PROSIDING

POLITEKNIK MUKAH 2020

“Transformasi Pendidikan TVET Ke arah Revolusi Industri 4.0”

ISBN 978-967-2097-25-9
DISEMBER 2020

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 PROSIDING

POLITEKNIK MUKAH 2020

“Transformasi Pendidikan TVET Ke arah Revolusi Industri 4.0”

©Unit Penyelidikan, Inovasi & Komersialan

Politeknik Mukah, Sarawak

Tidak dibenarkan mengeluar ulang mana-mana bahagian isi kandungan prosiding

ini dalam apa jua bentuk dan cara sama ada elektronik, fotokopi, mekanik,
rakaman dan lain-lain sebelum mendapat izin bertulis dari Pengarah, Politeknik
Mukah.

Diterbit oleh:
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KM 7.5, Jalan Oya,
96400 Mukah, Sarawak

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PRAKATA
Alhamdulillah, bersyukur ke hadrat ilahi kerana dengan limpah kurnia serta
izinnya prosiding Seminar Ilmiah Politeknik Mukah 2020 telah berjaya diterbitkan.
Sekalung penghargaan dianugerahkan kepada semua ahli jawatankuasa pelaksana
yang telah bertungkus lumus dan mengembleng tenaga dalam menerbit buku
prosiding ini.
Bertemakan “Transformasi Pendidikan Tvet Ke Arah Revolusi Industri
4.0”, prosiding Seminar Ilmiah, Politeknik Mukah 2020 ini diharapkan dapat
menjadi platform utama dalam membudaya dan memperkasakan penyelidikan
dikalangan warga akademik Politeknik Mukah. Prosiding ini diharapkan dapat
menjadi ruang dalam mencakna dapatan penyelidikan dalam menjana
kecemerlangan dunia pendidikan ke arah kurikulum tvet serta peningkatan modal
insan yang berkualiti. Justeru, segala ilmu yang digarapkan dalam prosiding
seminar ilmiah diharapkan dapat memberi inspirasi serta perspektif baharu dalam
memacu transformasi pendidikan tvet ke arah revolusi industri 4.0.
Ucapan tahniah dirakamkan kepada para pembentang kertas penyelidikan
dan semua pihak yang terlibat dalam menjayakan prosiding Seminar Ilmiah
Politeknik Mukah 2020. Semoga penerbitan prosiding Seminar Ilmiah Politeknik
Mukah 2020 akan menjadi sengatan berbisa kepada semua ahli-ahli akademik
dalam memperkasa TVET ke arah revolusi industri 4.0. Akhir kata, diharapkan
penerbitan prosiding Seminar Ilmiah Politeknik Mukah 2020 akan menjadi suntikan
penerokaan minda dalam mencetuskan inovasi, pemikiran, idea dan transformasi
dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran yang akan memberikan manfaat kepada
pendidik dan pembangunan pendidikan negara.
Terima kasih.

DULLAH BIN MULUK A.D.K

Pengarah Politeknik Mukah

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PROSIDING

JAWATANKUASA EDITOR DING

Penasihat : Dullah Bin Muluk A.D.K

Pengarah Politeknik Mukah

Pengerusi I : Mohd Sani Bin Said Deputy

Timbalan Pengarah (Akademik) Politeknik Mukah

Pengerusi II : Iskandar Bin Reduan

Timbalan Pengarah(Sokongan Akademik) Politeknik
Mukah

Timbalan Pengerusi : Dr. Habsah Binti Mohd Sabli

Ketua Unit Penyelidikan, Inovasi & Komersialan
Politeknik Mukah

Ketua Panel Penilai & : Ts. Dr. Bong Siaw Wee

Executive Editor Penolong Ketua Unit Penyelidikan, Inovasi &
Komersialan Politeknik Mukah

Panel Penilai : Dr. Habsah Binti Mohd Sabli

: Ts. Dr. Chen Wong Keong
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: Dr. Norliza Binti Abdullah
: Dr. Nursakinah Binti Md Salleh
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Panel Editor : Ts. Mohd Fahmi Bin Ab Rahman

: Ts. Norazah Binti Abdullah
: Mohd Aly Rajaie Bin Halim
: Siti Khadijah Binti Sebli Joney

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KANDUNGAN
Influence of Composition and Sintering Temperatures on
Stainless Steel (SS316L) Foams using Urea as Space Holder 1-6

Zulaikha Abdullah, Che Susilawati Che Berahim, and Sufizar Ahmad

Agent Oriented Modeling For Automatic Car Plate Number 7-14

Detection

Nurzaihan Bin Ismawi

Issues and Challenges in the Entrepreneurship Education 15-21

Programme in Mukah Polytechnic

Mohamad Sobri Bin Suhaili, Kamaludin Bin Deni, and Katherine Livan
Kehing Binti Abdullah

Issues and Challenges in Utilizing e-Learning (CIDOS 3.5) of 22-29

21st Century Education at Politeknik Mukah, Sarawak

Yong Hua Ying, Siew Min Hui, and Lynne Anak Collin

Pilot Study of Using Social and Affective Learning Strategies in 30-37

Writing Class

Sara Ruran Fabian, and Stephanie Jee

Menangani Keruntuhan Akhlak Remaja Menurut Pandangan 38-45

Abdullah Nasih Ulwan

Dayangku Farah Azeila Binti Awang Mohammat dan Muhd Syahazizamir

Bin Sahmat

Employment of Transitivity System In Script Analysis 46-52

Priscilla Rebecca Elvis, Dianellie Yvonne Anak Stanlee Regik, and Larry
Cassidy Anak Banta

Problems And Challenges In Teaching English Speaking Skills In 53-61

Politeknik Mukah

Katherine Livan Kehing Abdullah, Helen Anak Abang, and Mohamad

Sobri Suhaili

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 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESE001

Influence of Composition and Sintering Temperatures on Stainless Steel

(SS316L) Foams using Urea as Space Holder
Zulaikha Abdullah 1,*, Che Susilawati Che Berahim 1, and Sufizar Ahmad 2
1
Jabatan Kejuruteraan Mekanikal, Politeknik Mukah (PMU), KM 7.5, Jalan Oya, Mukah, Sarawak.
2
Faculty of Mechanical &Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)
86400 Parit Raja, BatuPahat, Johor, Malaysia
* Corresponding author: zulaikha@pmu.edu.my

Abstract
Porous metals are metals that possess a large volume of porosities in their structures. Porous stainless steel
(ss316l) was fabricated via powder metallurgy techniques with a pore former. SS316L powder as metallic
material, urea as space holder and polyethylene glycol as binder were mixed by a ball-milling machine
prior to uniaxial pressing with a conventional pressing machine. The samples were sintered at 870°C,
920°C, and 970°C in a Carbolite box furnace. Density and porosity tests were performed to characterize
the physical properties of the porous SS316L by using Archimedes principle. Scanning Electron
Microscopy was performed to analyse morphological properties of the samples. Porous SS316L with the
composition of 85 wt. % and 75 wt. % SS316L powder content demonstrated excellent performance.
Moreover, sintering at 920°C produced high porosity of porous SS316L.
Keywords: - Porous metal, Powder Metallurgy, Sintering; Physical Properties

1. Introduction
Porous metals are man-made cellular structures
produced from metallic materials that contain pores
in their structure. There are two types of pores: open
and closed pores. Open pores are connected by voids
that are held by struts, whereas closed pores are
surrounded by solid walls (Mondal et al., 2015).
Compared with polymer and ceramic foams, porous
metals have better combinations of properties, such
as high mechanical strength, low density, reception at
high temperature, and high energy absorption
capability. These properties make porous metals
popular among researchers. In addition, porous
metals have been widely used in industry as low
weight sandwich panels, energy absorbing
equipment, packing material, structural constituent in
air and spacecraft, biomedical prosthesis, automotive,
ship building & process control domains (Joshi et al.,
2015).
Porous metals are used in biomedical applications
as implants given their high specific strength and
good biocompatibility. However, the fixation of the
implant to bone remains problematic: the mismatched
Young‘s moduli of the implant and the bone lead to
the loosening of the implant. To overcome this
problem, the fabrication of an implant with high
porosity, strength, and durability under physiological
loads is crucial for prolonging implant lifetime steel,
cobalt-based alloys, and titanium-based alloys have
been used to fabricate biomedical implants given
their durability and ability to bear heavy loads and to
withstand fatigue loading (X. Wang et al., 2016).
Suitable materials for implant fabrication should
be biocompatible, with high corrosion and wear
resistance, good mechanical properties, and
fabricability (Chen & Thouas, 2015).
Given that porous metals can be produced in
various shapes via several techniques, numerous
fabrication methods for porous metals have
developed over the past few years. Fabrication
methods vary in the complexity of the preparation
process and the properties of the porous metal
product. The fabrication of porous metals is divided
into two types based on the processing state of the
metallic material: solid state (powder or fiber form)
and liquid state (Atwater et al., 2018). Powder
metallurgy process, which is based on the use of a
space-holder material, is an effective method for pore
production and control in the metallic structure; thus,
it is an excellent process for producing metal
foam(Singh & Bhatnagar, 2018), the powder
metallurgy process is inexpensive, can be scaled up
for the mass-production of net shapes, can reduce
material waste, and can fabricate complex shapes
(Tan et al., 2020).
The aim of this study is to produce the porous
stainless steel (SS316L) foams via the powder
metallurgy route with urea as the pore former. This
study also aims to investigate the different effects of
sintering temperatures and SS316L powder content
on the density and porosity of SS316L foams.
Moreover, the physical and morphological properties
of SS316L foams were investigated after sintering to
define the optimal composition and the sintering
temperatures that produce SS316L foams with
excellent properties.

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2. Methodology density value of the sample that was sintered at

870 °C was higher than that of the sample sintered at
Water-atomized stainless steel (SS316L) powder
970°C. At the sintering temperature of 920 °C, the
(d50=7.157µm, Maju Scientific Sdn. Bhd.) was mixed
density value of the sample with 90 wt. % SS316L
with urea (black urea, 20 mm diameter) as space
powder content rapidly decreased because of
holder and polyethylene glycol (PEG, molecular
contamination during the density test. The results
weight 6000) as the binder. Many researcher produce
indicated that bulk density is directly proportional
stainless steel foam using urea granules as space
with the wt. % SS316L powder content of the
holder, however no study has been carried out using
samples.
black urea as space holder. To obtain a homogeneous
mixture, the starting materials were mixed using
Fritsch ball-milling machine (Pulverisette 6) at 60
RPM for 10 minutes. Five different powder
formulations were prepared with an increasing
weight percentage (wt. %) of SS316L powder (75,
80, 85, 90, and 95 wt. %) whereas PEG concentration
was fixed at 1 wt. %. After mixing, the mixture was
carefully poured into a cylindrical mould with a
diameter of 15 mm and thickness of 10 mm. The
sample was then compacted using a Carver uniaxial
pressing machine (model 3851-0) under 8 tons of
pressure with 5 min holding time. The resulting
samples, referred to as green bodies, were then
sintered at two stages in a carbolite box furnace. The
first stage of sintering occurred at 280 °C with a Figure 1: Graph bulk density versus SS316L content of
heating rate of 5 °C/min to remove urea particles porous SS316L sintered at 870 °C, 920 °C, and 970 °C
from the samples. During the second stage, the
sintering temperatures of 850 °C, 920 °C, and 970°C
were applied at a heating rate of 5 °C/min. The last After measuring the density of the samples, the wet
phase of the sintering process involved cooling down weight of the samples was measured to calculate the
at a cooling rate of 2 °C/min. In this study, the porosity value. Figure 2 shows the graph for percentage
sintering temperature values were selected in of porosity (% porosity) versus SS316L composition
accordance with the recommendation by British (wt. %). The graph represents the results of the porosity
Stainless Steel Association (BSSA) for the maximum test at three different sintering temperatures. Figure 2
service temperature in air for SS316L. To study the
shows that the sample with 85 wt. % SS316L content
physical properties and characteristics of the
samples, the samples were tested after sintering. The and sintered at 920 °C possesses the highest average %
density and porosity of the samples were measured porosity of 32.23 %.
based on Archimedean principles. To analyze the
morphology of the samples, the pore formation and This result deviates from those of samples that
densification of the samples were visualized via contain 75 wt. % SS316L powders, which showed the
scanning electron microscopy (SEM, JEOL). highest % porosity when sintered at 870 °C and
970 °C. These conflicting experimental results could be
3. Finding and Analysis
associated with deficiency of mixing process during
The result of the density test for the samples that sample preparation. At the sintering temperature of
were sintered at three different temperatures is 970 °C, the pure SS316L sample showed the lowest
presented in Figure 1, which shows the graph for
average % porosity of 10.94 %. The % porosity of the
bulk density versus SS316L content. Figure 1 shows
that the pure porous SS316L have the highest porous SS316L was inversely proportional with the
average density of 6088.4 kg/m 3 at the sintering increasing wt. % SS316L content added to the samples.
temperature of 920 °C. The high density of the This result is consistent with that of a previous study,
sample could be attributed to the replacement of which reported that the total % porosity will decrease
pores by SS316L particles (Jain et al., 2020). The with increasing stainless steel content at every sintering
sample with 75 wt. % SS316L powder content and
temperature (Hu et al., 2018). Although the graph that
sintered at 970 °C had the lowest average density of
3675.6 g/cm3. This low value indicated that the was derived from the results shows the consistent
densification of the sample was not fully completed decrease in % porosity, the average % porosity at the
due to the presence of pores. sintering temperature of 920 °C was higher than that at
the sintering temperatures of 870 °C and 970 °C. This
Overall, the graph that was derived from the
results shows that although average density result opposed that of a previous researcher who
consistently increased with temperature, the average
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 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
reported that porosity decreases as sintering
temperature increases (Hu et al., 2018).
Figure 2: Graph of % porosity versus SS316L content of
porous SS316L at sintering temperatures of 870°C, 920°C,
and 970°C
The effects of SS316L content and sintering
temperature on the microstructure of porous SS316L
were studied. Figure 3 shows the micrographs (500×
magnification) of pore distributions in pure SS316L
samples that were sintered at 870 °C, 920 °C, and
970 °C. The particles completely consolidated at high
sintering temperature. Grain growth between the
particles occurred at the sintering temperature of
970 °C. At sintering temperatures of 870 °C and
920 °C, the grains began to grow and consolidate
between particles and densification occurred. This
result is supported by previous reports that necks will
develop at particle contact as sintering temperatures
increase (Abdullah et al., 2017). The pore
distributions of samples with different compositions
were analyzed.
(a) (b)
(c)
Grain growth between
particles
Figure 3: Micrographs (500X magnification) of pure porous
SS316L sintered at (a) 870 °C, (b) 920 °C, and (c) 970 °C
Figure 4 shows the micrographs (500×
magnification) of samples with SS316L powder
contents of 95, 90, 85, 80, and 75 wt. % sintered at
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870 °C. The figure shows that pore formation is
inhomogeneous, and that pore shape and size are
irregular. Pore distribution increased with increasing
urea content because the urea particles created pores
after being fully burnt off during sintering. The
sample with the 95 wt. % SS316L powder content
showed fewer, irregularly formed, and
heterogeneously distributed pores. The densification
of the sample, however, was obvious. The sample
with 90 and 85 wt. % SS316L powder content
contained clustered micropores. The sample with 80
wt. % SS316L powder content showed scattered
pores. The sample with 75 wt. % SS316L powder
content showed the lowest pore distribution and large
pores, which resulted from the non-uniform mixing
of SS316L powder and urea particles. In this case,
urea particles gathered in one area and produced
large pores after being burnt off during sintering.
Moreover, this sample can be classified as having a
side or cubic-near-to-tetragonal structure. The
structures formed because of oxidation in the
presence of iron oxide, thus leading to corrosion.
These structures are in line with those of previous
studies that obtained oxide crystal structures that are
like the cubic to tetragonal structure on austenitic
stainless steel (Jonsson et al., 2016; Nezakat et al.,
2016)
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e)
Figure 4: Micrographs (500X
magnification) of the samples with a) 95, b) 90, c) 85, d) 80,
and e) 75 wt. % SS316L powder content and sintered at
870°C
Figure 5 shows the micrographs (500×
magnification) of the samples with 95, 90, 85, 80,
and 75 wt. % SS316L content and sintered at 920 °C.
The sample with 95 wt. % SS316L content formed
fewer pores due to its lower urea content. The
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
structure of the porous SS316L was cubic-near-to-
tetragonal as a result of oxidation. Unlike the
samples that were sintered at 870 °C, this sample
formed cubic-near-to-tetragonal structures due to the
formation of the chromium oxide layer. The
chromium oxide layer is naturally formed when the
surface of the stainless steel is exposed to air or any
oxidizing atmosphere at high temperatures. When the
temperature increases within the range of 500 °C to
1150 °C, chromium content increases from 0% to
27%, thus producing the protective chromium layer
(Col et al., 2017). Larger pores were formed in the
sample with 90 wt. % SS316L content than in the
other samples. Moreover, the pores were
heterogeneously distributed, as the micrograph of the
sample shows that the sizes and shapes of pores are
different from each other. The sample with 85 wt. %
SS316L content displayed clustered pores and
densification, which resulted from the improper
mixing of SS316L powder and urea particles. In this
case, the SS316L powder particles became
compacted, thus allowing densification to occur.
Isolated pores formed in the sample with 80 wt. %
SS316L content.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e)
Figure 5: Micrographs (500× magnification) of the
samples with a) 95, b) 90, c) 85, d) 80, and e) 75wt. %
SS316L content and sintered at 920 °C
Figure 6 shows the micrographs (500×
magnification) of the samples with 95, 90, 85, 80,
and 75 wt. % SS316L content and sintered at 970 °C.
Pore formation is not obvious from the figure.
Densification occurred in the sample with 95 wt. %
SS316L content because its lower urea content
allowed grain growth and densification to occur.
Clustered micropores formed in the sample with 90
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wt. % SS316L content. Fewer and isolated pores
formed in the samples with 85, 80 and 75 wt. %
SS316L content because increasing sintering
temperature eliminated pores and allowed grain
growth between particles, thus enabling
densification. These results are supported by those of
a previous study that reported that pores will be
eliminated due to neck formation between particles at
high sintering temperatures (Abdullah et al., 2017).
Densification occurred in the samples that were
sintered at 970°C, which paralleled previous reports
stating that increasing sintering temperature causes
greater shrinkage, grain growth, pore coarsening, and
less precision (Abdullah et al., 2017).
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e)
Figure 6: Micrographs (500× magnification) of the samples
with a) 95, b) 90, c) 85, d) 80, and e) 75 wt. % SS316L
content and sintered at 970 °C
Samples with 85, 80 and 75 wt. % SS316L
content formed flower-like microspheres when
sintered at 970 °C but not at any other sintering
temperature. These structures likely formed due to
oxidation in the presence of nickel oxide. Figure 7
shows the flower-like microsphere structure, as
viewed under 1000× magnification, in the sample
with 80 wt. % SS316L content and sintered at 970
°C. These flower-like structures matched those that
were observed in earlier studies on nickel oxide (L.
Wang et al., 2010). These results are in accordance
with previous reports stating that the oxidation of
austenitic stainless steel type 316L will produce a
surface film that contains a large amount of
oxyhydroxides and that is enriched with iron, nickel,
molybdenum; while manganese is enriched in the
alloy substrate under the surface film (Manivasagam
et al., 2010).
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
Figure 7: Micrographs of the flower-like microsphere
structure in the sample with 80 wt. % SS316L content and
sintered at 970 °C (1000X magnification)
4. Conclusion
Porous SS316L was fabricated via powder
metallurgy route with urea as a pore former. The
density of the SS316L samples ranged from 3690.80
kg/m3 to 6111.57 kg/m3. The % porosity for SS316L
samples ranged from 10.94% to 32.23%. Pure porous
SS316L that was sintered at 920 °C exhibited the
highest density. The sample with 85 wt. % SS316L
content and sintered at 920 °C had the highest
porosity. Morphology analysis revealed that
compared with other samples, those with 75 wt. %
SS316L content formed the largest pores at every
sintering temperature. Moreover, samples that were
sintered at 920 °C exhibited more pores than those
sintered at other temperatures. Samples with 85 and
75 wt. % and 85 wt. % SS316L content exhibited
more pores. Cubic-to-tetragonal and flower-like
structures formed because of oxidation. EDX results
showed that all samples were oxidized in the
sintering atmosphere, thus leading to corrosion. To
fabricate highly porous SS316L, the optimum
SS316L content is 75 wt. % because it produces the
highest uniform % porosity at every sintering
temperature. The optimum sintering temperature is
920 °C because it produces the highest % porosity
compared with other sintering temperature.
Acknowledgment
Authors would like to acknowledge the support
from the Malaysia Ministry of Education for
financial support through MyBrain15 scholarship
under MyPhD program and grant TIER 1 U875 phase
1/2017.
References
Abdullah, Z., Ahmad, S., & Ramli, M. (2017). The
impact of composition and sintering temperature
for stainless steel foams (SS316l) fabricated by
space holder method with urea as space holder.
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Atwater, M. A., Guevara, L. N., Darling, K. A., &
Tschopp, M. A. (2018). Solid State Porous Metal
Production: A Review of the Capabilities,
Characteristics, and Challenges. Advanced
Engineering Materials, 20(7), 1–33.
Chen, Q., & Thouas, G. A. (2015). Metallic implant
biomaterials. Materials Science and Engineering
R: Reports, 87, 1–57.
Col, A., Parry, V., & Pascal, C. (2017). Oxidation of a
Fe–18Cr–8Ni austenitic stainless steel at 850 °C
in O2: Microstructure evolution during
breakaway oxidation. Corrosion Science, 114,
17–27.
Hu, L., Ngai, T., Peng, H., Li, L., Zhou, F., & Peng, Z.
(2018). Microstructure and properties of porous
high-N Ni-free austenitic stainless steel
fabricated by powder metallurgical route.
Materials, 11(7).
Jain, H., Mondal, D. P., Gupta, G., Kumar, R., &
Singh, S. (2020). Synthesis and Characterization
of 316L Stainless Steel Foam Made through Two
Different Removal Process of Space Holder
Method. Manufacturing Letters.
Jonsson, T., Karlsson, S., Hooshyar, H., Sattari, M.,
Liske, J., Svensson, J. E., & Johansson, L. G.
(2016). Oxidation After Breakdown of the
Chromium-Rich Scale on Stainless Steels at High
Temperature: Internal Oxidation. Oxidation of
Metals, 85(5–6), 509–536.
Joshi, S., Gupta, G., Sharma, M., Telang, A., & Mahra,
T. (2015). Synthesis and Characterization of
Stainless Steel Foam Via Powder Metallurgy
Taking Acicular Urea As Space Holder. Material
Science Research India, 12(1), 43–49.
Manivasagam, G., Dhinasekaran, D., &
Rajamanickam, A. (2010). Biomedical Implants:
Corrosion and its Prevention - A Review~!2009-
12-22~!2010-01-20~!2010-05-25~! Recent
Patents on Corrosion Science, 2(1), 40–54.
Mondal, D. P., Jain, H., Das, S., & Jha, A. K. (2015).
Stainless steel foams made through powder
metallurgy route using NH4HCO3 as space
holder. Materials and Design, 88, 430–437.
Nezakat, M., Akhiani, H., Penttilä, S., & Szpunar, J.
(2016). Oxidation behavior of austenitic stainless
steel 316L and 310S in air and supercritical
water. Journal of Nuclear Engineering and
Radiation Science, 2(2), 1–8.
Singh, S., & Bhatnagar, N. (2018). A survey of
fabrication and application of metallic foams
(1925–2017). Journal of Porous Materials,
25(2), 537–554.
Tan, Z. qiang, Zhang, Q., Guo, X. yi, Zhao, W. jiang,
Zhou, C. shang, & Liu, Y. (2020). New
development of powder metallurgy in automotive
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industry. Journal of Central South University,

27(6), 1611–1623.
Wang, L., Zhao, Y., Lai, Q., & Hao, Y. (2010).
Preparation of 3D rose-like NiO complex
structure and its electrochemical property.
Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 495(1), 82–
87.
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Choong, P., Qian, M., Brandt, M., & Xie, Y. M.
(2016). Topological design and additive
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Biomaterials, 83, 127–141.

