PROS Nugrahenny T Zacharias Choral reading Abstract

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12030152

Ell Maners
Developments in
English language
learning and Teaching
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Editors

JAYAIABAN MUIUNDAN
SUJATHA MENON

UlVIsi Pl MIISil Press
sem•••·2117

Contents
Preface
Contributors

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"Please be Sensitive to My Needs, Teachers!"
A Glimpse into the Teacher Education Programme
Adelina Asmawi
Is there a Diference in Feeling among ESL Teachers in Teaching Asian

13

and Western Literature? A Suvey on English Language Teachers in the
State of Kedah
Ahmad Nazri Abdullah & Maznah Abu Hassan
Northern Malaysi a Universiy
Are T hese News Articles Appropriate for My Students?

25

A Content A nalysis of News Articles on 'Flood in Malaysia'
Anealka Aziz Hussin
Academy ofLanguage Studies UiTM
T he Perceptions of Malaysian Parents on Malaysin English

47

Cassandra Eva Lau Lin Yin
Swinbune Universiy ofTechnolog, Saawak Campus

Is there a gender efect in the learning of Mathematics and

64

Science in English?
Chan Swee Heng , Ain Nadzimah Abdullah and Mazlin Mazlan
Faculy ofModern anguages and Communication, Universiti Putra Maaysia
Learners' Attitudes Towards Diferent Speech Varieties:
A Small-Scale Survey Report
Christine Manara
Sekoah Tingi Bahasa Asing- Saya %cana, Indonesia

v

75

Literary T heory in the ESL Literature Classroom:

97

Considering Students' Readiness

Collin Jerome
Center or Language Studies, Uniuersiti Maaysia Sarawak
Perceptions and Attitudes of Rural Stuents Towards the

109

Literature Component in English Programme

Florence G. Kayad
Centre or Language Studies, UNIAS
Motivational Aspects of Using Computers for Writing

117

among the Malaysian ESL Students

Foziah Mahm ood
Universiti Maaya

Radiah Mohd Chouse
Unwersiti Trknologi ;AA

Listening Strategies in Tertiary ESL Classrooms

135

Ger.ddine de Mello, Rajasegaran Krishnasamy and Ramesh Nair
Classroom Instruction and Assessment in Literature:

146

Has EQ been Considered?
Ghazali Mustapha
Uni "ersiti Putra Malaysia
Combining T hink-aloud and Collaboration to Improve

168

Comprehension of L2 Texts

Goh Hock Seng
Uni:,ersiti Pendidikan Sultan !dri.r
Comparative Study of the Reading Strategies and Annotations

181

Employed in Achieving Comprehension of Printed Text and
Multimedia on-screen Text

Haliza Harun
A Preliminary Study on Motivation and Metacognitive
Learning Strategies of UNIMAS Undergraduates in Learning English

Ho :\i Ping and Rajendran Devadas
Centre or Language Studies, Universiti Maaysia Sarawak

vi

192

Potential Rater Variables in Language Testing

202

Hyun-Ju im

Dankook Universi, 5. Korea
Putting T heory to Practice: T he English Language Teaching S chool
xperience

at

21 7

Two Primay Schools in Sarawak

Ira Bhattacharyya

jabatan Bahasa, lnstitut Perguruan SarawaA·, Miri

T he Impact ofIntensive English Language Course on Jobless Graduates:

232

xperiences rom the Graduate Training Scheme (GTS)
Jayakaran all Mukundan

Faculy ofEducational Studies, f
Anealka Aziz Hussin

Academy ofLanguage Studies, UiTM
T he Language of Mathematics, Science and English Language Textbooks: 244
A Comparative Corpus Based Study
Jayakaran Mukundan

Universiti Putra Maaysia
Sujatha Menon

Universiti Teknologi AARA, Meaka
Students' and NNS Teachers' Perceptions ofNS/NNS Teachers

Teaching English in a Private College: A Pilot Study
Judy Ng Miang Koon
"How's T hat Again?"
ESL Speakers' Communiation Strategies in Small Group Discussions
Kaarthiyainy Su pram ani a m and Sheela P;1 r·amasivam

Universiy Teknologi AARA
S' adiah Hussin

Universiti Kuaa Lumpur Maaysian lnstitue of Chemical &
Bioengineering Technoogy (UniL MICE7 ;

vi

27)

I�

Nurturing Criticl Reading: Recognizing Writer's Conviction
Through Hedging

306

Kamisah Hj Ariin

Universiti Teknologi AA Pahang
Misyana Susanti Hu sin

Umversiti Teknologi AA Meaka
Motivating Reluctnt Language Learners Through Playing Games

319

Lin Xiao

Fujtan HwaNan omen$ Colege, .R. ofChina
Multiple Intelligences and the Computer-assisted English Language

332

Classroom: n Approach to the Learning Development

Loi Chek Sim and Charbati Youssef
Uniuersiti Maaysia Sabah
The Role of Learning Communities in Enhancing

339

English Language Literacy Skills
Mariam Mohamed Nor

ni'lersiti Pendidikan Sultan dris

No oreiny M aa rof
nl··eriti Kebangsaan Maay/a
College-level Reading Comprehension: A Case Study

354

Nalini Arumugam, Indrani M urh usamy and Nooraini Mohamad Sharif

UnilJersiti eknologi AA, Meaka
Enhancing English Speaing Performance of Student Facilitators

363

Through Cross-age Tutoring: A Community Serice Project
Nonah Ismail, Zaira Mohd No, Kamalanathan Ra m akri s hn
and [nran Safinas Mohd Ariff lbari

Unir•ersiy Teknofogi AA, Johor

A Study of Code-switching Patterns among Malaysian Students
Nor.vari Binri H aji Roslim

Uniuersiti eknologi AA, Kuaa Piah

viii

370

Choral Reading: n Alternative Approach to the Use of

384

Poems n English Classes
Nugrahenny T Zacharias

Saya tcana Christian Universiy, lndoliesia
Process Writing as a Tool in Teaching Narrative ssay

397

Puteri Rohani Megat Abdul Rahim and Shzila Abdullah

Universiti eknologi AA, Perak
Gender Communication in a Workplace: A Case Study

406

in a Local Construction Industy
Ramlee Mustapha and Norm ala Sulaim 1 n
.

