recent years the Malaysian Government has implemented a number of reforms such as establishing of vision schools in 1997, strengthening of national schools by providing adequate teaching-learningfacilities, making history and music compulsory subjects in schools, in addition to encouraging the teaching of traditions and customs of other main ethnic groups in Malaysia. It was reported that in 2006, 80% of the secondary schools established art clubs involving mixed ethnic groups, while in most schools music clubs of mixed ethnic groups involving in kompang, caklempong, choir, brass and string bands were alsoestablished. The Government also encouraged all students regardless of their ethnic origins to take Chinese and Tamil languages as school subjects, to interact in the teaching-learning process, to actively participate in the newly introducedintercultural art and crafts in co-curricular activities, and to mix during recess time and during extra-curricular activities. In the past efforts towards integration were limited and this time it is hoped that all these new initiatives will encourage integration within the framework of multiculturalism (Ministry of Education, 2006).

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding on social interactions amongst students of various ethnic groups in secondary schools in Malaysia. To do this the following objectives are proposed:

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1. To determine the status of the three strategic integration models as observed in the context of social interaction in secondary schools.

2. To determine the differences among the students based on three strategic integration models.

3. To determine selected socio-cultural and school factors which influence the three strategic integration models.

METHOD

A survey was conducted on a random sample of 1,720 students of mixed ethnic groups in form four and five in 34 secondary schools in 5 selected states in Malaysia. Of the 1,720 students, 964 were females and 756 were males. Of these students682 of them were Malays, 434 were Chinese, 332 were Indians and 192 were Bumiputra of Sabah and Sarawak. The five-point Likert scale questionnaire was designed based on the School integration index (UKM, 1996).The questionnaire consisting of 36 itemsmeasuring three constructs attempts to depict the three strategic integration models namely assimilation, multiple identity and multiculturalism. Items of which thethree models were formulated were verified through factor analysis which yielded four factors with eigen values of greater than 1, and this accounted for approximately 69.391 percents of the total variance related to the construct. The adequacy of using factor analysis is shown by Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin of 0.895 and adding to that is the Bartlett Test of Sphericity yielding the reading of 18734.516. The scree plot it shows that all the four factors had factor loading of more than 0.30 or greater. Thus what all these analyses suggested was that the questionnaire demonstrated the capability to assess the integration in the context of the three integration frameworks as proposed. The reliability of the instrument was 0.905.

For the first two objectives means and standard deviations are calculated to demonstrate the scores on the three integration models. Median scores are used to indicate high or low scores for each of the means. ANOVA is used only to examine the significance of the mean differencesfor the integration models and the differences based on the three models. When the differences of the means are found ANOVA is table is displayed. Otherwise the report of the findings will only mention the f-values of the mean differences. For the third objective, multiple-regression analysis was conducted to determine the influence of the selected socio-cultural and school factors on integration.

RESULTS

In this study integration is defined in terms of three integration models: cultural assimilation, multiple identities and multiculturalism. Therefore the results of this study are examined in the context of these three frameworks.

Table 1. Meanandstandarddeviation of scores on threemodels of integration (N=1720)

MeansStandarddeviations

______________________________________________________________

Assimilation 2.93 0.32

Multipleidentities 3.10 0.41

Multiculturalism 2.01 0.14

______________________________________________________________

Table 1 shows means and standard deviations on the three integration models. The highest mean is the multiple identity model followed by the assimilation model, and the multiculturalism model. In the context of the medians, for assimilation the median is 2.65, for multiple identities the median is 2.71 and for multiculturalism the median is 2.32. The results suggest that integration among the students within the school context is polarized into two extremes, assimilation and multiple identities. The means for both models are much higher than each of their respective medians. ANOVA was conducted to assess the significant differences among the means. As shown in Table 2, it is found that the mean differences are highly significant.

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Table 2.ANOVA of Students’ ResponseBased on Three Integration Models ____________________________________________________________________

Source of Variation SS DF MSF p

_______________________________________________________________________

BetweenGroups 4601.07 2 2300.535 32.031 .000

WithinGroup 12723.02 1717 71.882

Total 17324.09 1719

_________________________________________________________________________

* Significant at levelp < .05

In examining the selected variables related to schools namely school environment, interaction with peers in schools, involvement in co-curricular activities and teachers’ deliberation on values the means on each of three integration models were found to be varied but for each of those variables the differences were not significant. For example, the means on theassimilation model of integration for those actively involved in co-curricular activities and those who are not actively involved, for example are 3.12 and 2.86 (p .05) respectively; for multiple identities the mean for those actively involved in co-curricular activities is 3.11and those who are not actively involved is 3.03 ( p .05) and for the multiculturalism model of integration the mean for those actively involved in co-curricular activities and those who are not actively involvedare 2.84 and 2.75 (p .05).

For the non-school variables in this study namely, ethnic origins , religions, family education, gender and residential locations, the means on each of the integration models are varied. However, except for gender the mean differences for other non-school variables are found to be significant. Table 3 for example, explores the mean differences on the three models based on student ethnic origins. For the assimilation model the mean for the Malay/Bumiputra students (Malay) is the highest while for the Chinese and Indians the mean scores are much lower than the median which is 2.82. On the other hand, for the multiple identities model the mean score for the Chinese is the highest and this is followed by the mean for the Indian students. For the Malay students the mean score is below the median which is 2.72. Multiculturalism is shown to be the least chosen model for all the ethnic groups. The mean scores for the Malay and Indian students are barely above the median which is 2.3. For the Chinese students the mean is much lower than the median. In looking at the results it is clear that the responses among the students are clearly demarcated according to ethnic origin. The Malay students are shown to prefer the assimilation model and the Chinese and the Indian students are for the multi-identities model. Although some students from all the ethnic origins do choose multiculturalism, the preference for this model is low.

Table 3.MeansandStandardDeviations on Three Models of Integration byEthnicOrigins (N=1720)

_____________________________________________________________

MeansStandarddeviations

____________________________________________________________

Assimilation

Malay 4.24 0.17

Chinese 1.14 0.22

Indians 2.71 0.22

Multipleidentities

Malay 2.13 0.11

Chinese 4.73 0.17

Indians 3.17 0.22

Multiculturalism

Malay 2.04 0.47

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Chinese 1.98 0.36

Indians 2.24 0.53

______________________________________________________________________

ANOVA was conducted to ascertain the significance of the mean differences among the variables in the models based on the ethnic origins of the students. As shown in Table 4 the mean differences of the responses are highly significant. This evidence can be taken as proof for the preference of a particular ethnic group to a specific model vi-a-vis Malays and Bumiputras for assimilation and Chinese and Indians for multiple identities. Multiculturalism is of low preference for all the ethnic groups.

Table 4. ANOVA of Students’ Responses______________________________________________________________________

Source of Variation SS DF MSF p

_______________________________________________________________________

BetweenGroups 689.55 8 86.193 11.699 .000

WithinGroup 12604.65 1711 7.367

Total 13294.10 1719

_________________________________________________________________________

* Significance at levelp < .05

The mean for Muslim students is 3.38 for assimilation as opposed to other non Muslim students: Christians, Hindus and Buddhists who show high means in multiple identities which are 3.22, 3.25 and 3.64 (p<.05)respectively. The means on multiculturalism despite being significant are low for all religions ranging from 2.04 to 2.23.

For family educational background it is found that the means for those families with parents attending colleges and universities and those parents without college and university education on assimilation are 3.78 and 3.69 respectively(p<.05), 4.34 and 4.01(p<.05) for multiple identity model and 2.34 and 2.51 (p<.05) on themulticultural model. Finally in terms of residential locations it is again found that the means for multiculturalism for those in rural locations and those in semi-urban and urban areas are low that is 2.52 and 2.37 (p<.05)respectively. For multipleidentities the means for those in rural locations and those in semi-urban and urban areas are 3.84 and 4.01 (p <.05)respectively; and for assimilation it is 4.11 for those in rural location and 3.86 (p < .05) for those in semi-urban and urban areas.

The third objective of the study examines the influences of the selected factors on integration (an aggregation of assimilation, multiple identities and multiculturalism). Table 5 shows that ethnic origins and religious affiliations of the students account for more than 59 per cents of the integration variance. Surprisingly enough two of the school variables which are of some significance account for only 3.4 per cents of the integration variance. The other two school variables in the equation are not significant (p> .05). The results seem to suggest that schools do not have much influence in promoting integration among the students.

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Table 5. Regression Analysis Using Integration as a DependentVariable

X B f-values Sig. R2

Ethnic origins 1.569 0.515 12.414 .000 41.2

Religions 0.335 0.283 7.281 .000 17.9

Family education 9.760 0.186 4.981 .000 3.8

Gender - 9.178 -0.133 - 3.788 .000 2.3

School environment 6.313 0.125 3.430 .000 1.9

Residentiallocations5.6110.102 3.131 .002 1.8

Interaction with peers 5.2280.098 2.493 .010 1.5

Involvement in

co-curricular activities 3.1110.009 0.728 0.145 0.1

Teachers’deliberation

on values2.002 0.004 0.627 0.331 0.0

DISCUSSION

This study clearly shows that integration is not monolithic in that three interpretations or beliefs defined as assimilation, multipleidentities and multiculturalism exist. Despite the last being the model which almost every country tries to emulate (Heidmets, 1997; Vetik, 2007), in this study, it is found to be the least preferred model. In the main the responses are found to be polarized into two opposing models, assimilation and multiple identities. Malay and Bumiputra students seem to prefer the assimilation model. This model fits in with their belief that Malay and Bumiputera culture is the dominant culture which other cultures should respect and should not compete; at best the country can accept those cultures as secondary to the dominant Malay and Bumiputera culture. This idea is abominable to the non Malay students as the identity of their cultures is going to be eroded. Consequently the multipleidentity model is very attractive to the non Malay and non Bumiputera students. This is a predicament in which if the status quo is maintained the basis for integration can be very fragile. Therefore, in the long run there is a need to identify a formula which can put in place a policy and a strategy to bring about integration on the multicultural framework in which the elements of all cultural identities of both the majority and the minorities are respectfully compromised and accommodated.

However, accomplishing integration based on the multicultural model seems to be a long way to come and many hurdles have to be overcome. One of these hurdles is the ineffectiveness of schools, in the forms of their policy, their curriculum and their co-curriculum. Establishing of vision schools in 1997, strengthening of national schools by providing adequate teaching-learning facilities; making history and music compulsory subjects in schools, proposing all students regardless of their ethnic origins to take Chinese and Tamil languages as school subjects, encouraging students to interact in the teaching-learning process, and encouraging the teaching of traditions and customs of all ethnic groups in Malaysia, introducing of art and music clubs involving mixed ethnic groups, encouraging active participation in the newly introduced intercultural art and crafts in co-curricular activities, and mixing during recess time are some of the activities which have so far failed to create informed multicultural student community.

Perhaps these efforts towards multicultural integration in the past were limited and it is hoped that these renewed initiatives will encourage integration within the framework of multiculturalism. Contrary to the initiatives undertaken the question that can be raised now is how much schools can overcome the cultural influence of homes and even peers at school particularly if the schools happened to be dominated by one particular ethnic group and teachers are non-committal to integration in the form multiculturalism. In many studies on social and cultural capitals teachers may be a dominant force in bringing about social and cultural change (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1978; Coleman, 1988). However as indicated by Canning (1995) and Najimah (2007) as actors in the classroom teachers themselves are deeply entrenched in their respective ethnic cultures that their pervasive beliefs, attitudes and aspirations are found difficult to embrace multiculturalism. For multiculturalism to be accepted teachersshould be less hesitant about being open, and this hopefully would be reciprocatedin which the students will be more open interpersonally with

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other students of different diverse cultural origins.

The Ministry of Education in its effort to bring about integration on the multicultural model has put in place a policy encouraging students to take up Tamil or Chinese. This may be a right step to take but it also begs an answer to a question why despite learning Malay, Chinese and Indian students are still strongly attracted to multipleidentities. Perhaps teachers also need to be able to communicate in the languages of their students. This would probably command the respect of the students who then would understand better that multiculturalism is respectful and tolerant of the diverse culture of its populace.

At present many of the school daily activities are supposed to be multicultural. As shown in this study school activities both in the classroom and outside are not contributing towards multiculturalism. However, if they were to enjoy success apart from ensuring them to be on going, they are required to be carefully planned incorporating the principles of appreciation of the differences and diversity, avoidance of stereotypes and multicultural moments or pseudo-multiculturalism (Miller, 1997).

CONCLUSION

Malaysia like most contemporary societies is multicultural in which her cultural heterogeneity provides both social and political strength and problems. For society to function in a coherent manner we need a common and acceptable language and culture insociety. This means that the interests of majority and minority groups have to converge. However, due the different historic relationship of the minority groups to the country, their different cultural traditions as well as different aspirations, compromising on a common culture, language and aspiration vis-à-vis a single national identity appears to be problematic. This problem seems insoluble and will continue to haunt nation building as the beliefs, the attitudes, and the aspirations of the citizens of the different ethnic, religious and cultural groups particularly those young ones in schools dwelled on the different models of integration.

Although multiculturalism appears in the main to be a preferred model for many countries, for Malaysia two other models, namely multiple identities and assimilation, appear to be much more appealing even for the students in Form Four and Five. Cultural differentiations owing to differences in ethnic and religious backgrounds appear to be strongly entrenched among the students that the school factors do not have much influence on integration for the multicultural model.Despite efforts taken by the Ministry of Education such as making history a compulsory school subject, and encouraging students of various cultural groups to actively participating in co-curricular activities in orderto strengthen integration based on themulticultural model the effect on students’ views seemed minimal. This means that the Ministry of Education has to reevaluate its efforts in bringing about integration on the multicultural model by examining a number of factors such as the existing policy of allowing the existence of different types of primary schools, and even secondary schools; concentrations of students of specific ethnic origins in specific schools; the roles of hidden and co-curriculum in inculcating a different set of views and attitudes on multiculturalism, and the roles of teachers as actors in classrooms in the promotion of multiculturalism in their teaching. If the goal of national integration is to create an internally coherent entity within society in order to be ready to face the global challenges of 21

st century, a complete blending of the cultural elements of all groups is a sound option. This may call for a

compromise so that both the majority and the minorities of the population would psychologically feel safe being a part of society and thus be able as a nation to face the mega challenges of the future.

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Syed Serajul Islam. (2008). National integration in Malaysia at 50: Achievements and aspirations. Singapore: Thomson Learning.

Vetik, R. (2007). Democratic multiculturalism: A new model of national integration. Islands Peace Institute.