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Agent Oriented Modeling for Automatic Car Plate Number Detection

Nurzaihan Bin Ismawi1,*
1
Department of Information Technology and Communication, Politeknik Mukah
*
Corresponding author: nurzaihan@pmu.edu.my

Abstract
The role played by computer software has become increasingly important in human affairs. It has
been and will continue to be the heart of business. It is also a tool for solving complex and complex
scientific and engineering problems. The development of internet technology has also seen how
software plays a role in communication and dissemination of information. In this century more and
more software is expected to be developed and it is seen as increasingly challenging. It indirectly
affects the ability to model the system before the system can be developed. The implications on this
situation, indirectly give an impact to the system modelling. System modelling is the process of
building or forming a model of a real system in a particular formal language. To model a system, we
need to know the description of the problems that exist and the relationships betwee n components,
variables and system parameters. Therefore, Agent-Oriented Modelling was proposed in this paper.
Agent-Oriented Modelling is for modelling that consists of people, devices and software agents in
changing the environment. The purpose of this project is to investigate the usage of Agent-Oriented
Methodology for Multi Agent Object Tracking System. The selection of this case study is done as
there is no study and modeling using agent-oriented modeling techniques. In conclusion, this Agent
Oriented Modelling can be used and successfully adapted to case study. Agent modeling and
simulation is important for object tracking system but how to transform those survey into agent
paradigm and turn the study into agent modeling and simulation and further to explore the potential
usage of agent technology to the entire domain. Therefore, it is hoped that this study will serve as a
reference and benefit researchers interested in Agent Oriented Modelling on future.
Keywords: - Agent Oriented Modeling, car plate number detection

using Agent Oriented Modeling in various case

1. Introduction
Agent Oriented Modelling was introduced in
2009 by Prof. Leon Sterling and Prof. Kuldar
Traveter from the Melbourne University Australia.
The main objective of Agent Oriented Modelling is
to bridge gap between various stakeholders of a
system, or specifically a socio-technical system. By
providing a straightforward and easy to understand
model, the stakeholders can have the same
understanding of the modeled system.
Agent based methodology is basically a modeling
techniques on autonomous agent interaction and
action where the effect of them on the whole system
are studied. Researchers often use computer
simulation to visualize the modeling for easier
observation and effective analysis. To date they are
more than 30 agent methodology have been
introduced. Agent Oriented Modeling (AOM) was
one among them (Sterling & Taveter, 2009).
Although Agent Oriented Modeling has been
introduced for almost a decade, it has still not yet to
be widely adopted by the industry as well as
institutions. Among the possible reason is there is not
much case studies on how Agent Oriented Modeling
is used to model and simulate a real-world problem.
As a result, the potential of Agent Oriented Modeling
in various domains is not yet to be explored. Case
study is a powerful interpretation of how theoretical
part of the studies is implemented in real worlds. By
7
studies domain, the advantages and the weakness of
the methodology can be identified. Moreover, it can
be leverage for industries adoption of the
methodology as a agreed standard, for example as
UML for visualize system design in conventional
system engineering.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)
systems are widely used on a wide range of
applications nowadays. The proposed approach has
been developed in order to recognize number plates
from high-resolution digital images making use of
the latest Computer Vision techniques and Machine
Learning methods. Furthermore the focus of this
chapter is on automatic recognition of number plate
in images and videos as a case study.
However, our main contribution of this study is to
adobe Agent-Oriented Modelling for designing and
developing an agent-oriented Automatic Number
Plate Recognition. One of the purposes of the
modelling to simplifying problems. The best
approach has been put into the agent-oriented
modelling process to ensure all the modelling easy to
understand. With Agent-Oriented Modelling allow us
to model the Automatic Number Plate Recognition in
systematic manner. Hopefully with the
comprehensive elaboration and decomposition of the
models from different perspectives can serve as a
guideline for novice developer during the
development of multi-agent system.
 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
2. Literature Review
Vehicle number plate identification has been
intensively studied in most countries. Based on the
differences in the number of vehicles used, the
requirements of the system vary from country to
country. This case study presents a simple license
plate detection technique from license plate images
to generate more reliable and accurate location under
ambiguity effectively and efficiently. This system is
ideal for detecting vehicles. Either for the purpose of
the search, or even better for assisting in the case of
lost car. Detected plates can be compared to vehicles
reported missing.
The complexity of object tracking domain as
discussed in previous section highlighted the needs
of a good methodology to model and visualize the
development process. Table 1 shows the research on
object tracking from 2013 to 2016 that have been
cited more than hundred times. It also shows latest
paper from year 2019 as well.
Table below shows the research mentioned above
with the title of publication, authors, year of study
and area of research.
Table 1: Object Tracking Methodology
The research paper regarding object tracking from
2015 to the latest in 2019 have used different
diagram and methodology to develop the object
tracking system. However, most of them only used
diagram and partial model to explain the
development of their Object Tracking System
For example in the research paper by Bertinetto,
L., Valmadre, J. et. al. (2016), where the author track
object that are not known beforehand, thus the object
cannot be modeled in the design stage making it
difficult to choose what methodology to use. Hence,
the authors only describe the whole system using
system architecture diagram. The other research by
Hong, Z. et. al. (2015) using psychological approach
to track object. Since psychology is a branch of
social science, a modelling methodology that can
support social and technical part of the research is
needed. However, the authors describe the
development process using neural network model and
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system flowchart.
The research by Mahmoudi et al. (2012) is using
agent methodology to model a multi-agent
recognition system. However, it is limited to object
recognition in static image. Object recognition is the
first step to object tracking because objects need to
be recognized first before it can be tracked.
Nevertheless, further research can be done to extend
agent methodology to object tracking system.
Eventually, the papers discussed above have not
used proper modeling methodology in their research.
The main idea of a modeling methodology is to have
a clear understanding of each component in the
system where objects or agents can be descriptively
modeled, their role and goal can be properly defined
and their communications can be clearly designed.
Using incomplete diagram can result in
miscommunication between various stakeholders and
may produce different result from what initially
planned.
3. Methodology
For this research, an object tracking system is
developed in order to prove that Agent Oriented
Modeling can be successfully adopted in the field of
car plate number detection. There are two common
sources of data used by computer vision products:
images and video. Video is sequential set of image
data, so if we can apply a computer vision scenario to
an image file then it's not difficult to apply that
scenario to a video file. In the case of vehicle number
plate detection, there are 2 main things a machine
(computer) should do, find the location of the number
plate in the image and recognize numbers and letters
on the number plate. In this work, we will deliver on
system developing process using Agent Oriented
Modeling in Automatic Number Plate Detection.
Figure 1 : Object Tracking System
3.1 Agent Oriented Modeling
AOM is a combination of two agent
methodologies, ROADMAP and RAP/AOR. It was
introduced by Prof. Leon Sterling and Prof. Kuldar
Taveter (Sterling, L. & Taveter, K., 2009) in their
book The Art of Agent Oriented Modeling. Prof
Leon Sterling was working with the improved
version of Gaia methodology previously which was
proposed as ROADMAP methodology (Juan, Pearce,
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
& Sterling, 2002), while Prof Kuldar Taveter was co-
developing RAP/AOR (Wagner & Taveter, 2004)
with Gerd Wagner. ROADMAP emphasize on
system analysis and domain of a system. On the other
hand, RAP/AOR has extensive modeling on PIM and
PSM layer. Combination of both methodologies
creates AOM which complement each other well.
AOM is useful to model Socio-Technical System
or complex system. Previous research (Cheah,
Sterling, & Taveter, 2012) proves it is possible to
develop socio-technical system by rapid prototyping
using AOM. Socio-Technical system here refers to
social and technical part of a system interacting with
each other. This was also discussed earlier by
(Taveter & Sterling, 2008). The AOM methodology
establishes a more cohesive approach to develop a
socio-technical system from analysis, design and
implementation. This is important in order to unify
certain features from current agent methodologies
that generally best fitted to model certain model such
as goal model is adopted from ROADMAP
methodology and behavior model taken from
RAP/AOR.
AOM modeling process consists of a few steps
such as modeling goal, modeling agent roles and
modeling agent behavior. In brief, the modeling
processes in AOM consist of three main phases
which are motivation layer, system design layer and
deployment layer. The motivation layer is refers to
Computational Independent Model (CIM); the system
design layer is referring to Platform Independent
Model (PIM) and finally the deployment layer is
referring to Platform Specific Model (PSM).
Motivation layer is where high level abstraction
of the system is defined such as goal of the system,
roles of each agent, social rules and organization
structure. The modeling in this phase is
straightforward and easy to understand by non-
technical person or who does not background in
computer science.
System design layer of the agent oriented
modeling is design phase. In this layer, the system is
design independently from its software platform,
programming language and operating system. The
advantages of such design are that it can be decided
which platform it will be implemented later or
changing platform in the future would be a
straightforward and easy task.
Third, in the deployment layer, the software
platform is defined together with its architecture,
technology, hardware and software in order for the
system to run. The specification ensures transition
from design phase to the implementation can be done
smoothly without any hindrance.
Based on the current survey, the advantages of
using agent oriented modeling (AOM) as the
following:
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i. Models and notation are easy to understand by
various stakeholders (Miller et al., 2014).
ii. Ability to simulate complex environment
(Shvartsman, Taveter, Parmak, & Meriste, 2010)
iii. Rapid Prototyping (Cheah et al., 2012)
iv. Possible use across different field of research
(Mahunnah, Koorts, & Taveter, n.d.); disaster
management - (Inan & Opper, 2016); ecommerce –
(Cheah, 2016); video surveillance - (Cheah, Onn,
Tee, Asyraf, & Mahunnah, 2016)
4. Analysis Phases and Model
The objective of the analysis stage is to develop
an understanding of the system and its structure. The
Analysis Phase is where the project lifecycle begins.
The Analysis Phase is where to break down the
deliverables in the high-level Project Charter into the
more detailed business requirements. The Analysis
Phase is also the part of the project where to identify
the overall direction that the project will take through
the creation of the project strategy documents.
Vehicle number plate identification has been
intensively studied in most countries. Based on the
differences in the number of vehicles used, the
requirements of the system vary from country to
country. This case study presents a simple license
plate detection technique from license plate images
to generate more reliable and accurate location under
ambiguity effectively and efficiently. This system is
ideal for detecting vehicles. Either for the purpose of
the search, or even better for assisting in the case of
lost car. Detected plates can be compared to vehicles
reported missing.
4.1 Goal Model
Goal model expresses goals and roles for each
agent. Goal model describe the goal hierarchy of the
system to be developed, starting with the purpose of
the system. The model can show agent motives in the
environment so that the agent knows something
should be done to achieve the goals. The goals also
help agent to equip themselves with certain
properties or interaction in direction of achieving the
goals. A goal is associated with a specific role which
indicates the actor that is involved in accomplishing
the goal.
Figure 2 : Goal Model for Automatic Number Plate
Detection
 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE001

Detect Agent play an important role in the

system. An important and basic stage before
character recognition as stated it is the detection of
the license plate. This is identified as the most crucial
stage in any automatic number plate recognition.
Convert Agent perform on number plate
recognition. Vehicle plate number recognition Figure 3 : Organization Model for Automatic
systems use image processing techniques to help Number Plate Detection
identify vehicles through their plates. Vehicle plate
character recognition can be performed in three
major steps, plate localization, plate character 4.4 Domain Model
extraction and plate character recognition. Domain model know as a knowledge model. The
Vehicle plate tracking is an important step in the domain model represents the knowledge required to
vehicle plate number detection system. The quality of achieve the goals by decomposing the knowledge
the vehicle plate detection algorithm will affect the into modular entities and specifying their
accuracy of the vehicle plate number identification. relationships.
And this process refers to Weight Agent contain list On the above Domain Model we describe the
of all pre-trained image dataset. connections between the roles and the Domain
Entities. These can be observed in individual detail.
4.2 Role Model
In order to achieve the goals, the system requires
some capacities or positions, which are described as
roles. Role model defines each agent role in the
system. Agent roles relate how human plays their
roles differently in different environment or place. A
role can be played by a human or software agent. A
role is required to perform common task and subtask
under it. It lists the duties of an agent and the
constraints that applied to the agent when carries out
the duties.

Table 2: Detect Agent role model Figure 4 : Domain Model for Automatic Number Plate
Detection

Pre-processing of the image refer to the process

of make the image ready for further processing. Pre-
processing also needed to reduces noise in the
retrieved image and it also make a adjustment on the
image contrast. The objective to have better results in
situations where there is less than enough light for
the image to be of good quality.
Table 3: Convert Agent role model
4.5 Interaction Model
Interaction model represents interactions patterns
between agents in more details. They are based on
responsibilities defined for the corresponding roles.
The interaction can be in form of communicative
action event (message) or in form of physical action
event. Interaction model also models the sequence of
interaction events and all the possible interaction
events. The interaction between the five agents can
4.3 Organization Model be described here to provide general view on how the
agents communicate in the object tracking system.
The Organization model describes the
relationships between the roles in the agent All the figures below show different interaction
organization. There are one standard types of sequence diagrams, providing us a different overview
relationships used: “control”. These are the roles that of several types of interactions covered by the
are represented within the system system. There are a lot more functionalities covered
10
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
by this system, but due to the complexity of some of
them and the lack of time to cover all aspects of the
project, we decided to replicate only a few in this
report. This interaction model shown in two
situations; interactions within the same agents, and
interaction model between different agent.
Figure 5 : Interaction Sequence Diagram for Detect Agent
Figure 6 : Interaction Sequence Diagram for Convert Agent
4.6 Scenarios Model
A scenario can be defined as a collective activity
that models how a particular goal is achieved by
agents enacting particular roles. A scenario model
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describe how the goals set for the system can be
achieved by agents of the system. The scenario
model outlines a set of activities will be executed by
agent. In order for agent to achieve a specific goal in
the system environment, agent must know what
needed to be done. There in scenario model, the list
of activities can be chosen by agents to realize it
goals.
Scenarios are given to describe the interactions of
our system in greater detail.
Table 4: Scenario Model for licence plate detection
Table 5: Scenario Model for Licence plate segmentation
4.7 Behaviours Model
Behavior model models the behavior of individual
agent to concentrate on what certain agent can do in
the environment given to them. Behaviors are related
to scenario models and interaction models, hence
inhibits same terms but different in modeling.
Reactive ability and proactive ability of a certain
agent can be modeled here. Reactive ability refers to
behavior of an agent that responds to changes in the
environment or responds to certain messages given to
them. Proactive ability otherwise is the ability of an
agent to act by its own will. Essential component of
behavior model is the description of the flow of
activities.
Following are the behaviour models for the
corresponding interaction models together with rule
 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
descriptions. The all diagrams below represent the
system behaviour models of the functionalities
described on the previous interaction models.
Figure 7 : Behaviour Model for Convert Agent
Figure 8 : Behaviour Model between Detect Agent, Convert
Agent and Weight Agent
5. Implementation Agent-Oriented Modeling in
image processing case study
The software design phase is an extension of the
software requirements analysis phase. Software
design and development is a process of converting
ideas (specifications) into reality. The purpose is to
translate the specifications of the requirements into a
more structured form that can be implemented.
Therefore, good design is crucial to producing
quality software. In addition, the purpose of the
design phase is to produce a system software
architecture that meets quality requirements in an
effective manner.
The activities to be done during the software
design process are based on the method selected.
There are now many methods that can be used such
as Software Analysis and Design Techniques
(SADT), United Modelling Languages (UML) and
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object Modelling Techniques (UMT). The choice of
this method depends on the expertise and experience
of the designer and the needs and creativity of the
designer. Agent-Oriented Modelling (AOM) is one of
the software for design methodology. However, agent
technology has not been widely adopted by the
software community.
The methodology of the study is important so that
the research carried out has the most appropriate and
effective method of meeting the objectives of the
study. Based on researcher observation, agent
methodology is capable to support all analysis and
design activities in the software development
process, from system analysis down to the system
implementation. In other hand it attempts to validate
the feasibility of this methodology in developing
image processing system. With AOM we can design
image processing system in systematic manner. With
different modeling methods giving a new perspective
to developers during the development of multi-agent
system.
Based on this experience, presenting the agent-
based in image processing are needed to ease on
debugging. And more important, by using AOM
approach will help better understanding of image
processing system development. With AOM we can
design object detection and vehicle plate recognition
in a systematic and facilitates the use of the prototype
because of its ability to reuse. For conclusion, the
AOM was have the ability to provide an alternative
approach in modelling an agent-based object
detection and vehicle plate recognition.
6. Conclusion
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)
systems are widely used on a wide range of
applications nowadays. The proposed approach has
been developed in order to recognize number plates
from high-resolution digital images making use of
the latest Computer Vision techniques and Machine
Learning methods. Furthermore the focus of this
chapter is on automatic recognition of number plate
in images and videos as a case study.
However, our main contribution of this study is to
adobe Agent-Oriented Modelling for designing and
developing an agent-oriented Automatic Number
Plate Recognition. One of the purposes of the
modelling to simplifying problems. The best
approach has been put into the agent-oriented
modelling process to ensure all the modelling easy to
understand. With Agent-Oriented Modelling allow us
to model the Automatic Number Plate Recognition in
systematic manner. Hopefully with the
comprehensive elaboration and decomposition of the
models from different perspectives can serve as a
guideline for novice developer during the
development of multi-agent system.
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
References
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& Mylopoulos, J. (2004). Tropos: An agent-
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specification using the agent paradigm: The case
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Oriented Modeling. The MIT Press (Vol. 47).
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Oriented Video Surveillance System through

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Issues and Challenges in the Entrepreneurship Education Programmed in

Mukah Polytechnic
Mohamad Sobri Bin Suhaili 1,*, Kamaludin Bin Deni 1, and Katherine Livan Kehing Binti Abdullah 1
1
General Studies Department, Politeknik Mukah
* Corresponding author: sobri@pmu.edu.my

Abstract
Entrepreneurship education is compulsory for all diploma level students in Malaysian Polytechnic after
considering the aim put by the Ministry of Education and later by the Ministry of Higher Education in the
Entrepreneurship Action Plan for Higher Learning Institution 2016 – 2020. To produce a holistic and balanced
graduate with entrepreneurial traits, all students need to undergo entrepreneurship education. Students with
entrepreneurship traits tend to excel better in the workplace and have higher employability rate and success better
in their career as compared to those lacking with these attributes. This paper highlights three problems in term of
challenges and issues regarding the implementation of entrepreneurship education in Mukah Polytechnic’s context
namely the inactive mentoring relationship between start-ups and students involved in entrepreneurship; the lack
of funding for entrepreneurship activity; and the lack of facility to support digital entrepreneurship. These issues
have been addressed and taken into immediate action by CEDEV provided with some further suggestions to
improve the implementation of entrepreneurship education in Mukah Polytechnic.
Keywords: - Entrepreneurship education, Intrapreneurship, education issues

