Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS) (Journal of UniSZA - Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin)
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SCHOOL-BASED TEACHER LEARNING: A REFLECTIVE APPROACH
Get PDFProfessional development is an important issue for every teacher. The recent trends in education favour teacher-centred, participant initiated and managed, school-based teacher development programmes, for example action research, lesson study, communities of practice, etc. Although there is no doubt that such initiatives offer ample learning opportunities for practitioners, it is important that higher level school or institutional development strategies be also considered, besides teachers’ individual learning agendas. This paper argues that it is possible to merge the needs of both individual practitioners and schools through a reflective, school-based developmental programme which is organised and supported by the school administration for the benefit of all involved. Being conceptual, the paper outlines a model for such a professional development course and discusses the principles it should be based on, its knowledge base, including possible content areas, skills, and learning processes. This paper may initiate professional discussion and further our knowledge of teacher development. Keywords: Developmental strategies, individual practitioner, school administration, teacher-centred, teacher professional developmentCite as: Kiss, T. (2016). School-based teacher learning: A reflective approach. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(2), 50-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss2pp50-6
‘BERTEHTUH’ ENGLISH: THE EXPERIENCE OF A TEMIAR GIRL IN ACQUIRING ENGLISH
Get PDFDespite being a community that is often associated with the terms ‘illiterate’, ‘marginalised’ and ‘educationally disadvantaged’, certain indigenous students demonstrate positive developments in their second language proficiency (English). This issue creates a centre of attention as it can highlight suggestions to better the education of indigenous people in Malaysia. Having this in mind, a study was conducted in a remote indigenous school situated in the jungle of Banjaran Titiwangsa. In an attempt to investigate why the subject, an indigenous student of the Temiar tribe, is able to demonstrate better language proficiency compared to her classmates, a micro-ethnographic research that employed interviews as its instrument was conducted. Themes are generated through thematic analysis where this study concludes that the following three factors have hugely contributed to her success: (1) positive teacher (2) integrative-instrumental motivation and (3) supportive environment at home. This study also highlights conflict in culture between teachers and the indigenous tribe which is a result of the parenting styles, practiced by the indigenous parents, instead of their culture as claimed by the teacher. This paper brings to the fore the importance of teacher’s attitude and parenting awareness in empowering the process of learning English in this school. Keywords: English as the Second Language (ESL), indigenous people, individual differences, parenting styles, TemiarCite as: Mihat, W. (2016). ‘Bertehtuh’ English: The experience of a Temiar girl in acquiring English. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(2), 25-37. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss2pp25-3
MIGRANTS IN NUSANTARA: INDONESIAN AND MALAYSIAN PERSPECTIVES
Get PDFThe process of human migration between Indonesia and Malaysia has been running for hundreds of years. Only in modern times have the problem becomes more complex. Migration not only provides benefits for both countries, as remittance and development, but it also has a negative impact and creates problems such as the abuse of migrant workers or increase of irregular migrants. This paper attempts to identify the driving forces of migration and explore different types of migration from Indonesia to Malaysia. It is found that there are five pull-push factors of migration, namely; economic, demographical, social, environmental and political factors. The economic and demographical factors become the main causes of migration in the form of workers. The social factor of migration encourages Indonesians to study in Malaysian universities. The political and environmental factors, which are obvious among the Acehnese, include migrating to Malaysia in the form of refugees and asylum seekers. By exploring all factors of migration, this paper attempts to mapping out the human migration process for Indonesia to Malaysia. Keywords: Human migration, Indonesian worker, immigrant worker, immigrant factor, MalaysiaCite as: Bustami, R., Suyatno., & Wekke, I.S. (2016). Migrants in nusantara: Indonesian and Malaysian perspectives. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(2), 63-74. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss2pp63-74
TEACHERS’ ENGAGEMENT IN SOCIAL SUPPORT PROCESS ON A NETWORKING SITE