Von Bertalanffy, L. (1972, December). The History and Status of General Systems Theory. The Academy of Management Journal, 15(4), 407-426. Retrieved from http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici General Systems Theory

Zahara Aziz, Amla Mohd. Salleh, Rohaty Mohd. Majzub, Abu BakarNordin, T. Subahan Mohd. Meerah & Mohd. Amir Sharifuddin Hashim. (1993). Kajian pembentukan instrumen tahap perpaduan negara. Penyelidikan Fakulti Pendidikan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

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Research and Trends in the Studies of Native & Non-native Speaker Teachers of Languages: A Review on Selected Researches and Theses Fathen SuriatiJusoh [1], Norlidah Alias [2], Saedah Siraj [3], Dorothy De Witt [4], Zaharah Hussin [5], Ghazali Darusalam [6]

[1] University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur [email protected] [2] University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur [email protected] [3] University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur [email protected] [4] University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur [email protected] [5] University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur [email protected] [1] University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Recruiting and employing native speaker teachers of English Language (NST) in non-native speakers’ context are widely practised in countries which learn and use the target language taught by the native speaker teachers (NST) as either as a second or a foreign language. This paper reviews selected journals and thesis on the issues of Native and Non-native Speaker Teachers (NST & NNST). It covers on students’, as well as the Native and Non-Native Speaker Teachers’ (NNST) self-perceptions and attitudes. This review discovers almost the same pattern of students’ attitudes and perceptions towards native speaker teachers. Most studies reviewed indicate that most of the non-native learners of the target language have positive attitude towards native speaker teachers. They view native speaker teachers as the model of the target language learnt and believe that the native speaker teachers could provide a great example in learning pronunciation and speaking skill. In addition, this review also identifies that learners believe that their non-native teachers are compatible in teaching the language as they have experienced in being second language learners. As such, they are more empathic and are able to apply the suitable teaching approaches for the learners in learning the language. In contrast, the learners view their non-native speaker teachers are weak in teaching oral communication skills as they believe that in order to learn communication skills, native speaker models are required. However, the learners still prefer the collaborative teaching of native and non-native speaker teachers of the language when learning the target language. This is because they take the native speaker teachers as their model to learn the language and the non-native speaker teachers as their interpreter. Nonetheless, this review also finds that learners value both native and non-native teachers of the language.

Keywords: Native speaker teacher, non-native teachers, students’ perceptions, language learning

INTRODUCTION

Employing and hiring Native Speaker Teachers (NST) of any particular language to teach the target language as either as a second or foreign language is so common in many countries which value the target language as much as their first language (L1). English is one of the languages which is taught as a second language (ESL) or a foreign language (EFL) across the globe. With the growing demand of the importance of English language in various fields has influenced the employment of the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) by some countries. In contrast, a fact has shown that the majority of English teachers in the world are not native speakers of English and almost eighty percent of the world’s English language teachers are Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) (Matsuda & Matsuda, 2001). As such, there are numerous studies have been conducted regarding the issues on Natives Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST). The researchers have high interests to determine the issues on Natives Speaker Teachers’ (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers’ (NNST) teaching effectiveness, roles, students’ preferences as well as teachers’ self-perception.

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This part will review sixteen articles on the issues of Natives Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) across the world. This review will cover on the topics of students’ perception and attitudes and Natives Speaker Teachers’ (NSTs) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers’ (NNST) attitude and self-perception.

RESEARCH PURPOSE

The purpose of this article is to learn and review the research trends on Native and Non Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST&NNST). Sixteen related journal articles and unpublished theses which are published from the year 2002 until 2011 are selected in this study. The articles and theses are then analysed according to their publication year, participants, research design, research methods, research analysis, research setting and research findings. The results of the analysis will outline the research trends and patterns of the journal articles and theses which are related to Native and Non-Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST&NNST) issues. It is hoped that the results of this study can provide Native Speaker Teacher (NST) programme organisers, administrators, teachers and researchers with some insightful ideas about the publishing trends, patterns and issues studied on Native and Non- Native Speaker Teachers (NST&NNST). In addition, learning and knowing the trends of the current studies will assist the policy makers to promote further studies to fill in the gaps of the research field in the future.

The research questions addressed by this study are therefore:

1. Which research setting has a high rate of studies on Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) between the year 2002 to the year 2011from these sixteen selected journal articles and theses?

2. What is the data collection method most commonly used in Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers’ (NNST) studies in these sixteen selected journal articles and theses?

3. What is the most common issue concerning Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) studied in these sixteen selected journal articles and theses?

4. What are the similar and different findings found in these sixteen selected journal articles and theses?

METHOD

Research Papers for Analysis

This study uses sixteen selected articles which are taken from various educational journals and unpublished theses. Educational journals that are used are Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, TESOL Journal, Arizona Working Papers in SLA and Teaching, JALT Conference 2002 Proceedings Academic Journal, English Language Teaching Journal, Language Awareness Journal, ABAC Journal, Asian EFL Journal, ARECLS Journal, PORTA LINGUARUM Journal, WoPaLP Journal and TESL-EJ (Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language) Journal. These selected journal articles and theses are published from the year 2002 to the year 2011.

These journal articles and theses are then analysed according to their publication year, participants, research designs, research methods, research analysis and research settings. The gathered data on research methods and research settings are then analysed statistically in order to answer research questions 1 and 2. As for the research settings, the countries where the studies are conducted are categorised according to their salient continents such as America, Western Asia, Eastern Asia and Europe (refer to Tab. 1).

Additionally, a content analysis is carried out by analysing abstracts, research questions and findings of each study. Descriptive statistics are used to analyse and report the data.

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Table 1.Research settings and their salient continents

Researchsettings

Salientcontinents

Japan China Korea

Taiwan Thailand

EasternAsia

Hungary

Spain

Europe

Iran

Turkey

Western Asia

Midwest, USA

Southwest, USA Indiana, USA

West Texas, USA

America

Research issue analysis

Based on the methodology of content analysis, the research questions and their findings were categorized into some issues of Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers’ (NNST) studies. The final analysis results consisted of the following issues:

1. Students’ perceptions and attitudes towards Native Speaker Teachers (NST).

2. Students’ perceptions and attitude towards Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST).

3. Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST) perception towards students.

4. Other teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards Native Speaker Teachers (NST).

5. Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST) perceptions and attitudes towards themselves.

6. Non-Native Speaker Teachers’ (NNST) perceptions and attitudes towards themselves

7. Administrators’ perceptions and attitudes towards Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST).

It should be noted that many articles addressed more than one issue in their studies (refer to Table 2 for further information). The findings of the studies which were categorized according to issues were studied to find their similarity and differences and ultimately answer research question 4. The percentages of the related issues were statistically analyzed to answer research question 3.

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Table 2.An analysis of 16 studies according their issues

Study (author,

year)

Participants

Researchdesign/type

Data collection

Data analysis Researchs

etting Issuesdiscusse

d

Miyazato (2002)

13 Japanese freshmen in

the Department of Business and

Communication (BC) and junior students in the

Department of Business

(DB)

Descriptive

Interview

Interpretative

Japan

Students

towards NST

Lasagabaster& Sierra

(2002)

76 undergraduates

Descriptive Questionnaire Descriptive

(mean) Spain

Students towards

NST&NNST

Mahboob (2004)

37 students who enrolled in

an Intensive English

Program at a large

Midwestern ESL program.

Descriptive Students’

essay

Discourse analysis,

Interpretative

Midwest, USA

Students towards

NST&NNST

Madrid &Cañado (2004)

459 students from various

level of education and

35 NNST

Descriptive, Developmental

Questionnaire

Interpretative, Descriptive (mean, SD), Statistical

analysis (ANOVA)

Spain Students&teachers towards

NST&NNST

Sahin (2005)

1076 highschoo lstudents


Questionnaire

Descriptive (mean,SD), Statistical

analysis(t-test)

Turkey Student

stowards NST

Koksal (2006)

216 high school and college

students Descriptive Questionnaire

Descriptive (percentage),

Statistical analysis (r)

Turkey Students towards

NST&NNST

Moussu (2006)

1040 ESL students, 18

NNST, 78NST,21

Administrators

Descriptive Questionnaire Descriptive

(mean, mode, median, SD)

Indiana, USA

i)Students towards

NST&NNST. ii)NST

towards themselves

iii)NNST towards

themselves. iv)Administrators towards

NST&NN

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Wong (2006)

8 undergraduates

who have no experience teaching

language and teaching

training but require to

teach English as a second language(a

part of their studies

requirements)

Descriptive

NSTs’ reflective and

teaching journal,

Interview&Observation

Interpretative, Discourse analysis

West Texas, USA

NST towards themselves

Liu&Zhang (2007)

65 third year college

students Descriptive

Questionnaire&Interview

Descriptive (mean),

Interpretative China

Students towards

NST&NNST

Meadows&Muramatsu (2007)

187 American University students

Descriptive Questionnaire

&Interview

Statistical analysis

(ANOVA), Interpretative

Southwest, USA

Studentstowards

NST&NNST

Sureepong& Kasma (2008)

36 Thai English lecturers


Questionnaire&

Semistructuredinterview

Interpretative, Descriptive

Thailand NNST

towardsthemselves&NST

Eslami&Azizullah (2008)

40 Iranian EFL teachers


&Interview Descriptive (mean, SD)

Iran NNST

towardsthemselves

Wu&Chung Ke (2009)

107 students, 3 NST


&Interview Interpretative Taiwan

i) Students towards NST.

ii) NST towards

Students.

Devrin & Bayyurt (2010)

385 senior high school students

Descriptive Questionnaire Descriptive,

Interpretative Turkey

Students towards NST

Ha Nam (2010)

6 students in two separate schools and 4

NST


Interview& Classroom

Observation Interpretative Korea

Students towards

NST&NNST

Juhasz (2011)

18 NST whowork in

differentinstitutions in

Budapest.

Descriptive

Questionnaire&

Semi-structured interview

Descriptive, Interpretative

Hungary NST towards themselves

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RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Percentage of studies conducted according to their research settings

The result of this study revealed that Eastern Asia had the highest number of countries which conducted the studies on Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) among the sixteen selected journal articles and theses. The percentage of studies according to the research setting is presented in Fig. 1.

From the result shown in Fig. 1, it indicated that Eastern Asia had the highest number of studies on Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) with the percentage of 31.25%, whereas, Europe had the least number of related studies (18.75%); America and Western Asia had the same number of studies which were 25% respectively.

Fig 1. Percentage of studies conducted according to their research settings.

Data collection method commonly used in the selected journal articles and theses

The most common collection method used in the selected sixteen journals was the combination of questionnaire and interview which were the mixed methods. Seven (7) studies or 43.75% applied mixed methods in collecting the data. The second common data collection method used was the questionnaire (31.25%) followed by the interview (12.5%). The least used data collection method was through students’ essay and observation, journal and interview (6.25% respectively). The result is presented in Table 3.

Table 3.Frequencyandpercentage of datacollectionmethods

Researchtype Data collectionmethods Frequency Percentage (%)

Quantitative Questionnaire 5 31.25 *Mixed methods QuestionnaireandInterview 7 43.75

Qualitative Interview 2 12.5 Qualitative Students’ Essay 1 6.25 Qualitative Observation, JournalandInterview 1 6.25

TOTAL (N) 16 100

*The most common data collection methods used in these sixteen articles.

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According to Meadows and Muramatsu (2007) questionnaire was used to investigate the general attitudes quantitatively whereas interview was used to allow participants to provide reasons behind their expressed attitudes in the questionnaire based on their personal experiences in the related studies. In addition, Craswell (2012) stated that mixed methods were used to provide better understanding of research findings and these methods were able to explain results of the first phase in more detail.

In addition, when all the data collection methods were categorized according to their research type, mixed methods which were the use of questionnaire and interview was still the most common method applied among the sixteen reviewed articles. The result is presented in Table 4.

Table 4.Frequencyandpercentage of researchtype

Researchtype Frequency Percentage (%)

Quantitative 5 31.25 *Mixed methods 7 43.75

Qualitative 4 25.0 TOTAL (N) 16 100

*The most common data collection methods used in these sixteen articles.

Most common issue studied on Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST).

The most common issue studied in this field is the Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards on Native Speaker Teachers (NST) with the percentage of 40.0%. It is followed by the issue of Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) with the percentage of 26.67%. In addition, there are three issues which are the least studied in these sixteen selected articles. They are the issues of Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST) Perceptions and Attitudes towards Students, Other Teachers’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and the issue on Administrators’ Perceptions and Attitudes towards Native Speaker Teachers (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST). These issues are raised once each with the percentage of 3.33% respectively. The result of this finding is shown in the Table 5 below.

Table 5.Issues studied in sixteen reviewed articles

Issues Frequency

(n) Percentage

(%)

*Students’ perceptionandattitudestowardsNativeSpeakerTeachers (NST). 12 40.0 Students’ perceptionsandattitudestowardsNon-NativeSpeakerTeachers

(NNST). 8 26.67

NativeSpeakerTeachers’ (NST) perceptionsandattitudestowardsstudents. 1 3.33 Otherteachers’ perceptionsandattitudestowardsNativeSpeakerTeachers

(NST). 1 3.33

NativeSpeakerTeachers’ (NST) perceptionsandattitudestowardsthemselves. 4 13.33 Non-NativeSpeakerTeachers’ (NNST)

perceptionsandattitudestowardsthemselves 3 10.0

Administrators’ perceptionsandattitudestowardsNativeSpeakerTeachers (NST) andNon-NativeSpeakerTeachers (NNST).

1 3.33

*The most common issue studied in these sixteen articles.

Similar and different findings found in these sixteen selected journal articles and theses

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Students’ Perception and Attitudes

Exposure to Native Speaker Teachers (NSTs)

A study by Sahin (2005) finds that the learners who are exposed to the teaching of English from native speaker

teachers of English have more positive attitudes towards the target language and they are more successful in English

lesson compared to those who are not exposed to these teachers. Sahin however adds, even the exposure to a Native

Speaker Teachers (NST) does not cause any difference on achievement; there are statistically differences on attitudes

on language and language community.

A near similar case study on 13 Japanese university students by Miyazato (2002) finds that the students are

“fear” of Native Speaker Teachers (NST) who do not share their linguistic and cultural background. Nonetheless,

Miyazato adds that this “fear” is converted into joy when they succeed in communicating with the Native Speaker

Teachers (NST). Furthermore, a study by Ha Nam (2010) also shows that the students confirm that they learn,

understand and improve a lot on the western culture through the regular exposure to the teaching of Native Speaker

Teachers (NST).

Hence, these three studies show that students who have exposure to Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST) classroom

will gradually develop their self-confidence in using English Language. This is due to their prior experience with the

native teachers and indirectly makes them to have positive attitude towards the English language and its culture.

Interestingly, Moussu (2006) in her study on 1040 ESL students in the States reports that the students have more

positive attitudes towards the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) although they are taught by Non-native Speaker

Teachers (NNST). This shows that the exposure towards the Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST) is not the only reason to

attract students to have positive attitude towards the teaching of the Native Speaker Teachers (NST).