entrepreneurship education in Malaysian Polytechnic

1 Introduction
is a company or project initiated by a student or a
In Mukah Polytechnic, apart from the compulsory group of students to seek, effectively develop, and
entrepreneurship subject, entrepreneurship activities validate a scalable business model.
are also cultivated actively through various channels
Based on the ten shifts in the National Education
and platforms. To illustrate, each major academic
Blueprint for Higher Learning, the first shift
department has their own entrepreneurship club for
highlights about producing a holistic and balanced
all students in the department to join. Besides that,
graduate with entrepreneurship traits. Students
the entrepreneurship unit encourages the students to
graduating from a higher learning institution in
take part in practicing the entrepreneurship
Malaysia must be equipped with the entrepreneurial
knowledge and skills their learn in class. Mukah
characteristics within themselves. Those graduates
Polytechnic’s entrepreneurship unit has initiated a
may be categorized into two categories, which are
few business incubators programs such as Kedey
entrepreneur and intrapreneur. Entrepreneurs can be
Poly One-Stop Center, stingless bee honey project,
defined as someone who introduces new product of
photopreneur, and chilli fertigation project. These
service as described by Schumpeter (1911), taking on
programs are held for students to practice their
financial risks in the hope of profit by capitalizing on
entrepreneurial skills while cultivating
invention (Hamilton & Harper, 1994) and able to
entrepreneurship environment. With the ongoing
identify unexploited business opportunity
entrepreneurship activities all over the campus,
(Thompson, 1999). In contrast, an intrapreneur is an
students need ample exposure so that they can gain as
act of behaving like an entrepreneur while working
much knowledge as possible to maintain the
within a large organization. Intrapreneurship is
business.
defined as recognizing and exploiting opportunities
Entrepreneurship education is compulsory for all in established companies (Salimath, 2018).
diploma level students in Malaysian Polytechnic as Intrapreneurship is regarded as the practice of a
the course weighs two credit hours. The course is corporate management style that incorporates
embedded into the students' diploma program approaches to risk-taking and creativity, as well as
structure after considering the aim put by the the incentive and motivating strategies that are
Ministry of Education and later by the Ministry of considered more commonly to be the domain of
Higher Education in the Entrepreneurship Action entrepreneurship.
Plan for Higher Learning Institution 2016 – 2020.
Polytechnic students are mostly involved in start-
The action plan suggests that all higher learning
ups. This is based on the current polytechnic
institution students to be exposed to entrepreneurship
curriculum, where all diploma students are required
culture and attribute under the first initiative to
to take an entrepreneurship course at least once
develop a holistic and comprehensive curriculum.
within the entire program. During this course,
Therefore, students are encouraged to team up and
students will have the opportunity to train and
start their start-up to familiarize the real
practice the necessary skills to be an entrepreneur.
entrepreneurship experience. A start-up in
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ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
Based on one of the ten thrusts in the Malaysian
Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education),
the aim is to produce a balanced and holistic graduate
with entrepreneurial traits. This is further elucidated
in the document "Higher Learning Institute
Entrepreneurship Action Plan 2016-2020" released
by the Ministry of Higher Education (2016), taking
into consideration the needs, performance, and the
current challenges.
Therefore, based on the definition, to produce a
holistic and balanced graduate with entrepreneurial
traits, all students need to undergo entrepreneurship
education. Students with entrepreneurship traits tend
to excel better in the workplace and have higher
employability rate and better succeed in their career
as compared to those lacking with these attributes
(Ummi Salwa, Ahmad Bustamam, and Nur Aqilah
Hazirah Mohd Amin, 2017). This is supported by the
recent employment rate of Mukah Polytechnic
graduates generated by Corporate Industrial Services
and Employability Centre (CISEC) through their
tracer study in 2019. The study shows that students
who were actively involved in entrepreneurship
activities and programs in the campus were able to
secure a position faster in the job market as
compared to those who were not.
2. Issues and Challenges in the Entrepreneurship
Education
Entrepreneurship education is embedded in
Malaysian Polytechnic Education syllabus and now is
taken very seriously in producing a holistic graduate
with entrepreneurship attributes (Malaysia Education
Blueprint 2015 -2025: Higher Education). This paper
will investigate and discuss three problems in term of
challenges and issue regarding the implementation of
entrepreneurship education in Mukah Polytechnic’s
context which are the inactive mentoring relationship
between start-ups and students involved in
entrepreneurship, the lack of funding for
entrepreneurship activity, and the lack of facility to
support digital entrepreneurship.
2.1 The Weakening of Mentoring Relationship
Mentoring in the management literature has been
thoroughly researched for more than 30 years, and
many positive benefits have been recognized (Allen
et al., 2008). While the attention to expose students
with entrepreneurship attribute being one of the
focus, students' start-up starts to look for modelling
figure to help guide them to develop their business
ideas. Although they have been taught to operate
based on their Business Model Canvas (BMC) in the
entrepreneurship classes, the need to model success
is one thing no one can deny. The role of the teaching
lecturer in this stage is vital to provide start-ups with
ample exposure. Therefore, entrepreneurship-based
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programs are handled to expose the students' start-
ups and create networking with other well-
established start-ups. Appointing a mentor and set
themselves as the protégé is a kind of initiative where
students' start-ups can model the business run by
other start-ups in the entrepreneurial world, and also
to seek for advice and guidance from the appointed
mentor from time to time as consistent interaction is
necessary for mentoring relationship (Wilbanks,
2015).
Despite the positive impact desired by the
students' start-up from the collaboration and
mentoring activities, start-up seems to see this as a
burden. This is proven by many inactive
collaborations and sedentary mentoring sessions. As
start-ups monitored the students' progress and
business activities, many lost the momentum in the
process. The mentoring process seems to be taken for
granted and resulting in the tendency of students'
start-up tend to be drifted away from the actual
objective.
2.2 The Lack of Funding
Another loophole in the implementation of
entrepreneurship education at the tertiary level is lack
of funding (Mohd Nor Hakimin et. al, 2015). Like
any other hands-on course, entrepreneurship courses
need a large, significant fund to enable students to do
practical training. According to the current practice,
there are three sources of funds for entrepreneurship
cultivation which are students’ trust funds,
headquarters’ reimbursement fund and a one-off
funds for special event.
The Malaysian Department of Polytechnic and
Community College Education controls the funding
by reimbursing each Polytechnic and Community
College accordingly. The funds later will be used to
finance activities related to entrepreneurship in the
campus to cater the needs of the students. There are
36 polytechnics and 103 community colleges all
together (Department of Polytechnic & Community
College Education 2020).
With the increasing number of students enrolled
each year combined with the prudent spending policy
by the government in 2019 (Department of
Polytechnic and Community College Education
2019), it affects the implementation of
entrepreneurship program because more budget is
needed to cater a bigger number of students. 857
students’ intake were recorded in 2016 and 1112
students’ intake were recorded the following year.
This trend showed an increase pattern until 2019
(data.gov.my).
When there is a central entrepreneurship program
organized by other agencies or even by other
polytechnics located in the West Malaysia, which
require participations from other polytechnics,
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
Mukah polytechnics and other polytechnics located
in the East Malaysia seem to get affected the most.
This is because more cost is needed to cover the air
transportation and accommodation expenses.
Sometimes, the polytechnic need to cut the number
of participating students to suit the budget allocated.
2.3 The Lack of Facilities to Support Digital
Entrepreneurship
The effort to extend the entrepreneurship
education in Malaysian Polytechnic is realized by
offering two entrepreneurship courses, namely
DPB2012 Entrepreneurship and DPB5063 Digital
Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education aims
to provide students academically meticulous learning
that can be interpreted into the real world.
Entrepreneurship education also seeks to motivate
students to choose entrepreneurship as their career
choice. To provide a useful course, especially for the
Digital Entrepreneurship course, the use of ICT is
crucial. However, the current facility seems to not
favour the aspiration (Berok and Yunus, 2019).
Digital entrepreneurship described as the activity
of exploring new business opportunities provided by
digital media and Internet technology to attract
global attention (Ngoasong, 2018). In executing the
digital entrepreneurship course, it is best to have the
lesson in a lab where ICT facilities are accessible to
students. Khodabandelou et al. (2016) emphasizes in
his study that the government should promote the use
of technology in the education system to enhance the
delivery on lessons.
However, the implementation of the course is
seen dangling since the computer lab for teaching the
subject is insufficient to cater to the number of
students. With the integration of ICT in education
across all fields, this has made it become more
difficult as other courses are also intending to use the
computer lab.
Digital Entrepreneurship is a study to learn and
strategize business by using technology creatively
especially in promoting and engaging with customers
through online platform such as Facebook, blogs,
Instagram, websites, or any other online shopping
windows (Maziharita et al., 2015). It is important that
the students can have access to use all the platforms
so the teaching of the subject will get more efficient
and the lesson would be more meaningful.
3. Implications
The issues highlighted in this paper have caused
some implications and affected the effort of
producing a well-balanced graduate with
entrepreneurship attributes. The lecturers as well as
the students will have direct impact on these issues
because the success of a certain policy is depending
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on the success of the executors or the people who
lives within the system.
3.1 Mentoring Relationship: A Key to Start-up’s
Success
The benefits of mentoring are well acknowledged
by individuals within an organization, as stated by
Wilbanks (2015). More effort is put to enhance
mentoring as a tool to improve entrepreneurs'
performance as start-ups. Polytechnic, as one of the
TVET providers in Malaysia, is also keen to
strengthen the potential of young entrepreneurs
through their start-up program.
Funding for entrepreneurship cultivation program
is allocated for all polytechnics, which is regulated
through the Polytechnics Entrepreneurship Unit by
Centre of Entrepreneurship Development (CEDev)
Polytechnics and Community Colleges. Some portion
of the fund is used to develop start-ups as their
rolling capital. With the funding projected by the
headquarters, the entrepreneurship program is made
possible in line with the action plan mentioned
earlier. The successful implementation of
entrepreneurship programs will contribute to
CEDev’s Key Performance Indicator (KPI).
Some part of the fund is also used to start
collaborations activity within the local business
community, or even some reached out to a well-
established start-up outside the region. The aim is to
find some business start-ups of a similar field. This
sort of collaboration is essential to drive the students'
start-up for the future developmental relationship
between experienced and novice entrepreneurs, as
suggested by Wilbanks (2015).
Mentoring in an organization, according to
Wilbanks (2015), is defined as a strong interpersonal
and cooperative criticism between a more senior
member of the organization, the mentor, and a less
experienced member, the protégé. By having a
mentor, the start-up can ensure not only that they are
making a profit but also that their businesses are
environmentally sustainable, as stated by Memon et
al. (2014). This is supported by Zvaigzne & Kotane
(2019), where they claim that mentoring is a
systematic shape relationship between a successful
entrepreneur who is willing to share his or her
experience with another entrepreneur who is ready to
improve his or her entrepreneurial attributes.
The students' start-up mentoring quest at the
current practice in the Polytechnic system is usually
initiated by the teaching lecturer. This is intended to
enhance the use of funding given to each
Polytechnic. The funding is normally be based on the
number of students in one department. With the
funding, the teaching lecturer will use the money for
entrepreneurial activities such as training, business
capital, coaching, and mentoring program. The
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
funding, however, is rather small and limited as
compared to the desired outcome
According to a key performance indicator report
produced by Entrepreneurship Unit of Politeknik
Mukah in 2019, sixty percent of the funding is
portioned and used for training including coaching
and mentoring program for the students' start-up
Programme such as Start-up Pitch Boot Camp,
Business Marketing Challenge, Siswapreneur, and
many more at which all programs have had invited at
least more than two well-established start-ups which
can be mentoring the students' start-up. Besides that,
a business benchmarking visit during the semester is
also one of the methods in getting to create
connections with experienced start-ups.
With this kind of exposure to the real market
player among the experienced start-up, it is hoped
that students' start-ups could benefit the most from
this collaboration. However, the momentum of this
relationship seemed to falter after a quite sometimes
usually once the semester ends as the students are no
longer taking the subject in the following semester.
Despite the weakening relationship, some highly
potential students' start-ups are still intact with the
mentorship program.
This paper will investigate the possible cause of
what factors are compromising the alliance since a
lot of money is invested in the development of
students' start-ups. There are a lot of questions that
need answers to this issue. Based on the feedback by
the lecturers, some would say that the start-ups are
taking this program for granted as it doesn't
contribute much in their streaming revenue and not to
mention the considerable time need to be sacrificed
for the purpose of executing the mentoring program.
Another opinion is due to the interest of the
students' start-up themselves to entrepreneurship.
Since Polytechnic is one of the primary TVET
providers in Malaysia, which produces technical and
vocational graduates, being involved in
entrepreneurship might be the last thing in their
minds. According to the aptitude test carried out by
the Entrepreneurship Unit of Politeknik Mukah
(2019), only 10% of the newly intake students are
interested in entrepreneurship. However, the
percentage increased after they have been exposed to
entrepreneurial activity on the campus.
3.2 Funding the Realistic
Limited fund has caused many implications in the
implementation of entrepreneurship education.
Entrepreneurship education like any other skill-
development course need to expose the students with
real experience. For start-ups to kick start their
enterprise, they would need a sum of money as a
business capital. Students’ start-ups contribute to
creating a conducive ecosystem for entrepreneurship
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education, which need a lot of support in term of
funding from government sectors, NGOs’, corporate
sectors, and society (Hardy Loh Rahim et al., 2015).
Organizing entrepreneurship program is also a
good way of exposing students with entrepreneurship
environment. Polytechnic and community college
through its Centre of Entrepreneurship Development
(CEDev) has organized plenty of entrepreneurship
programs, such as Siswapreneur, Pitching
Bootcamps, Socialpreneur, and business incubator
challenge in 2019. However, for polytechnics which
are located at the East Malaysia, it is difficult for
them to send participations because it is costly due to
the geographical factors. Although CEDev has
allocated some funding to compensate the cost, it is
still far from enough to cater the needs of the
students.
Based on a critical review of Malaysian
Entrepreneurship Education by Hardy Loh Rahim et
al. (2015), entrepreneurship education fund is
provided in term of business loans, venture capitals,
business grants, micro financing, and crowd funding.
Based on this funding options, none of the supports
can be applied for students undergoing
entrepreneurship course in campus. It is possible to
apply for students’ start-ups for the purpose of
business expansion, but not in term of cultivating
entrepreneurship training in the campus.
Therefore, it is difficult for students undergoing
entrepreneurship education especially those who are
studying in the polytechnics at the Eastern part of
Malaysia to simulate the entrepreneurship
environment through the organized programs
organized by polytechnics in the West Malaysia
because funding for that purpose is not possible to
get. As a result, students located at the East Malaysia
missed plenty of opportunity to enhance their
entrepreneurship skills.
Many students will be affected if this practice
continues in the future. The system needs a more
systematic and practical fund management methods
so everyone in the system could benefit and enjoy the
same entrepreneurship exposure and experience. If
this persisted to happen, it would jeopardize the
aspiration stated in the Malaysian Education
Blueprint.
3.3 Developing Entrepreneurial Attributes Through
Digital Entrepreneurship
With the limited number of accessible computer
labs to teach digital entrepreneurship, students must
resort by using their own mobile phones or their own
laptop. Not all students are able to provide
themselves with a computer for the purpose of
learning since many come from the B40 family
category.
Digital entrepreneurship focusing on developing
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
students’ attributes comprising of five digital
entrepreneurship traits which are creative, risk
taking, determine, freewill and tolerance (Maziharita
et al., 2015). Digital entrepreneurship ought to teach
them how to be a digital literate entrepreneur as
digital entrepreneurship nowadays has taken control
of the fast-moving economy. Lacking in the skills
will only cause the students to unproperly equipped,
which can affect their journey as an entrepreneur.
Several studies found that the integration of
correct technology in teaching a subject matter can
enhanced students’ achievements both academically
and personally. A study by Irfan Naufal Umara &
Amat Sazali Abu Hassan (2015) revealed that more
than 80% teachers agree that the use of technology in
the lessons have affected their students’ learning
positively. It is proven by the findings by Basri et al.
(2018) which indicated that a correlation exists
between ICT adoption and academic performance in
the classroom environment.
The teaching of Digital entrepreneurship is not
only carried out by applying technology to direct the
lesson but at the same time to let students to benefit
from use the technology for their own good.
According to Maziharita et al. (2015) in their study,
technology used in classroom teaching are
categorized into three components, which are
computer hardware, network systems, and software
for the purpose of teaching or developing the lesson.
4. Proposed Solutions
Issues and challenges are always there to ensuring
check and balance of some policy on its
implementation. To tackle the issue and the
challenges of the implementation of Entrepreneurship
education, this paper will highlight some of the
ongoing effort done in to address the issues and
would suggest some solution for future
considerations.
4.1 Enhancing Collaboration for a Win-win
Situation
The purpose of this write up is to discuss the issue
concerning the implementation of mentoring program
between student's start-ups and experienced start-ups
or entrepreneurs. To address the issue, both start-ups
companies and education institutions should pool
together their allocated revenue so both parties could
enjoy fruitful benefits.
The higher learning institution authority or the
Department of Polytechnic & Community College
Education should assign a few companies as the
business mentor for each polytechnic. This
implementation of this strategy can be executed
through a thorough discussion and later signed
together in an agreement by a Memorandum of
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Understanding (MoU) or a Certificate of
Collaboration (CoC). Both parties must agree on the
listed items in the collaboration document.
Experienced start-up should be assigned an
institution for them to counsel. They are responsible
for sharing knowledge, conduct necessary training
which is suitable for the needs of the students' start-
ups in the institution. For the return, the experienced
start-up can be considered given a tax exemption.
Therefore, this kind of collaboration will benefit both
institutions and entrepreneurs. The transfer of
successful experience between companies, the active
sharing of knowledge, experience, and contacts as
well as the formation of a culture of business
cooperation are unique values of mentoring
relationship (Zvaigzne & Kotane, 2019).
Moreover, to achieve a collateral understanding,
both parties should discuss on the future impact of
the collaboration in term of the benefit for both
organizations. Mentoring relationship can contribute
a lot in strengthening both organizations (Willbanks,
2015). With a correct approach and strategy,
mentoring activity can help develop students’ start-
ups so continuous support can be given to them.
Willbanks (2015) believes that mentoring
relationship works reciprocally so both mentors and
protégé need to enhance the communication between
them.
Since Polytechnic is a fully government learning
institution, it is hoped that this matter would raise the
attention of the officials in the government
concerning a better implementation of this program
in order to rally the spirit of the National Education
Blueprint, particularly the Higher Learning
Institution Entrepreneurship Action Plan.
4.2 Clustering the Polytechnic to Optimize the
Funding
To cater the lack of funding for students’
entrepreneurship activities, it is recommended to
provide funding based on regional locality so the
nearby institution could pool the neighbouring
institutions together to organise a more significant
entrepreneurship program that can maximise the
number of participations among students. Besides
that, entrepreneurship programs should be organized
according to clustered regions.
This is important to reflect on the purpose of
entrepreneurship education because teaching
entrepreneurship is not only embedded through
traditional lecture but also by implementing various
approaches and pedagogical practice which lead to
enhancing student’s entrepreneurship character
(Hardy Loh Rahim et al. 2015).
By implementing this strategy, more regional-
based entrepreneurial activities can be conducted and
organized at a zone level with participations from the
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
regional institutions’ students. This will not only be
optimizing the budget allocated but also increasing
the impact of the program since more students can
benefit from it.
Lecturers also can be more proactive by leading a
committee member in organizing a high impact
entrepreneurship program for the students. Program
such as business pitching challenge, young CEO, and
dialogue sharing session by some business coaches
can be conducted in exposing the students to
entrepreneurship activity. These activity and training
can develop entrepreneurial mindset of students as
well as the lecturers so that they can act in an
entrepreneurial manner, attitude, and behaviour
(Hardy Loh Rahim et al., 2015).
Even when the funding for the entrepreneurship
program could not be increased, a higher impact
program can still be expected by clustering the
institutions according to a specific zone. More students
can experience and gain benefit from this approach and
the institutions within the circled zone can work
together among themselves to provide a better
opportunity for their students
4.3 Maximizing the Resources
The framework of upgrading the ICT facility is
one of the approaches taken by the Ministry of
Education through Schools and education institutions
to accommodate the demand of the use of ICT in
acquiring knowledge since it has become a necessity
nowadays (Arbiyik and Sefferoglu, 2012). Ministry
of Education Malaysia in 2004 once aimed to
upgrade the ICT facilities in learning institutions by
year 2010. However, the planning has been partially
failed due to several issues such as the acceptance of
ICT among students, teachers and parents on the
technology in education, the country budget, and
also massive expenses to be invested for the project.
The ministry of Higher Education is committed to
ensure all higher learning institutions to be equipped
with the latest technology in the spirit of bridging the
integration of ICT in education (Malaysia Education
Blueprint Higher Education 2018). This is an effort
to adapt to the current issue of insufficient ICT
facilities. Besides that, sharing of resources is
another way to maximize the use of computer labs.
Timetable management system need to evenly allow
lecturers and students to use the ICT labs during the
semester. Another radical solution is to provide a
special lab for digital entrepreneurship placement in
the institution. If secretarial science students have
their steno lab, the electrical engineering students
have their electrical lab, or IT students have their
own ICT lab, digital entrepreneurship students should
also be given the same opportunity if only we are
serious in working on the Malaysian National
Education Blueprint.
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5. Conclusion
Entrepreneurship education is important as the
aim under the eleven trusts of the Malaysian Higher
Learning Institution Strategic Plan is to produce
holistic and balanced graduates with entrepreneurial
traits (Malaysia Education Blueprint: Higher
Education 2018). Despite the importance, there are
several issues arises along the way such as the
implementation of mentoring program, the lack of
funding as well as the lack of facilities to support the
aspirations of the blueprint.
Polytechnics is aware of the challenges and
through CEDev, a responsible body to ensure the
progress of entrepreneurship activity, they are putting
significant role in adapting to the challenges faced.
Those issues have been addressed and taken into
immediate action provided with some further
suggestion to improve entrepreneurship education in
Mukah Polytechnic.
Therefore, more exposure, more active
collaboration and a better management of resources
is expected in the coming years. Entrepreneurship
education should be cultivated, and students should
be given ample chances to try out their business ideas
reinforced with supporting environment in term of
collaborations, resources, and ICT facilities.
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Arbiyik, C., & Sefferoglu, S.S. 2012. Instructing ICT
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Issues and Challenges in Utilizing e-Learning (CIDOS 3.5) of 21st Century

Education at Politeknik Mukah, Sarawak.
Yong Hua Ying1,*, Siew Min Hui1, and Lynne Anak Collin1
1
Department of General Studies, Politeknik Mukah, Sarawak
*Corresponding author: yonghuaying@pmu.edu.my

Abstract
E-Learning changes the face of education. In Politeknik Mukah, one of the E-Learning methods used is
Curriculum Information Document Online System 3.5 (CIDOS 3.5). CIDOS 3.5 is a web-based application
used as a leading platform for teaching and learning process. CIDOS 3.5 makes teaching and learning very
convenient as it can be accessed in anytime and everywhere using electrical devices and internet
connection. However, the optimal used of CIDOS hampered by the challenges that cause the teaching
content unattainable. Therefore, this study is focusing on the Issues and Challenges in Utilizing e-Learning
(CIDOS 3.5) among lecturers in Politeknik Mukah. The challenges are including access constraints,
improper technology-related training challenge, lecturers’ time management challenge, and further discuss
the implications and proposed solution to the problems.
Keywords: - utilizing e-Learning, CIDOS 3.5, challenges

