SURVEY FOR BAHASA DAN TEKNOLOGI MAKLUMAT:

Factors affecting the use of English among UKM students

By Adhwa Shamila binti Aminuddin (A149129)

INTRODUCTION

As the lingua franca of the world, the English language is undoubtedly very important in education. However, studies show that university graduates are getting more and more incompetent of the language, making them unfavourable to employers.

My survey is titled Factors affecting the use of English among UKM students. Through this, I aim to know the reasons behind the lack of proficiency, how they were exposed, and how to improve the overall perception towards the English language.

METHODOLOGY

As suggested by Dr. Afendi, I used Google Forms as it allows me to have more questions rather than SurveyMonkey which only allows 10 questions (if you are a regular user who do not pay anything). Using Google Forms, I created 21 questions including the demographical ones. I started posting the links up on Facebook on May 5 th 2015, and the last response was on May 16th 2015. There are a total of 70 responses.

I collected both qualitative and quantitative data.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

A) DEMOGRAPHICS

i)

Out of the 70 respondents, females make up the majority of them with the percentage of 85.7%, while 14.3% of them are males. This is probably because I am a female, so my friends and acquaintances who answered are also females.

ii)

My respondents are mostly Malay, who make up about 94.3% of the result. 4.3% of them are Bumiputera, while 1.4% is Chinese. There are no Indians nor foreigners.

iii)

Most of the respondents are aged between 18 and 20 years old, having 62.9% as proven by the pie chart above. Next is the category between 21 and 23 years old, which hold 37.1%

B) SURVEY QUESTIONS

i)

I think most of the respondents got confused with this. My intention was to ask which education level they have completed, not the level that they are doing now. Logically, there is no matriculation program here in UKM. Nevertheless, 65.7% of them answered with Bachelor’s Degree, 15.7% answered with Matriculation, 10% answered with STPM, 7.1% answered with Foundation, and only 1.4% answered with Diploma. There are no respondents with Master’s or Doctoral degree.

ii)

As we can see from the data above, most of the respondents come from the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, having 50% of the percentage. Next is from the Faculty of Science and Technology with 17.1%, from the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment with 15.7%, from The Faculty of Economics and Management with 7.1%, from the Faculty of Education with 5.7%, from the Faculty of Information Science and Technology with 2.9%, and lastly from the Faculty of Islamic Studies with 1.4%.

iii)

The respondents are from various courses, as can be seen above. Some of them are Psychology, Social Work, and English Language Studies.

Here are the complete list of respondents and their courses:

Chemistry- 4

English language studies- 25

Linguistics- 2

Development science- 2

Psychology- 6

Marine science- 2

Social work- 2

Communication and computer engineering- 4

Environmental Science- 1

Accounting- 2

Malay language studies- 2

Oleochemistry- 2

Electrical and Electronics Engineering- 1

Business administration- 2

Biology- 1

Microbiology- 1

Civil and Environment Engineering- 3

Economy- 1

Bioinformatics- 1

Mechanical Engineering- 1

Dakwah dan kepimpinan- 1

Sports and Recreation- 2

Special education- 1

Persuratan Melayu- 1

iv)

The majority of the respondents answered that they were exposed to the English language since kindergarten, as there are 68.6% of them. This shows that they are exposed early. Another 27.1% answered that they were exposed since primary school, and another 2.9% is

from secondary school. There is also a 1.4% that answered from tertiary education, which surprises me quite a bit.

v)

Based on this bar chart, the majority of respondents were introduced by books with 75.7% of them. A close result is by movies with 74.3%. Next is by music with 65.7%, by surrounding environment with 55.7%, by the Internet with 48.6%, and lastly, a tie between magazines, newspaper, and comics with 32.9% each. I am very happy to know that most respondents were introduced by books, as books really hold the knowledge that we need. Nowadays there are numerous campaigns in encouraging children to read, especially in English language. Movies are also a key factor, because obviously

vi)

From the pie chart above, a majority of 44.3% answered “Sometimes”, and 37.1% answered “Always”. Next is 17.1% with the answer “Rarely”, and finally only 1.4% answered “Never.

vii)

There are 42.9% of the respondents who answered “Always”, with a close 41.4% who answered “Sometimes”, and finally 15.7% with the answer “Rarely”.

viii)

From here, we can see that a majority of 55.7% answered “Sometimes” when communicating with others. A percentage of 31.4% of them answered “Rarely”, 11.4% answered “Always”, and only 1.4% answered “Never”.

ix)

Most of the respondents have courses structured in English language, with a percentage of 64.3% as shown above. Another 31.4% answered with Bahasa Melayu, and 4.3% answered “Others”.

x)

From here, I find that although most courses are in English language, the lectures are not necessarily taught in that same language. A majority of them answered “Mixed”, with 58.6%. Next is using English language with 32.9%, and using Bahasa Melayu with 8.6%.

xi)

This question is for me to know whether there are any subjects that are taught in languages other than English. It is very clear to me that the respondents do have them.

