Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemLanguages and Learning amongst Orang Asli Students in Malaysia( 2020)This thesis reports a research project conducted with and for the Orang Asli (OA) of Malaysia by an OA researcher. The OA (literally means original people) are the Indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. Among many other struggles faced by the OA of Malaysia, two educational issues that have constantly been highlighted in the literature are the high dropout rates and the low educational attainment amongst OA students. Across the subjects, English language is one of the weakest areas of learning for the students despite the language being a key requirement to maximize employability in the local and global workforce. This highlights the complex multilingual challenge that many OA students are facing in order to succeed in their formal education and subsequently navigate the globalised workforce. This study aimed to understand the English language learning of OA students in Malaysia by looking into the complex interplay of the main languages (OA languages, Malay and English) that coexist in the language ecology of OA students in Malaysia. It also aimed to explore the attitudes of OA students and parents towards these languages and their formal language learning in school. In addition, beliefs of teachers of OA students were also explored for a comprehensive picture of the subject. This mixed-methods study has been framed within a transformative framework that is embedded with elements of Indigenous methodologies. To ensure a comprehensive understanding of the subject under investigation, voices of OA students, OA parents and their teachers were foregrounded using multiple data collection strategies such as survey, interview, classroom observation, photovoice and an Indigenous method called sharing circle. To analyse and interpret the data, the works of various notable scholars such as the affordance theory (Gibson, 1979; Aronin & Singleton, 2012), the Dominant Language Constellation theory (Aronin, 2014) as well as the notions of symbolic power (Bourdieu, 1991) have been used to frame the discussion of findings. Several significant findings resulted from the data analysis. First, new insights into the complex linguistic repertoires of OA students, highlighting limitations around fixed notions of local, national and international languages have been found in this study. Secondly, the participating OA students and their parents demonstrated mixed attitudes towards the languages in their language ecology reflecting issues of both OA identity and global aspirations. Thirdly, in terms of the use of OA students’ linguistic and cultural knowledge, it was found that only the linguistic knowledge is used to support their language learning in the classrooms while their cultural knowledge receives no major emphasis in their formal learning. It was also found that teachers hold mixed beliefs about their OA students, and many of these teachers view their OA students through a deficit lens. Finally, findings of this study also highlight the emergence of a group of high achieving OA students, which should be further explored in future research. This research proposes innovative ways of conceptualising OA students that will inform current and future policy development for the OA in Malaysia.
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ItemThe learning strategies of adult immigrant learners of English: quantitative and qualitative perspectives( 2000)This study examines the use of language learning strategies by a group of adult immigrant learners of English attending government-funded classes in Australia. It attempts to identify the language learning strategies reported by the learners and the particular factors which are influential on their use. The study gathered both quantitative and qualitative data on language learning strategy use. The quantitative data comprised the responses of 154 learners to the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990), while protocols such as classroom observation, stimulated recall and think-aloud protocols, and individual and group interviews with the investigator were employed to gather qualitative data on strategy use from nineteen of the original 154 learners. The subjects’ response scores to two of the six SILL subscales, Compensation and Affective, were discarded after analyses of reliability revealed that those quantitative data were not reliable. The remaining four subscales were then analysed using SPSS. Coding and analyses of the qualitative data were conducted using the computer software Non numerical Unstructured Data Indexing Searching and Theory-building (NUD*IST). Results of the analysis of subjects’ responses to the SILL indicated a ‘high-medium’ use of the majority of SILL items and an overall preference for the use of Social strategies. Little effect was found for independent variables on reported strategy use. Analysis of the qualitative data, using NUD*IST, confirmed some of the SILL responses and also revealed additional strategies and factors, particularly of motivation, which were important and influential to the language learning of the immigrant adult subjects. The conclusion is reached that, in the case of the immigrant ESL learners involved in the study, the use of strategies is an individual choice and is consequent on the motivation which the learner brings to the learning situation. This motivation had been shaped by interacting internal and external factors, by the learner’s past experience and current life context. The thesis discusses the significance and limitations of the study, together with the theoretical, methodological and pedagogical implications which arise from the findings and suggests areas for further research.