groups can benefit from it (MOHE, 2015). To

1. Introduction
Internet penetration in Malaysia currently stands at
82%; this gives Malaysia an opening towards e-
learning. E-learning has become a norm in higher
education institutions and is being applied around the
world (Nurul Islam, Beer, Slack & Hallam 2015).
The policy of the Malaysian Government for
building and improving human resources in the
future depends on the efficiency of the national
education system. The government's move to kick-
start Technical/Vocational Education and Training
(TVET) is a new initiative aimed at improving the
image and quality of education while elevating
Malaysia's dignity towards World Class Education
status (Asnul Dahar Minghat, Ruhizan M. Yasin,
Kamalularifin Subari & Muhammad Khair Noordin
2013). The Government through the Ministry of
Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE) introduced
various changes to strengthen the national education
system and quality. The key goal of the transition is
to transform Malaysia into a center of academic
excellence not just in the Asian region but globally.
Most recently, through the presentation of the
Malaysian Education Development Plan (Higher
Education) 2015-2035 paper, the government has
outlined ten key changes to realize a holistic,
progressive, moral and world-class education system
(MOHE, 2015). This surge has led to continued
excellence in the higher education system. Through
the presentation of the paper, the 9th spike in global
online learning is seen as an important component of
higher education to increase online learning access to
content while improving the quality of teaching and
learning of lecturers (MOHE, 2015). The future of
online learning for the Malaysian higher education
system is based on global standards of quality,
accessibility and equity that ensure that less fortunate
22
achieve this goal, the Ministry aims to make online
learning and "blended learning" the foundation of the
curriculum, by giving aggressive encouragement to
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
By 2019, the government estimates that 50% of
all classes in Malaysian institutions will be delivered
online. The various successes set out by the National
e-learning Policy Dasar e-Pembelajaran Negara
(DePAN) still need to be achieved especially at the
Polytechnic and Community College (MOHE, 2015).
At the polytechnic level, the Division of Instructional
and Digital Learning have made every effort to drive
EdTech with the goal of encouraging students to
learn. The eLearning and Teaching Center (CeLT),
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Curriculum
Information Document Online System (CIDOS), the
emerging Technology Enabled Collaborative
Classroom (TECC) and Moodle are EdTech facilities
and platforms introduced and incorporated in the
Polytechnic system in Malaysia (Azlida Ahmad &
Abdul Halim Mohamed 2017).
The learning process through e-learning is an
online learning method based on the LMS (Learning
Management System). This method was first
introduced and used in 2010, commonly known as
the Curriculum Information Document Online
System (CIDOS) e-learning. Through this method the
teaching and learning process becomes easier and
more flexible in terms of place, time, methods and
teaching materials. Through the implementation of
the polytechnic e-learning policy and principles
approved by the Polytechnic Department of
Education (JPP), it seeks to transform changes in the
education delivery system that combines
productivity, creativity and innovation to drive
polytechnic as a regional TVET leader while
empowering polytechnic lecturers. Accordingly, a
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
guideline has been established through DePAN
which is used in the implementation of e-Learning
Policies and Principles in Polytechnic Malaysia.
1.1 Problem statement
Today's educational era emphasizes the use of e-
learning technology in Teaching and Learning. With
the use of CIDOS 3.5 it is possible to help students
and lecturers connect with one another and facilitate
students in getting learning materials from the
platform easily and quickly. Technically, when a
student enrols in a subject, the student will be able to
access the platform. Various activities can be done
on the site such as downloading notes from lecturers,
making online quizzes, reviewing answers,
exchanging views with students and lecturers,
sharing information on courses and subjects and
communicating live with lecturers through the Chat
Room. In addition, there are many other modules that
can be applied through this site depending on the
subject and the lecturer. PMU’s lecturers accept the
setting of the KPI as a challenge in adapting teaching
and learning methods. A course will be considered as
a mix if it has at least fifteen (15) learning items such
as: course introduction, e-content, forum or
discussion, assignment and quiz managed online. The
attainment of blended status depends on many
aspects. One of these is student engagement using
CIDOS as a learning alternative. This study was
conducted to identify the issues and challenges in
utilizing CIDOS in e-learning at Politeknik Mukah,
Sarawak. The challenges identified are access
constraint, improper technology-related training and
lecturer’ time management in CIDOS.
Firstly, we address problems concerning
inadequate equipment or connectivity, considered the
access constraints. If an institution does not have
adequate computers and fast internet connection, it is
not feasible to implement the educational technology.
Next, the challenge of improper technology-related
training; only if lecturers are provided with
successful professional development on emerging
technology, they will not be able to use it to their full
potential. Finally, we are debating factors relevant to
the lecturers’ time management in using CIDOS 3.5.
Support obstacles to the introduction of technology
include insufficient technological assistance,
administrative or peer support and the development
of e-content
2. Literature Review
In today's scenario, many countries have been
struggling to streamline the implementation of ICT in
education, particularly in terms of infrastructure,
support systems and policy coordination (Hinostroza
2018). As a result, investments made by developed
countries such as the US, Australia and Japan have
been successful in terms of implementing ICT in
education level (Asharul Islam Khan, Hafedh Al-
Shihi, Zuhoor Abdullah Al- khanjari, Mohamed
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Sarrab 2015). Since 1996, the development of ICTs
within the education system of the Republic of Korea
was carried out under three national Master Plans:
(1996-2000) destined to develop a world-class ICT
network in primary and secondary schools; (2001-
2005) aimed at enhancing the quality of education by
promoting open access to educational material and by
providing teacher training to integrate ICT into
classroom teaching practices; and (2006- 2010)
focused on building sustainable learning
environments through e-learning and future
education through more flexible and efficient
education services such as creation of digital
textbooks (Hwang, Yang, & Kim 2010).
Technology has changed the way education is
delivered to people all over the world without
question. We now live in an interactive environment
where, in a single physical location, the conventional
model of structured learning is becoming ever less
important. Modern learners are becoming
increasingly unsatisfied with the stand-and-bring
approach to education that determines times of
arrival, places of learning and modes of participation.
(Turnbull, Chugh & Luck 2019). The introduction of
digital communication technology and mobile
devices has allowed a new generation of information
users to fulfill their demands for knowledge without
having to meet them in a physical location. Aware of
this growth, software vendors, open-source
developers and educational institutions have adopted
systems that can promote the management of courses
and the remote interaction with students. The
technologies that enable the delivery of long-
distance courses are commonly called "learning
management systems" or "LMSs." Learning
management systems can be defined as web-based
software platforms which provide an interactive
online learning environment and automate the
management, organization, distribution and reporting
of educational content and learner outcomes
(Turnbull et al 2019).
3. Methodology
Issues Implications Proposed Solutions
Improving
Accessibility and
Connectivity
Access Constraints
Training Program to
Improper Time Consuming
Enhance Users’
technology-related
Computer Literacy
training Challenge Less Effectiveness
and Pedagogical
Lecturers’ Time Loss of Interest in
Development
Management utilizing CIDOS 3.5
Design Effective
Challenge
E-content
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework on challenges in utilizing
CIDOS 3.5
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
3.1 Issues
A basic necessity is routine access to hardware
such as laptops or tablets, software (e.g., read and
write applications, internet browsers), and Internet
connectivity. Breakdowns may occur during the
teaching and learning process: the bugs, the speed,
the errors, functions and features do not work
properly or do not function as expected by
academics. And, numerous problems which limit the
access to online program will bog down and slow
down the teaching and learning process (Safiek
Mokhlis 2019). CIDOS need amount of bandwidth to
support the transmission of information. It requires
high performance of internet data access to upload or
download notes, answer the quiz and stream the
video. Due to the insufficient loading speed it may
cause student lack of interest (Intan Shafinaz Abd.
Razak, Zunainah Hamid & Nurzurawani Abd Razak
2018). Slow internet connectivity also the main
obstacles in utilizing CIDOS in PMU and it go as
well as for the polytechnics in Malaysia. Slow speed
connection makes materials especially video
materials could not be easily downloaded. Hence,
some lecturers feel unmotivated to use CIDOS in
their teaching and learning. Apart from CIDOS,
PMU include a range of applications and computer
operating systems for different purposes, such as
SPMP (Sistem Pengurusan Maklumat Politeknik)
which consists of iHELP, IDaftar, IUPLI, IKamsis,
IEXAM, IKoko, IFrp and so on. In addition, there are
other applications that are merged and linked to make
it usable and provide central support within one e-
learning environment; however, this includes the
fusion and linking of various applications.
Inadequate professional development and training
is the most widely cited argument for lack of
technology in the classroom, and the National
Education Association (NEA) cites the advancement
of technical technology growth as one of its policy
recommendations (Johnson, Jacovina, Russell & Soto
2012). With the advance technologies nowadays,
educators today are confidence in using classroom
technology, operating software and Internet
searching, but considering that technology is
continuously evolving throughout their teaching
careers, it is more important than ever that educators
remain up-to-date with their technical skills. The
issue of training is complicated, because many
components need to be considered in order to ensure
the effectiveness of training. Issues have been raised
that include inadequate training, inadequate training,
in-use training styles that do not fit academic
personal preferences, lack of practical skills and also
lack of training scenarios on how to create materials
according to pedagogical requirements (Hasnida
Ibrahim, Elyn Mohd Ridzwan & Hamdan Zakaria
2018). Adequate training is essential for PMU’s
lecturers who are not technically trained especially
those who are specialised in non-technical subjects
like Language, Business Law and so on. It is a
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challenge for those non-technical lecturers to
implement e-learning especially senior lecturers.
Further in-house training needs to be provided
specifically for those who are technophobia. This
group of people will face the problems in using the
Internet, computers, smartphones, tablets or any
other modern electronic devices and even to operate
applications.
Lecturers who are using e-learning systems face
time management difficulties. According to PMU e-
learning officer, there is no notification for external
email/SMS for any submission of task from students
through CIDOS. Therefore, lecturers need to log in to
CIDOS or use Moodle which link to the Learning
Management System of CIDOS at least once a day to
check if students had submitted their assignment or
leave any questions for lecturers. A viable question is
that one-day log in to the platform may not be
adequate according to the values of cyber culture by
Reeder (2004) which are characterized by speed,
reach and quick response. Nandi, Hamilton, Chang,
& Balbo (2012) in their study “Evaluating Quality in
Online Asynchronous Interactions between Students
and Discussion Facilitators” under the role of
instructors in online discussion forums had stated
that in order to track the conversation, provide
answers and suggestions so that students do not end
up leaving the course, academics should always have
a big foothold in the online discussion boards.
One crucial element of e-learning is the
consistency and quantity of the material, or what
many academics would refer to as e-content (Juhary
2010). Professional quality e-content development
ensures successful delivery of the course.
Polytechnic instructors or lecturers should be
qualified enough to develop online courses so that
they can make efficient use of the CIDOS platform.
However, not all lecturers have the expertise to
produce the materials. In order to develop e- content
especially interactive course materials, technical
experts are needed. Video production (which
provides information and is capable of attracting
students today) and other creative teaching and
learning materials are among the materials which
require technical expertise. In terms of e-Content
development, e-Content copyright always become a
big issue.
3.2 Implications
Lecturers who are confident that e-learning can be
incorporated into teaching will improve the curiosity
and memory of students about what they have
learned. Also lecturers should be positive in
exploring the use of CIDOS in the classroom at the
same time. While lecturers face many challenges as
agents of change, including teaching time constraints,
they play a key role in incorporating e-learning into
teaching and learning. It is important for lecturers to
be equipped with ICT knowledge and skills, and for
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
them to be positive about ICT integration in the
classroom so they remain prepared to face any future
e-learning challenges. Or else, the challenges they
faced will bring the negative implications on the
education system. The lack of technology
competence and pedagogical content knowledge will
require lecturers to spend additional time to do
preparation beforehand. In addition, lecturers need to
get ready 10-15 minutes early to make sure
everything function well especially if students are
using the language lab in doing their e-learning.
Instead, sometimes, lecturers need to spend time to
assist students who are less computer literate with
their potential problems occurred. Lecturers have to
waste more time in helping students to handle their
problems rather than teaching them the lesson
planned. Students who do not have smart phone,
laptop or computer or even the access to internet will
be another challenge for lecturers to utilize e-learning
in PMU. Many of them face problems such as
difficulty accessing online e-learning learning
materials, prolonged response times for the teacher,
lack of content and time consuming. Those who have
difficulties accessing the Internet would see e-
learning as cumbersome and potentially lose interest
in it (Fahmeeda Adib Azhari et al 2015; Mohd
Khalid Ustati & Izaham Shah Ismail 2013).
Therefore, it is important for the e-learning providers
to ensure easy access to their materials regardless of
time and place.
The implementation of CIDOS in PMU creates
several challenges for in peril students. Most of the
teaching and learning process requires internet access
and most of the lecturers expect their students to
have internet access. In addition, students who
cannot submit their assignments due to internet
access dilemma will be lag and suffer poor grades in
their study. These challenges have put those students
from low-income background in time-consuming
workarounds in completing their assignments. In
order to complete their assignments, they wait in
long queue to use library computer or their
classmates’ laptop. Some of them must spend hours
at the Wi-Fi restaurants by using only their mobile
phone in completing their assignments.
The main implication of improper technology-
related training for lecturers is students probably will
be dropped out. The main victims would be those
who are digital immigrants -those of us who weren't
born in the digital world but later adapted to this new
technology and began to use it (Creighton 2018).
These digital immigrants are not fully exposed to
internet, computers or electronic devices because
most of them are from rural areas which lack of
technology infrastructure. They have limited use of
technology and some of them only get the chance to
involve themselves in the use of computers when
they enrolled in PMU. Due to the limited knowledge
in using technology, digital immigrants will feel
reluctant to participate themselves in e-learning.
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They will only involve themselves in e-learning
when they are instructed by their lecturers. Whilst the
well-designed framework (CIDOS 3.5) is being
created, it is possible that students will be dropped
out without basic skills. Some lecturers should
consider the extent of the difference between their
students' motivation and experience. They have the
wrong perception that all their students are from the
digital nativity; they are more knowledgeable in
technology. Moreover, they have the wrong
judgement that all students own the advance
electrical devices. So, they just give instructions to
students without giving any guide to them in
exploiting e-learning. Even if students are familiar
with technologies, generally they only use them as
tool of entertainment and communication (internet).
Thus, this category of students tends to simply
complete the task without exploring in depth or did
not complete their task.
What is more, students who are digital natives -
modern day-students spent their lives in kindergarten
through college encircled by computers, video
games, mobile phones and other digital goods
(Creighton 2018); spend more time on the Internet
and social networks. Some students’ gamers even
spend their entire day in the games such as Mobile
Legends, PUBG and so on. Creighton (2018) also
imply that today's average college students have
spent 5,000 hours reading, but more than 10,000
hours with mobile phones, email, Internet and instant
messaging. Overall, the task lies in deciding the
correct learning style for the students themselves.
Failure to consciously participate possibly leads the
student to fail. These are all the distraction on the
path of e-learning.
CIDOS platforms are used in polytechnic. Notes
and exercises given by lecturers are sufficient based
on the findings of access to the CIDOS e-learning
portal; however use of CIDOS requires high
performance of Internet data access to download the
notes, answer the quiz and stream the video. Most
students face problems such as difficulty accessing
online e-learning medium learning materials, long
lecturer response times, lack of content and time
consuming. Many with Internet connectivity
problems will view e-learning as cumbersome and
potentially lose interest in it (Fahmeeda Adib Azhari
et al 2015). Moreover, students nowadays are
different; they are the mobile learner who is always
dependent on the electronic media for finding the
source of education and entertainment. This
phenomenon led to the teacher-centered learning that
was clearly no longer appropriate for complete use.
The presence of various search engine sources
sometimes makes subject content broad and difficult
to be specific in terms of course syllabus itself. Thus,
if the content they get from CIDOS platform is too
limited than desired, it may be too wide-ranging or
worse case (Intan Shafinaz Abd. Razak et al 2018).
For example, during the implementation of
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
assignments and quizzes through CIDOS, it can
result in impersonations and fraud among students.
Politeknik Mukah management team should take
action in providing the institution with sufficient
Information, Communication and Technology (ICT)
facilities large internet bandwidth should be
subscribe so that files can be browsed and accessed
more easily as this would enable lecturers to use the
CIDOS platform and save valuable time as well.
3.3 Proposed Solutions
To ensure that online learning activities are
successful, the internet or Wi-Fi should be set up and
functioning well to meet the demands of students
within the institution itself. This is in line with the
study (Abel 2005), one of the success factors of
institutions of higher learning in online learning is
the provision of network support (internet or Wi-Fi)
in line with the mission of the institution. Technical
issues such as internet access and broadband in the
institution need to be upgraded for the use of students
and lecturers in order to ensure the effectiveness of
the integrated learning approach (Nadia Binti Mat
Zin & Noraishah Binti Buang 2015). Good IT
infrastructure is one of the factors that influence e-
learning. The slow internet connection makes
teaching materials not easily downloadable and
impairs student performance when assessments
(quizzes or tests) are made online because of their
time frame. Institutions need to maintain an
environment that supports online teaching and
learning, including the provision of computers for
student use outside of class, such as computer rooms
in the library, computer labs and computer rooms in
the cafeteria, etc. Wifi provision is not confined to
the classroom or computer labs but should be further
expanded in the area of student discussion. Access
must also be at the appropriate speed as it will affect
the smooth use of CIDOS (Nur Atiqa Binti
Muhammad & Nor Shafizah Binti Amil 2018). Some
students need this kind of convenience because they
cannot afford a laptop or use their own internet data
to access in learning progress.
Government and relevant university authorities
should accept and encourage the use of hybrid
learning and e- Learning platform in institutions, as
this may improve student success in their programs.
A study at Nigeria by Gambari, Shittu, Ogunlade &
Osunlade, (2017), ICT preparation should be
undertaken from time to time for lecturers to refresh
and familiarize themselves with the latest technical
advances such as blended learning. This will enable
them to create, change and sustain the latest online
learning technologies such as mixed learning and e-
learning in the higher education system.
Various mediums can be used to enhance student
understanding such as videos, forums and
broadcasting in real time. The variety of learning
methods will enhance students' understanding of the
various characters. Based on the results of the study
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by Rozilawati Shaari, Yusdi Ismail & Roseline Kok
(2018), one of the reasons for the failure of students
to understand the topic is due to the less effective
teaching methods. Blended learning is an effective
method of learning. Thus, institutions need to
diversify workshops or courses to equip educators
with the latest technology knowledge such as video
making and editing, animation workshops,
infographics and so on. Lecturers need the latest
knowledge and skills to use technology tools to
produce effective and creative teaching aids
(Rozilawati Shaari, Yusdi Ismail & Roseline Kok
2018). In addition, facilities such as labs, studios,
video conferencing rooms should be provided in
support of lecturers' efforts to enable teaching aids in
the context of blended learning. In correlation with
enhancing computer literacy of users, polytechnics
should organize conferences, workshops, and
symposiums to train users and educate them in the
use of ICT. More organized training programmes, an
annual e-learning budget, support centres, human
resource growth, incentives and incentives, ongoing
technology upgrades and curriculum integration in
HEIs will be reinforced from time to time (Supyan
Hussin, Mohamed Amin Embi & Hanafi Atan 2011).
At the same time, the number of experts in e-
learning should be increased and the creation of e-
learning material needs to be strengthened by
requiring more staff members to undergo continuous
training at the institutions. The availability of diverse
and efficient e-learning materials will improve the
learning and teaching online (Ahmad Fkrudin
Mohamed Yusoff, Wan Norina Wan Hamat & Nor
Khayati). The design of the e-learning content is
important since it will determine the material’s
efficiency. The effective e-learning materials should
contain animated graphics, clear text (attractive and
suit the intended ideas), easy navigations (ease users
in moving from page, slide or screen), education
games (retain students’ motivation), clear and
understandable audio and eye-catching educational
videos. (Abdul Halim Sulaiman, Mohamad Amin
Embi & Afendi Hamat 2010). According to
Osamuede & Omoni (2010), attractive, effective and
clear learning contents can enhance students’
enthusiasm in learning. Lectures should organize the
contents which suit to the objectives of the topic
accordingly to avoid confusion from students.
Lecturers should ensure students understand the use
of the materials online, not just simply ask students
to download and read them.
For those HEIs that have a dedicated e-content
development centre, a specific policy needs to be
created, especially in terms for incentives, as setting
up these centers involves high costs, particularly in
terms of equipment, software and human resources.
PMU also can provide technical support, including
training to lecturers to facilitate the e- content
development. Incentives should be provided, such as
awards or honorariums given to the lecturers who
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE003

involve in developing the best e-content. This is a coordinator assigned to handle the respected course.
more effective use of resource, energy, money, and So, the course coordinator will assist the staffs who
workforce, while maintaining a reasonable standard are teaching the same course especially new staff in
of quality. This is compatible with the initiatives of creating the content to upload to CIDOS 3.5. This
many of the world's leading universities offering method can create the sharing of knowledge among
'open courseware' which anyone can access freely. A lecturers in order to enhance the mastery of the
clear policy on copyright issues should be developed competency of the lecturers in creating interactive
at ministry level, as lecturers are reluctant to produce teaching and learning materials. As well, lecturers
or distribute e-content, especially if their efforts are should always strive to improve themselves and
not adequately recognized or paid. change the negative attitude towards the use of
CIDOS in teaching and learning.
It is hoped that all findings and suggestions in this
4. Discussion
study will contribute to a change in the CIDOS
The CIDOS platform gives internet users a system in Politeknik Mukah, Sarawak and also other
massive opportunity to discover new information polytechnics which are using CIDOS as medium of
without having to go through the normal traditional e-learning for their teaching and learning process.
methods. CIDOS can offer students versatility in
acquiring a variety of information. There are a lot of 5. Conclusion
methods that can be implemented in order to
Technology in education gives a lot of positive
overcome the issues and challenges in utilizing e-
impact if used properly. It can be concluded that the
learning at PMU. In order to strengthen the
use of CIDOS is a new teaching and learning
implementation of CIDOS 3.5 in their respective
innovation in the world of educational technology.
institutions and thus improve the education quality in
The features of CIDOS are easily accessible to
that country, the PMU management team should
students and more comprehensive when using it. The
provide a strong e-learning program in line with the
variety of CIDOS platforms developed by lecturers
e-learning policy at national or HEIs level. In
has its own unique advantages and privileges. There
addition, they have to expose their staff to new
are many benefits to be gained from using CIDOS.
technologies such as Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Web 4.0,
However, there are some drawbacks to the use of
and mobile technology, and adapt existing LMS to
CIDOS in the teaching and learning process. While
the latest technologies and trends. It is worth
managing CIDOS is not an easy task, global
emphasizing access to emerging technology that can
standards are a benchmark for the future of the
increase the quality of teaching and learning. The
Malaysian higher education system, which makes
scope and length of e-learning training can be
online learning an access and equity in ensuring that
designed to ensure that more staff will undergo the
students with less academic opportunities can benefit
training, and their teaching duties will not be
from it. Several studies have shown that the use of
affected. (Supyan Hussin, Mohamed Amin Embi &
technology in education is not possible. This is due to
Hanafi Atan 2011). Fast, medium, and long training
the identified four major problems or constraints:
sessions will be conducted in order to include more
limited internet access, insufficient time, educators’
people (from management, academic personnel, and
workloads and lack of training whether in ICT
support staff) in the process of human resource
competence, pedagogical or e-content development
growth at the respective institutions. Management is
(Johari Bin Hassan & Siti Norazlina Binti Kamisan
encouraged to offer recognition or opportunities to
2010; Nor Zaira Razali, Zolkefli Bahador & Mohd
continue implementing the new e-learning
Kasri Saidon 2016; Norazilawati Abdullah, Noraini
technology to improve employee motivation.
Mohamed Noh, Nik Azmah Nik Yusof & Rosnidar
Employees who are sufficiently qualified to become
Mansor 2019;).
both internal and national e-learning trainers should
be awarded certificates, advance diplomas and However, the use of the latest technology is a
degrees to match their expertise. need to be incorporated into the learning process to
adapt to the 21st century environment. Students'
At PMU, there is a mentor mentee program for e-
skills in adapting to information and computer
learning (CIDOS 3.5). There are master trainers for
technology are not factors that hinder CIDOS use.
CIDOS 3.5 and e-learning officer under each
Students keep abreast of technology and are even
department. The master trainers will be provided
more creative in their use of technology in learning.
mentee according to the courses they teach. For
Infrastructure and internet lines need to be improved
example, for General Studies Department at PMU,
by the institution in line with current needs. In
there are two master trainers who handle the English
addition, consistent and efficient maintenance is also
Language Unit and Islamic Studies Unit regarding
essential. This is an effort to encourage lecturers and
CIDOS. Their roles are to assist and encourage staff
students to use CIDOS as a teaching and learning
in utilizing CIDOS 3.5 platform and achieve blended
medium. Content of the material in CIDOS, is also
learning. Besides, each courses offered under
not a deterrent factor. The rapidly changing world of
General Studies Department, there will be a course
ICT demands that lecturers' skills be constantly
27
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
enhanced to ensure the quality and variety of learning
materials. Creative teaching methods of teaching
materials will be a great incentive for students to
continue using CIDOS as their main reference. The
use of technology in learning will boost the
percentage of CIDOS usage, while achieving the
department's KPI in improving the quality of
teaching and learning.
The implementation of CIDOS 3.5 in education
today and in the future will continue to be intensified
so that the goals of the country's education to
produce competitive students are achieved.
Therefore, all parties must work together and unite to
overcome every challenge they face in realizing 21st
Century technology-based education.
Further Research
Further studies on the perception of Politeknik
Mukah’s users (lecturers and students) will be carried
out to identify the real problems faced by them in
utilizing CIDOS 3.5 in their teaching and learning
process. Thus, we can know that what variables
influence the acceptance of e-learning by academics?
What effect does e-learning have on academics?
What are the technological and training criteria for
academics in a world of e-learning?
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Creighton, T.B. (2018). Digital Natives, Digital
Immigrants, Digital Learners: An International
Empirical Integrative Review of the Literature.
ICPEL Education Leadership Review 19(1): 132-
140. Retrieved from
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1200802
Fahmeeda Adib Azhari & Long C.M. (2015). Review
of -learning Practice at the Tertiary Education level
in Malaysia. Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical
Education and Research 49(4): 248-257. Retrieved
from https://www.ijper.org/article/373
Gambari, A. I, Shittu, A.T, Ogunlade, O.O &
Osunlade, O.R. (2017). Effectiveness of Blended
Learning and Learning Modes of Instruction on the
Performance of Undergraduates in Kwara State,
Nigeria. Malaysian Online Journal of Educational
Sciences 5(1): 25-36. Retrieved from
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Hasnida Ibrahim, Elyn Mohd Ridzwan & Hamdan
Zakaria. (2018). Transformasi Pendidikan: Isu dan
Cabaran Pendidikan Abad ke 21 melalui e-
Pembelajaran CIDOS di Politeknik. Proceeding
International Conference on Global Education VI
(ICGE VI) “The Fourth Industril Revolution:
Redesigning Education” Volume 1, pp. 357-367
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Education Policies in Developing Countries: The
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Teaching and Learning Outside the School. In

Lubin, I.A. (eds). ICT-Supported Innovations in
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Nurzurawani Abd Razak. (2018). Student’s
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Johari Bin Hassan & Siti Norazlina Binti Kamisan.