Native Speaker Teachers (NSTs) as the Model of the Language

Additionally, a study on 187 American university students by Meadows and Muramtsu (2007) indicates that students prefer to have Native Speaker Teachers (NST) as the model of the language. Meadows and Muramatsu also finds that students need the Native Speaker Teachers (NSTs) to be the model to provide immersion culture, accent and grammar of the language. The similar finding is found in a study by Mahboob (2004) on 37 second language learners in the States who enrol in an Intensive English Program at a large Midwestern ESL program.

Mahboob states that the students believe that the Native Speaker Teachers (NSTs) are considered as the forte in teaching oral skills and they are the good models to learn pronunciation. These findings in both studies by Meadows, Muramatsu (2007) and Mahboob (2004) have the correlation with a study by Lasagabaster and Sierra (2002) and a study by Wu and Chung Ke (2009). Lasagabaster and Sierra mention that students prefer to have Native Speaker Teachers (NST) in the areas of pronunciation, speaking, vocabulary, culture and civilisation. Whereas Wu and Chung Ke find that the students view the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) mainly as the model of the language and correct their pronunciation instead of being a traditional teacher.

Hence, these findings conclude that, the students value Native Speaker Teachers (NST) as they need them as the model of imitation on the target language. In other words, Native Speaker Teachers (NST) are their models in learning pronunciation, accent, culture and speaking.

Non-native Speaker Teachers are Good in Teaching Grammar

In Mahboob’s (2004) study also indicates that the students believe the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNSTs) are good in teaching reading, grammar and listening. This is similar to a study by Ha Nam (2010) which finds that the students to be best improved in reading and grammar skills in Non-native Speaker Teachers’ (NNST) classroom. It is also supported by a Lasagabaster and Sierra’s (2002) study which indicates that the students are slightly negative

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towards Native Speaker Teachers (NST) on grammar teaching.

It is contrast to the finding in Meadows and Muramatsu’s (2007) study which shows students learn grammar better in Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST) classroom. Nonetheless, more supported findings found in Mahboob’s study hich show that Native Speaker Teachers (NST) are perceived to be best in teaching speaking skill, stronger in their ability to teach vocabulary and culture and weak in their ability to teach grammar. This is was because the Native Speaker Teachers (NSTs) do not have experience learning English as a second language like the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) (Mahboob, 2004). In contrast to Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) who have an experience of learning the language as a second or a foreign language, they are more empathic towards the ESL or EFL learners’ needs (Koksal, 2006).

Koksal further adds, the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) could provide a good learning model for imitation and learning strategies to the learners. This is also supported in a study by Ha Nam which finds out that the Non- native Speaker Teachers (NNST) effectively use code-switching from learners’ first language (L1) to learners’ second language (L2) and as a result, it allows students to understand and participate and communicative activities better. Similarly, Madrid and Canado (2004) also states in their study that the students prefer Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) as they understand the students’ first language (L1).

Briefly, students believe that Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) are more competent in teaching grammar rather than the Native Speaker Teachers (NST). This could be due to the experience of the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) of being second language learners themselves and their strength of sharing the same cultures and language background as the learners and make them able to understand the needs of the learners more.

Team-Teaching by both Native and Non-Native Teachers

Interestingly, a study by Meadows and Muramatsu (2007) also identifies that the students also prefer team-teaching of native and non-native teachers of the language. This finding is similar to Lasagabaster and Sierra’s (2002) study which indicates that the students prefer both native and non-native teachers to teach them the target language. This is was because they believe that the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) provide them a model of the language whereas the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) are the interpreters of the language. This statement supports the finding by Moussu (2006) which reports that the Non-native Speaker Teachers’ (NNST) language experience is an asset for ESL learners.

Thus, it portrays that the collaborative model of language teaching or team-teaching of both native and non-native teachers would create a perfect and positive language learning atmosphere for the second or foreign language learners as both teachers would complete each other and fill in the gaps of each other’s weaknesses. In add ition, these findings support the finding a study by Devrim and Bayyurt (2010) which indicates that the students value both native and non-native speakers as their language teachers.

Teaching Methodologies and Approaches

Additionally, a study by Liu and Zhang (2007) on 65 third Year College students in a university in South China reports that Native Speaker Teachers’ (NSTs) approaches in teaching are more varied compared to Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) who use considerably more flexible media, power point presentation and internet in class instruction. One example of various teaching methodologies that is reported in Liu and Zhang’s (2007) study is that the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) use more conventional media to assist their teaching. A similar finding in a study by Wong (2006) on eight untrained Native Speaker Teachers at a university in West Texas states that the Native Speaker Teachers NST) employ authentic materials over traditional grammar textbook.

Juhasz (2011) in her study on 18 Native Speaker Teachers (NST) in Budapest, Hungary also reports reported that the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) use the materials which they believe to be relevant and interesting for the learners and try to get the students out of the textbook. On the contrary, a study by Koksal (2006) on 216 Turkish students in Turkey states that the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) are dependent too much on course books. Koksal also adds that the students believe that the Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST) attract students to speak and communicate the language effectively, whereas the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) encourage students to practise the language.

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Some of The Native Speaker Teachers (NST) in this sixteen selected articles are seen to be more independent and flexible in their teaching approaches and materials used and they do did not stick to the use of textbook in teaching the language compared to the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST). In addition, the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) are also reported to be able to promote and attract students to use and communicate the language effectively compared to the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) who are more likely to train the students to practise the language through selected topics in textbook. This could be due to the advantages of being born with the language and make them to be privileged in acquiring the language compared to Non-native Speakers Teachers (NNST) who have to learn the language as a second or foreign language.

Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers’ (NNST) Attitude and Self-Perception.

Native Speaker Teachers’ (NST) Attitude and Self-Perception.

In a study by Juhasz (2011) on 18 Native Speaker Teachers (NST) reports that 17 of the native teachers admit their reason to come to the other countries is not solely to teach but rather for to travelling and only one of them states he is interested to become a teacher. In addition, the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) agree their weak points are to explain and teach grammar. They also note that this could be because they do not understand the students’ first language (L1) and the way they have been taught grammar in English lesson during their primary and secondary school years is completely different from what would be expected from them in the foreign language classroom (Juhasz, 2011).

A similar finding is reported in a study by Wong (2006) which indicates that the untrained Native Speaker Teachers (NST) are concerned about the length of the class and being incapable of explaining grammar and vocabulary. Nonetheless, the study has shown that the native teachers’ confidence level gained immensely in a short period of time. These findings support the finding by Lasagabaster and Sierra’s (2002) study which has shown that the students are slightly negative towards Native Speaker Teachers (NST) on grammar teaching. On the other hands, Native Speaker Teachers (NST) have problem in teaching grammar as they do not share the same mother tongue as the students which make them hard to explain the grammatical rules and due to their different experience of learning grammar themselves.

In addition, Juhasz (2011) also reports reported that the Native Speaker Teachers’ aim when teaching the language is was to make the students to communicate the language effectively, feel confident to speak to foreigners, gain wider impression of world though the use of the English language, equip students with a level of proficiency that they need to function successfully in their chosen academic fields. In contrast, a study by Wu and Chung Ke (2009) reveals the satisfaction of the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) towards the students’ passiveness and lack of responsiveness in their language classroom. Shortly, the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) have their aims and expectation in teaching the target language to the students. Nonetheless, due to some negative responses by the students on the language lesson dissatisfy the Native Speakers Teachers (NST).

Non-NativeSpeakerTeachers’ (NNST) Attitudeand Self-Perception

Furthermore, a study by Moussu (2006) shows that the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) reveal that they lack of confidence in their linguistic and teaching skills but they believe that their experience as the second language learners themselves would benefit their ESL learners. Hence, it portrays that even the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) might have slightly a negative perception towards their ability in teaching the target language; nonetheless, they believe they could be a model to help the ESL learners to learn the target language through their previous experience.

Additionally, a study by Sureepong and Kasma (2008) on 36 Thai English Teachers (TET) has shown that the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) perceive themselves could teach better than the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) if they have good preparations. The Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) also view themselves as bilingual as they are able to understand two languages and as such makes them privileged to use the first language (L1) to facilitate the learning of the second language (L2) among the students. The Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) also note that their ability to understand students’ first language (L1) also attribute them to be more understanding and sensitive to the students’ needs. Briefly, these findings indicate that the Non-native Speaker Teachers (NNST) have positive

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perception towards themselves and their language teaching.

On the other hand, a study by Eslamia and Azizullah (2008) on 40 Iranian English Foreign Language (EFL) teachers finds that the more proficient the Iranian EFL teachers perceive themselves in speaking English, the higher their sense of efficacy in managing their lesson. Secondly, Eslamia and Azizullah also note that the more proficient the teachers perceive themselves in acquiring the language skills; the more efficacious they feel in designing effective instructional strategies in the foreign language classroom. Interestingly, finding in Eslamia and Azizullah’s study also reveals the higher the teachers' sense of self- efficacy, the more tendency they use communicative-based strategies in their classes rather than focusing on language accuracy. Therefore, these findings concludes that the better language proficiency and fluency of the Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) to a more positive attitude and creativity in teaching the target language.

CONCLUSION

Review on these sixteen researches and theses above, it illustrated that the Eastern Asia countries have the highest rate of conducting studies in this field. On the other hand, the European countries are the least research settings which have conducted the studies on native and non-native speaker teachers.

In addition, this review also identifies that the most common method used in collecting data in these sixteen selected articles is the combination of both questionnaire and interview. Thus, it shows that most researchers in the selected articles apply the mixed methods in collecting their data.

Furthermore, the most common issue studied in these selected articles is the issue on students’ perceptions and attitudes towards Native Speaker Teachers (NST). This issue is the most common issue studied out of all seven issues on native and non-native speaker teachers found in these sixteen articles.

In terms of similarity and differences of the findings, this review identifies some common or similar findings among the selected articles. The first general common finding found is regarding students’ perceptions towards the Native Speaker Teachers (NST). Overall, students view Native Speaker Teachers (NST) as the model of the target language. Students also view Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) as the interpreter of the target language. Nonetheless, students value both Native and Non-Native Speaker Teachers as their language teachers. Interestingly, students believe that the collaborative teaching of Native and Non-Native Speaker Teachers would make their language learning to be more effective.

This review also reveals that students believe the Native Speaker Teachers (NST) are good in teaching communication and they have varied teaching approaches. On the other hand, students believe that the Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) are good in teaching grammar compared to Native Speaker Teachers (NST). This finding is supported by the findings on which state that the Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) have experienced learning the target language as a second (ESL) or as a foreign language (EFL) and thus makes them to be more empathic towards the students’ needs.

Additionally, this review also finds that Native Speaker Teachers (NST) in the selected articles agree that they have problem in explaining and teaching grammar as they learn it differently and it is also because they do not share the same mother tongue as the students. The Non- Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) on the other hand state that they sometimes lack of confidence in their linguistics and teaching skill. Nonetheless, their experiences of being the second language learners benefit their ESL or EFL learners to learn the language. In addition, due to the same language the Non- Native Speaker Teachers (NNST) share with the students would make them privileged to understand the students’ needs.

In conclusion, there are number of studies have been conducted on the issues of both native and non-native speaker teachers. The findings of each study could be correlated or totally different from each other. The findings could be affected by the setting of the studies, both native and non-native speaker teachers, or students themselves. Nonetheless, there will never be a fit finding on the same issue researched and further studies always need to be done to fill in the gaps of the previous and the current studies. Since, this study only reviews sixteen selected journal articles and theses, thus, the findings could not be generalizable to all the studies in the related field. It could only provide some insightful ideas on the issues of Native and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NST & NNST). This study also does not provide the reasons on every finding, and as such, further studies are recommended to understand and learn why such certain patterns or result are found.

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REFERENCES

Creswell , J. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Devrin, Y. D. & Bayyurt, Y. (2010). Students’ understandings and preferences of the role and place of “culture” in English language teaching: A focus on EFL context. TESOL Journal, 2, 4-23.

Eslami, Z. R. & Azizullah, F. (2008). Teachers' sense of self-efficacy, English proficiency, and instructional strategies: a study of nonnative EFL teachers in Iran. TESL-EJ (Teachin English as a Second or Foreign Language), (11), 4, 1-19.

Ha Nam, H. (2010). The pedagogy and its effectiveness among native and non-native speaking teachers in the korean EFL context. Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy .University of Buffalo, State University of New York.

Juhász, A. (2011). Native EFL teachers’ self perception on their teaching behaviour: A qualitative study. WoPaLP,5 , 86 – 99.

Koksal, K. (2006). An investigation into students’ perception of native english speaking teachers’ (NEST) and non-native english speaking teachers’ (Non-NEST) performance and competence in teaching english as a foreign language. (Unpublished master’s thesis), Canakkale ONsekiz Mart University, Turkey.

Lasagabaster, D., & Sierra, J.M. (2002). University students’ Perceptions of native and non- native speaker teachers of English. Language Awareness 11, 132-142.

Liu, M. & Zhang, L. (2007). Student perceptions of native & non-native English teachers’ attitudes, teaching skills assessment and performance. Asian EFL Journal – Conference Proceedings, (9), 4, 157-166.

Madrid, D. & Cañado, M. L. P. (2004). Teacher and students preferences of native and non-native foreign language teachers. Porta linguarum (2), 6, 125-137.

Mahboob, A. (2004). Native or non-native: What do the students think?. In L. D. Kamhi-Stein (Ed.), Learning and Teaching from Experience. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.

Matsuda, A., & Matsuda, P. K. (2001). Autonomy and collaboration in teacher education: Journal sharing among native and nonnative English-speaking teachers. CATESOL Journal, 13(1), 109-121.

Meadows, B. & Muramatsu, Y. (2007). Native speaker or non-native speaker teacher?: A report of student preferences in four different foreign language classrooms. Arizona Working Papers in SLA & Teaching, 14, 95-109.

Miyazato, K. (2002). Anxiety or admiration?: Japanese EFL learner's perceptions of native speaker teachers' classes. JALT Conference 2002 Proceedings Academic Journal: 1-8.

Moussu, L. M. (2006). Native and non-native english-speaking snglish as a second language teachers: student attitudes, teacher self-perceptions, and intensive english administrator belief and practices. Philosophical doctorate’s thesis.

Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA.

Sahin, I. (2005). The effect of native speaker teachers of english on the attitudes and achievement of the learners. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies 1, 1-14.

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Sureepong, P. & Kasma, S. (2008). Native and non-native dichotomy: Distinctive stances of Thai teachers of English. ABAC Journal,(28), 2, 10-30.

Wong, C. Y. (2006). Are native speakers “good” language instructors? A case study of untrained ESL tutors. ARECLS, 6, 122-140.

Wu, Kun-huei & Chung Ke. (2009). Haunting native speakerism? Students’ perceptions toward native speaking English teachers in Taiwan. English Language Teaching Journal, (2),3. 44-54.