Here are the complete list of the respondents’ answers, (most are CITRA subjects):

Teknik Matematik

Pengantar Sains Sosial

Japanese

Bahasa arab

Asas keusahawanan dan inovasi

Bahasa dan Teknologi Maklumat

Pemikiran kritikal dan penyelesaian masalah

Etika dan profesional

Pembangunan belia

Pemikiran kritikal

Inorganic chemistry

Ekonomi malaysia

Basic statistics

TITAS

Arabic

xii)

In this modern, technology-driven era, it is no surprise when the Internet is the main source of how students use the English language. A very big percentage of respondents answered by using the Internet, with 84.3%. This is followed by 80% by watching movies, 77.1% by reading books, 64.3% by listening to music, 38.6% from reading magazines, 35.7% from reading the newspaper, and another 32.9% from reading comics.

xiii)

From this, I found that only 16.2% of the respondents have very high confidence when using English language in reading, and 44.1% have high confidence. 26.5% of them have medium confidence, 11.8% have low confidence, and only 1.5% has very low confidence.

xiv)

From this, I found that the highest percentage goes to respondents who have medium confidence, with 44.3%, while the lowest percentage goes to a 1.4% of the respondents. Other than that, 34.3% of them have high confidence, and 14.3% have low confidence when using the English language in Writing.

xv)

Here, the majority of 50% answered that they are moderately confident when using the English language in communicating with others. Next is those who have high confidence, with 22.9% on the bar chart, and those who have low confidence with 15.7%. There is a tie between respondents who have very high confidence and very low confidence, which are at 5.7% each.

xvi)

A very encouraging fact is that people are still using the dictionary in order to know the meaning of unknown words. Here, 51.4% answered that they always use the dictionary, 40% answered with “Sometimes”, and a remaining 8.6% answered with “Never”.

xvii)

From the data collected as shown above, I get to know the various suggestions that the respondents have been very kindly to conjure. Some of them gave very good recommendation such as to organize English language carnivals, having English Day, and having foreign English lecturers to teach them.

These are the complete list of their suggestions:

1. English Day . Everyone suppose to speak in English on that day. 2. Make a radio station at campus to learn English 3. Exchange lecturer from other country, just like KPM do for secondary school.4. OH MY ENGLISH :)"5. Analysing english movies and songs6. Communicating7. English events8. Games 9. Er not sure, but maybe by playing some sort of games by playing interesting activity

10. Held more programmes related to english languages.11. Watch movies and answer the questions regarding the story.12. By using references from songs 13. More and more hands on activity 14. Provide more subjects related to the english language 15. Do more activity related to the language16. No more work.need more how to creat confident and improve soft skill17. Speak in english more with friends18. Just communicate with your friends even though it may sounds weird. At least you

try.19. Students have to be more confident in speaking English. So I think lecturers should

create a really relaxed atmosphere. Maybe have games.20. Strictly to student to use english languange in maybe two days a week. For those

who does not speaking will be penalty.21. Be confidence when communicate with others22. Speak :)23. Relate with interest 24. Always use english everywhere we are

25. By taking qualified people from foreign English countries as the lecturers to teach English.

26. Make games27. By using the media based as a lessons method.28. Tone.. change our tones29. Communicate in english environment also taught us to master in english30. Make more activities that involving english language and encourage students to

speak in english. 31. No exam32. By introducing one word one day33. Use a VERY simple language and understandable34. Through activities and games. Reading habits as well. 35. Activities that involve movement 36. Make a drama or movies that needs us to act37. Organize english carnival with many interesting activities and games38. Maybe lecturer could give task to student that they must approach foreigner student

if they need to do an interview.39. Speak with everyone in english 40. More English competitions with awesome prizes"41. Play games42. Show graphic videos

43. Make it interesting. In what way? You think it by yourself. You know yourself better than anyone else.

44. Do more activities and invite students to join in. 45. Do more oral activity such as debate or acting46. We can make a game in communication. Some of student may be able to try to

speak eventhough its not really in perfect word.47. Lecture don't street in class 48. Watch are Movie49. Do an activity or english day that all student must speak in English.50. english games, speak in english zone51. Make the faculty as the english speaking zone. 52. Do more activities and invite students to join in. 53. Always make a story telling about own experiences among students in a classes54. Learn through activities

xviii)

A majority of 97.1% answered Yes, while only 2.9% answered No.

Based on the charts above, I found that majority of the respondents are female Malays, aged between 18-20 years old, and they are taking courses under the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities. While UKM is famous for its mission “To be the learning centre of choice that promotes the sovereignty of Bahasa Melayu and internationalises knowledge rooted in the national culture”, however there are still subjects that are instructed in English.

I also found a similar pattern that these respondents have: they are much more confident in using English in their READING, compared to WRITING and COMMUNICATING WITH OTHERS. This is because reading comprises only of input, while both writing and communicating are about output, meaning that students would have to exert their knowledge and have to think about grammar and spelling.

Another thing that I observed is that the respondents engage mainly through movies and the Internet. This proves that the 14 Multimedia Principles are true, that people do learn better when there are graphics and narration combined. This also shows that the media holds a very powerful influence over the quest of getting information.

Through the suggestions on how to make lessons more interesting, I deduce that students like to learn through activities that involve physical movements like games and carnivals. Dull, theoretical lessons will only make them bored.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, there are many factors that contribute to the use of English among UKM students. While the respondents very much enjoy learning English, here I found that the use of the language is still minimal. Although it occurs mainly through academic reading and writing, these students are still not very confident in using English to the fullest. The suggestions to make English more interesting which the respondents gave are very enlightening and eye-opening. The activities as recommended would give everyone the

chance to participate, and although slowly, they will surely enhance our students’ language power.