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dan ICT dalam Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran (P&P)
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Kebangsaan Luar Bandar di Daerah Kulai Jaya,
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1877042813019927

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Pilot Study of Using Social and Affective Learning Strategies in Writing Class
Sara Ruran Fabian1*, and Stephanie Jee2
1
Dept. of General Studies, Politeknik Mukah, Sarawak,
2
SMK Three Rivers, Mukah, Sarawak
*Corresponding author: sararuran@pmu.edu.my

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of social and affective learning strategies of ESL teachers while
conducting writing classes. The participants chosen for this study are thirty teachers in one suburban secondary
school in Selangor who are teaching English. The instrument used was a survey questionnaire and the analysis was
conducted using SPSS. The survey is used to collect data from the ESL teachers to identify a number of strategies or
activities related to social and affective learning strategies employed in the writing classroom. The findings revealed
the implication of cooperative learning strategies in the learning of writing, as well as the challenges that these
teachers face when employing the social and affective strategies in writing classes. It can be inferred that the majority
of ELS teachers prefer implementing cooperative learning strategies when teaching as it promotes active participation
from learners. Furthermore, students’ show positive ability and behaviour became more positive towards writing
lessons and activities.
Keywords: cooperative learning, learning strategies, writing skills, ESL and qualitative study

1. Introduction affectionate techniques are important to enhance the

The English language has been made necessary in
schools in Malaysia which makes the English language
an effective way of communication in the country.
English has a rock-solid form and firm footing in this
country (Jaseem 1993), hence the English language is
essential in every classroom.
Writing is one of the components in the learning of
the English language and is one of the basic skills that a
student must master. According to Hedge (1988),
writing, compared to with speech requires a number of
things: a high degree of organising in the development
of ideas and information; a high degree of accuracy so
that there is no ambiguity of meaning; the use of
complex grammatical devices for focus and emphasis;
and a careful choice of vocabulary, grammatical
patterns, and sentence structures to create a style which
is appropriate to the subject matter and the eventual
readers. In most schools, students are taught the
traditional way, where the teacher uses the “chalk and
talk” approach. This research uses a different approach
to teach writing skills to the students, the process-based
approach.
The main research intended to enhance form 4
learners’ writing skills by using a process-based writing
approach based on their language learning pattern and
proficiency level. In order to measure the learners’
preference approach, the instruments must first be
developed based on the teachers’ preference strategy in
teaching writing. Teachers from lower secondary and
upper secondary are involved in this study as writing
skills is one of the components in the English language
subject.
2. Literature Review
In language learning activities today, social-
30
enthusiasm of students who research them by
implementing learning strategies for the 21st century
in the classroom. In contrast to other language
learning methods, these are the most common
strategies that teachers tend to use in the classroom.
Strategies for language learning are split into two:
indirect and direct strategies (Samida, 2013). The
direct strategies help students to store and to retrieve
information. These techniques allow students to
improve language even though knowledge gaps occur.
They also assist in learning and using the new
language. Memory strategies, cognitive strategies and
compensating strategies are direct strategies, while
indirect strategies are metacognitive strategies,
affective strategies and social strategies.
Methods and techniques applied by language
learners to facilitate language learning are the major
backbones of language learning strategies, as well as
actively selecting strategies according to the L2 role.
Learning techniques can be divided into six groups:
cognitive, metacognitive, memory-related,
compensatory, affective and social (Oxford, 2003).
Teachers should also consciously help students
'stretch' their learning patterns by trying out certain
approaches that are outside their primary preferences
(Oxford, p.9).
In this study, affective strategy and social strategy
are selected to assist the learners in writing classes:
(i) Affective strategy:
Affective strategy is a strategy that enables
students to be more motivated and have a positive
attitude in learning a language. It is concerned with
the learners’ emotional needs such as confidence,
mood, level of anxiety and feelings and it makes
language learning more consistent (Oxford, 1990).
 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
This strategy helps learners' in language learning as well
as to determine their ability and willingness to learn
within the framework of these strategies. Affective
approaches are learning techniques that deal with both
positive and negative emotional management. In
particular, learners from suburban and rural areas had
higher rates of anxiety compared to students from the
city and urban areas (Oxford, 1990). Thus, teaching
foreign language at schools in the suburbs and rural
areas is more challenging. They are less comfortable in
learning the second language and lack motivation.
Affective strategies are useful because they help
identify one's level of mood and anxiety, discuss
feelings, reward oneself for good performance and use
deep breathing or positive self-talk. The instructor will
play an active role in the creation and utilisation of
affective techniques in the classroom by creating a
generally supportive environment and using incentive
approaches to enable the learners to do their best in
English class.
(ii) Social strategy:
According to Oxford, social strategy is an action
taken by students when interacting with others in
various different situations (1990). This strategy focuses
on asking questions to get validation, asking for
clarification, asking for help, cooperating with others
(Oxford, 1990). Social strategies help a learner to
socialise with others as well as understanding the
language used while socialising. Strategies for social
learning encourage learners to participate actively in the
class through interaction and the sharing of knowledge
they have with others. Co-operative learning strategy
develops social connections in the process of language
learning and increases motivation among learners
(Mehmet, 2016). Therefore, these strategies are suitable
to teach writing skills as suburban school students have
a higher anxiety level in learning the English language.
The application of the social strategy would allow
students to be more driven and less reluctant in the ESL
classroom.
3. Methodology
3.1 Research Design
This study employs a quantitative research
methodology. Quantitative methods focus on measuring
the objectives and gathering statistical, mathematical, or
numerical analysis of data through polls, questionnaires,
and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical
data using computational techniques (Babbie, 2010, p.
394). Data or statistical information is gathered from
this study by using questionnaire, to explore more on
other cooperative learning strategies that the teachers
and learners utilise in the teaching and learning of
writing in ESL. Apart from that, the researchers wish to
gather responses and feedback from these teachers on
the implication of the said learning strategies in ESL
learning and the challenges faced by the teachers and
learners.
31
ESNE004
Questionnaire is a tool to collect data from a small
sample. It also can be executed to a group of
participants at once time and the data is easy to
tabulate or score (Patten 2016). The questionnaire for
this research is administered by distributing it via
hardcopy to the selected sample and gathering it back
for data analysis. The statistical data collected from
the questionnaire and feedback from the teachers
could give insight on whether these games could
actually facilitate in learners’ learning process, in the
aspect of score performance in the tests, and whether
the learners are motivated to learn through the e-
learning games, from their responses in the
questionnaire.
As for data analysis, the data collected from the
completed questionnaire would be arranged and
analysed using the SPSS software. Following that, the
percentage-frequency values of data would be
presented in table forms.
3.2 Instrumentation
3.2.1 Instruments
Data collection instrument is necessary to collect,
group and categorize information within a research
(Charman, 2017; Chu & Ke 2017). Hence, the main
study will employ a pre-test, a post-test, an
observation checklist and a survey questionnaire.
Before creating the instruments, a survey on the
teachers’ opinion and preferable approach are
gathered. The questionnaire adapted from the ‘Impact
of Cooperative Learning Approaches on Student’
Academic Achievement and Laboratory Proficiency
in Biology Subject in Selected Rural Schools’ (Molla
& Muche, 2018) journal is an accurate representation
of the teachers’ perception on the implementation of
the cooperative learning method.
3.2.2 Survey Questionnaire
The survey questionnaire contains several items,
rated on a Likert scale of 1 to 5. The findings of the
survey questionnaire will be analysed through SPSS
Version 25 for descriptive statistics involving
percentage and mean. Questionnaire is selected by the
researcher as the instrument to gather data for this
research. By using the Likert Scale in the
questionnaire, the researcher aims to collect data from
the ESL teachers to identify a number of strategies or
activities related to social and affective learning
strategies employed in writing classroom. Besides
that, the researcher could identify the implications of
cooperative learning strategies especially the social
and affective strategies in the learning of writing, as
well as to investigate the challenges that these
teachers face when employing the social and affective
strategies in writing classes. The findings from the
questionnaire would give insights to related
professionals on cooperative learning strategies in
ESL, and perhaps shed a light on related aspects for
further improvement.
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE004

3.2.3 Sample Years of Experience

The sample chosen for this study are thirty teachers Teaching ESL
in one suburban secondary school in Selangor. These 1-5
12 40.0
teachers taught teaching English as a second language 6-10
10 33.3
(ESL) and have from 1 year to 29 years of experience in 16-20
3 10.0
teaching ESL in secondary schools. The school was >20
5 16.7
selected as the researcher taught in this area. The
participants selected as the sample is of a convenient
sampling, thus it would be time and cost saving to Currently Teaching
conduct the research. Data can be collected from this Form 1
15 50.0
sample in a short period, with questionnaire to be Form 2
5 16.7
distributed via hardcopy and data to be gathered online. Form 3
2 6.7
Form 4
4 13.3
Form 5
4 13.3
3.3 Data Analysis
Analysis of the data from the questionnaire involves
arrangement and analysis using the SPSS software. The According to the introduction part of the
data is then interpreted to answer the three research questionnaire, 40% of the English teachers are aged
questions and to affirm the predicted outcomes. 29 or below and with more than half of them being
Limitations to social and affective learning strategies female teachers (76.7). 40% of the English teachers
can also be explored, as well as limitations to this only lave less than 5 years of experience teaching
conducted research that impede effective interpretation ESL in classrooms and only 16.7% have more than 20
of the results. The data and findings would be followed years of experience.
with recommendations for the improvement of language
learning strategies, particularly on cooperative learning Table 2: Distribution of respondents’ feedback on cooperative
learning strategies in ESL classes.
strategies, and suggestions for more reliable and valid
related studies in the future.

4. Findings
The collected data were tabulated and separated into
three parts. The first part of the collected data shows the
demographic profile of the respondents. The second part
of the collected data illustrates the first part of the
questionnaire whereby the respondents gave their
feedback on cooperative learning strategies in their ESL
classes. The third part of the collected data displays the
respondents’ feedback on social and affective strategies
in ESL writing classes.

Table 1: Table of demographic profile of the respondents

Socio-demoghrapic Frequency Percentage

variables (n=30) (%)
Age
25-29 12 40.0
30-39 10 33.3
40-49 3 10.0 According to Part I of the questionnaire, most of
>50 5 16.7 the teachers agree that they are using cooperative
learning strategies (affective and social) when
Gender teaching writing. 73.3% of the teachers group the
Male 7 23.3 learners according to their academic performance in
Female 23 76.7 ESL, while 66.7% of the teachers were neutral when
the learners were given tasks and have to do it in
groups. 56.7% of the teachers agree that cooperative
learning promotes participation from the learners and
76.7% agree that it can enhance good working
relationships among students and achieve more when
32
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE004

they work together than when they work alone. 40% of

the teachers feel that the learners willingly participate in Table 4: Total number of activities implemented by the
the activities and 60% of the teachers agree that respondents in ESL writing classes.
cooperative learning motivates learners to work on the
given tasks. The learners were able to share their ideas,
opinions and feedback when they work in groups
according to 83.3% of the teachers. Majority of the
teachers (93.3%) agree that the learners can complete
the tasks faster and easier when they work in groups
compare to doing it individually. 50% of the teachers
felt that it was easier to facilitate and guide the learners
when they work in groups. Finally, 50% of the teachers
also think that learners have more positive attitude
towards writing lesson or activities when they work in
groups. Based on the data collection, the teachers prefer
to use cooperative learning strategies (affective and
social) as it gives benefits to the learners and gain
positive results when the strategies were implemented
during writing lesson.
Part II of the questionnaire, which is the feedback of
the respondents on social and affective strategies in ESL
writing classes will be addressed in Table 3.

Table 3: Distribution of respondents’ feedback on social and

affective strategies in ESL writing classes.

Figure 1: Graph of total number of activities implemented by

the respondents in ESL writing classes.

Result from the questionnaire also shows that out

Next, it can be concluded that the teachers did use
affective strategy in class especially during writing
lesson based on the Part II of the questionnaire. 60% of
the teachers encouraged the learners to find a better
solution to a linguistic problem and 83.3% of the
teachers used reward method to encourage the learners
to score a good grade. 50% of the teachers felt neutral
with the used of words like ‘come on’, ‘go on’, and ‘you
can do it’ to motivate the learners and 43.3% of the
teachers decided to be neutral about asking their
learners to write a diary about how they feel when they
learn English. 60% of the teachers did not know
whether the learners were trying to overcome feelings
of frustration, sadness, etc. when their progress in
learning English was not as good as they would like to
and 40% of the teachers were not sure whether the
learners have confidence in their own capacity to learn
English.
33
of the activities listed (tutoring interaction,
presentation, Q&A sessions, post-comment
interaction, parking lots, and group discussion), the
teachers implement at least two types of activities into
their lesson. 23.3% of the teachers used two types of
activities while 10% of the teachers implemented
three types of activities. 13.33% of the teachers chose
to apply four types of activities to maximize the
effectiveness of their writing class and 53.3% used
five types of activities to improve their writing class.
5. Implications and Conclusion
Overall findings from this study show that
majority of the ESL teachers (more than 50%) prefer
employing cooperative learning strategies (affective
and social) when teaching writing, as they bring a
positive impact on ESL learners’ learning of writing.
Cooperative learning promotes participation from
learners, as well as more positive attitude towards
writing lessons or activities when they work in
groups. Working on given tasks in a group also helps
enhance good working relationship and cooperation
among the learners. When they are given group-based
tasks, they can be guided and facilitated easier by the
teachers, and they could complete the given tasks
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE004

faster and easier when they work in groups than doing
them individually. Thus, they achieve more when they
work together than when they work alone. Cooperative
learning strategies also enable learners to share ideas,
opinions and feedback when they work in groups.
Based on the findings of this study, few
recommendations are suggested on the impact of social
and affective learning strategies. First, teachers should
employ different learning strategies from time to time to
cater learners’ varying learning styles and preferences,
besides to fit the themes of the lessons or activities.
Different variables of learners such as age and pace of
learning should also be taken into account when
planning a strategy or approach. Apart from that,
teachers also need to guide learners in employing
different set of learning strategies, in order for the
learners to manage and direct their own learning when
working on particular tasks.
Second, it is essential for teachers to analyse and
evaluate own methodologies and strategies in language
teaching and learning in order for the lesson objectives
can be achieved for effective lessons and activities.
Aside from that, proper selection of teaching and
learning materials and sources is also required. The
lessons and materials should provide hands-on
activities, task-centred and problem-centred, that give
opportunities for learners to gain experience, knowledge
and skills from these activities or lessons, that can be
done individually or in groups.
Third, all learners should be given sufficient and
equal opportunities to practice and express their ideas as
well as opinions through writing, with enough
scaffolding and guidance from the teachers. Individual,
learner-centred tasks or autonomous learning allow
learners to work independently, while developing their
creative, critical and logical thinking skills. In the
meantime, cooperative learning or group-based tasks
provide opportunity for learners to give feedback and
share ideas with each other. All in all, it is a hope of the
researchers that this study could help teachers and also
learners to recognise the great impact of social and
affective and cooperative learning strategies as a whole
in enhancing the teaching and learning of writing and
ESL learning. With teachers encouraging learners to
employ various language learning strategies, learners
can enhance their learning and proficiency with the
correct strategies and approaches.
Hazzi, O., & Maldaon, I. (2015). A pilot study: Vital
methodological issues. Business: Theory and
Practice, 16(1), 53- 62.
Hedge, T. (1988). Writing. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Jassem, Z. A. (1993). On Malaysian English: Its
implications for the teaching of English as a second
or foreign language (TESL/TEFL). Malaysia:
Pustaka Antara.
McLeish, K. (2009). Attitude of Students Towards
Cooperative Learning Methods at Knox Community
College: A Descriptive Study. Online Submission.
Mehmet C. (2016). The importance of strategies of
social language learning and cooperative learning in
the process of teaching Turkish as a foreign
language. Educational Research and Reviews,
11(10), 981-986.
Molla, E., & Muche, M. (2018). Impact of cooperative
learning approaches on students’ academic
achievement and laboratory proficiency in biology
subject in selected rural schools, Ethiopia.
Education Research International, 1-9.
Muijs, D. (2010). Doing quantitative research in
education with SPSS. London: SAGE Publications.
Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language Learning Strategies:
What every teacher should know. Boston: Heinle &
Heinle.
Oxford, R. L. (2003). Language learning styles and
strategies: An overview. Learning Styles &
Strategies/Oxford, GALA, 2003, 1-25.
Samida, D. K. (2012). Language learning strategies.
TESOL Journal, 159, 1-6.

References
Babbie, E.R. (2010). The practice of social research.
Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth Cengage.

Burns, A. (1999). Collaborative action research for

English language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

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 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE004

APPENDIX I (Adapted from ‘Impact of Cooperative Learning Approaches on Students’ Academic Achievement and
Laboratory Proficiency in Biology Subject in Selected Rural Schools’ journal)

Questionnaire on the Use of Socio-Affective Learning Strategies to Enhance the Learning of Writing in ESL Class

This questionnaire aims to gather responses and information from ESL teachers on the use of social and affective learning
strategies to enhance the teaching and learning of writing in ESL class. The resear chers wish to explore on the effectiveness
of social and affective strategies, as part of cooperative learning strategies, their implications, as well as challenges fac ed by
teachers and learners in ESL writing classes.

Section A: Personal Information

Please TICK (✓) your answer ONLY ONCE based on scale 1-5. Read and answer ALL questions.

1) Age: 25 – 29 30 – 39 40 – 49 Over 50

2) Gender: Male Female

3) Year/s of Experience Teaching ESL:

1 – 5 years 6 – 10 years 11 – 15 years 16 – 20 years Over 20 years

4) Currently teaching:
Form 1 Form 2 Form 3 Form 4 Form 5

Section B: Cooperative Learning Strategies (Social and Affective)

Please TICK (✓) your answer ONLY ONCE based on the given scale.

Scale
Num. Statement Strongly Strongly
Agree Neutral Disagree
Agree Disagree
(A) (N) (D)
(SA) (SD)

1 I group the learners into groups according

to their academic performance in ESL.

In my writing class, I usually get learners to

2 work on the given tasks in groups more
than on individual basis.

3 Cooperative learning promotes

participation from learners.

4 Cooperative learning enhances good

working relationships among students.

35
 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE004

5 Learners achieve more when they work

together than when they work alone.

6 Learners willingly participate in

cooperative learning activities.

7 Cooperative learning motivates learners

more to work on the given tasks.

8 Learners are able to share ideas, opinions

and feedback when they work in groups.

Learners complete the given tasks faster

9 and easier when they work in groups than
doing them individually.

10 Learners are easier to facilitate and guide

when they work in groups.

Learners have more positive attitude

11 towards writing lessons or activities when
they work in groups.

Affective Strategies

Scale
Num. Statement Strongly Strongly
Agree Neutral Disagree
Agree Disagree
(A) (N) (D)
(SA) (SD)

12 I encourage the learners to find a better

solution to a linguistic problem.

13 I reward the learners when they manage to

score a good grade.

14 I motivate the learners by saying ‘come

on’, ‘go on’, ‘you can do it’.

I encourage the learners to write about how

15 they feel when they learn English into a
diary.

Learners try to overcome feelings of

16 frustration, sadness, etc. when their
progress in learning English is not as good
as they would like to.

17 Learners have confidence in their own

capacity to learn English.

36
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE004

Social Strategies

Num. Statement Scale

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree (A) (N) (D) Disagree
(SA) (SD)
Learners seek assistance when they have
18 linguistic problems that they cannot solve
or they ask another person/expert to revise
their work.

Learners seek opportunities to improve

19 their English. (ask from the experts,
practice by doing more exercise, discussion
with peers)

20 Learners ask feedback about their progress

in English.

21 Learners compare their work among

themselves.

Below are the list of activities that you can conduct in classroom based on social and affective strategies. Tick (✓)

on the activity that you have conducted in classroom. You can choose more than one activity.

Tutoring interaction

Presentation

Q&A sessions

Post-comment
interaction/parking lots

Group discussion

Others (if any):

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ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE005

Menangani Keruntuhan Akhlak Remaja Menurut Pandangan Abdullah

Nasih Ulwan
Dayangku Farah Azeila Binti Awang Mohammat1 dan Muhd Syahazizamir Bin Sahmat1
1
Politeknik Mukah Sarawak
*Corresponding author: farahazeila@pmu.edu.my

Abstrak
Pendidikan dalam Islam dapat dicapai apabila proses pembangunan insan dilakukan secara menyeluruh
dari semua aspek kehidupan iaitu dari segi intelek, jasmani dan emosi dengan berpandukan elemen
kerohanian. Pelbagai kaedah pendidikan anak yang boleh diaplikasikan oleh ibubapa sama ada yang telah
diperkenalkan oleh tokoh-tokoh Islam mahupun yang telah disarankan di dalam al-Quran dalam
membentuk adab dan akhlak anak. Abdullah Nasih Ulwan yang merupakan tokoh pendidikan telah
memperkenalkan strategi pendidikan yang boleh diaplikasikan oleh ibubapa dalam mendidik anak melalui
karya beliau yang berjudul ‘Tarbiyatul Aulad fil Islam’ dalam membentuk adab dan akhlak anak. Artikel
ini bertujuan untuk memberi pendedahan berkaitan kaedah didikan anak dalam menangani keruntuhan
akhlak remaja. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif. Pendekatan kualitatif ini melibatkan kajian
kepustakaan. Sumber yang digunakan adalah seperti jurnal-jurnal, kertas-kertas persidangan, dokumen,
tesis dan buku-buku yang berkaitan dengan pendidikan. Hasil sorotan literatur ini mendapati bahawa
terdapat tiga kaedah pendidikan anak khususunya dalam menanagani isu keruntuhan aklhlak remajaiaitu
melalui contoh teladan, nasihat, dan pendidikan melalui hukuman. Kesimpulan daripada kajian
menunjukkan keruntuhan akhlak remaja pada masa kini dapat ditangani sekiranya ibu bapa dan masyarakat
menekankan kaedah didikan anak menurut Islam dam membentuk adab dan akhlak anak.
Kata Kunci: Kaedah Didikan, Menangani, Keruntuhan, Akhlak dan Remaja

dan ta’dib. Perkataan tarbiyyah berasal daripada kata

1. Pengenalan
Kamus Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (2010),
menyatakan pendidikan ialah kata nama terbitan yang
berasal dari perkataan didik yang bermaksud jaga,
pelihara atau ajar dengan hati sejak kecil. Secara
umumnya pelbagai definisi pendidikan yang
dihuraikan oleh tokoh-tokoh Barat dan Islam.
Antaranya ialah dari pandangan tokoh Barat seperti
Aristotle (384-1941 SM) berpendapat pendidikan
ialah suatu proses yang melatih wargenegara
mematuhi peraturan-peraturan dan tingkah laku yang
baik dan cekap dalam pengurusan pentadbiran dan
keupayaan mempertahankan kedaulatan negara (Noor
Sham Abdul Hamit et al., 2008). Manakala, Maria
Montessori (1870-1952) yang merupakan seorang
pendidik dari Itali mentafsirkan pendidikan sebagai
proses membentuk dan mengembangkan intelek,
jasmani, rohani dan sosial kanak-kanak (Noor Sham
Abdul Hamit et al., 2008).
Seterusnya, pandangan tokoh Islam iaitu Syed Ali
Ashraf (1995), pendidikan ialah suatu kegiatan yang
berfaedah yang ditujukan kepada perkembangan
insan sepenuhnya. Ini bermakna pendidikan
melibatkan proses-proses pembelajaran dan
pengajaran yang terancang sama ada secara formal
ataupun tidak formal (Ab. Halim Tamuri & Kamarul
Azmi Jasmi, 2009). Al-Attas (1992) juga menyatakan
pendidikan adalah suatu proses pengisian diri,
pembentukan disiplin dan pengintelektualan generasi
muda. Beberapa istilah dalam Bahasa Arab yang
merujuk kepada pendidikan iaitu tarbiyyah, ta’lim
dasar rabba iaitu mengasuh, memelihara atau
memimpin. Manakala, ta’lim pula berasal daripada
perkataan ‘alima iaitu mengetahui, memberitahu,
melihat, mencerap atau menganggap. Seterusnya,
perkataan ta’dib yang berasal daripada perkataan
aduba iaitu memperhalusi, berdisiplin dan
berbudaya. (Al-Attas, 1979; Rosnani Hashim, 2006).
Pendidikan dalam Islam amat penting dalam
membentuk pendidikan adab dan akhlak anak.
Menurut Abdullah Ishak (1995), pendidikan Islam
ialah suatu proses bagi melatih dan mendidik akal,
jasmani, rohani dan nilai kemasyarakatan serta
akhlak mulia manusia berasaskan nilai-nilai Islam
berdasarkan al-Quran dan al-Sunnah dalam usaha
melahirkan manusia yang sempurna dan bertaqwa
kepada Allah s.w.t. Pendidikan dalam Islam
merangkumi seluruh aspek kehidupan seperti akidah,
syariah, ibadah, akhlak, sains, teknologi, sosiologi,
politik, ekonomi dan lain-lain. Dalam konteks Islam,
pendidikan bermula antara pertemuan malaikat Jibril
dengan Rasulullah s.a.w di Gua Hira’ apabila
Malaikat Jibril meminta Rasulullah s.a.w untuk
membacakan ayat al-Quran. Firman Allah s.w.t :
“Bacalah (wahai Muhammad) dengan nama
Tuhanmu yang mencipta (sekalian makhluk). Ia
menciptakan manusia dari sebuku; bacalah, dan
Tuhanmu yang Maha Pemurah yang mengajar
manusia melalui pena dan tulisan”.
Surah al-Alaq (96): 1-4
Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah (2011) telah