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Self Regulated Learning for Developing Nursing Skills Via Web-Based Rafiza Abdul Razak [1], Khor Bee Hua [2]

[1] Department of Curriculum & Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, University Malaya [email protected] [2] Department of Curriculum & Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, University Malaya

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to find out whether the first year student nurses able to learn and develop the psychomotor skills for basic nursing care using web-based learning environment. More importantly, the researcher investigated whether web-based learning environment using self regulated learning strategy able to help students to apply the psychomotor skills in the real world. In this qualitative design research, samples were assessed for cognitive and psychomotor learning. The samples were first year student nurses enrolled in diploma in nursing. After learning to apply and remove sterile gloves via web based, students were assessed on their cognitive and performance skills. Results showed that majority of students obtained better cognitive skills results and able to demonstrate the skills effectively.

Keywords: self-regulated, web-based learning, nursing skills

INTRODUCTION

In 21st

century, the current paradigm shift in the tertiary education from teacher-centered to student-centered instruction. In other countries some faculty is attempting to design more self-paced and independent strategies to teach basic nursing skills. There is a particular need for change in how basic nursing skills are taught, but this change must not compromise the quality of education. In this research, the researcher applied instructional design in providing theoretical contents and psychomotor skills to help students learning.

In the technology learning environment student nurses can download lecture note and build knowledge on her own, and not supplied by the tutor as in the classroom setting. Jonassen (2000) described that computers as a mindtools and it can be a knowledge construction tools and hypermedia as mindtool. According to him the computer application can help student and teacher in construction knowledge and organizing contents. Web site construction considered as one of the hypermedia. In a hypermedia system, the nodes are accessed by following links that connect them. Therefore, students can get many different sources of knowledge from various sites and this indirectly will engaged students learning. Jonassen (2000) summarized a few advantages of hypermedia as mindtools, such as learners are much more mentally engaged, learning are more meaningful, abstract ideas can be presented, students are highly motivated and promote critical thinking.

RESEARCH BACKGROUND

Most of the time tutors are responsible to teach in a few classes and also teaching in the clinical area. Therefore majority of them unable to spend extra time with those student nurses in their practice of nursing skills. To provide more time to learn necessary nursing sills, a skill laboratory was set up to maximize the amount of time to practice on their own. However many beginning student nurses informed that they need the tutor to be there whenever they need help. Unfortunately most of the tutors are busy with other task and many tutors involved teaching basic nursing skills. Therefore, this strategy does not ensure that content is delivered in a consistent manner, nor does it accommodate diverse learning styles. This type of teaching strategy is difficult for those complex nursing

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skills. This is also supported by Pullen, Murray and Mcgee (2001) in their research. They mentioned that most of the faculty staff reported evidence of inconsistencies in the basic psychomotor nursing skills during the evaluation period. Due to this the students are confused, fearful and frustrated when they overheard their faculty talking about the inconsistencies in the evaluation.

Furthermore, all tutors using lecture demonstration as a teaching strategy to teach nursing skills. At the end of each semester, students were given feedback evaluation form. They are required to evaluate on subjects and their tutor teaching presentation. Majority of students informed that some tutors did not follow the standard protocol procedure checklist. According to. Jefries, Rew and Cramer (2002) they strongly said that all students must proceed at the same pace, regardless of interest, talents, demands on time and prior experience. Therefore, to have consistency in contents delivery, one of the nursing school in Indiana constructed a design self paced, interactive, student centered strategy to teach basic nursing skills via web-based. Different learners have different knowledge; different learning styles and has different cognitive abilities. In traditional teaching method, it is difficult to cater all student needs especially in class with high number of students.

In 21st

century of teaching and learning, the current paradigm shift in the tertiary education from teacher-centered to student-centered instruction. In other countries some faculty is attempting to design more self-paced and independent strategies to teach basic nursing skills. There is a particular need for change in how basic nursing skills are taught, but this change must not compromise the quality of education.

In this research study the researcher designed a web-based course for development of nursing skills as an alternative to the traditional lecture demonstration. The researcher applied the educational pedagogy and principles of instructional design to build the web site. Web-based instruction makes education and training more accessible, more individualized, convenient and able to study at their own pace and time. This is supported by the research outcome of “experiences of online learning : student perspective” conducted by Sit, Chung, Chow and Wong (2004) shows that students satisfied this method of learning and the structure of delivering of contents material.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Fundamental of Nursing is a behavioural science subject.. The student nurses who enrolled in promoting psychosocial health and physiologic health programmes are majority from form five school leaver either from science or art stream. Students find it very difficult to learn nursing subject, especially those from art stream because they do not learn pure science compared to students in science stream. They have difficulty in understanding the aseptic principles, microbiology and anatomy and physiology because contents are very abstract for the beginning student nurses. All these subjects need to be mastered by student nurses first, in order to proceed to the next level of psychomotor skills. Repeated explanations during lecture and low test scores reflect this difficulty. Therefore a good understanding of the content is required for the critical thinking skills used in the care of patient. Due to this problem there is a need to develop an instructional tool that would help teach the subject effectively using technology.

Academically, students` participation in the class and level of interaction with the tutor are important because it can facilitate the learning process. There should be a two way communication in between the tutor and the students. Students will benefit from the tutors` feedback if the communication is active. However when the classroom is big, the average group size was between 80 to 100 students currently in this programme. Tutor only focused on those who are sitting nearest. Students who are sitting far at the back are not paying attention as sometime they can`t see the whiteboard. Do students learn in this type of environment? When minimal learning takes place, subsequently this may compromise the nursing care to the patients. As the size of class increase the cognitive level of interactive decline and has an impact on the academic achievement as described by Leufer (2007). In her finding research discussion she summarized that teaching strategies and classroom layout were considered to have an impact on the learning experience

When the enrolment of students increased, definitely there will be physical layout constraint in the skills laboratory for students to practice their basic nursing skills. This is problematic because students frequently indicate that they do not feel as though they have enough time and preparation to perform skills given the amount of time spent on lecture demonstration. Students unable to practice perfectly and confidently, as a result they are not ready to apply their skills in the clinical setting, so transferring skills in the skill laboratory to the real world is challenging. Subsequently, student nurses are not well prepared to nurse the patients in the ward or they feel inadequate or weak in their ability in performing nursing care as agreed by Ballard and Trowbridge (2004).

For many years, the tutor who taught the subject, need to guide all the students to develop the skills in the

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laboratory at the schedule time. She has to oversee 80 to 100 students. It is impossible to pay attention to all students at the same time. The college knew that it is necessary to improve students` performance. Perhaps the tutors and the college management need to look into alternative strategy of teaching to promote students acquisition of skills. In the clinical setting, feedback from the clinical instructor gave the same reason that majority of beginning student nurses perform inadequately especially in the sterile procedure such as wound dressing and wearing sterile gloves. All students must perform correctly to ensure patients safety. Using appropriate aseptic technique can reduce the risk of infection among the patients. The impact was great if the patients sustained infection from inadequate nursing skills in dealing with aseptic technique. Hart (2007) carried out a survey, and she strongly agreed that the use of aseptic technique can reduce the risk of infection in the hospital. To support this data, a research was carried out in UK, saying that most of the student nurses` clinical competency skills are not competent yet during the clinical placing and the students expressed out their dissatisfaction in their basic nursing skills as view by Dolan (2002).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Application of Web-Based in Nursing Education

There has been much attention in the past decade using technology in nursing education. There were several descriptions of web-based learning experience which were very positive in learning and teaching. This innovation in educational delivery methods has overcome traditional barriers to education, and makes education more accessible. Cook (2005) strongly agreed that web-based learning can reach large, heterogeneous audiences and can fix into cognitive and learning style and may increase its effectiveness. Therefore, western countries using web based learning for many years but not in Malaysia yet especially in Diploma of nursing.

A study was carried out by Hallgren, Parkhurst, Monson and Crewe (2002) to evaluate the effectiveness of web-based interactive teaching tool that uses self-assessment exercises with real-time feedback to aid students’ learning gross anatomy class in a medical school. Subjects were divided into 3 groups. Group 1 only had access to web-based learning tool with graphic showing the locations of anatomic landmark. Group 2 received introductory material and 3

rd group not enrol in the course. Results showed that subject which had access to web-based tool improve in scores

on anatomic landmark exam. So, web-based tool enhance their learning because web-based system enable to represent combination of media format such as text, image, animation, graphic, sound and voice. This is also agreed by Liaw (2004) claimed that above features represent the web-based environment characteristic.

Another study was investigated by Maag (2004) to study the effectiveness learning method of and interactive multimedia learning tool on nursing students` maths knowledge and self-efficacy. It was a comparison study in between 4 groups after intervention of treatment. Results showed that the 4

th group reported that they were satisfied

with the method of learning, the teaching was enjoyable and more interesting and provide sufficient feedback because they were allowed to view 3 multimedia modules on interlink web pages, with the modules consisting of text, image, animation and interactive feedback. Again, this is similar with what as cited by Liaw (2004) that web-based systems can integrate various kinds of information to access. She also informed that web-based systems provide a cross-platform environment that can be executed independently.

Web-based learning are perceived as offering the potential to promote lifelong learning by supporting flexible learning fostering learner control and stimulating learner engagement suggested by Eisenstadt and Vincent (2000). Learners have the full control over their own learning and interaction with peers. For learning to occur, the learner communicate with the tutor related to the assignment or contents, this will enhance the opportunity in building or constructing the new ideas. In addition, they share their knowledge with other people. Therefore, lots of learning took place within the context of web-based environment. Interaction in learning is a main ingredient to process knowledge and development of skill. Merill (2002) claimed that one of his first principle of instruction, mentioned that learning is promoted when new knowledge is integrated into the learner`s world. He called this as integration phase, whereby the learner reflect and create.

A research on meaningful interaction in web-based learning: a social constructive interpretation was conducted by Woo and Reeves (2007). They commented that all interaction do not lead to increase learning process. They believed that meaningful of interaction was related to the learning social constructivism theories. Perhaps the primary intention of their research is to re-conceptualize online interaction in terms of meaningful learning based on learning social constructivism theories. They also emphasized that learning and thinking happened in social contexts and consists of authentic whereby the leaner take part in activities directly and relevant to the real life. They viewed that to engage authentic learning, learners will engage in the task, generating ideas, sharing resources, negotiating, and synthesizing individual thoughts, refine and complete the task. As a result of this finding, tutors need to design and

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implement appropriate effective interaction activities within web-based learning environment embedded with authentic task.

An article review, cited by Legg, Adelman and Levitt (2007) stated the use of constructivism applicability online learning environment in nursing education. Constructivism allows tutor to develop strategies that enhance students’ motivation and encourage interaction. Learners are responsible on their own learning and regulate their own learning situation. The tutors only guide and facilitate learners learning.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How does self regulated learning via web based help students in gaining cognitive skill?

2. How does self regulated learning via web based help students in gaining psychomotor skill?

METHODOLOGY

The methodology of this research study is a qualitative design. There are two types of qualitative research technique in gathering the data. The design techniques are content analysis and observation.

Content Analysis

To answer the research question 1, the researcher applied content analysis. Content analysis is a method for summarizing and studying the contents. Students` cognitive skill was measured by analyzing the multiple choice questions and short answers questions. In this research study the content analysis was about the lower thinking order and higher thinking order level of thinking referring to Bloom taxonomy. Using Bloom`s model as a framework to classifying cognitive skill into knowledge, comprehension, application and analysis were used in the test items. In the true/false and multiple choice questions were prepared based on knowledge comprehension and application level which was categorized in lower thinking order test items. Short answer questions were prepared according to higher order thinking level of application and analysis category.

The researcher carried out the content analysis for all the items. During the analysis the researcher explored the content and lookout for statement that represent information, ability to recall, understanding of concept, ability to use prior knowledge, ability to describe and justify. In the higher order thinking level, statements that student able to generate deep cognitive process whereby students able to manipulate the information. Marks were allocated on the content analysis based on marking scheme. A research study by Su and Osisek (2011) using revised Bloom`s taxonomy framework to use in promoting knowledge transfer. They use this framework to prepare the multiple choice test for knowledge and comprehension domain. Higher order thinking level they used open ended questions. After evaluation of test item analysis indicated positive outcome of cognitive process related to the subject content.

Observation

The researcher used the observable performance to find out whether the researcher can achieve the instructional objectives. The purpose of observation was to allow students to demonstrate their acquired knowledge and skills. Observation technique is also used in a study carried out by Jeffries (2001) using observation technique and checklist to evaluate students` competency in medication administration in learning laboratory at a scheduled time. The results revealed that 90% of students pass the skill competency in administering of oral medication after exposure to CD-ROM format teaching.

To answer research question 2, a checklist was used to observe students skill performance. The checklist contains a list of behaviour that can be scored. They are best suited for complex behaviour or performance. An audiotape recording of wearing and removing sterile gloves are behaviours requiring sequences of actions that may be clearly identified and listed on a checklist. The checklist measures learning outcomes based on specific criteria. The criteria on the scale were all vital to aseptic principles. The checklist consisted of three criteria upon which the student was evaluated. These were performed well, performed fairly well and wrongly performed. Performed well refers to

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the accuracy of performing the psychomotor task. It includes the student`s ability to identify principles and apply them in a given situation. Perform fairly refer to student`s ability to demonstrate the task satisfactory. Wrongly performed indicated student`s unable to perform or perform in the wrong manner.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

The research findings is discussed referring to the research questions.

Research question 1 : How does self regulated learning via web based help students in gaining cognitive skill?

Bloom (1956) developed taxonomy of educational objectives to assist educator in the evaluation of course material and to test leaning outcome. He categorized learning into three domains. In the cognitive domain it was classified into six levels according to the hierarchy from simple to complex. At the end of each lesson usually the teacher will measure the learning outcome to see the student cognitive skills.

From the analysis indicated that self-regulated learning via web based can help students in gaining cognitive skill. It was predicted that most of the students gain cognitive skill after two weeks exposure to web learning. The results show that knowledge and comprehension level were easily scored as indicated in test item 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 & 9. These reflect the students understanding of statements and recognize the need to know. As in test item number 3, based on the analysis showed that students able to understand the concept of principle asepsis.

How student learns best based on their prior knowledge. Students learning process can be developed when the students able to link to their personal experience and knowledge. The teacher could facilitate the students to perform the self-regulated learning in the web-based environment by giving handout and other learning material in advance. This is also agreed by Ausubel`s (1968) that when the educator able to relate meaningful information to students such as prior knowledge can enhance meaningful learning. Moreover, Moss and Azevedo (2008) finding indicated that students with high prior domain knowledge have a well established, interconnected knowledge based of topic. The analysis of test item number 5 indicated that students able to think deeply and manage the difference in size of boarder edge sterile field area. Thus they able to regulate their own learning and do comparison with the information they get from the web or peer.

