Contributor: Winda Hapsari
LBPP LIA Teacher trainer and academic supervisor/mentor
The 7th MICELT was held in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, from May 12 to 14, 2008. The biennial International conference was first held in 1994 and was first conceived by Jayakaran Makundan, a lecturer of the faculty of Educational Studies at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The conference is perceived as a forum for English teachers, lecturers, researchers, and practitioners to exchange valuable experiences and information on all aspects of English Language Teaching.
The theme of the 2008 MICELT is Negotiating Change and Continuity in ELT: Research and Practice. The rationale behind it is the realization that English language has greatly influenced the language used in commerce and technology in Malaysia today. Based on these grounds, MICELT 2008 raised the issue of the need to change or developed traditional methods in English language teaching to more current methods. New Methods and approaches which would be more suitable for a new generation of learners with different needs and pertinent to global trends.
Research findings in those areas would no doubt provide valuable insights into the potentials of developing different techniques and approaches. On the other hand, practical experiences of practitioners also showed effective ways as well as best practices in English language teaching. As a result, researchers and practitioners need to collaborate in order to rediscover new methods and workable solutions on issues and concerns.
Attending the 2008 MICELT was completely a great experience for me. The most challenging was to present at an international conference in front of new, unfamiliar faces. Aside from that, I could broaden my knowledge and had the opportunity to share problems and solutions in teaching English with other participants from other countries. Most of the participants were college students, teachers and lecturers. Some were government officials of the district’s department of education; some others were business people from educational fields. As I attended several sessions of the conference and had discussions with some participants during lunch or coffee break, I was quite surprised with the reality of English language teaching in Malaysia. I found that the challenges and problems Malaysian teachers and lecturers face are more or less similar to those faced by Indonesian teachers.
I found out that Indonesian and Malaysian English teachers share a common problem when teaching writing. Like Indonesian students, many Malaysian students still have troubles when they have to write in English. Problems ranging from developing their ideas, organizing their logical thinking, to problems concerning language structure and vocabulary. One of the parallel session presenters, Puteri Rohani Megat Abdul Rahim, investigated application of collaborative writing techniques among tertiary level students as an alternative solution. She conducted an experimental research to see whether collaborative writing techniques can boost students’ writing skills. She used a pre and post test as well as questionnaire as instruments of her study. Length of the study was eight weeks. Results of the study show a significant increase on students’ writing score. Students in this study found that the techniques have helped them see different ideas about their essay. Students were able to discern what constitute good writing either in their own or in their friends’ essays. They were also able to identify some aspects related to content, organization, and purpose. Therefore, they are able to give suggestions to improve the drafts. In short, this study proves that collaborative writing techniques work wonders to boost students’ writing skills in higher learning.
Another interesting session I attended was a presentation on the role of anxiety in students’ performance concerning reading comprehension. Zuhana Mohd. Zin, the presenter, aims this study at investigating the role of anxiety in reading comprehension performance among ESL tertiary students. This correlational study used several research instruments, which are pre and post test, reading and written recall tasks, and a standardized questionnaire called FLRAS (Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale). This study revealed that subjects’ reading performance was significantly influenced by anxiety. Different levels of anxiety contribute to different levels of performance in reading comprehension. This study proves that affective aspects such as anxiety plays a significant role in students’ ability to comprehend reading texts. English language teachers, therefore, should find ways to make the teaching of reading skills free of anxiety. This is particularly important for college students since most reference materials in higher learning is in English, and their reading comprehension ability will affect their writing skills.
The above research results will indeed give impact to methods and approaches in ELT for Malaysia in general. Ultimately, we, Indonesian teachers, can learn from the development of ELT in the Malaysian context and conduct our own research to see whether those methods, approaches and techniques are applicable in the Indonesian setting.
The 7th MICELT 2008 was held in The Royal Adelphi (now Royale Bintang Hotel),
a four-star hotel which can accommodate three plenary sessions proceeding twelve parallel and workshop sessions conducted simultaneously to cater around 400 participants.
The city Seremban is about an hour away from Kuala Lumpur by commuter train or trans-city bus. Compared to the hectic Kuala Lumpur, Seremban is a much quieter place with fresh air and greeneries. It is a nice place to relax. The conference organizer, Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, is also located in the city.