38
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
mengetengahkan beberapa strategi yang digunakan
oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. Strategi tersebut ialah contoh
teladan dan akhlak mulia, pengajaran secara
bertahap, memerhati situasi dan keadaan yang sesuai
dalam memberikan pendidikan kepada anak,
memasukkan unsur kecindan dalam proses
pengajaran dan pembelajaran serta nasihat dan
peringatan kepada anak-anak. Proses pendidikan ini
berlaku antara pendidik dan anak iaitu gaya
pengajaran dan pembelajaran yang dilakukan oleh
pendidik mampu menarik minat pelajar untuk terus
kekal berada dalam sesi pengajaran dan
pembelajaran. Setiap ibu bapa mempunyai gaya
didikan anak yang berbeza-beza dalam membentuk
anak yang sempurna dari segi akhlak dan akidahnya.
Maka dengan ini, ibu bapa memainkan peranan
yang sangat penting dalam usaha mendidik dan
membentuk anak-anak yang baik dan berjaya dalam
pelajaran. Tetapi terdapat dalam kalangan ibu bapa
itu sendiri terlupa atau lalai menunjukkan contoh
teladan yang baik terhadap anak-anak. Mengajar
kebaikan kepada anak-anak dan keluarga serta
mendidik mereka bermaksud ibu bapa bukan sahaja
perlu memberi bimbingan kepada anak-anak tetapi
juga perlu menjadi contoh teladan kepada anak-anak
(Saat Sulaiman, 2011).
Terdapat pelbagai faktor berlakunya masalah adab
dan akhlak dalam kalangan anak masa kini. Pertama,
kekurangan ilmu antara pendidik dan anak didik.
Menurut Ustaz Ahmad Dusuki Abdul Rani menerusi
slot Mau'izati yang ke udara di IKIMfm, ketiadaan
ilmu akan merosakkan peribadi seseorang muslim
meskipun dalam soal adab yang dilakukan seharian.
Kedua, gejala-gejala sosial semakin berleluasa dalam
kalangan anak-anak remaja. Menurut Kamarul Azmi
Jasmi (2011), gejala-gelaja sosial yang berlaku dalam
kalangan anak-anak remaja di akhbar dan majalah
seperti gejala vandalisme dan gangsterisme seperti
merosakkan harta benda awam termasuklah
kemudahan telefon, perhentian bas dan tandas awam
berlaku tanpa adanya pengawasan daripada pihak
yang berkuasa. Ketiga, pengaruh teknologi, media
sosial, rakan sebaya dan pelbagai anasir luar menjadi
isu penting yang mempengaruhi adab dan akhlak
anak-anak. Setiap pilihan dan keputusan dalam
mendidik dan mengasuh anak haruslah rasional,
bertanggungjawab dan mengambil kira kesan
perubahan teknologi semasa. Menurut Perunding
Motivasi Keluarga iaitu Zaid Mohamad dalam
MyMetro (31 Ogos 2018), pengaruh digital dan
media sosial memang sedikit sebanyak menyebabkan
anak muda menjadi lebih individualistik.
Menurut Abdullah Nasih Ulwan (2014), zaman
serba canggih pada hari ini terdapat banyak halangan
yang dihadapi oleh ibu bapa untuk membentuk
akhlak yang baik dalam institusi kekeluargaan. Ia
mempengaruhi kehidupan, keperibadian serta tingkah
laku anak-anak. Ini menunjukkan tanggungjawab ibu
bapa bukan sahaja sekadar memenuhi keperluan
anak-anak tetapi turut memberi didikan agama dan
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kasih sayang yang mencukupi. Ibu bapa perlu
menjadi contoh teladan kepada anak-anak. (Saat
Sulaiman, 2011). Anak-anak perlu diberi galakan
dalam aktiviti sosial dan kepimpinan yang bermula
dari peringkat sekolah dan komuniti. Ibu bapa perlu
sedar setiap perlakuan, sikap dan nilai hanya boleh
dibentuk dengan menunjukkan contoh teladan yang
baik terhadap mereka. Persekitaran kondusif
memainkan peranan besar dalam membentuk anak
yang cemerlang.
Sehubungan dengan itu, kajian ini dijalankan
bertujuan untuk mengemukakan beberapa kaedah
didikan anak yang diperkenalkan oleh Abdullah
Nasih Ulwan yang boleh dijadikan sebagai panduan
kepada ibu bapa dalam membentuk adab dan akhlak
anak.
2. Penyataan Masalah
Perubahan zaman sekaligus mengubah dasar
pendidikan yang telah digubal dan disesuaikan dari
semasa ke semasa untuk meningkatkan mutu sistem
pendidikan bagi memenuhi keperluan serta
membentuk sahsiah dan keperibadian pelajar. Oleh
itu, strategi pendidikan yang digunakan terhadap
anak-anak akan mempengaruhi perkembangan
tingkah laku mereka di rumah mahupun di luar
rumah.
Kebelakangan ini, banyak kes yang melibatkan
masalah tingkah laku anak-anak yang berpunca
daripada didikan yang salah daripada ibu bapa itu
sendiri. Terdapat kalangan ibu bapa sendiri yang
menunjukkan contoh teladan yang tidak baik
terhadap anak-anak sebagai contoh amalan
menghisap rokok, menagih dadah dan mengambil
rasuah yang dilakukan di hadapan anak-anak.
Antara faktor utama perkara ini terjadi adalah
didikan yang salah daripada ibu bapa. Ibu bapa tidak
menerapkan strategi pendidikan yang diajar oleh
Islam terhadap anak maka terbentuklah anak yang
terdedah dengan akhlak yang buruk dan terpengaruh
dengan persekitaran yang tidak sihat. Seterusnya, ibu
bapa kurang memberi perhatian terhadap tingkah
laku anak. Akibatnya timbul isu mengenai bentuk
didikan yang digunakan oleh ibu bapa yang
bekerjaya iaitu adakah strategi pendidikan anak yang
digunakan oleh mereka sesuai dengan perkembangan
anak pada masa kini.
Menurut Kamarul Azmi dan Siti Fauziyani (2007)
mendidik anak dalam jumlah yang ramai sesuai
menggunakan teknik uswah hasanah iaitu teknik
memberi contoh teladan yang baik kepada anak-anak
sesuai mengikut masa dan tempat. Kajian-kajian
lepas menunjukkan bentuk didikan melalui teladan
merupakan contoh yang terbaik dalam pendidikan
anak-anak. Ibu bapa bukan sahaja perlu memberi
bimbingan kepada anak-anak tetapi juga perlu
menjadi contoh teladan kepada anak-anak (Saat
Sulaiman, 2011).
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
Mohd. Fadhilah Kamsah (2005) menjelaskan ibu
bapa yang cemerlang sahsiah diri bertindak sebagai
contoh dan ikutan kepada anak-anak. Mereka
berusaha memastikan anak-anak belajar dalam situasi
yang aman dan sesuai. Perlu diketahui bahawa anak-
anak tidak belajar daripada perkara yang ibu bapa
mereka katakan sebaliknya mereka banyak
mempelajari sesuatu yang bersifat baharu dengan
melihat kepada apa yang ibu bapa mereka lakukan.
Ibu bapa yang mithali sentiasa menggerakkan anak-
anaknya untuk menjadi cemerlang.
Sungguhpun gaya didikan ibu bapa sentiasa
berubah-ubah mengikut peredaran zaman namun asas
didikan ibu bapa dalam memastikan kejayaan dan
kecemerlangan anak masih tetap sama sama ada dari
segi akademik mahupun adab dan tingkah laku. Lima
kaedah didikan anak yang diperkenalkan oleh
Abdullah Nasih Ulwan dalam penulisan ini merujuk
kepada gaya didikan anak yang boleh dipraktikkan
oleh ibu bapa bagi meningkatkan pembentukan adab
dan akhlak anak.
3. Objektif Kajian
Kajian ini dijalankan bagi mencapai objektif
tersebut:
Mengenal pasti kaedah didikan anak menurut
pandangan Abdullah Nasih Ulwan dalam menangani
keruntuhan akhlak remaja.
4. Kajian Lepas
Dalam mencapai proses pembangunan insan yang
sempurna ia mesti dilakukan secara menyeluruh dari
aspek intelek, jasmani dan emosi dengan
berpandukan elemen kerohanian. Penekanan dari segi
akidah dan akhlak seseorang individu amat penting.
Ibu bapa merupakan orang pertama yang
bertanggungjawab memberi pendidikan secukupnya
kepada anak-anak sama ada pendidikan agama atau
akademik (Che Noraini, 2011). Hal ini telah
dijelaskan di dalam al-Quran melalui firman Allah
s.w.t:
“Hai orang-orang yang beriman, lindungilah
dirimu dan keluarga kalian dari api neraka...”.
Surah At-Tahrim (66): 6
Berdasarkan ayat di atas, Abdullah Nasih Ulwan
(1995) menyatakan seseorang pendidik dapat
memelihara keluarganya dan anak-anaknya daripada
azab api neraka sedangkan ia tidak mengarahkan
mereka melakukan kebaikan dan mencegah daripada
melakukan kejahatan.
Dalam konteks institusi pendidikan keluarga,
Rohner et. al (2001) menjelaskan ibu bapa
merupakan individu yang paling hampir dengan
anak-anak dan mereka yang mencorakkan
perkembangan peribadi anak-anak bermula di
peringkat kelahiran sehinggalah ke peringkat dewasa.
Nik Azis dan Noraini (2008) menyatakan bahawa
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dalam konteks mencorak dan mendidik anak-anak,
ibu bapa adalah pendidik utama dalam penghayatan
nilai kehidupan dan memainkan peranan penting
dalam memberi sokongan yang berpanjangan kepada
anak-anak. Abdullah Nasih Ulwan (2015) di dalam
kajiannya menjelaskan asas bagi pembangunan
pendidikan yang berkualiti ke atas setiap ibubapa
adalah menyempurnakan pendidikan al-Quran
kepada anak-anak kerana pendidikan agama sejak
kecil menjadi tonggak utama dalam pembangunan
insani anak.
Pelbagai teori mengenai pendidikan anak telah
diperkenalkan oleh sarjana Islam dan Barat seperti
Imam al-Ghazali, Luqman al-Hakim dan Ibnu
Sahnun. Menurut Ahmad Junaedi (2017) dalam
Konsep Pendidikan Menurut Luqmanul Hakim dalam
al-Quran terbahagi kepada tiga aspek iaitu
pendidikan akidah, akhlak dan ibadah. Pertama,
pendidikan akidah iaitu Luqman telah memberi
nasihat kepada anaknya supaya tidak melakukan
perbuatan syirik terhadap Allah s.w.t. Kedua,
pendidikan akhlak yang dinyatakan di dalam surah
Luqman adalah kewajiban seorang anak untuk
berbakti kepada kedua ibu bapa. Ketiga, Ahmad
Junaedi (2017) berpendapat bahawa ibu bapa
bertanggungjawab untuk mengingatkan anak untuk
sentiasa menjalankan perintah Allah s.w.t iaitu
menunaikan solat lima waktu.
Ibnu Sahnun juga tidak ketinggalan dalam
memperkenalkan beberapa teori pendidikan Islam
yang boleh dijadikan penanda aras kepada pendidik
dalam mendidik anak. Menurut Muhammad Munir
Musa (1981), antara teori pendidikan Islam Ibnu
Sahnun ialah mengajar dan mempelajari al-Quran,
penyediaan tempat belajar yang sesuai bagi pelajar
lelaki dan perempuan, ketika mengajar hendaklah
menggunakan sumber maddi al-ta’lim atau bahan
pengajaran dalam proses pengajaran dan
pembelajaran, mempelajari ilmu al-Quran terlebih
dahulu sebelum mempelajari ilmu-ilmu lain sama ada
melalui kaedah hafazan atau pemahaman, memulakan
tingkah laku pelajar dengan memberi penekanan
kepada ibadat solat.
Menurut Ahmad Sukari Mohamad dan Mohd
Nizam Sahad (2014) telah memperkenalkan
pendidikan anak seharusnya bermula dari peringkat
bayi dan seterusnya berkembang sehingga ke
peringkat dewasa. Al-Ghazali telah menghuraikan
beberapa bentuk kepimpinan guru dalam mendidik
anak. Pertama, guru sebagai penerap kasih sayang.
Kasih sayang ialah perasaan belas kasihan, simpati
dan memberi perhatian (Noresah Baharum et. al.,
2010). Kedua, Imam al-Ghazali (1980) menyatakan
seorang pemimpin berperanan sebagai penunjuk
contoh teladan. Rasulullah s.a.w adalah contoh
teladan yang utama dalam mendidik anak. Ketiga,
beliau menjelaskan peranan pembimbing sebagai
pembentuk sahsiah unggul pelajar. Menurut Ahmad
Sukari Mohamad dan Mohd Nizam Sahad (2014),
Imam al-Ghazali begitu mementingkan adab dalam
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
setiap perlakuan ibadat sehingga memulakan setiap
perbahasan bagi sesuatu ilmu dengan adab dan
akhlak bagi memastikan ibadah yang dilakukan
sempurna dan memenuhi tuntutan syarak yang
sebenar. Keempat, peranan guru sebagai pemimpin
pengajaran dan pembelajaran pelajar. Menurut
Hamid Fahmy Zarkasyi (1990), lima langkah proses
pengajaran dan pembelajaran menurut al-Ghazali
adalah diam, mendengar, mengulangi, melakukan
dan memberitahu.
Teori-teori pendidikan yang diperkenalkan oleh
ahli falsafah barat pula adalah berbeza dengan teori
pendidikan dari pandangan Islam kerana teori-teori
yang diciptakan oleh ahli falsafah barat berdasarkan
pemikiran dan pemerhatian dari pengalaman sebenar.
Pendidikan menurut Dewey (1916) merupakan proses
kehidupan sosial secara praktikal yang daripadanya
manusia mendapatkan ilmu bersumberkan kepada
pengalaman yang teratur dan mendahulukan cita rasa
pelajarnya dengan memberi kebebasan dan ruang
kepada pelajar untuk menerokai apa jua ilmu dan
pengetahuan (Abd Munir Bin Mohamed Noh, 2010).
Teori Pembelajaran Sosial Albert Bandura (1977)
terjadi dalam tiga komponen iaitu tingkah laku
model, pengaruh tingkah laku model dan proses
internal pelajar. Oleh itu, individu yang melakukan
pembelajaran akan melalui proses meniru tingkah
laku model, kemudian menilai untuk meniru tingkah
laku tersebut sehingga membentuk tingkah lakunya
sendiri (Mohamad Surya, 2004).
Pendidikan anak merupakan tanggungjawab ibu
bapa dalam membentuk iman, akhlak, akal dan
jasmani yang sempurna dalam diri anak. Oleh itu,
pendidikan anak yang dikemukakan oleh Abdullah
Nasih Ulwan amat sesuai digunakan oleh ibu bapa
dalam pembentukan adab dan akhlak anak. Pada
kajian ini, penulis akan memfokuskan kepada
masalah adab dan akhlak anak yang menjadi isu
utama berlakunya gejala-gejala yang tidak sihat
dalam kehidupan terutamanya yang melibatkan
golongan kanak-kanak mahupun sehingga golongan
dewasa. Beberapa faktor yang mengundang
berlakunya masalah adab dan akhlak anak dalam
institusi kekeluargaan.
Isu yang pertama ialah anak yang dahagakan ilmu
pendidikan. Menurut Ustaz Ahmad Dusuki Abdul
Rani (2018) menerusi slot Mau'izati yang ke udara di
IKIMfm, ketiadaan ilmu akan merosakkan peribadi
seseorang muslim meskipun dalam soal adab ketika
makan, minum dan memberi salam kepada orang
lain. Anak-anak muda yang masih di bangku sekolah
bercakap dengan orang lebih tua dengan gaya dan
bahasa yang sangat kasar, tidak ada lagi tertib adab
menghormati. Bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi pernah mengatakan:
“Negara akan menjadi agung jika warganya
terdiri daripada insan-insan yan mengamalkan
budaya murni.”
Seterusnya, isu yang kedua mengenai kata-kata
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nasihat yang diberikan kepada anak-anak dianggap
semakin kurang releven. Intan Mas Ayu Shahimi
(2018) menyatakan kata-kata nasihat supaya
mencontohi didikan keluarga pada 20 atau 30 tahun
dahulu dianggap semakin kurang releven. Ramai
berpendapat ibu bapa perlu melakukan banyak
cubaan dalam mendidik anak. Memberi nasihat
dengan tujuan untuk mengubah sikap anak-anak
bukan tujuan untuk memandang serong terhadap
perbuatan yang dilakukan oleh mereka sehingga
menyebabkan anak-anak kurang motivasi untuk
menerima kata-kata nasihat daripada ibu bapa.
Ketiga, masalah besar yang dihadapi oleh
pendidik dalam mendidik anak ialah apabila
teknologi, media sosial, dan rakan sebaya memberi
pengaruh negatif kepada perubahan adab dan akhlak
anak. Ia dilihat menjadi ancaman terbesar buat
generasi kini. Setiap pilihan dan keputusan dalam
mendidik dan mengasuh anak haruslah rasional,
bertanggungjawab dan mengambil kira kesan
perubahan teknologi semasa. Sedangkan anak muda
kini dilihat semakin kurang berkomunikasi secara
langsung, tidak pandai mengatur bahasa dengan
orang yang lebih berusia, tiada semangat patriotik
dan bersikap introvert.
Menurut Perunding Motivasi Keluarga Zaid
Mohamad, pengaruh digital dan media sosial
memang sedikit sebanyak menyebabkan anak muda
menjadi lebih individualistik. Anak-anak perlu diberi
galakan dalam aktiviti sosial dan kepimpinan dan ini
dimulakan diperingkat sekolah dan komuniti (Intan
Mas Ayu Shahimi, 2018).
Keempat, masalah yang dihadapi dalam
pendidikan adab dan akhlak masa kini mengenai
sistem penguatkuasaan hukuman di sesebuah
institusi. Di sekolah, guru-guru lain dan pihak
pentadbir menghadapi kekangan dari sudut
penguatkuasaan hukuman dan denda serta larangan
merotan. Terkini ada pihak yang mencadangkan
supaya hukuman rotan dilaksanakan semula di
sekolah, tetapi masih terdapat pihak yang menentang
cadangan tersebut dengan alasan adakah dengan
hukuman rotan dapat memperbaiki akhlak pelajar
terutama di sekolah (Buletin Utama, 10 November
2014).
Kelima, masalah lain yang dihadapi dalam dunia
pendidikan anak terutamanya untuk membentuk
akhlak dan peribadi mulia anak ialah berlakunya
gejala-gejala sosial yang semakin berleluasa
dikalangan anak-anak remaja. Menurut Kamarul
Azmi Jasmi (2011), gejala-gelaja sosial yang berlaku
dikalangan anak-anak remaja di akhbar dan majalah
seperti gejala vandalisme dan merosakkan harta
benda awam termasuklah kemudahan telefon,
perhentian bas dan tandas awam.
Tinjauan ini juga melihat beberapa buah buku
ilmiah bagi mendapatkan petikan ilmu mengenai isu
yang hendak diselidiki. Bagi mencapai objektif
kajian latihan ilmiah ini, penulis telah berusaha
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
dengan membuat pembacaan terhadap bahan bacaan
yang berkaitan dengan tajuk kajian. Pertama, hasil
kajian daripada Abdul Munir Ismail dan Mohd Noor
Daud (2014) mendapati bahawa pandangan Abdullah
Nasih Ulwan mengenai bahawa ramai dalam
kalangan ibu bapa yang tidak mengambil pendekatan
yang baik dalam urusan mendidik anak-anak mereka.
Hal ini kerana, pembentukan keperibadian mulia
anak-anak bermula daripada institusi kekeluargaan
(Abdul Munir Ismail, 2014).
Abdul Munir Ismail (2014) menyatakan bahawa
memasukkan unsur ajaran Islam dengan cara yang
lengkap dalam pendidikan sudah tentu dapat
menyelesaikan masalah yang berlaku dalam sesebuah
keluarga secara praktikal. Antaranya ialah melatih
anak-anak dengan beribadat, khususnya sembahyang
yang mana dianggap sebagai tiang agama. Kesan dari
ibadat itu kanak-kanak dan remaja mendapat faedah
rohani, manfaat jasmani dan kesan dari sudut akhlak
serta jiwa. Selain itu, ibu bapa perlu membawa
mereka ke tempat-tempat bersukan seperti pusat
bersenam, kolam, tapak perkelahan dan sebagainya
bagi memenuhi kegiatan lapang mereka. Mereka
seharusnya dibimbing supaya masa lapangnya
dipenuhi dengan aktiviti seperti membaca bahan yang
berfaedah, dapat menjalankan latihan jasmani dengan
baik, melaksanakan ibadah seperti sembahyang
dengan rela hati dan lain-lain.
Sorotan kajian kedua ialah hasil kajian daripada
Izzah Nur Aida Zur Attar dan Salasiah Hanin Hamjah
(2018) yang bertajuk Personaliti Bapa Menurut
Perspektif Islam dan Aplikasinya Dalam Keluarga.
Tujuan kajian ini dilakukan untuk mengkaji ciri-ciri
personaliti bapa menurut perspektif Islam dan
mengenal pasti ciri-ciri personaliti yang
diaplikasikan oleh bapa dalam kehidupan
bekerluarga.
Bapa perlu melengkapkan anak-anak dengan
kefahaman-kefahaman yang berasal daripada
pendidikan keimanan, membiasakan diri dengan asas
pengajaran Islamiah dan mentaati Rasulullah s.a.w
serta ahli keluarga baginda sejak dari kecil hingga
anak itu membesar (Amla et al., 2010). Sehubungan
dengan itu, kewibawaan dan keteladanan ibu bapa
dalam keluarga sangat menentukan pembentukan
nilai-nilai agama, moral, sosial dan disiplin diri anak-
anak (Azizi Yahya, 2010).
Sorotan kajian yang ketiga iaitu hasil kajian
daripada Abdul Munir Ismail, Saharizah Mohamad
Salleh dan Misnan Jemali (2016) yang bertajuk
Analisis Bentuk Didikan Ibu Bapa bagi Membentuk
Sahsiah Cemerlang: Kajian di Sekolah Menengah
Kebangsaan Pulau Sebang, Alor Gajah, Melaka.
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk untuk mengetahui kaedah
ibubapa mendidik anak melalui metod autoritarian
(terlalu tegas), metod permisif (memberi kebebasan)
atau metod autoritatif (memberi kebebasan dan
dipersetujui bersama).
Berdasarkan kajian yang dilakukan, kaedah
42
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didikan autoritif dilihat lebih sesuai dan berkesan
berbanding kaedah permisif dan autotarian. Ibu bapa
hendaklah memberi galakan dan dorongan daripada
semasa ke semasa kepada anak-anak dan memberi
hukuman sebagai pengajaran jika mereka melakukan
kesalahan. Sebaiknya anak-anak perlu diberi
bimbingan dan tunjuk ajar terlebih dahulu sebelum
dikenakan hukuman. Ibu bapa adalah contoh terbaik
dalam mendidik anak membentuk akhlak mulia.
Anak-anak harus menyedari bahawa mereka perlu
ada hubungan yang kuat bersama ibu bapa bagi
membolehkan mereka berkomunikasi dan sentiasa
berinteraksi secara positif bagi memperbaiki sahsiah
diri masing-masing. (Nooraini Othman & Salasiah
Khairollah, 2013).
Pelbagai strategi pendidikan anak yang boleh
digunakan oleh ibu bapa sebagai panduan tetapi
aspek yang ditekankan dalam Islam semakin kurang
digunakan kerana gaya didikan sentiasa berubah
mengikut perkembangan zaman dan anak-anak yang
semakin membesar dengan persekitaran yang banyak
mempengaruhi pembentukan adab dan akhlak
mereka. Sehubungan dengan itu, masalah ini perlu
diambil perhatian yang sewajarnya oleh ibu bapa
dalam menilai dan mengkaji semula bentuk didikan
yang digunakan terhadap anak-anak adakah selari
dengan tuntutan Islam.
5. Metodologi Kajian
Kajian ini dijalankan dengan menggunakan
pendekatan kualitatif. Kajian ini melibatkan kajian
kepustakaan. Sumber utama yang digunakan adalah
buku Tarbiyatul Aulad fil Islam serta jurnal-jurnal,
kertas-kertas persidangan, dokumen, tesis dan buku-
buku yang berkaitan dengan pendidikan untuk
mengenalpasti kaedah didikan dalam menangani
masalah keruntuhan akhlak remaja.
6. Dapatan Kajian
Menurut Abdullah Nasih Ulwan (1995) dalam
Tarbiyatul Aulad Fil Islam terdapat lima kaedah
pendidikan yang diaplikasikan dalam mendidik
peribadi mulia anak iaitu pendidikan melalui
tauladan, pendidikan melalui kebiasaan, pendidikan
melalui nasihat, pendidikan melalui pemerhatian dan
pendidikan melalui hukuman.
Dapatan kajian menumpukan kepada tiga strategi
dalam menangani keruntuhan akhlak remaja, iaitu
pendidikan melalui tauladan, nasihat dan hukuman.
Perbincangan dijelaskan lebih terperinci berdasarkan
strategi pendidikan anak menurut Abdullah Nasih
Ulwan dalam membentuk adab dan akhlak anak.
Penggunaan kaedah pendidikan yang sesuai dalam
membentuk akidah dan akhlak anak adalah amat
penting.
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
a. Menangani Keruntuhan Akhlak Anak Melalui
Contoh Teladan
Menurut Abdullah Nasih Ulwan (1995)
pendidikan melalui teladan merupakan salah satu
metod pendidikan yang paling berkesan dalam
membentuk akhlak, peribadi dan nilai
kemasyarakatan dalam diri anak. Ini kerana pendidik
merupakan contoh teladan yang terbaik bagi
pandangan anak. Dapatan ini juga disokong oleh Ab.
Halim dan Mohamad Khairul (2010) yang
menegaskan bahawa guru perlu menjadi suri teladan
dan qudwah hasanah serta agen perubahan
masyarakat. Tingkah laku dan akhlak pendidik akan
ditiru dan diikuti oleh anak sama ada dalam keadaan
sedar atau tidak.
Ibubapa yang kurang memberi didikan ilmu yang
cukup terhadap anak-anak menjadi faktor berlakunya
masalah emosi dalam kalangan anak. Menurut
Wilmshurst dan Brue (2005), tingkah laku anak-anak
dipengaruhi oleh sikap dan layanan ibu bapa itu
sendiri. Ibubapa yang kurang memberi perhatian dan
kasih sayang menyebabkan anak-anak berasa tersisih.
Oleh itu, ibubapa seharusnya menunjukkan
contoh teladan yang baik dari segi mengamalkan
ilmu agama dalam kehidupan supaya menjadi contoh
kepada anak-anak dalam pembentukan adab dan
akhlak. Menurut Mohd. Nasir (2010) kaedah
pendidikan akhlak dengan meningkatkan ilmu
pengetahuan agama islam dan berusaha bersungguh-
sungguh melakukan kebaikan sehingga menjadi
kebiasaan dalam bertingkah laku.
Jelas bahawa, kaedah didikan ibubapa melalui
contoh teladan memberi peranan yang penting dalam
membentuk adab dan akhlak anak dengan
menunjukkan sikap dan tingkah laku yang baik
terhadap anak-anak. Menurut Mohd Azrul (2013),
ibubapa yang menunjukkan cotnoh teladan yang baik
memberi kesan yang positif terhadap jiwa anak-anak
kerana mereka sentiasa memerhatikan tingkah laku
ibu dan bapa mereka.
b. Menangani Keruntuhan Akhlak Anak Melalui
Nasihat
Kaedah didikan melalui nasihat ini berkonsepkan
peringatan, teguran dan ajakan yang dapat
membentuk keperibadian dan tingkah laku individu.
Menurut Abdullah Nasih Ulwan (1995) kaedah
nasihat yang disarankan al-Quran iaitu melalui
ajakan dan teguran yang dapat menyentuh perasaan
sehingga memberi kesan kepada jiwa anak didik.
Dapatan ini disokong oleh Hyman (1997) dan Khalim
Zainal (2008) yang menyatakan tingkah laku murid
dapat dibentuk berdasarkan pengalaman dengan
menyelami perasaan serta pemikiran mereka melalui
beberapa pendekatan seperti memberi nasihat atau
perbincangan secara tertutup.
Kini, kata-kata nasihat yang diberikan kepada
anak-anak dianggap semakin kurang relevan. Intan
Mas Ayu Shahimi (2018) menyatakan kata-kata
43
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nasihat supaya mencontohi didikan keluarga pada 20
atau 30 tahun dianggap semakin kurang relevan.
Menurut Suwaid (2009), Rasulullah s.a.w
menggunakan kaedah nasihat dengan menceritakan
peristiwa-peristiwa yang pernah berlaku pada masa
dahulu supaya dapat dijadikan pengajaran serta
menggelakkan penyampaian yang terlalu panjang
supaya pendengar tidak berasa bosan.
Oleh itu, dapat disimpulkan kaedah nasihat
mempunyai peranan yang penting dalam menangani
keruntuhan akhlak anak. Luqman Al-Hakim
menerapkan pendidikan melalui nasihat ini dengan
menimbulkan perasaan kasih sayang dan bijaksana
agar dapat menyentuh perasaan dan jiwa seseorang
anak. (Nurul Hidayat, 2016).
c. Menangani Keruntuhan Akhlak Melalui
Pendidikan Melalui Hukuman
Joseph A. Mercurio dalam kajian Zainudin
(2014), mentakrifkan bahawa hukuman merotan
adalah satu cara untuk membentuk disiplin pelajar
dan perlu dilaksanakan di sekolah. Abdullah Nasih
Ulwan (1995) telah menghuraikan tiga kaedah yang
dibawakan oleh Islam dalam pendidikan anak melalui
hukuman iaitu pergaulan yang lemah lembut dan
kasih sayang terhadap anak, hukuman yang
dikenakan hendaklah bersesuaian dengan tingkah
laku semula jadi anak itu dan dijalankan secara
berperingkat-peringkat bermula yang ringan kepada
yang berat.
Kaedah hukuman di sesebuah institusi
menghadapi kekangan dalam melaksanakan
penguatkuasaan hukuman dan denda serta larangan
merotan. Hal ini kerana hukuman rotan telah
menimbulkan pelbagai reaksi khususnya dikalangan
ibu bapa, termasuklah bantahan terbuka sehingga
kepada mengambil tindakan mahkamah. (Khairina,
2003).
Justeru, Abdullah Nasih Ulwan (1995)
berpendapat pelbagai cara yang harus dilakukan oleh
pendidik dalam memberikan hukuman kepada anak
sebelum menggunakan kaedah pukulan. Kaedah
pukulan merupakan kaedah yang terakhir apabila
dengan cara menasihati tidak memberi kesan kepada
perubahan tingkah laku anak. Dapatan ini disokong
oleh kajian Zainudin (2010) yang menyatakan
bahawa pihak ibu bapa bersetuju agar garis panduan
khusus, peraturan dan prosedur yang dibenarkan oleh
undang-undang yang bertujuan untuk mendidik dan
memberi peringatan kepada anak.
7. Kesimpulan
Pelbagai strategi pendidikan anak yang boleh
digunakan oleh ibu bapa sebagai panduan tetapi
aspek yang ditekankan dalam Islam semakin kurang
digunakan kerana gaya didikan sentiasa berubah
mengikut perkembangan zaman dan anak-anak yang
semakin membesar dengan persekitaran yang banyak
mempengaruhi pembentukan adab dan akhlak
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
mereka. Sehubungan dengan itu, masalah ini perlu
diambil perhatian yang sewajarnya oleh ibu bapa
dalam menilai dan mengkaji semula bentuk didikan
yang digunakan terhadap anak-anak adakah selari
dengan tuntutan Islam. Hal ini menunjukkan betapa
pentingnya peranan ibu bapa dalam membantu
pelajar membentuk sahsiah dah akhlak yang baik
agar dapat mengatasi masalah keruntuhan akhlak
yang berlaku kepada anak-anak dari kalangan remaja
terutamanya akibat dari perkembangan zaman dari
semasa ke semasa.
Rujukan
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Arab dan Tamadun Islam. h. 2
Ab. Halim Tamuri & Mohamad Khairul Azman Ajury.
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Abdul Munir Ismail Ismail, Mohd Noor Daud. (2014).
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Pendidikan Anak-Anak dalam Jurnal Pendidikan
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Abdul Munir Ismail, Saharizah Mohamad Salleh,
Misnan Jemali. (2016). Analisis Bentuk Didikan
Ibu Bapa Bagi Membentuk Sahsiah Cemerlang:
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Perspektif. 8 (2):1-10
Abdullah Ishak. (1995). Pendidikan Islam dan
Pengaruhnya di Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan
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Islam (Pendidikan Anak Dalam Islam).
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Islam (Edisi Terjemahan). Kuala Lumpur: PTS
Publications.
Ahmad Junaedi. (2017). Konsep Pendidikan Menurut
Luqmanul Hakim Dalam Al-Quran dalam Jurnal
Pendidikan Islam Rabbani. 1(2)
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dan Objektif Pendidikan Islam. Terj. Shamsuddi
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Amla Salleh, Zahara Aziz, Zuria Mahmud & Abd. Aziz
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Pembangunan Sahsiah Remaja dan Implikasinya
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h.htm
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Generasi Berkualiti. Harian Metro dicapai daripada
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08/373013/membina-generasi-berkualiti
Izzah Nur Aida Zur Raffar & Salasiah Hanin Hamjah.
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Importance Of Father Love: History and
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pendidikan dari perspektif Islam: Konsep dan
matlamat. Jurnal Pendidikan Islam. Jil. 12. Bil. 1.