A well plan Instructional technology and design according to how people learn in the self regulated learning strategies able to promote students cognitive skills. From the cognitive analysis most of them able to understand the test item. Learning via web based multimedia can promote students understanding and indirectly improve students test score. This is also supported by Gagne (1974) that systematically designed instruction can influence learning. From the analysis the result indicated that majority of students able to use self-regulated learning strategies to achieve their learning. In addition, audio and visual material such as video and text via web can enhance students learning process. Research indicates learners retain 20% of what they hear, 40% of what they see and 75% of what they see, hear and do. Therefore, instructional technology supports this learning process. Resources from the web based such as text, power point slides, video presentation and link to other web site are different type of application of teaching modalities. Students can process the material in accordance with their individual preferences and strategies at any time and any place provided an internet connection is available. Furthermore, due to its interactivity, it can cater to all levels of multiple of intelligence learners.

A research conducted by Ley & Young (2001) suggest that instructional principles for self-regulated learning can support and facilitate in less expert learner. One of the principles suggested by them is organizing and transforming instructional materials. Based from the analysis, the researcher noticed that the students able to gain their cognitive skills after they were exposed to web based instruction. The researcher organized the learning materials so that students able to learn on their own. The analysis revealed that retrieving learning material and planning their own studies from web-based can improve the cognitive skills among the self regulated learner.

As a result of organizing instruction systematically this can promote students cognitive and metacognitive.

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Gagne (1979) stated that external stimulation such as instructional event can influence learners` internal condition of learning and cognitive process. The researcher uses Gagne nine events of instruction in his web based. Due to this, the results of lower and higher thinking order questions stated that student able to score. Therefore designing appropriate and effective strategies can fulfil and satisfy students` learning needs.

On the other hand, according to Narciss, Proske and Koerndle (2007) they claimed that hypermedia system in the web based can foster students self regulated monitoring. Transfer of knowledge and gaining the cognitive skill allowed students knowing how to apply specific cognitive processes associated with their learning task. As we can see from the analysis for all the test item majority of the students able to apply their learned new information from web and they transfer newly constructed knowledge. Learning outcome was achieved as indicated in the cognitive post test. It may be that these students have a more diversified of learning skills. From the analysis of result the researcher noticed that more students score better result in the true/false and multiple choice questions as compared to the short answers question. Generally students performed better in lower thinking order question because the level of understanding is simple and student know what they think.

The challenge as an educator in web based is to create the learning environments for students with the responsibility the educator able to shift from the teacher - centered to student centered. In student-centered learning students share idea with peers and discuss the course topic. Through the discussion and negotiation students were self regulating via web based environment and this will promote their course content in greater depth. A research was carried out by Fish and Arbaugh (2005) they found that learner achieved higher perceptions of learning when knowledge is transmitted through web based learning.

In the higher thinking order question is more complex, some students found it difficult to elaborate in depth. This group of student need more assistance to guide their studies or lack of socialization with peer group. Finding from the analysis revealed that test item for short answer question (SAQ) were answered as below. This is the statement for test item 1 for SAQ which is categorized in the higher thinking order level. Here are the response given by the students in this question.

List three purpose of wearing gloves

Respondent 1 description of test item 1 SAQ

1. Prevent cross contamination

2. To protect the client

3. To protect the nurse.


1. Reduce microorganism

2. To prevent hygiene

3. Touch contaminated items


1. When patience in isolation room.

2. When performing sterile procedure.

3. Prevent contamination

Above answers given by the students indicated that students will gain the cognitive and skill development if they start to interact with others, in addition student will feel more confidence in their study and this will stimulate self regulated leaner. Knowledge is constructed while engaging in activities, receiving feedback from peer or teacher. The expert student will assist the less expert student in expanding the new knowledge. As stated by Vgotsky (1986) learner can achieve cognitive skill if assistant is provided to guide them.

According to Andrade and Bunker (2009) they mentioned that success of web based learning using self regulated learning were related to a few dimensions such as physical and social environment, time, method and motive. In general the motivated students, able to set their own learning goal and monitor their learning will help

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them to develop the cognitive skills. With the experience of self study via web based, eventually students will build their own knowledge and know one`s own cognition. In addition interaction with peers helps students to promote deeper learning. From the analysis stated that majority of students gain cognitive skill learning via self regulated learning through web based as indicated below from the respondent test item 2 & 3 for SAQ questions for higher thinking order.

This is the statement for test item 2 for SAQ which is categorized in the higher thinking order level. Here are the response given by the student in this question.

Explain when will you used a non sterile glove.


1. When collection urine specimen.

2. When performing daily activities in the ward.

3. When performing perineum care.

For test item number 4 SAQ statement stated below are the responses given by the students.

Describe when should you put on, and when should you remove gloves.

1. When completing nursing procedure

2. When doing procedure

3. Before and after touching patients

4. Before giving bedpan to patient

5. During and after administer suppository.

6. When performing perineum care.

7. When performing surgical dressing.

Based on the students response above, finding from the research indicated that participants of this study self-regulated their learning based on metacognition knowledge of themselves as learners and improve their critical thinking.

In addition to that, self regulated learner faced many challenges as online learner. They must master a large demand which match their learning goal, must be able to monitor their studies, sharing ideas with peer and get corrective feedback for their learning process. Student with good and capable to self regulate learning able to manage their learning task and motivation. The cognitive test results indicated that students who are highly motivated scored better grade in the test. This is also agreed by Bandura (1977) he mentioned that a self regulated learner will continue set their learning goal as source of motivation.

In other hand, student who obtained low score in the cognitive test could be they do not set their learning goal, lack of peer interaction and did not monitor their own learning. In other words, if students cannot use self regulatory learning behaviours to perform self regulating learning, they will not have a good online learning effectiveness.

According to Kuiper and Pesut (2003) self regulated learning can promote cognitive skills and competence through metacognition reflective reasoning. Providing real world situation can help students to learn better so that they can apply knowledge into practice. Therefore, students do not have many difficulties in the modified essay question because there a few type of learning modalities, variety of media can be used to include in the web based design. This is also supported by Ausubel (1986) his advance organizer can help students facilitate learning and improve the learning outcome.

In summary, the application of self regulated learning via web-based can improve students` cognitive skills regardless of process of learning by each individual. The finding above shows that self regulated able to help all types of students to study independently via web and peer group. The above finding shows that not only development of cognition is important by using self regulated learning via web-based, the researcher need to look into the students

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motivation goal, achievement goal and self efficacy in the next research.

Research question 2 : How does self regulated learning via web based help students in gaining psychomotor skill?

The students who received learning via web based generally able to perform the psychomotor skills. Therefore using self regulated learning via web can help student to gain psychomotor skill. The prior knowledge helps student to make connections to the reading material. Based on the result technique of handling sterile gloves, the sub tasks for step 1, 2 & 3 indicated student can perform how to select the appropriate size glove, open the inner wrapper and hold the cuff at the first gloves using index finger and thumb. In addition to that students tried to convert the cognitive process into appropriate action.

Students must have acquired knowledge on sterile gloves through own learning via web. The knowledge they gain transform into action mode. Student obtained some pre requisition from the cognitive skill and able to retain and response accordingly after the stimulation from the web based learning. According to Bandura (1976) observation learning theory, in between attentional processes and retention processes one must pay attention to the modelled via video presentation in web based to grasp the important main idea. Therefore students who diligently self regulated their own learning should be able to reproduce the action.

A research carry out by Watts, Rush & Wright (2009) they introduce self assessment checklist for student to view their own performance after recorded in the video. Result indicated that student able to develop the skill and indirectly it facilitates the development of self regulated learning.

Technique of wearing sterile gloves

Result indicated that students were able to demonstrate the 4 sub tasks of technique of wearing sterile gloves as stated below.

“Step 4, result revealed that most students able to perform this act by inserting the dominant hand into the glove without contaminating.

Step 5, students ensure that their fingers are slotted correctly into the gloves.

Step 6, Insert the gloved fingers under the fold of the second glove and removed”

If students continue to practice and get corrective feedback from the educator or peer group, they definitely can produce the skills competently. On the other hand, students can perform well because their movement of fingers are associated with their mental process. Schmidt (1982) agreed that motor learning is a set of processes associated with practice or experience leading to relatively permanent changes in skilled behaviour. In addition to that, students’ goal will be achieved if certain action is taken to improve them and indirectly will satisfy his need and motivation. A study carried out by Brydges, Crnahnan, Safir & Dubrowski (2009) stated that participants who learned via self directed for suturing skill using instructional video of an expert performing the wound closure able to demonstrate the skills better than control process group. The results indicated that self guided group with process goals indicate greater skill retention than outcome group. They concluded that providing self-guided process orientation checklist can enhance the efficiency of simulation based education in the absence of an instructor.

Technique of adjusting sterile gloves

The students must practice these part tasks to criterion in order to demonstrate mastery. The level of mastery depending upon the amount of resources available in the web based environment. Practice should also be

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distributed over time in order to affect stronger learning. Students monitor their progress of learning so that they are able to retain and to transfer the acquired skills. Based on the result the researcher noticed that self regulation via web based able to guide student to accomplish the sub tasks as indicated below.

“Step 8, students ensure their fingers slotted correctly into the gloves

Step 9, students able to unfold the cuff of the first gloves.

Step 10, students able to adjust gloves by interlocking the fingers

Step 11, students able to keep hand above the waist after wearing the gloves.”

According to Bandura (1976) observation learning theory he explained that in production processes learner should be able to convert the cognitive process into behavioural action. To ensure students able to learn the sub tasks, the students can download the step by step checklist and watch the video. The students can practice many times till they are confident and competent on their pace. Gagne (1974) mentioned that motor skills as simple sequences of motor responses and often will be combined into more complex performances. Therefore, the results indicated that student can perform to adjust the sterile gloves learning by their own after self regulated learning strategies. This indicated that they were able to demonstrate the motor skill by using the checklist, watch the model via video and multiple practice section.

Technique of removing sterile gloves

Skills were develop through constantly with well guided and informative practice. The learning of psychomotor skill was best accomplished by practicing to improve the accuracy and effectively. Students were able to get information from the web based anytime and anywhere on their self learning. In addition, educator plays a crucial role in their planning of instruction material and a good role model. This will help student to retrieve the reading material, checklist for the skills and video presentation at any time on their own pace. Students imitate and learn corrective method on their own by observing the sub tasks via video. Based on the analysis students were able to perform perfectly and effectively the 4 sub tasks for technique of removing sterile gloves as indicate below

“Step 12, Student know where to hold the outer part of glove at wrist level and pull outward.

Step 13. They able to crumple the dirty glove in gloved hand.

Step 14, they can demonstrate how to insert 2 ungloved fingers under the cuff of gloved hand and pull out.”

Nadler, Thomson & Boven (2003) agreed that participants who received observational training by watching videotaped were able to solve the negotiation skill. This is also supported by Bandura (1976) who strongly mentioned that people learned by observing someone behaviour. If students continue to practice the motor skills eventually they will master the skill. Another research conducted by Watts, Rush and Wright (2009) use self assessment checklist to view student`s own performance after videotaping.

The checklist represent as a guideline for motor performance and students learned to correct their own mistake and by peer rating. They concluded that this method able to facilitate the development of a self regulated learner.

In summary student self regulated learning via web based do improve in psychomotor skills, however student who are lack in motivation or unable to monitor their own learning will not benefit in acquiring this skills. Gagne (1979) stated that students who continue to practice the skill can enhance the smoothness of performance.

Hence, in the context of web based learning environment, learner need to utilized their metacognitive knowledge and self regulated learning skills so that they can achieve the learning goal. This constructivist approach enable student to focuses how to deal with problem solving and thinking skills with peer group.

Additionally, it also emphasizes to student`s ability to solve the real life and practical problems. The concept

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of zone of proximal development (ZPD) by Vygotsky in 1922, learning within the zone can be achieved if a capable peer guided the learner through the learning activity to reach the goal. This is also agreed by Illeis (2007) he claimed that learning is an interaction process in between an individual and their learning material and social environment. Therefore self regulated learning can help students gain the cognitive and psychomotor skills.

CONCLUSION

This research indicated that students adapted self regulated learning strategy. Successful students manage to plan, monitor and evaluate their work in the web based environments and to manage their motivation. The results also hinted that encouragement and scaffolding from the teacher, modelling and peer group seem to help students feel confident and efficiency in their ability to learn online. Results of the study clearly demonstrated that the learning via web based assisted student to use the technology to support their learning. Learning via web based not only gave students a powerful tool for instruction but also provide them a new insight into different way of learning method. Social learning and scaffolding theory by Bandura and Vgotsky in the researcher instructional learning offers promising results as indicated in the analysis. Therefore these constructivism learning theory do promote and gain students cognitive and psychomotor skills. In addition to attention, enhance retention and stimulate their prior knowledge. The students, therefore, did learn and retain the new cognitive and skills. Although the students did learn, it is very vital for them to associate this knowledge and skill in the real world. During the students` clinical experience, they might have cared for patients who required the students to utilize the newly learned skills. This additional experience learning via web based could have had a strong impact on their performance. Due to this, it may not compromise the nursing care to the patients if students able to carry out effectively and efficiently. In summary problems related to insufficient time of tutor to guide students in the big classroom can be eliminate if tutor use self regulated learning via web based.

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Students’ Roles during Peer Response Sessions Sandra Sim Phek Lin [1], MosesSamuel [2]

[1] Academy of Language Studies, UniversitiTeknologi MARA Sarawak, Kota SamarahanCampus, Sarawak, Malaysia [email protected] Contactnumber: +6082 677690 [2] Department of Language &LiteracyEducation, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This study examined the types of roles played by students during peer response sessions and investigated how the students’ roles facilitated learning. This qualitative case study involved six Grade 10 mixed-proficiency level students from a secondary school in Malaysia. Data were collected through multiple sources. The findings indicated that the students were engaged in multiple roles during the interaction sessions which stimulated their thinking skills and led to mutual learning. The findings suggest that English language curriculum needs to give due attention to students’ role in the ‘student-centred learning approach’ to empower them with independent learning.

Keywords: Feedback; mutual learning; peer response; students’ roles

INTRODUCTION

Peer response sessions promote team co-operation and sharing of ideas among students of different proficiency levels within the group to reach mutual understanding of a given task. This is because peer readers can provide constructive and useful feedback (Rollinson, 2005) to assist student writers in the process of writing. With the help from their peers, students can use their multiple talents and abilities to gain creative and multidimensional views of realities (Matthews, 1993). This will give them the opportunity to exercise leadership over their own writing.

Thus, in order to know and understand how much students can gain through peer interactions, it is important to examine the roles played by students during peer response sessions and how the students’ roles facilitate learning. Understanding and knowing how student-student interactions work will help educators engage students in a more meaningful dialogue to share and discover meanings in order to gain ownership of their writing.