Get PDFThis paper is part of a larger study investigating teachers’ engagement in social support process on a networking site. It concentrates on the social and discursive practices of 20 Malaysian English language teachers as they co-construct social support on Facebook Timelines. The main data generated from participant observations were analysed using discourse analysis approach. The findings revealed that the teachers mainly post about negative experiences at school, such as facing colleagues and students whom they perceived as problematic and time pressure. By posting their negative experiences, teachers can be seen to initiate the co-construction of both emotional and informational support with Friends they believe are like-minded and supportive. This paper thus argues that teachers' postings on social networking sites are more than just an account of mundane teaching-related experiences, but serve as a mechanism for them to obtain social support to help them reflect on their practice and cope with the emotional turmoil arising from day-to-day challenges at school. Keywords: Social support, Malaysian English language teacher, Facebook Timeline, co-construction, discursive identity.Cite as: Rashid, R.A., Rahman, M.F.A., & Rahman, S.B.A. (2016). Teachers’ engagement in social support process on a networking site. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 34-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss1pp34-4
READABILITY OF ESL PICTURE BOOKS IN MALAYSIA
Get PDFPredicting readability of a reading text for second language learners is important for teachers, educators, and other concerned parties to make sure the text matches targeted readers’ proficiency. Suitable reading materials would promote language development among readers, especially children. In Malaysia nowadays, English story books for children which are published locally can be easily found in libraries or bookstores. However, the readability of these reading materials has remained uncovered. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the readability of Malaysian English children story books on five aspects (narrativity, syntactic simplicity, word concreteness, referential cohesion and deep cohesion) as provided by the computational tool, Coh-Metrix Common Core Text Ease Readability Assessor (T.E.R.A). Ten local English children story books were selected as samples. It was found that the majority of the samples have high narrativity, syntactic simplicity, and word concreteness but average referential cohesion and deep cohesion. The result revealed that there is lack of attention given to the aspect of cohesion in children story books. This study recommends that children book writers consider the readability of ESL children story books to help children’s language development. Keywords: readability, assessment of reading materials, Coh-Metrix, picture books, childrenCite as: Ismail, A., & Yusof, N. (2016). Readability of ESL picture books in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 60-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss1pp60-7
THE INFLUENCES OF ‘POWER DISTANCE’ ON PRE-SERVICE TEACHER LEARNING IN VIETNAM
Get PDFGlobalisation has moved nations to take steps to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive employment market. The Vietnamese Government has introduced a number of initiatives to equip its labour force with the necessary knowledge and skills, one of which is requiring teachers to change their teaching methods toward constructivist pedagogies. This study focuses on pre-service teachers’ learning in Vietnam, where a ‘large power distance’ is widely practiced in education. This article reports on part of the action research study, showing the influences of ‘large power distance’ on pre-service teacher learning in Vietnam. The findings show that the ‘large power distance’ in Vietnamese culture generated both negative and positive influences during the teacher learning process. The findings contribute to the discussions about the role of teacher educators in promoting change for better education in Vietnam. Keywords: Constructivist pedagogies, power distance, pre-service teachers, teacher learning, Vietnamese teachers.Cite as: Nguyen, H.T.M. (2016). The influences of ‘power distance’ on pre-service teacher learning in Vietnam. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(2), 38-49. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss2pp38-4
CONTRADICTORY TRANSFORMATION OF AMBA NOVEL: CRITICAL RESPONSE WITH INTERTEXTUALITY APPROACH
Get PDFAmba, a novel written by Laksmi Pamuntjak, is one of the leading works in Indonesian literature and is classified as a world-class novel. From its title, characters involved, theme and story ideas, as well as excerpts taken from Udyoga Parva at the beginning of each chapter, it can be concluded that Amba is a transformation of Mahabharata, a great and famous story. What is transformed? What are the underlying motif and ideology for the transformation? And what are their effects? Those three questions are the focus of this research. The study was conducted using intertextuality approach (comparison technique) and critical response perspective, which states that no text is neutral; each text has a certain tendency – certain ideologies exposed behind the text. Research findings indicate that it is the intrinsic element that is absorbed by the novel. The transformation is a contradictory transformation with the perspective of emancipation. The author rejects the weak-willed Amba in the story of Bhisma Parwa, and gives birth to a tough, brave, and rational Amba in her novel. The contradictory transformation gives birth to a great work that has the same theme, but different in the ways of cultivating the story and the portrayal of women. Keywords: contradictory transformation, novel amba, critical response, intertextuality approach, literatureCite as: Priyatni, E.T. (2016). Contradictory transformation of Amba novel: Critical response with intertextuality approach. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 46-59. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss1pp46-5