Khalim Zainal. (2008). Memahami Tingkah laku
Remaja Bermasalah dari Perspektif Teori Tingkah
laku, Humanistik, Psikoanalitik dan Tret
Personaliti. Jurnal Pengajian Umum, 9.
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Psikologi, Tanggungjawab Antara Isu Utama.
http://www.geocities.com/mykaunselor/rotan.htm
Buletin Utama, TV3,10 November 2014.
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Selangor: PTS Millennia Sdn. Bhd.
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Pendidikan Rasulullah. Bangi: Pelima Media Sdn
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ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH ESNE006

Employment of Transitivity System in Script Analysis

Priscilla Rebecca Elvis1,*, Dianellie Yvonne Anak Stanlee Regik1, and Larry Cassidy Anak Banta1
1
Dept. of General Studies, Politeknik Mukah Sarawak
*Corresponding author: priscilla.elvis@pmu.edu.my

Abstract
The transitivity system construes the world experience into manageable set of process types. Transitivity
system is a system which deals with the content that is expressed in language: all doing, sensing, being,
saying activities that happen in the world. This model is built within the theory of social semiotic, which is
embedded in the semiotic field of study. Semiotics is the study of meaning-making, signing process, and
meaningful conversation. Presently, we can see that one of the major problems among students’ writing
language is learning the fact that the intended meaning that they want to deliver to the readers cannot be
fully comprehended by the readers. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to see how students build their
sentence structures in delivering meaning-making to the readers and then to understand how the sentence
structures affect the interpretation of the text. The 15 participants for this textual analysis were randomly
picked among form 4 secondary school students from SMK LKTP Kahang Timur, Kluang. The method
used in this textual analysis was SPM 1119 English Essay Writing (Section B) entitled ‘My Favourite
Idol’. The time frame for this essay was 45 minutes, which was equivalent to one period. The written
essays were then collected and analysed by the researchers according to the transitivity analysis system.
Based on the analysis, there were two dominant processes such as material and relational processes that fall
under the major processes category, which show the process of acting the physical action and the
personality of their favourite idol.
Keywords: - transitivity, semiotics, meaning-making, major processes

deals with ‘the doing’ or an action of an entity. The

1. Introduction
The transitivity system construes the world
experience into a manageable set of process types.
Each process type provides its own model or schema
for constructing a particular domain of experience as
a figure of a particular kind (Halliday, 2004).
Transitivity was introduced by M.A.K Halliday, the
British linguist, who first termed the system as
‘systemic-functional’ model (Angermuller,
Maingueneau, & Wodak, 2014). The systemic-
functional model is an illustration that relates the
linguistics system with the social structure. It is used
to explain the social practices and it covers the
complete set of actions (be it abstract or concrete
type of actions) (Thibault, 1991). This model is built
within the theory of social semiotic, which is
embedded in the semiotic field of study. Semiotic is
the study of meaning making, signing processes and
meaningful conversation. Its main concern is the
meaning that lies behind the utterances made by
language users in order to produce meaningful
conversation between interlocutors. It is about the
interpretation of the words that make up a text
including visual, aural and verbal in nature (Thibault,
1991).
There are six different types of processes in
systemic grammar, which are divided into three
major, and three minor processes (Halliday, 1985).
The three major processes are material process,
mental process and relational process, while the
minor processes are verbal process, behavioural
process and existential process. Material process
46
doer (which is called an ‘actor’) should be a human
or animated object. Mental process is all about
sensing or experiencing things in the brain. Some of
the examples of mental processes are ‘worry’,
‘remember’, and ‘love’. The third type of process is
relational process, which deals with the state of
‘being’ or ‘becoming’. Usually, the verbs related to
this process are verbs-to-be such as ‘is’, ‘become’
and have’. The fourth type of process is verbal
process. As the name suggests, this process relates to
the act of ‘saying’. Some examples of the verbs that
fall under this category are ‘say’, ‘ask’ and ‘request’.
Then, the fifth type of process is behavioural process.
This is the most confusing process of all the six
processes, as it is located in between the material and
mental processes. Behavioural verbs need the
individual to use both physical and cognitive ability
in order to be called as a behavioural process.
‘Smile’, ‘laugh’ and ‘breathe’ are three examples of
behavioural verbs. Then, the last type of process is
existential process. This process denotes the nature of
the ‘existence of something’. Usually, it can be
realized by the presence of the empty word or
dummy ‘there…’ as the placeholder of the verb.
1.1 Purpose of study
Presently, we can see that one of the problems in
students’ writing in language learning is the fact that
the intended meaning that they want to deliver to the
readers cannot be fully comprehended by the readers.
This might be because of the structure of the
 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
language that they build does not fulfil the
requirement of how sentences supposedly need to be
organized. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to
see how they build their sentence structure in
delivering their meaning to the readers and then to
understand how the sentence structure affects the
interpretation of the text.
1.2 Objectives
The objectives of this textual analysis are:
i. to investigate various types of processes
used by students in their essay writing.
ii. to identify the frequent/dominant type of
processes used by students in their essay
writing.
iii. to look at the pattern of language structure
(that relates to transitivity system) used by
the students in their essay writing.
iv. to identify the regular errors made by
students in their composition practice.
2. Literature Review
According to Eco (1976), semiotics of
communication requires a theory of sign production
or process of doing the action. It means that the
concern of semiotics is towards the interpretation of
text. One might be confused on the semantics and
semiotics as both terms deal with the interpretation of
meaning. However, semantics is the larger umbrella
that covers semiotics as its sub branch. Sturrock
(1986) argues that while semantics focuses on what
words mean semiotics is concerned with how signs
mean. This directs our attention to the structure of
the meaning itself, where we as the text readers can
actually interpret the words embedded in sentences
by different ways of interpretation, which are explicit
and implicit interpretation.
Semantics deals with implicit interpretation of
text as it focuses on the real intended meaning that a
speaker wants to deliver by looking at both
linguistics, body language and paralinguistic features
of the text. Meanwhile, semiotics put more emphasis
on the explicit part of language interpretation where
it focuses on the types of verbs ranging from visual,
aural and verbal verbs in nature (Thibault, 1991). It
links the language with the social practice and the
doings of the speaker when he produces the
utterances.
Semiotics is often employed in the analysis of
texts. It is used to analyse the text in order to know
the basic structure of the text in relation to the
purpose and the targeted readers of the text.
According to Chandler (2000), a text is an
assemblage of signs (such as words, images, sounds
and/or gestures) constructed (and interpreted) parallel
with the genre and in a particular medium of
communication. Hence, semiotics system is used in
order to identify the basic structure of clauses in a
particular text in which later it will give us the bigger
picture on the information of the text in terms of the
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purpose and the targeted audience.
One of the purposes of the clause is to represent
experience. The word ‘experience’ refers to the
things that people do, see or feel in their everyday
life. In other words, it seeks to describe the events
and states of the real (and unreal) world. Structurally,
the transitivity functions in representing experience
consist of three major elements (Eggins, 1994). They
are processes, participants and circumstances.
Processes are verbs, participants are entities involved
in the process and circumstances are other things that
accompany the processes. It usually specifies the
when, where, why and how of the process.
3. Methodology
A group of 25 secondary Form 4 students of
intermediate English proficiency level from SMK
LKTP KAHANG TIMUR, Kluang were selected to
participate in this study. The reason why secondary
school students were selected to be the participants of
this study is related to the length of the essay that
needed to be written. Primary school students usually
write shorter essays. Thus, secondary school students
were the best choice because were required to write
longer essays and they were also reachable and easy
to work with.
For the purpose of this study, we have agreed to
collect the data from a secondary school. Therefore,
the students were required to write an essay entitled
‘My Favourite Idol’. The topic given to them is
suitable with their English proficiency level. The
students were given 45 minutes (equal to one period)
to do the composition. The first problem that the
researchers have encountered was to meet the time
requirement for the data collection. This is because,
as the requirement for this assignment is to analyse
students’ written essay at the level of
PMR/SPM/MUET or IELTS, most of the targeted
participants were sitting for final year examination.
Therefore, the availability of the students to carry out
the writing task was limited and the data collection
process was carried out on a weekend during extra
class sessions. Dianellie was assigned to collect the
compositions from students in her English language
class for the 2015 academic year.
During the data collection, Dianellie assigned her
form 4 students to write an essay between 300 to 400
words entitled ‘My Favourite Idol’. During the
researchers’ discussion, we had outlined our
objectives and in order to fulfil the objectives of this
assignment, the format of essay is standardised as per
Section B of SPM in 1119 English Paper. The 15
essays were randomly selected to be analysed and
labelled from S1 to S15 (Refer to Appendix). The
process for the data collection took within a week.
Since our group consisted of three members, we
have decided that each member analysed five essay
scripts. Then, we randomly picked 15 scripts from
the 25 students, labelled the scripts from S1 to S15,
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
and then analysed the scripts. In order to ensure the
reliability aspect in analysing the text, we had a
thorough discussion together to reach the same
consensus. After that, we started to work
independently on our respective scripts after we had
the same idea and framework structure on how to
analyse the scripts. Further discussion and meeting
were done a week after scripts analysis to analyse
and tabulate the data.
4. Finding and Analysis
This section is concerned with presenting the
analysis of results for the three major (material,
relational, and mental processes) and minor processes
(existential, verbal, and behavioural processes) that
were found in the 15 students’ essays. The analysis
of processes that was used in identifying the three
major and three minor processes was transitivity.
Transitivity is a major component in experiential
function of the clause where it deals with the
transmission of ideas representing processes or
experiences: actions, events, process of
consciousness, and relations (Halliday, 1985).
Furthermore, transitivity was developed as the
concept of transitive verb or intransitive verb
whether the verb takes an object or not.
Figure 1: List of major and minor process
There are different types of processes in systemic
grammar, which are the major and minor processes.
In the major group, processes are divided into
material, mental, and relational processes.
Meanwhile in the minor group, it is divided into
verbal, behavioural, and existential processes. The
process describes the usage of verbs in writings.
From Figure 1, there were 777 processes (verbs) that
can be found in students’ essays.
Based on the pie chart in Figure 2, we can see the
differences between the usages of six processes. The
major processes dominated the chart with material
process leading it with 35%, followed by relational
process 31%, and mental process 23%.
The students used more material process in
describing the activities involved between them and
their idols while explaining the contents in their
essay. As the text is a narrative essay, there were
numbers of processes that made up of action verbs.
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Figure 2: Percentage on Types of processes
The second frequent process was relational
process even though it was a small difference in
percentage between material and relational processes.
In narrating and describing their idols, students used
relational processes to explain the characteristic and
describe their general attribution based on their
perception and life experience.
Mental process was the third frequent process
used by the students. Although the mental process
was less used by the students as compared to the
material and relational processes, it plays vital roles
to link the text towards their personal thoughts and
feelings. Most of the students utilized the mental
process to indicate their feelings and their interests
towards their respective idol.
On the other hand, minor processes had small
numbers of frequencies where existential and verbal
processes shared the same percentage, which was
4 % and behavioural process was used the least with
2%.
The existential process was needed to express the
existence of any entity in the content of the essays.
Most of the time, the students used an existential
process to inform readers the existence of the idols at
the beginning of the text. As the essays were
elaborated, the usage of this process was less used.
The Verbal process could be seen throughout the
text, especially at the main and conclusion parts.
Students used verbal process to state or describe what
had been said by their idols or to portray
conversation that had happened between them and
their idols.
Lastly, the behavioural process was used the least
in the essay because the students were not required to
describe physiological or psychological behaviour in
detail. Therefore, a number of the students chose not
to use this process in their essays.
Table 1: Major and Minor Processes
Process Total Number
Major 711
Minor 66
Table 1 above shows the overall findings for both
major and minor processes that can be found in the
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15 scripts. According to the table above, major
process was the dominant with 711 of use while the
total number for minor process was 66.
saying between students with their respective idol.
In the processes mentioned previously, they
require the participants to act as the doer of the
process, a person, or thing to receive, respond, and
interact with the processes. Participants are needed,
so that the processes will be able to be used to
construct meaningful sentences. In order for the
execution, one should be able to understand the
process and to be able to use the best and suitable
participants when completing desired sentences so
that readers will be able to understand the meaning of
the sentences constructed by the writers.