Faculy ofEducation, Universiti Kebangsaan Madysia
T he Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English:

414

the Voices of Five Primary School Teachers
atnawati Mohd Asraf

Institute ofEducation, lnternationalsdn, :c Universiy A1adysia
Aimy Zarina Nal1arudin ashid

Centre or Languages, lntenationalls!am , College
From Page to Screen

427

Sasikala Nallaya

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan ldris, rmjot�g A1alim, Perak
Gracnmac Consciousness-raising nd the Acquisition of the Simple

434

Present Tense Rule: n Empirical Stud\'
Seriono Sugiharto

The English Department, Faculy of}auc, tion
Atma ]aya Catholic Universi, jakart.1
T he Role of Native and Non-native Speaker Teachers in the
Malaysian ESL Classroom
Shahrini A. Nadarajah

: <

448

Promoting Oracy by Establishing Toastmsters' Clubs at

461

Teacher Training Colleges and Local Universities

Shivcharan Kaur
Distinguished TM, District 51, Toastmasters International
Un;versiy Teknologi Mara, Meaka
Subjective Research Design in ELT Research:

477

Adopting an Ethnographic Perspective

Sunathi Renganathan
Universiy Technology Petronas
What Makes a Good English Teacher: Language Proiciency

493

or Teaching Methodology?
Ting Su Hie and Mahanita Mahadhir
Centre o r Language Studies, Universiti Maaysia Sarawak
Characteristics of Reflective Practice among ESL Teachers

Zanurin bin Mohamad Safar
Seknah Menengah Kebangsaan Kulim

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503

Preface

T he Malaysia International Centre for English Language Teaching (MICELT) which
is a centre of excellence established within the Faculty of Educational Studies,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, has been actively involved in teacher development since

1996. T he centre has, apart form implementing projects like the school adoption
scheme, extensive reading programme and scholarship programme also organized
international conferences, the main one bemg the Malaysia International Conference
on English Language Teaching.
T his book is a collection of papers selected from amongst the 160 papers which
were presented at the 6h Malaysia lntern.uional Conference on English Lmguage
Teaching which was held in Melaka, Malaysia in 2006.
T he papers selected for these two volumes, ELT Maters 3 and ELTMaters 4
are a good blend of articles with a research bias, those which are over-views of
phenomena in ELT and those which are dc,cumentations of experiences in classroom
teaching.
MICELT has always published good papers which have been presented ar all
previous conferences and information on rhese books are available on the !vii CELT
web-site www.micelt.com.m.
MICELT is thankul to the UPM Pn ;s for showing interest and commitment
to the publication of these books. We are also grateul to Mr. Wan Hafizi Wan
Umar for helping with the coordination , Jf this writing project.
We hope everyone in English Language Teaching (ELT) finds these two volumes
useful references.

The Editors

MICELT
Malaysian International Centre for English Language Teaching
Faculty of Educational Studies
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Serdang
July 2007

Choral Reading: An Alternative Approach
to the Use of Poems in English Classes
Nugrahenny T Zacharias

....

Saya Wacana Christian Universi, Indonesia

Introduction
Many ELT experts have explained the value of using poetry to learn English (Collin
and Slater 1987, Carter and Long, 1991, Maley and Du£1989, and Lazar 1993).
hile it is true that poetry offers various educationl worth, irs use is nor pervasive
in English language classrooms in Indonesia. Needless to say, poetry oten creates
certain confusion among students and this in turn is sometimes transformed into
diiculties which are created by the density of the lexical choice nd the unfamiliar
toplCS.
The use of poetry has so far been limited to classes focusing on the study of
literature. To seve this purpose, poetry is viewed as the object of the study and the
selection of the poems is limited to those included in the canon that is believed to
have literary merits and depicted sophisticated language. The poetry is most oten
presented in a lecture mode with the teacher supplying all the information students
ueed, to interpret the poems.
While using poems for study purposes has certain beneits, if used incessantly,
ir bears some serious repercussions. For one, the poem selected which contains
sophisticated language and sometimes, far beyond students' language competence,
tan make the students feel ill-equipped for the course. This problem is exacerbated
when the teacher applies the lecture-mode which conditions students to become
passive recipients of language input and places the teacher as the 'guardian of
knowledge'.
ny one of the above factors cn dampen learners' willingness to prticipate,

making the process of exploring meaning in poems demotivating for the students.
In the light of this, choral reading was investigated for its potential to motivate

students' in taking active involvement in constructing and negotiating meanings in
poems. Choral reading was chosen in this study for the numerous beneits it brings
(Maley and Duf 1989, Bassnett and Grundy 1993 and Maley 1997), yet its
implementation is not widespread in English classes where literature is used as a
resource to language lerning , particularly in Indonesia where this study is conducted.