A number of studies on peer response groups involved students from higher institutions of learning (Carson & Nelson, 1996; Chen & Hird, 2006; DiPardo & Freedman, 1988; Hyland, 2000; Jayakaran & Vahid, 2011; Zhu, 2001), but few have focused on secondary school students (Komathy, 2000; Sim, 1998). Past research revealed that peers play various roles during peer response groups but few studies examine how students facilitate learning when they work within their peer response groups. For instance, in Mendonca and Johnson’s (1994) study, the reviewers assumed the role of a tutor or teacher whereas the writers assumed the role of a student. In De Guerrero and Villamil’s (2000) study, the student readers took the role of a mediator. An earlier study conducted by Daiute and Dalton (1993) indicated that the young peers modelled as ‘teachers’ or ‘experts’ during the peer discussion. Similarly, Mitchell’s (1992) study revealed that the students learnt to be ‘experts’ in a particular type of writing for their final project. The students learnt from each other through the peer reviews in which they provided feedback and critiques for each others’ initial drafts. Likewise, Jones et al. (1994) stressed that in engaged learning, students play important roles as ‘explorers’ and eventually, as ‘teachers’. Besides that, Reid (1994) advocated that students as writers play multiple roles as “readers, responders, coaches, and expert members of the academic discourse community” (p. 289). Thus, this shows that peers play pertinent roles in assisting their group members to improve their writing skills.

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In contrast, findings in Chen and Hird’s (2006) research yielded behavioral differences due to group and individual differences in talk within the group. Hence, an in-depth analysis of the student-student interactions during peer response sessions is imperative in order to understand how students’ talk facilitates learning.

This present study is based on Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of learning that a learner would be able to attain a higher level of performance with guidance from adults or more capable peers. Vygotsky (1978) emphasised that individual consciousness is the result of the collective activity of people. Learning is the result of mediation through interaction between learners. During interaction, learners are actively engaged in exploring, discovering and constructing meaning from new information by reflecting upon their prior knowledge and experience. As such, the present study addressed two research questions: (1) What are the roles played by the students during the peer response sessions? (2) How do the students’ roles during the peer response sessions facilitate learning?

THE STUDY

The participants in this study comprised three high and three intermediate-proficiency level Grade 10 (Form Four) students in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class of 44 students in a secondary school in Malaysia. The students were selected based on their English paper results at Grade 9 National Examination

1. The six students were

Ann, Ben, Cindy, Doris, Ema and Faye (not their real names). Ann, Ben and Cindy were placed in the high-proficiency level category (HP) as they obtained Grade A for their English paper at Grade 9 National Examination; while Doris, Ema and Faye were placed in the intermediate-proficiency level category (IP) as they obtained Grade C for the same examination.

This study primarily adopts a qualitative approach. The various methods used in this study include observations, interviews, and documentary records (transcripts of student-student interactions and writing tasks). Four expository writing tasks were assigned to the mixed-proficiency level students to work in groups. For each of the compositions, students were required to write two drafts (first draft and final draft). Four peer response sessions were observed in a naturalistic classroom environment over a period of five months. The students responded to the individual first drafts of four compositions which were of different topics related to social issues.

The data collected through the various sources (transcripts of student-student interactions, students’ first and final drafts, interview transcripts with the students and class teacher and field notes) were analysed and triangulated. Data-driven categories of the types of roles played by the students and the pattern on how the students’ roles facilitated learning were drawn from analysis of the transcripts of student-student interactions during the peer response sessions.

Two raters were engaged to independently code and classify 10% of the student-student interactions which were randomly selected for the types of roles played by the students. The inter-rater reliability for categorization was assessed using Cohen’s Kappa (Cohen, 1960). High kappa values of 0.83 and 0.85 were obtained from the first and second rater respectively indicating the reliability of the classification of the types of students’ roles during the peer response sessions was adequate, thus, enhancing the credibility of the case study findings (Gall et al., 2003).

FINDINGS

Roles of Students

The findings in this study revealed that the students played various roles during the peer response sessions to the individual first drafts of all the four compositions. Table 1 displays a list of descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of the students during the peer response sessions.

It was found that as the student-student interaction progressed from one peer response session to another; both the high and intermediate-proficiency level students played multiple roles to assist one another in the revision of the individual first drafts of their compositions. The predominant roles played by the students were modelling like ‘teachers’, ‘facilitators’, ‘advisors’, ‘examiners’, ‘experts’, ‘evaluators’, and ‘team-players’. This is akin to the findings in research on appropriation of student texts which reported that students as writers assumed numerous roles as “readers, responders, coaches, and expert members of the academic discourse community” (Reid, 1994, p. 289).

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Table 1. List of Descriptions of the Roles and Responsibilities of Students during the Peer Response Sessions

Role of Peers Tasks/Responsibilities

Advisor Gives advice, especially somebody who is regularly consulted.

Evaluator Assesses and compares the appropriateness of words, terms or ideas used.

Examiner Inspects closely and carefully the errors made by somebody.

Expert Possesses special knowledge or skill and is competent in a particular field.

Facilitator

-Eases the flow of the discussion, or guides and gears the group members towards the focus of the discussion.

-Makes something easy to understand or less difficult.

Teacher

Teaches, is knowledgeable and knows how to identify errors and correct them (Student modelling like a teacher).

Team-player Collaborates with the group members to help the writer finds solution to a problem.

The most interesting phenomenon gathered from the findings in the present study is the students modelling like ‘teachers’. They had taken over the task to model like ‘teachers’ (especially, the high-proficiency level students) to guide the less competent ones (the intermediate-proficiency level students) during the peer response sessions to the individual first drafts of their peers’ compositions. This act of teaching by the more competent students has led to learning among the peers. This is because they were given the freedom to handle the peer response sessions within their own group without the overt presence of the class teacher as the latter trusted the students’ capabilities.

Generally, the high-proficiency level students (especially, Ann and Ben) played leading roles in guiding the group members throughout the peer response sessions to the individual first drafts of the students’ four compositions. Among the six students, Ann, and Ben played the most predominant roles in modelling like ‘teachers’, ‘facilitators’ ‘advisors’, ‘examiners’, ‘experts’, ‘evaluators’ and ‘problem-solvers’ in guiding the less proficient ones during the peer response sessions. The other group members were found to collaborate and work closely with Ann and Ben as they emulated the various roles played by them to help one another as a team.

How students’ roles during peer response sessions facilitate learning?

It was found that in modelling the various roles during the peer response sessions, the students were capable of identifying and correcting errors mostly at the sentence level. The correction of errors by the students led to mutual learning between the high and intermediate-proficiency level students as well as among students of the same proficiency level.

To illustrate, the following are examples of some instances of the multiple roles played by the students as observed during the peer response sessions to assist the group members in the revision of the individual first drafts of their compositions. The examples below also showed that there was collaboration and team work amongst the students as they were actively engaged in lengthy discussions throughout the peer response sessions.

(a) Identify and correct grammatical errors

It was observed that the students played multiple roles as they collaborated with one another to identify and correct grammatical errors when responding to the first draft of Faye’s Composition 2. For example, excerpt 1

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exhibits the various roles played by the students which include modelling like a facilitator, teacher, team-player, an expert, an advisor, and an examiner.

Excerpt 1: ‘Awareness of Action’

613. Ben: Last paragraph. Facilitator

614. Ema: Last paragraph. Facilitator

615. Ben:

First sentence, ‘In conclusion, if humans’, ‘humans//

(changing the singular form of the word ‘human’ to the plural form ‘humans’ in the sentence which read ‘In conclusion, if human still not aware from their action’).

Identify-correct

Teacher

616. Ann:

//are still unaware of their action//

(adding the word ‘are’ in front of the word ‘still’ and changing ‘not aware’ to ‘unaware of’).

Identify-correct

Teacher/ Expert

617. Ema: Not ‘not aware’? Inquire

618. Ann: Maybe, we should change it to ‘unaware’. Suggest Advisor

619. Ema: ‘unaware’. Reiterate

620. Ben: ‘if humans are not aware’, ‘unaware’. Confirm

621. Ann:

‘if humans are unaware of their actions, the world will end one day’.

(adding the plural form to the word ‘action’, joining two sentences into one and deleting the words ‘of the’ in front of the word ‘day’ in the first and second sentences of the last paragraph which read ‘In conclusion, if human still not aware from their action. The world will end one of the day’).

Identify-correct

Teacher/ Expert

622. Ema: Maybe before ‘the world’, we put ‘maybe’. Identify-suggest

Advisor

623. Ben: Can also. ‘maybe the world will end’. Team-player

624. Ema: ‘maybe the world will end’.

625. Ben: Think so, right? Team-player

626. Doris: ‘one day’, should cut the ‘the’, right? Suggest Examiner

627. Ema: ‘one of the day’. Accept

628. Ann: ‘one day’. Accept

629. Cindy: Cut off the ‘of’ and ‘the’. Accept

As shown in excerpt 1 (lines 613 to 629), the high and intermediate-proficiency level students helped to correct the first and second sentences in the last paragraph: ‘In conclusion, if human still not aware from their action. The world will end one of the day’. An analysis of the final draft confirmed that Faye had adhered to the feedback given by her peers. Hence, the amended version of the sentence read ‘In conclusion, if humans are unaware their action. Maybe the world will end one days’. This indicates that when both the high and intermediate-proficiency level students were engaged in the peer response session, they played numerous roles to collaborate as a team in assisting Faye in the revision of her errors. Although those sentences in the revised version still contain grammatical errors and should be joined as one sentence, what is more important is that by playing those roles, students were able to learn to correct some grammatical errors, rephrase words and sentences.

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It is interesting to unveil in this present study that learning was driven by the high-proficiency level students as they had taken control over the task of the teacher as ‘young experts’ in initiating, facilitating and maintaining the student-student interaction. They took various roles to assist the less competent learners in their writing. What is of import is how interaction shapes learning as the role of the ‘young experts’ seemed to multiply among the less competent learners as the peer response sessions progressed along. Thus, this created a community of ‘young experts’ working together through student-student interaction to share their knowledge, explore and discover new meanings in their writing. This finding is in concordance with the findings yielded in Daiute and Dalton’s (1993) study which indicated that “novices can be masters” (p. 322) as the young peers acted as ‘teachers’ during the peer discussion. Akin to Daiute and Dalton’s (1993) and Jones et al.’s (1994) findings that the young peers were engaged in generative and reflective processes; in this present study, the group members were found to collaborate and work closely with Ann and Ben (the more capable ones) who provided guidance to help them to understand, internalise rules; and eventually, to perform at a higher level. In other words, the less competent learners were able to use the knowledge gained from the more capable ones to help their other group members improve the first draft of their compositions. This finding also conforms to that of Mitchell’s (1992) study which revealed that the students learnt to be like ‘experts’ in a particular type of writing.

(b) Identify and insert missingwords

It was found that by assuming different roles as ‘examiners’ and ‘teachers’, the high-proficiency level students were able to help their peers to identify and insert missing words in their first draft. For instance, excerpt 2 below illustrates how Ann modelled like an ‘examiner’ and Ben modelled like a ‘teacher’ in helping to improve the last sentence of paragraph 4 in the first draft of Cindy’s Composition 2: ‘Media should write more on environmental issues on newspapers and school magazines’.

Excerpt 2: ‘Media’

477. Ann: ‘write more on environmental issues’, ‘write more’, ‘the media should write//

Identify-correct

Examiner

478. Ema: //more about//

479. Ann: ‘The media should write more on environmental issues’. Correct

480. Ben: Wait, wait, wait. They should write the issues on the newspaper or in the newspapers?

Inquire Teacher

481. Cindy: Ya, just now.

482. Ann: ‘should write more on environmental issues// Correct

483. Ema: // in the newspapers// Confirm

484. Ann: ‘The media should write more articles concerning the environmental issues in newspapers and internet’. I don’t agree with ‘school magazines’.

Identify-correct

Examiner

A check of the final draft found that Cindy had taken into consideration the above feedback given by Ann, Ben and Ema. However, Cindy did not change the word ‘school magazines’ to ‘internet’ as advised by Ann. Thus, the altered version of her sentence read ‘The media should print more articles on environmental issues in newspapers and school magazines’ (italics added). Nevertheless, this shows that by having Ann and Ben who acted the roles as examiners and teachers, Cindy learned the importance of inserting the article ‘The’ in front of the word ‘media’. Hence, this indicates that the peer response session served as a platform for the students to play various roles in assisting one another in their revisions.

(c) Apply knowledge learnt

The findings in this study indicated that learning had taken place as a result of the interaction and feedback

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given by the peers. It was found that Ema had learnt and internalised the rule on the usage of the article ‘the’ from the feedback given by Ann and Ben during the previous peer response session to Cindy’s Composition 2 (see excerpt 2 which has been discussed earlier). This is manifested in excerpt 3 (line 326) in which Ema could apply the knowledge on the usage of the article ‘the’ when she identified and inserted the missing article ‘the’ in front of the word ‘government’ (in the second sentence of paragraph 3 in the first draft of Faye’s Composition 3: ‘Government should also organise campaigns for youth so that they would not become part of bully’).

Excerpt 3: ‘Campaigns’

326. Ema:

Next paragraph, second sentence, ‘Government’. Before ‘Government’, ‘The’. (adding the article ‘The’ before the word ‘government’ in the second sentence of paragraph 3 which read ‘Government should also organise campaigns for youth so that they would not become part of bully’.)

Identify-correct

Teacher

327. Ann: ‘organise campaigns for youths so that they will not become part of bully’, ‘part of bully’, ‘part of bully’.

Identify-correct

Teacher

328. Ben: ‘become a bully’. Identify-correct

Teacher

329. Ann: ‘become a bully’ (repeating after Ben).

It is interesting to note that Ema had understood the rule on the usage of the article ‘the’ as she explained in an interview, “… ‘media’, … it’s specific, must put ‘the’.” Ema also quoted other words in which the specific article ‘the’ is needed in front of them, “Like ‘government’, ‘environment’, …’.”

Upon analysis of the final draft, it was found that although there was a slight grammatical error in the phrase ‘part a bully’, Faye had utilised both Ema’s and Ann’s feedback as mentioned above. Therefore, the corrected version in Faye’s final draft read ‘TheGovernment should also organise campaigns for youths so that they will not become part a bully’.

This shows that learning had taken place as Ema (see excerpt 3) was found to have learnt and internalised the rule governing the use of the article ‘the’; and thereby applied that knowledge when responding to the first drafts of Faye’s Composition 3. This concurs with Vygotsky’s (1978) theory in which learning takes place first in the inter-psychological plane and then it moves on to the intra-psychological plane.

In other words, with the guidance from the more competent writers (specifically, Ann and Ben), the less competent writers (especially, Ema) could operate beyond her ‘zone of proximal development’. This claim is substantiated by the class teacher’s positive view about the peer response session as she remarked:

“…, it’s [peer response session is] a good idea because it encourages students to speak more … so that they can assist one another, cooperative learning … to enhance peer relationship, and they can learn. The good ones can assist the weak ones so that the weaker ones can learn from the better ones”.