THE BREADTH OF RECEPTIVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE AMONG ENGLISH MAJOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Get PDFVocabulary knowledge is a key component for literacy skills as well as the development of communication deemed important for students to succeed in university. Gaining adequate receptive vocabulary knowledge would enhance a university student’s comprehension of academic texts. This descriptive study aims to investigate the receptive vocabulary knowledge among English major university students in Malaysia and Thailand. The sample comprises 80 English major students from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia and 86 English major students from Prince Songkla University (PSU), Thailand. A Vocabulary Size Test (VST) adopted from Nation and Beglar was employed to gather the primary data from the respondents about their receptive vocabulary knowledge. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 was used for data analysis. Results showed that, on average, UniSZA students had a higher VST score (44.64%) compared to that of PSU students (20.92%). The higher average score gained by UniSZA students was mainly due to early exposure to formal English education in schools. This study recommends preparing students with explicit academic vocabulary instruction, particularly in the beginning semester of an English programme, to meet the academic and professional needs of English major students in future. Keywords: Receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, Vocabulary Size Test (VST), breadth of vocabulary knowledge, depth of vocabulary knowledge.Cite as: Yunus, K., Mohamad, M., & Waelateh, B. (2016). The breadth of receptive vocabulary knowledge among English major university students. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 7-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss1pp7-1
CONTEXTUALIZING NUSANTARA STUDIES
Get PDFJonus stands for Journal of Nusantara Studies, a university journal of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia. This journal is not a mere study about Nusantara, instead it encompasses a wide range of academic disciplines in humanities and social sciences, embracing (but not limited to) culture, history, language, education, social, politics, communication, psychology, development, tourism, arts, economy, science and technology (in sociocultural terms) and international relations in the region currently belonged to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Even though clearly stated in ancient native sources―especially in Nāgara-Kěrtāgama (a 14th century Javanese-Majapahit poem dated 1365), Pararaton (a writing of the 14th century Majapahit-Javanese kingdom), and Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals - the historical record of Old Malay Sultanate during their reign in Melaka)―and also bears very significant meaning to the indigenous communities, the word ‘Nusantara’ is yet universally used. In addition, understanding about it is still very vague and misleading. Therefore, it is worthy to give a brief account of what the term ‘Nusantara’ means based on the native primary sources. Nusantara is a unified geographical region of indigenous communities that covers the entire part of Southeast region of Asia. In fact, its geopolitical coverage is almost identical to Southeast Asia. Even though in the 13th and 14th centuries (during Kertanegara and Majapahit kingdoms) it centered at Javanese, in our contemporary times, the term ‘Nusantara’ has become common among the indigenous communities in the region. While ‘Southeast Asia’ is a foreign term, ‘Nusantara’ deeply conveys historical, cultural and sentimental values of the natives of this region. It fertilizes a form of sense of belonging that is often pronounced as ‘a compatriot kin’ (bangsa serumpun) based on their common ancestors, spoken language, beliefs, way of life, and skin colours, besides their domiciles. It is within this spirit that ‘Nusantara’ is chosen as the title of this journal.Cite as: Anwar, Od. M. (2016). Contextualizing nusantara studies. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss1pp1-
MALAYSIA’S NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY IN INTERNATIONAL THEORETICAL CONTEXT
Get PDFThis paper examines the motivations behind Malaysia’s national language policy in theoretical terms to allow the Malaysian narrative to be positioned in an international context. To do this, it applies Spolsky’s (2004) theory of what influences language policy making in contemporary nation-states, namely national ideology, the role of English in globalisation era, the nation’s sociolinguistic situation, and an interest in linguistic minority rights. The paper argues that all factors are relevant in the Malaysian context. However, the domestic sociolinguistic situation only influences policy in so far as Malaysia’s response to its ethnolinguistic minorities is limited to minimal linguistic rights in the education system. This limited acceptance of linguistic diversity continues a tradition of protecting what Malaysian law sees as the supremacy of Malay culture and language. The paper concludes with an invitation to apply this theory in the study of other nations in the region to foster a robust body of comparative data on national language policies in Southeast Asia. Keywords: Malaysia, national language policy, ethnocracy, national identity, language rightsCite as: Albury, N.J., & Aye, K.K. (2016). Malaysia’s national language policy in international theoretical context. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 71-84. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol1iss1pp71-8