(d) Mutual learning

It was found that the various roles modelled by the students led to mutual learning. The findings from this study revealed that not only the high-proficiency level students were capable of modelling leading role but the intermediate-proficiency level students were also skilful in emulating their counterparts as they could even play the role as ‘evaluators’ when responding to their peers’ composition. For example, as shown in excerpt 4 below, Doris demonstrated her ability to evaluate the relevancy of content when she responded to the first draft of Ben’s Composition 1:

Excerpt 4: Ways to attract tourists to Malaysia

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581. Doris: Ben, Ben. Ben essay. Facilitator

582. Ema: Only can say one thing. It is too long.

583. Doris: Too long.

584. Doris:

This is not how to attract the tourists to Malaysia. This is attraction of Malaysia.

Evaluate-suggest Evaluator

As exemplified in excerpt 4 (line 584), Doris evaluated and voiced out her opinion on the need for Ben to relate his points to the topic of the composition. The lack of relevancy of points was also highlighted by Ben during an interview as he pointed out that “… they [peers including Doris] said that my first draft was not the way how to attract the tourists to Malaysia but it is the attractions in Malaysia. So, basically I was out of the theme.”. Ben emphasised the usefulness of his peers’ comment as he uttered, “…, their comments allowed me to stick to the theme and not stray away from the theme”.

This shows that not only the intermediate-proficiency level students benefited from the peer interaction but the high-proficiency level students also gained from the session. In other words, there was mutual learning taking place among both the high and intermediate-proficiency level students as they modelled different roles during the peer response sessions. This concurs with Azmitia’s (1988) assertion that collaboration can facilitate learning because each individual brings different skills to the task. The students were also found to have learnt from reading each others’ writing, a finding which confirms Yang, Badger and Yu’s (2006) study. Likewise, this is in accordance with Vygotsky’s (1978) theory that with the guidance from more capable peers, a learner will be able to function beyond his or her ‘zone of proximal development’.

It is noted that in this present study, the students were empowered to respond to each others’ first drafts, a finding which is similar to that of earlier studies done by Mitchell (1992) and Yang et al. (2006). According to Carroll (1996), Messer (an expert teacher) agreed to this freedom accorded to the students as she opined that “it helps students assume responsibility for their writing, and it, along with oral reading of their work, helps … students become more effective editors of their own writing” (p. 29). The present study also found that by allowing students the opportunity to undertake leading roles, it helped to build confidence and to have a sense of ownership of their writing. This is evident from the responses given by the students during an interview:

“I found that I can give freely my ideas”.

“I feel more confident with them [peers] helping me in doing my essay”

“I give them [peers] feedback on my opinion but if they don’t want to accept my feedback, it’s okay because everyone has their own ideas”.

“We are all students, so they may know something I do not know and I may know something that they do not know. So, it’s good to exchange feedback with my friends”.

“As you can see I improve from my first draft to the second … And the improvement was very great. It was a balance piece between the attractions in Malaysia and ways to attract tourists to Malaysia”.

The class teacher also mentioned during an interview, “… they [students] do, … they give ideas. They may not be good in sentence construction or grammatically correct sentences, but then in terms of ideas, I think they are able to contribute as well”.

CONCLUSIONS

The study examined the types of roles played by students during peer response sessions and investigated how the students’ roles facilitate learning. The finding in this study revealed that students play a vital role during peer response sessions to facilitate learning. The various roles played by them are modelling like ‘teachers’, ‘facilitators’, ‘advisors’, ‘examiners’, ‘experts’, ‘evaluators’, and ‘team-players’. The intermediate-proficiency level students were

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found to have learnt grammatical rules, add missing words and to correct their sentence structure from the high-proficiency level students to improve their revisions. Besides that, it was found that there was mutual learning as both the high and intermediate-proficiency level students learnt from each other to improve the final drafts of their compositions. They were able to point out the lack of relevancy of points and this helped the writer to think and revise his point in order to relate to the topic of his composition.

There are several implications from the findings of this study. The first implication is that students are able to assume leadership roles when given the opportunity to respond to their peers’ compositions during peer response sessions. Thus, in knowing the various roles of the students, ESL teachers can plan appropriate strategies to better equip themselves and to train students on how to work effectively in peer response groups. The second implication is that policy makers need to re-look at the English Language Curriculum so as to incorporate peer response session in the teaching of writing. Instead of clinging to the centre stage in the traditional ‘teacher-centred approach’ to learning, ESL teachers need to recognise the importance of the role of peers in the ‘student-centred approach’ to learning. This is to ensure that the task of learning is ultimately turned over to learners as they become empowered in independent learning. The third implication is that engagement with peers of the same social status provides the context for shared understanding which is essential to enhance mutual learning, sharpen their critical thinking skills and the mastery of the writing skills.

Since this study focused on the roles played by only a group of six students, future research can consider an extension of this study into a longitudinal research involving a larger sample size. This would provide educators with a wider perspective of what actually happens when students work in groups to respond to their peers’ essay. Besides, future trends can compare the similarities and differences in the roles of the class teacher and students during peer response sessions.

NOTES

1. All Malaysian students at Grade 9 are required to sit for a National Examination known as

PenilaianMenengahRendah (PMR) as a pre-requisite for entrance into Grade 10.

REFERENCES

Azmitia, M. (1988). Peer interaction and problem-solving: When are two heads better than one? Child Development, 59, 87-96.

Carroll, P. S. (1996). When acceptance isn’t enough: Helping ESL students become successful writers. English Journal, 85(8), 25-33.

Carson, J. G., & Nelson, G. L. (1996, January). Chinese students’ perceptions of ESL peer response group interaction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 5(1), 1-19.

Chen, R., & Hird, B. (2006). Group work in the EFL classroom in China: A closer look. RELC Journal, 37(1), 91-103.

Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient for agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 37-46.

Daiute, C., & Dalton, B. (1993). Collaboration between children learning to write: Can novice be masters? Cognition and Instruction, 10(4), 281-333.

De Guerrero, M. C. M., & Villamil, O. S. (2000, Spring). Activating the ZPD: Mutual scaffolding in L2 peer revision. The Modern Language Journal, 84(1), 51-68.

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DiPardo, A., & Freedman, S. W. (1988). Peer response groups in the writing classroom: Theoretic foundations and new directions. Review of Educational Research, 58(2), 119-149.

Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R. (2003). Educational research: An introduction (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Hyland, F. (2000). ESL writers and feedback: giving more autonomy to students. Language Teaching Research, 4(1), 33-54.

Jayakaran, M., & Vahid, N. (2011). Effect of peer review and tutor conferencing on English as a second language learners’ writing performance. Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities, 19(1), 25-38.

Jones, B., Valdez, G., Nowakowski, J., & Rasmussen, C. (1994). Designing learning and technology for Educational Reform. Oak Brook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

Komathy, S. R. (2000). The effects of peer feedback on Form 4 students’ revision practices. Unpublished M.Ed. research report, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

Matthews, M. (1993, March). Meaningful cooperative learning is key. Educational Leadership, 50(6), 64-71.

Mendonca, C. A., & Johnson, K. E. (1994). Peer review negotiations: Revision activities in ESL writing instruction. TESOL Quarterly, 28(4), 745-769.

Mitchell, F. (1992). Balancing individual projects and collaborative learning in a advanced writing class. College Composition and Communication, 43(3), 393-400.

Reid, J. (1994). Responding to ESL students’ texts: The myths of appropriation. TESOL Quarterly, 28(2), 273-292.

Rollinson, P. (2005). Using peer feedback in the ESL writing class. ELT Journal, 59(1), 23-38.

Sim, G. N. (1998). Role of peer interaction in an ESL writing class. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Yang, M., Badger, R., & Yu, Z. (2006). A comparative study of peer and teacher feedback in a Chinese EFL writing class. Journal of Second Language Writing, 15, 179-200.

Zhu, W. (2001, November). Interaction and feedback in mixed peer response groups. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10(4), 251-276.

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The Relationship between CTT and IRT Approaches in Analyzing Item Characteristics Nabeel Abedalaziz [1], Chin Hai Leng [2]

[1] Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, 50603Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [email protected] [2] Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, 50603Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Most of the tests and inventories used by counseling psychologists have been developed using CTT; IRT derives from what is called latent trait theory. A number of important differences exist between CTT- versus IRT-based approaches to both test development and evaluation, as well as the process of scoring the response profiles of individual examinees. The purpose of this research is to compare the item difficulty and item discrimination of the Mathematical ability scale using CTT and IRT methods across 1, 2, and 3 parameters. The developed instrument was administered to tenth grade sample of N=602. The data gathered was analyzed for possible relationship of the item characteristics using CTT and IRT methods. Results indicate that the 3-parameter logistic model has the most comparable indices with CTT, furthermore, CTT and IRT models (1-parameter logistic model and 3-parameter logistic model) can be used independently or altogether to describe the nature of the items characteristics.

Keywords: Item Difficulty, Item Discrimination, Logistic Models, Classical Test Theory, Item Response Theory

INTRODUCTION

Classical test theory (CTT and item response theory (IRT) are widely perceived as representing two different measurement frameworks. However, few studies have empirically examined the similarities and differences in the parameters estimated using the two frameworks. Prior to exploring this issue in some detail, some readers may appreciate a brief review of related theories. Additional detail is provided elsewhere (Crocker & Algina, 1986; McKinley & Mills, 1989).

Although CTT has served the measurement community for most of this century, IRT has witnessed an exponential growth in recent decades. The major advantage of CTT is its relatively weak theoretical assumptions, which make CTT easy to apply in many testing situations (Hambleton & Jones, 1993). Relatively weak theoretical assumptions not only characterize CTT but also its extensions (e.g., generalizability theory). Although CTT’s major focus is on test-level information, item statistics (i.e., item difficulty and item discrimination) are also an important part of the CTT model. At the item level, the CTT model is relatively simple. CTT does not invoke a complex theoretical model to relate an examinee’s ability to success on a particular item. Instead, CTT collectively considers a pool of examinees and empirically examines their success rate on an item (assuming it is dichotomously scored). This success rate of a particular pool of examinees on an item, well known as the p value of the item, is used as the index for the item difficulty (actually, it is an inverse indicator of item difficulty, with higher value indicating an easier item). The ability of an item to discriminate between higher ability examinees and lower ability examinees is known as item discrimination, which is often expressed statistically as the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient between the scores on the item (e.g., 0 and 1 on an item scored right-wrong) and the scores on the total test. When an item is dichotomously scored, this estimate is often computed as a point-biserial correlation coefficient.

The major limitation of CTT can be summarized as circular dependency: (a) The person statistic (i.e., observed score) is (item) sample dependent, and (b) the item statistics (i.e., item difficulty and item discrimination) are (examinee) sample dependent. This circular dependency poses some theoretical difficulties in CTT’s application in

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some measurement situations (e.g., test equating, computerized adaptive testing). Despite the theoretical weakness of CTT in terms of its circular dependency of item and person statistics, measurement experts have worked out practical solutions within the framework of CTT for some otherwise difficult measurement problems. For example, test equating can be accomplished empirically within the CTT framework (e.g., equipercentile equating). Similarly, empirical approaches have been proposed to accomplish item-invariant measurement (e.g., Thurstone absolute scaling) (Englehard, 1990). It is fair to say that, to a great extent, although there are some issues that may not have been addressed theoretically within the CTT framework, many have been addressed through ad hoc empirical procedures. IRT, on the other hand, is more theory grounded and models the probabilistic distribution of examinees’ success at the item level. As its name indicates, IRT primarily focuses on the item-level information in contrast to the CTT’s primary focus on test-level information. The IRT framework encompasses a group of models, and the applicability of each model in a particular situation depends on the nature of the test items and the viability of different theoretical assumptions about the test items. For test items that are dichotomously scored, there are three IRT models, known as three-, two-, and one-parameter IRT models.

Although tests have always been composed of multiple items, item response theory (IRT) takes a much more item-level focus than classical test theory ( CTT), which tends to focus more on test-level indices of performance (e.g., the overall reliability coefficient, or standard error, of a scale). In particular, the focus on estimating an ICC for each item provides an integrative, holistic view of the performance of each item that is not readily available when using CTT-based methods to develop or examine a test. That is, although CTT can quantify the total-sample difficulty (e.g., as a p value) or discrimination (e.g., as an item-total biserial correlation) for an item, it lacks an effective means for simultaneously combining and presenting this information (including the role of guessing, or other factors that might lead to a nonzero lower asymptote) in an easily-used format.

With respect to test scoring, IRT-based tests – especially those based on the 2- or 3- parameter models – offer considerable advantages over the “number right” scoring methods typically used in CTT-based tests. Specifically, when estimating an examinee’s score using IRT, we can simultaneously consider the following sources of information: (a) which items were answered correctly/incorrectly (or in the keyed vs. non-keyed direction); and (b) for each of those items, the difficulty, discrimination, and nonzero lower-asymptote parameters of the item. This offers the potential to produce better estimates of the θ scores, to produce quantitative estimates of the “quality” or likelihood of any given observed response profile (termed appropriateness indices; e.g., Drasgow, 1987), and to assess the degree to which the given IRT model provides a good “fit” to the pattern of responses produced by the ind ividual in question..

Classical Test Theory (CTT) test score state that an examinee’s observed score consists of his/her true score plus error. IRT has a similar interest in determining an examinee’s true score (latent trait score). However, CTT approaches are limited in that examinee ability is defined in terms of a particular test, and the difficulty of that test is determined by the ability of the examinees who take it. This circularity of item and examinee characteristics in CTT branches into the estimation of reliability and validity as well because the test and item characteristics change as the examinee pool changes. Item Response Theory models, contrary to CTT models, are falsifiable in that they may or may not be appropriate for a particular data set (Hambleton et al., 1991). IRT models do not suffer from the limitations of CTT because item and ability parameters are invariant under a linear transformation (i.e., it is possible to change the means and variance estimates for different subgroups so that they lie on the same metric). Estimates of item parameters obtained from different examinee groups will be the same, and estimates of examinee ability do not depend on the pool of items administered (except for sampling or measurement errors; Hambleton et al., 1991).

Lastly, Classical Test Theory is limited in that it can only provide test level information. There is no consideration of how examinees perform on individual items (other than via statistics such as the item p value). It is sometimes essential to be able to design tests with items targeted toward specific ability levels. IRT models allow a test developer to design items that, for example, discriminate well among high ability examinees (Hambleton et al., 1991). In short, IRT models, because they provide item level information, are far superior to CTT models for many testing applications, especially those that seek to examine the performance of individual test items.

IRT ASSUMPTIONS

There are two primary postulates of IRT: (a) Examinee performance on a test item is a function of latent traits, or abilities; and (b) the graphical relation between examinees’ latent traits and their probabilities of answering an item correctly is in the form of a monotonically increasing function called an item characteristic curve (ICC). In other words, item performance depends on latent traits (e.g., ability), and as the level of the latent trait increases, the probability of a correct response either increases or stays the same (Hambleton et al., 1991). In IRT models, the

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underlying latent trait is referred to as theta (q), which is conceptually similar to a “true score” in Classical Test Theory.

The graph of an item characteristic curve has, on its x-axis, q (expressed typically as a Z-score ranging from -3 to +3), and on its y-axis, the probability of a correct response (PCR). There are also several assumptions about the data to which IRT models are applied. The first assumption is that of unidimensionality, that one ability (latent trait) is measured by a test. In order for this assumption to be adequately met in an IRT model, a set of test data must consist of a “dominant” factor from which overall test performance results (Hambleton et al., 1991). Local independence, while related to unidimensionality, is the assumption that when ability (the latent trait) is held constant, there should be no relation between examinees’ responses to different items (Hambleton et al., 1991). In other words, the underlying latent trait the test purports to measure should be the only factor that has an overall influence on responses to test items, and when that latent trait is statistically controlled, there should be nothing consistently affecting item performance, and thus, the items should be uncorrelated (independent).

When there is an adequate fit between an IRT model and a set of test data, there are several desirable results such as test-free measurement. Test-free measurement implies that the estimates of examinee ability are assumed to be the same even if a different set of items is used (barring measurement errors), and item parameter estimates will be identical for different groups of examinees (except for sampling errors; Hambleton et al., 1991). This property of invariance of item and ability parameters is one of the advantages of IRT models.

IRT MODELS

The one-parameter logistic model, explains the relationship between levels of the ability and probability of a correct response on the item in terms of the difficulty of the item. An item’s b parameter (difficulty) is the point on the ability scale corresponding to the location on the ICC where the probability of a correct response is 0.5 (Hambleton et al, 1991).

The two –parameter logistic model makes use of the b parameter (item difficulty) just as in the one-parameter model, but adds an additional element which indicates how wills an item separates examinees into different ability levels. The a parameter used in the two-parameter model is called the item discrimination parameter and is equal to the slope of the ICC when it is at its steepest (Hambleton et al , 1991).

The three-parameter logistic model builds upon the two-parameter model by adding pseudo-chance-level parameter c. The c parameter is the value of the lower asymptote of the item characteristic curve and is indicative of the probability that an examinee with a very low ability score would answer an item correctly.

Studies linking CTT and IRT item characteristics have been done and have shown signs of positive indications of a relationship that exists (Hernandez, 2009; Adedoyin, Nenty, and Chilisa, 2008; Nukhet, 2002; Fan, 1998). However, local literature has yet to replicate the studies and results.

The main objectives of the present study was to analyze the item characteristics of a Mathematical ability Scale using both CTT and IRT methods and to check if both methods are comparable and can used independently or interchangeably. Specifically, the present study sought answers to the following questions: (1) How comparable are the CTT-based and IRT-based item difficulty estimates? (2) How comparable are the CTT-based and IRT-based item discrimination estimates?

METHOD

Participants

The scale of the mathematical ability was applied during the last quarter of the school – year 2009/2010 to samples of 602 students- males and females- from the tenth grades.

Instrument

A mathematical ability scale was developed in order to measure two components of the mathematical ability: numerical ability, and spatial ability. The primary form of the scale was tried out to a sample of 144 students-males and females, chosen from the eighth, ninth and tenth grades to make sure that the items of the scale are clear and are understood by those who were tested, and to recognize the levels of difficulty, discrimination, and the effectiveness of the detractors of the items. Accordingly, the final version of the scale consisted of 74 items (37 items for numerical ability subtest, and 37 items for spatial ability).

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The scale of the mathematical ability was applied during the last quarter of the school – year 2009/2010 to sample of 602 students- males and females- from the eighth, ninth and tenth grades. The item analysis revealed levels of difficulty from 0.27 to 0.92 and levels of discriminate ability from o.30 to o.56. Besides, it revealed that the detractors were reversal to the item discriminate.

Data about validity of the scale were collected through six methods: Internal consistency, item analysis, Logical judgment, Factor analysis, analysis of variance (One way MANOVA) and correlation with mathematical achievement.

In order to collect data about the reliability of the scale, the following four approaches were used: Cronbach alpha method, parallel forms reliability and test – retest method. Confirmatory Factor Analysis reveals that the test measures a single trait (unidimensionality).

DATA ANALYSIS

Data gathered were then analyzed using SPSS version 16, BILOG-MG, and Microsoft Excel version 2007. Classical Test Theory analysis was done using the SPSS program. The software automatically generated the following: item difficulty, item discrimination, and point biserial correlation ( ). To prepare the data for correlation with the IRT

parameters, difficulty and ( ) had to be transformed into a Z (normal) distribution, Δ and Z respectively (Fan, 1998;

Anastasi, 1988; Holland and Thayer, 1985).

IRT parameters were obtained using the BILOG-MG program. The program generated the item difficulty (b - parameter) and item discrimination (a - parameter) for one, two, and three parameter logistic model. Goodness of Fit

tests were used to examine how many items had an ICC that fitted the three models. 26 items did not fit the 1PL model,

18items did not fit the 2PL model and 3 items did not fit the 3PL model.

Pearson product moment correlation was then used to determine the relationship between the variables being studied, and the significance of Pearson product moment correlation coefficients were tested. CTT difficulty was correlated with the b parameters of IRT (1-parameter, 2-parameter, and 3-parameter) logistic models. CTT point biserial correlation was correlated with the parameters of IRT (2-parameter, and 3-parameter) logistic models. The coefficient of determination ( ) was obtained.

RESULTS

Table 1 shows the mean and standard deviation values of the Numerical ability and spatial ability subtests when classified into CTT and IRT. Comparison of CTT Difficulty and Discrimination scores show that the item difficulty index of both subtests are of average difficulty with the Spatial ability subtest slightly higher or easy than the numerical ability subtest. The CTT item discrimination values for both subtests (spatial, and numerical) indicates their reasonable discrimination between high and lows corers. The spatial ability subtest also shows better discrimination compared to the numerical ability subtest for the 3-parameter logistic model, the spatial ability subtest shows lower discrimination compared to the numerical ability subtest for the 2-parameter logistic model. The IRT Difficulty parameters for the 1-parameter logistic model generally have the lowest values for both spatial and numerical subtests. This indicates that the 1-parameter logistic model provides the lowest possible item difficulty index. Conversely, the 3-parameter logistic model has the highest values. On the other hand, item discrimination as measured in IRT reveal that the 2-parameter logistic model provides the lowest parameter values.

Table 1. Mean and Standard Deviation of item difficulty and item discrimination for subtests

Numerical ability Spatial ability

CTT IRT CTT IRT 1-P 2-P 3-P 1-P 2-P 3-P

Item difficulty Mean 0.58 -0.48 -0.30 0.15 0.54 -0.37 0.06 0.52 S.D 0.15 0.83 0.41 0.71 0.18 1.15 1.62 1.10

Item discrimination

Mean 0.47 - 1.24 2.29 0.46 - 0.57 1.65

S.D 0.05 - 0.44 1.29 0.03 - 0.21 0.56

Note. S.D: Standard deviation, CTT: Classical test theory, IRT: item response theory, 1-P: One parameter logistic model, 2-P: Tow parameter logistic model, 3-P:Three parameter logistic model.

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Table 2 reveals that generally, there is a significant positive and linear relation that exists between CTT and IRT in terms of item difficulty and item discrimination. However, there is no significant relation between items discrimination measured by CTT and the discrimination parameters as measured by the 3-parameter model for the spatial ability subtest. The correlation coefficients between CTT and IRT models in term of item difficulty are from 0.60 to 0.95, and the correlation coefficients between CTT and IRT models in term of item discrimination are from 0.85 to 0.93. Table 2 shows that there exists a variation in the coefficient of determination values of the three IRT models when correlated versus the CTT item difficulty and item discrimination. The 3-parameter model has the largest ( ) value of 0..90, and the 1-parameter model has the lowest ( ) value of 0.36 in term of item difficulty for the numerical subtest, and the 3-parameter model has the largest ( ) value of 0.88 and the 1-parameter model has the lowest ( ) value of 0.37 in term of item difficulty for the spatial subtest. Also, the 3-parameter model has the largest ( ) value of 0.86, and the 2-parameter model has the lowest ( ) value of 0.62 in term of item discrimination for the numerical subtest, and The 3-parameter model has the largest ( ) value of 0.86 and the 2-parameter model has the lowest ( ) value of 0.60 in term of item discrimination for the spatial subtest.

Table 2.Correlations of Difficulty and Discrimination on Logistic Parameters (N=600)

Numerical ability Spatial ability

1-P 2-P 3-P 1-P 2-P 3-P Item difficulty 0.60** 0.81** 0.95** 0.61** 0.82** 0.94**

Item discrimination

- 0.80** 0. 93** - 0.80* 0.93**

**Significant at α=0.01

DISCUSSION

In the theory of measurement, there are two competing measurement frameworks, classical test theory and item response theory. The present study empirically examined how the item statistics behaved under the two competing measurement frameworks. Regarding to the results, it is evident that there is a significant relationship between the CTT and IRT approaches in analyzing the item characteristics of the mathematical ability scale (positive linear relations). Results further revealed that when items are categorized from easy to hard item difficulty (in CTT), it would also correspond to almost the same IRT classification of item difficulty. The same can be said for item discrimination categorization between CTT and IRT approaches.

Results revealed that the one- parameter logistic model shows lower significant relationship to CTT in term of item difficulty, and the three-parameter logistic model shows higher significant relationship to CTT in term of item discrimination and item difficulty, whereas, the two-parameter logistic model reveals lower significant relationship to CTT in term of item discrimination. As such, the three-parameter logistic model has the most comparable indices with CTT. These findings seem to be consistent with previous researches (e.g. Fan, 1998; Nukhet, 2002). Nukhet (2002) reported that the three-parameter logistic model has the most comparable indices with CTT. Fan (1998) indicated that all the three IRT models are comparable with CTT. In the contrast, some researchers found that the two-parameter logistic model has the most comparable indices with CTT (Hernandeze, 2009; Adedoyin, Nenty, & Chilisa, 2008; Nukhet, 2002; Fan, 1998). Hernandeze (2009) established that CTT and IRT can be used independently or altogether to describe the nature of the items.

In the present study, CTT approaches and IRT logistic models can be used independently or altogether to describe the item characteristics. These results corroborate results reported by Lawson (1991), Fan (1998), Stage (1999), and MacDonald and Paunonen (2002) all indicating that CTT and IRT measurement theories often produce quite similar results.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study are supports Nunnally‘s (1979) assertion that “when scores developed by item response theory can be correlated with those obtained by the more usual approach to simply sum items scores, typically it is found that the two sets of scores correlated .90 or higher; thus it is really hair splitting to argue about any difference between the two approaches or any marked departure from linearity of the measurement obtained from the two approaches” (p. 224). Overall, the results of this study indicate that CTT-based and IRT-based estimates, for the three models, are quite similar. The CTT-based item difficulty estimates and the three models IRT item difficulty

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estimate provided very similar results.

The item discrimination should be concluded to be unequal among the items which lead to the conclusion that we should have that parameter in our model. That is, the one-parameter logistic model is less suitable than the two-parameter logistic model or the three-parameter logistic model .Also, guessing parameter should be in the model since some examinees with low ability tend to guess the correct answer on the most difficult items. This result suggests that the three-parameter logistic model model is preferable over the one-parameter logistic model and the two-parameter logistic model.

Goodness of Fit tests should be used to examine how many items had an item characteristic curve that fitted the three models. In the present study, 26 items did not fit the 1PL model, 18 items did not fit the 2PL model and 3 items did not fit the 3PL model. This result suggests that the 3PL model is preferable to the other models. The 2PL model and the 3PL model are, in general, to be preferred over the 1PL model. The results suggest that guessing should be part of the model. The overall conclusion is that the 3PL model is most suitable to model the items and higher correlate with CTT statistics. Finally, if both CTT and IRT are used when evaluating items, different dimensions of information are obtained since both CTT and IRT add valuable information about the test.

REFERENCES

Adedoyin, O. O., Nenty, H.J, & Chilisa, B. (2008). Investigating The Invariance of Item Difficulty Parameter Estimates Based on CTT and IRT. Educational Research and Review, 3 (2), 83-93.

Anastasi, A. (1988). Psychological Testing (6th ed.). New York: Macmillan.

Crocker, L., & Algina, J. (1986). Introduction to Classical and Modern Test Theory. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Drasgow, F. (1987). Study of The Measurement Bias of Two Standardized Tests.

Englehard, G., Jr. (1990, April). Thorndike, Thurstone and Rasch: A Comparison of Their Approaches to Item-invariant Measurement. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Boston. (ERIC Document Reproduction Services No. ED 320 921).

Fan, X. (1998). Item Response Theory and Classical Test Theory: An Empirical Comparison of Their Item/Person Statistics. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 58, 357-385.

Hambleton, R. K., & Jones, R. W. (1993). Comparison of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory and Their Applications to Test Development. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 12(3), 3847.

Hambleton, R. K., Swaminathan, H., & Rogers, H.J. (1991). Fundamentals of Item Response Theory. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Hernandez, R. (2009). Comparison of The Item Discrimination and Item Difficulty of the Quick-Mental Aptitude Test using CTT and IRT Methods. The International Journal of Educational and Psychological Assessment, Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 12-18.

Holland, P. W. & Thayer, D. T. (1985). An Alternative Definition of The ETS Delta Scale of Item Difficulty. Educational testing Service, Technical report (85-64)/ Research Report (85-43). Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 19-29.

Lawson, S. (1991). One Parameter Latent Trait Measurement: Do The Results Justify the Effort?. In B. Thompson (Ed.), Advances in Educational Research: Substantive Findings, Methodological Developments (Vol. 1, pp. 159-168). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

MacDonald, P. & Paunonen, S. (2002). A Monte Carlo Comparison of Item and Person Statistics Based on Item Response Theory Versus Classical Test Theory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 62, 921-943.

McKinley, R., & Mills, C. (1989). Item Response Theory: Advances in Achievement and Attitude Measurement. In B.Thompson (Ed.), Advances in social science methodology (Vol. 1, pp. 71-135). Greenwich, CT: JAI.

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Nukhet, C. (2002) A Study of Raven Standard Progressive Matrices Test’s Item Measures Under Classic and Item Response Models: An Empirical Comparison. Ankara University, Journal of Faculty of Educational Science, 35 (1-2), 71-79.

Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric Theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Stage, C. (1999). A Comparison Between Item Analysis Based on Item Response Theory and Classical Test Theory: A Study of The SweSAT test READ. (Educational Measurement No 31). Umea University, Department of Educational Measurement.

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