Table 2: Examples of Major and Minor Processes

Processes Examples Evidence
Figure 3: Percentage on Major and Minor Processes
[I love my mother Sample 13
Mental like my mother Paragraph 6
From the analysis of the major and minor loved me.] Sentence 2
processes, there were 711 major processes that
covered 92% of the whole text and 66 minor Sample 14
processes identified that comprised 8% in the 15 [ After SPM, she
Material Paragraph 5
scripts collected. Within 711 major processes, the continued his
Sentence 1
verbs were divided into three groups of processes, studies in ALAM]
which are material (280), mental (189), and relational [… do not sleep Sample 8
(242). Meanwhile, for minor processes, there were Behavioural until he …] Paragraph 5
grouped into three processes which were verbal (27), Sentence 3
behavioural (12), and existential (27). Based on the [She said that it
finding, material process was frequently used in Sample 7
was important to
major processes as students often describe the doer’s Verbal Paragraph 4
increase my
action and roles throughout their essay. For example; Sentence 3
knowledge …]
My mother plays a big role in my life. [Sample 2, [She is not the only Sample 2
Paragraph 3, Sentence 1] – Material Relational a provider of Paragraph 3
material goods …] Sentence 2
As for the minor processes, existential and verbal
processes shared the highest frequency followed by [There was too
behavioural processes. The reason for frequent many sweet Sample 5
selection of existential process in students’ written Existential memories between Paragraph 5
essays is because students often used the process to me and my mother Sentence 1
relate to their past experiences they had shared ...]
together with their idol, which is their family as well
as for verbal process where students regularly used to Table 2 above shows the examples from the 15
recall the advice or conversation between them and scripts for each process. Each example in Table 2
their idol. For example; shows that the students used each process in their
writing. Therefore, these examples show that each
… since the day I was born. [Sample 5, Paragraph 1, process that was used in the scripts played important
Sentence 3] – Existential role in delivering the semantic value in their writing
He advised me with a lot of … [Sample 6, Paragraph that related to the topic.
3, Sentence 4] – Verbal
Thus, from these findings, we could
conclude that material process was commonly used
as a major process while existential and verbal
processes were commonly used as minor processes
by intermediate students in Form 4 Ihsan of SMK
LKTP Kahang Timur, Johor.
The usage of material process might be due
to the description of activities and situations between
students and their idol. The use of existential and
verbal processes, on the other hand, might be due to Figure 4: Percentage of Participants in Relational
the intention of describing the existence of the Process
characters and to recall any verbal interaction or
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Figure 4 shows the relational process, which
involved four participants namely as carrier,
attribute, identifier and identified. From the chart in
Figure 6.5 above, we could see that the carrier was
the most used as participant by the students with 43%
out of 341 particulars in the relational process. In
relational attributive clauses, the participant carrying
the characteristic or attribute is known as the carrier.
An attribute would be a predictive value or
characteristic description to the carrier. In this
writing task, most students preferred to use relational
attributive in describing their favourite idol of having
certain qualities such as ‘... a great husband and a
great father too.’ (Sample 1, Paragraph 1, Sentence
5).
Even though relational identifying process that
involved identifier and identified were less used as
compared to relational attributive, a small number of
the participants used this to set up an identity, role,
and meaning in their sentences for example ‘Idol is
someone that you always admire so much.’ (Sample
5, Paragraph 1, Sentence 2).
Figure 5: Percentage of Participants in Mental
Process
As for the mental process, the participants
involved were senser and phenomenon. From Figure
5, we could see that there was an equal percentage
between senser and phenomenon, which was 50%.
The students used senser and phenomenon efficiently
in the mental process to encode the inner world of
cognition, perception, inclination, liking, or disliking
in their sentences.
Table 3: Frequency of Participants in Verbal
Process
Participants in verbal
Frequency
process
Sayer 25
Quoted 1 -sses
Reported 2 [He is really a great husband and a great
Receiver 11
Target 3
Verbiage 2 Relatio
Table 3 shows the participants involved in verbal
process, which were sayer, quoted, reported,
receiver, target, and verbiage. Based on the table 3
above, we can see that sayer has the highest
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frequency followed by receiver, target, verbiage,
reported, and finally quoted. In verbal process, sayer
cannot be separated as an entity because sayer is
needed to convey the idea or content when using
verbal process. The use of verbal process by the
students was to indicate the communication and
saying between the students and their idol. The use of
verbal process in students’ essays also to state or
describe what had been said by their idols or to
portray conversation that had happened between
them and their idols, for example ‘He also criticized
the errors…’ (Sample 6, Paragraph 3, Sentence 4).
Table 4: Frequency of participants in Existential
Process
Participants in
Frequency
existential process
Existent 26
Circumstances 10
Table 4 above shows the frequency of participants
in the existential process. There are two participants
in this process used by the students, namely existent
and circumstances. The use of existential process by
the students was to describe the existence of the
characters and in this case the characters of the
students’ idol such as ‘... since the day I was born.’
(Sample 5, Paragraph 1, Sentence 3).
Table 5: Frequency of Participants in Behavioural
Process
Participants in
Frequency
behavioural process
Behaver 7
Circumstances 5
Table 5 above shows the frequency of
behavioural process used by the students. In the
behavioural process, the main participant involved is
called behaver. Behavioural process was the least
used by the students. This is mainly because the topic
‘My Favourite Idol’ did not require describing the
physiological or psychological behaviour of students’
idols in detail throughout their essays for example
‘Seeing his confidence ….’ (Sample 12, Paragraph 4,
Sentence 7).
Table 6: Examples of processes and participants
Proce Examples
father too.]
Carrier Attribute
(Sample 1, Paragraph 1, Sentence 5)
-nal
[My mother name is Noraslina]
Identified Identifier
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Proce Examples After that, he was a kind

-sses heart and helpful person. The student used
(Sample 2, Paragraph 2, Sentence 1) (Sample 3, Paragraph 4, past tense to
Sentence 1) describe present
[My mother plays a big role in my life.]
Materi – Relational process event.
-al Actor Range Circumstance
(Sample 2, Paragraph 3, Sentence 1) They taught me about life. The students use
[... his principle that said ‘Every…’] They show me the way to both past and
achieve success present tense in
Sayer Quoted (Sample 4, Paragraph 5, describing two
(Sample 8, Paragraph 3, Sentence 4) Sentence 2) - Material events that happen
process. concurrently.
Verbal
[... he will asked his wife to remind
children...] Even though English language is considered as
the second official language in Malaysia, for some
Sayer receiver verbiage students who converse in their mother tongue daily
(Sample 8, Paragraph 5, Sentence 3) is, for example in Tamil language for Indian, or
[I would want to be a leader in the Mandarin and Cantonese for Chinese, English can be
future.] regarded as their third language to be acquired. There
Mental was some evidence of first language interference
Sensor Phenomenon where their sentence structures were directly
(Sample 7, Paragraph 6, Sentence 2) translated from their native language (L1). Ellis
(1997: 51 as cited in Bhela, 1999) refers to
[... children do not sleep...] interference as ‘transfer’, which he says is 'the
Behavi influence that the learner’s L1 exerts over the
-oural Behaver acquisition of an L2'.
(Sample 8, Paragraph 5, Sentence 3)
[... since the day I was born..]
Existe- Table 8: Direct Translation
ntial Existent Errors Remarks
(Sample 5, Paragraph 1, Sentence 3)
He go for continue
Based on the topic given, which is, ‘My favourite his study at Victoria
Idol’, students were allowed to choose and use tenses University of
that were suitable to their context in writing. Wellington...
However, based on the data collected, some of the (Sample 8, Even though the students
students still have problems in tenses, for example Paragraph 2 , used the correct material and
the use of present tense to describe something in the Sentence 3 ) - mental process in both of
past and vice versa. Table 7, 8, and 9 state the Material process these sentences, they tend to
examples of error analysis, direct translation, and use direct translation from
modal verbs error analysis made by the students. I don’t know what Bahasa Malaysia in order to
makes her life far construct their sentences in
Table 7: Error Analysis (Tenses) away from me. English).
Errors Remarks (Sample 5,
Paragraph 4,
He study at Jakarta Sentence 2) –
International School... Mental process
(Sample 8 , Paragraph 2,
Sentence 2 ) – Material Table 8 above shows two examples of errors.
process Beardsmore (1982 as cited in Bhela, 1999) states that
The students used
present tense to many of the difficulties a second language learner has
Besides that, he also an with the phonology, vocabulary, and grammar are due
describe the past
active person in co – to the interference of habits from L1. The subject-verb
event.
curriculum at his school. He agreement is another grammatical aspect that some L2
also take a part... learners tend to overlook in their sentence structure, as
(Sample 8, Paragraph 4, it was not emphasized in their L1. Very often, students
Sentence 1) – Material use the wrong form of verb in a sentence, which does
process not agree with the subject as well as the tense (Baka et
al., 2011).
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 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
Table 9: Modal verbs error analysis
Errors Remarks
He can singing ... (S8) The student used ing-
Other than singing, he also form after modals.
can playing a guitar...
Then they will scolded me The student used past
when I... ( S4) tense form after modal.
Table 9 above shows two examples of modal
verbs error analysis. In the first example, modal verb
can was used to express the ability to play guitar.
However, the verb after modal verb can must be in
its base form. As for the second example, modal verb
will is a future tense and the verb that follows must
be in its base form, which is scold.
Based on our analysis, the dominant process
found in all of the scripts is material process and
followed by relational process. Material process is
found the most in scripts because the students wrote
the essays in a narrative manner. In the material
process, it involves physical action and is described
as the action verb such as ‘do’, ‘teach’, ‘go’ and
‘guide’. Relational process, on the other hand, acts as
the linking tool between the entity and the quality. It
also functions to identify and characterize an entity
by the processes of ‘being’ and ‘having’. Thus, a
narrative contains a lot of material and relational
processes as narrative is a story or a description of a
series of events. Hence, descriptive clauses are the
main element that make up the whole composition,
and that is the reason why material and relational
processes outnumbered other processes.
5. Conclusion
Based on the analysis of the students’ essays,
there are some suggestions in terms of the
pedagogical strategies that can be used in order to
help students’ limited vocabulary and the use of
correct grammar especially when writing a
descriptive essay, particularly for students of
intermediate proficiency level. In order to help the
students in a descriptive type of writing, teachers can
focus on specific processes and participants to help
the students to generate more ideas and gather
appropriate contents for their essay. Besides that,
teachers can also focus and familiarise the
participants with the process involved so that
students will have adequate and enough knowledge
on the required vocabulary and sentence structures.
This will definitely help these students to construct
correct and varied sentences, in addition to encourage
self-confidence among students when it comes to
second language writing. Teaching students how to
write with guidance surely benefit them in the long
run
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Acknowledgment
We are immensely grateful to all involved in this
project as without their inspiration and valuable
suggestion it would not have been possible to
develop the project within the prescribed time.
References
Angermuller, J., Maingueneau, D., & Wodak, R.
(Eds.). (2014). The discourse studies reader: The
discourse studies reader. Amsterdam,
Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing
Company.
Bakar, K. A., Hamid, N. Z., Awal, N. M., & Jalaludin,
N. H. (2011). First Language Influence on Second
Language Performance: A Study of Common
English Grammatical Errors among Rural
Secondary School Students. Faculty of Social
Sciences and Humanities Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, 1(1). Retrieved December 9, 2015 from
http://repo.uum.edu.my/3259/1/Ke1.pdf
Bhela, B. (1999). Native Language Interference in
Learning a Second Language: Exploratory Case
Studies of Native Language Interference with
Target Language Usage. International Education
Journal, 1 (1). Retrieved December 7, 2015 from
http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/
v1n1/bhela/bhela.pdf.
Butt, D., Fahey, R., Feez, S., & Spinks,
S. (2012). Using functional grammar: an
explorer's guide. South Yarra, Victoria: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Chandler, D. (2002) Semiotics: The Basics (1st edn).
London: Routledge.
Eco, U. (1976). A theory of semiotics. London:
Macmillan.
Eggins, S. (1994). An introduction to systemic
functional linguistics. London: Pinter Publisher.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). Introduction to functional
grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). An untroduction to
functional grammar. London: Oxford University
Press Inc.
Mat Awal, N., Abu Bakar, K., Abdul Hamid, N. Z., &
Jalaluddin, N. H. (2007). Morphological
Differences Between Bahasa Melayu and English:
Constraints in Students’ Understanding.
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), 1(1).
Sturrock, J. (1986). Structuralism. London: Paladin.
Thibault, P. (1991). Social semiotics as praxis.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
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Problems and Challenges in Teaching English Speaking Skills in

Politeknik Mukah
Katherine Livan Kehing Abdullah1,*, Helen Anak Abang1, and Mohamad Sobri Suhaili1
1
General Studies Department, Politeknik Mukah Sarawak, 96400 Mukah, Sarawak, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: kathlivan@pmu.edu.my

Abstract
Speaking is one of the skills that a successful graduate should have. Graduates with good English
communication skills could have better job opportunities. However, among the feedbacks received
from the industry after students had undergone their industrial training is lack of communication skills
especially in speaking English. In preparing students to enter the competitive job market, much
emphasis has been given in teaching English speaking skills in Politeknik Mukah. As English is known
as a global language, it is expected that graduates are able to converse well in the language and are well
prepared to enter the workplace. This paper investigates and discuss three problems and challenges in
teaching English speaking skills in Politeknik Mukah, which are students’ confidence, Code-switching
in the classroom, and supportive environment; and further discuss the implications to the problems.
Among the proposed solutions are organizing motivational programme, encouragement to learn L2
through 21st century learning, and awareness programme.
Keywords: - English speaking skills, problems, challenges

1. Introduction speaking skills. Azmi, Hashim, and Yusoff (2018) in

Speaking is one of the skills that a successful
graduate should have. Most industries would lookout
for graduates who have good speaking skills as this
is considered as an added value. Graduates with
good English communication skills could have better
job opportunities. A good business idea or success
stories can only be delivered with good speaking
skills. Hussain (2018) emphasized that in
communication, speaking is an important skill. To
achieve effective communication, language learners
should be able to express themselves (Leong and
Ahmadi, 2017). Effective communication is very
important at the workplace as it helps to deliver an
information as well as receiving an information.
Leong and Ahmadi (2017) in their research cited
Nunan (1995) who stressed that the success in
learning speaking skills is measured based on the
learner’s ability to perform a conversation in the
language. Al Nakhalah (2016) defined speaking skill
as the ability to speak well, with accuracy and
proficiency. In another study, Rahmawati (2017)
defined speaking as a complex cognitive skill
whereby a set of meaningful words is produced by
the speaker together with body language.
In preparing the students to enter the competitive
job market, much emphasis has been given to
speaking skills in higher learning institutions. The
industry would benefit more with employers who are
able to communicate well especially in English. As
English is known as a global language, it is expected
that graduates are able to converse well in the
language and are well-prepared to enter the
workplace. Rahmawati (2017) stressed that students
must be aware of the importance of English
language. It also serves as an added value for a
graduate when they are well equipped with English
53
their research found that communication skill is one
of the important soft skills that a graduate should
have in order to be employed. As graduates
employability has been an issue in Malaysia since a
decade ago, the government has put much emphasis
to equip graduates with relevant skills before
entering the workplace.
In line with the Malaysia Education Blueprint
2013-2025, there is a need to produce graduates who
are proficient in English language while upholding
Bahasa Malaysia as the national language. The
importance of English language has been stressed by
the government as there is a need to create
individuals with good English speaking skills. Other
than that, the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-
2025 also reported that one of the top five issues
facing Malaysian employers is poor English
proficiency among fresh graduates. This is alarming
since the rate of unemployability in Malaysia has
increased from 3.36% in 2018 to 3.4% in 2019
according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s
official portal. The competitive environment is also
another key factor to the rate of unemployability
among the graduates.
Therefore, Polytechnic, as one of the providers
for TVET graduates has taken a step forward to
ensure that emphasis is given to English language in
preparing the students to enter the workplace.
Among the steps taken in ensuring students’
readiness for the workplace is by preparing them
with sufficient communication skills through
compulsory courses taken during their studies.
Communicative English (CE) is a course offered
by the General Studies Department in Polytechnics
in Malaysia for all students. In Politeknik Mukah, all
engineering and commerce students have to register
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
for this course for three semesters. As for
Information Technology students, they only have to
register for an English course during the first
semester. As it is a pre-requisite course, students
need to pass their CE1 in order to continue to CE2,
followed by CE3. The content of the course is
designed to prepare students with appropriate skills
to enter the workplace. Among the skills stressed
throughout the course are group discussions,
presentation skills, pitching, verbal and non-verbal
communication skills, and interview skills.
In June 2019, the syllabus in Polytechnic has
been revised which gives more focus on speaking
skills. Students have to do more assessments related
to presentations, which means that Polytechnic is
looking seriously at the students’ English speaking
skills at this level. It is believed that the revision of
syllabus is done based on the feedback given by the
industry. Besides that, different methods and
approaches are also carried out to ensure that there
are more opportunities for students to get involved
in classroom based assessments and projects. For
example, Outcome-Based Education (OBE) is also
implemented in the classroom to give students more
advantage to communicate during the lesson.
Students are exposed to skills in delivering a
presentation, having group discussions and even up
to mock job interviews to ensure that they are
familiar with skills needed at the workplace in the
future. However, there is a concern in terms of how
important the English course is perceived by the
Polytechnic lecturers and students and whether there
is an understanding towards the use of English
language in and outside the classroom setting.
In this study, we will discuss about the problems,
implications and proposed solutions in teaching
English speaking skills in Politeknik Mukah from
both the lecturers’ and students’ perspectives.
2. Problem Statement
Teaching English at this level might not be a
huge problem since students should have already
been exposed to the language since they were in
primary and secondary schools. As for the students,
learning English at this level is to obtain additional
skills that could be used in the future, which
involves speaking skills such as group discussions,
presentations, pitching and mock interview. The
main purpose of mastering the language is to be able
to enter the job market. However, it seems that there
are a few problems faced by the lecturers in teaching
English speaking skills, and by the students in
learning English speaking skills in Politeknik
Mukah. Leong and Ahmadi (2017) emphasized that
teachers should identify the factors that influence
learners’ speaking performance if they want to help
learners overcome their difficulties in speaking skill.
Therefore, we are going to discuss some of the
factors identified as the problems and challenges in
teaching speaking skills, which are:
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i. Students’ lack of confidence,
ii. Code-switching in the classroom, and
iii. Lack of supportive environment.
2.1 Students’ Lack of Confidence
The first problem and challenge in teaching
English speaking skills identified in Politeknik
Mukah is students’ lack of confidence in speaking
the English language. Through personal
communication with colleagues from General
Studies Department in Politeknik Mukah, a few
lecturers mentioned that lack of confidence is a
common thing among students. As English is only
stressed in the classroom setting, it is uncommon for
the students to use English language outside of the
classroom setting. Therefore, they tend to be less
confident when communicating in English with
other people. They lack the skill of initiating a
conversation or having small talks. However, there
is also a percentage of students who are competent
in the language but have problem with their self-
confidence. In a research done by Kho, Abdullah,
and Leong (2015) which consisted of 230 students
from the engineering and commerce departments of
a polytechnic in Sarawak, they found that students
face difficulties in delivering an oral presentation.
This might happen due to their background, culture
and other factors that contributes to their personality.
In Politeknik Mukah, most students come from
the interior parts of Sarawak and Sabah, while some
are from Peninsular Malaysia. The different level of
proficiency of these students is due to their
background and exposure to the language. As
English is not commonly used in their surroundings,
they are less comfortable speaking in English. Most
of the students commented that they felt nervous
when speaking in front of others since they are not
confident with the language.
Kho et al. (2015) in their study found that
students’ nervousness and anxiety causes them to
have difficulties in delivering a presentation. When
students are nervous, it affects their performance not
only in the classroom but also when using the
language somewhere else. They are afraid of making
any mistakes due to their incompetency in using
English language and preferred to speak less.
On the other hand, Kamaruddin and Zawawi
(2017) in their study found that high self-efficacy
belief towards communication skills in terms of
aptitude, attitude and aspiration are among the
factors that affected student’s communication skills.
Students’ belief towards their own ability in
speaking English language contributes to the level of
confidence. Besides that, there is also a difference
between the level of self-efficacy among engineering
and non-engineering students. Higher self-efficacy
belief is shown by engineering students compared to
non-engineering students (Kamaruddin and Zawawi,
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
2017). Engineering students are found to be more
outspoken with higher level of self-confidence
compared to non-engineering students. The gap
between these two different groups of students is a
challenge for teachers to teach speaking skills in the
classroom since they have different level of
confidence. As students with higher level of
confidence might dominate the lesson, students with
lower level of confidence might feel left behind.
Leong and Ahmadi (2017) in their study found
that learners who have difficulties in speaking skills
usually have low self-esteem, higher anxiety and low
motivation. Students with these kind of attitudes fail
to speak confidently in the classroom. It is difficult
for them to express themselves due to their
personality. They are less motivated to learn English
speaking skills, which leads to the lack of
confidence in using the language.
2.2 Code-switching in the Classroom
Another problem in teaching speaking skills in
Politeknik Mukah is that lecturers have to code-
switch back and forth to ensure that students
understood the lesson. Code switching happens from
both the lecturer and the student to achieve
understanding during the lesson and to deliver a
message. Ja’afar and Maarof (2016) in their research
defined code switching as a communicative
phenomenon that occurs when there is a constant
switch between two languages which happens in a
bilingual’s speech collection.
Besides that, students constantly asking for
translation of words, which they are not familiar
with also, interrupt the lesson. Due to the lack of
vocabulary, lecturers have to avoid jargons in the
classroom to ensure that the lesson is well
understood. Simple use of English language is
practiced in the classroom to ensure understanding
while code switching is used in between words.
Students, on the other hand, are afraid of making
mistakes when speaking, which caused them to
avoid a conversation. When this happens, students
will not be able to practice the language in the
classroom.
Argellan, Mohammed and Krishnansamy (2019)
in their study found that 50% of the respondents
strongly agree that frequent code switching could
help deliver a message. They also discovered that
code switching is a normal thing in a Malaysian
tertiary atmosphere. This can be related to the
situation in Politeknik Mukah since lecturers do
experience frequent code switching in the classroom
as well. Among the factors that causes code
switching to occur are students’ readiness to use and
practice the English language. The lecturers believed
that code switching is used in the classroom to
ensure that there is an understanding between
students and lecturers. For students, they found it
easier to grab the message while lecturers are
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confident that they have successfully delivered a
message. Though code switching could be used in a
positive way to encourage students to learn a new
language and involve actively during the lesson, it
could also be disruptive to the students. It defeats the
purpose of teaching and learning English in the
classroom. Besides that, it also lowered down the
standard of English language, which is a global
language. If used frequently, it will become a habit
for both lecturers and students.
This common practice has been one of the
contributing factors to the difficulties in teaching
English speaking skills in Politeknik Mukah. When
students are comfortable with code switching from
English to Malay language and vice versa, this will
slower down their readiness to use the language. The
practice of code switching also made students rely
more on a language they prefer which is their mother
tongue or the local dialect. Most of the time,
students will avoid speaking English language since
they know that they have the chance to code switch
between languages.
In a study done by Tuan and Mai (2015) at Le
Thanh Hien High School, they found that students
used Vietnamese when they discuss in groups or
pairs instead of using English in the classroom. This
indicates that code switching does not only happen
in Malaysia but also occurs in other countries as
well. The reliance on mother tongue is still
significant in the learning of English speaking skills.
2.3 Lack of Supportive Environment
In order to be able to speak fluently, there is a
need to create a supportive environment for the
learners. Without supportive environment, learners
might find it difficult to have the chance to speak
and practice the language. Al Nakhalah (2016) in his
study found that the main reason for the inability to
speak in English frequently among students at Al
Quds Open University is the unsupportive learning
environment. The author also stressed that a suitable
and friendly environment has to be created by the
lecturer to encourage students to speak in English.
Kiatkheeree (2018) categorised learning
environment into two parts, which are academic
environment and physical environment. Kiatkheeree
(2018) defined an academic environment in terms of
good teaching, the emphasis on independence,
having a clear goal and standard, and an appropriate
assessment and workload. Physical environment, on
the other hand, includes all related things that is
constructed by humans such as noise, crowd,
housing and the quality of neighborhood. In this
paper, we can relate physical environment to the
facilities provided in the institution such as the
library, language labs and discussion rooms. These
facilities contribute to the development of speaking
skills among the students as well as helping the
teachers to provide a conducive environment for
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
language learning.
Leong and Ahmadi (2017) in their study
emphasized that a friendly and cooperative
environment enables students to learn better. The
learning ecosystem influences students’ readiness to
learn English speaking skill. In the case of
Politeknik Mukah, students are lack of supportive
environment as the usage of English language is
only limited to the classroom session. The
environment outside of the classroom does not
encourage students to practice speaking English.
Besides that, they do not appreciate the ability to
speak English well since they are unaware of the
importance of English language proficiency in the
future. There is also no policy to make it compulsory
for students to speak English outside of the
classroom. Therefore, the effort to create a
supportive environment is entrusted to the English
Unit under the General Studies Department.
Programmes such as English Carnivals whereby
competitions such as Public Speaking, Debate,
Spelling Bee, Readers’ Theatre and so on would
usually be organised for students to get involved
with activities outside of the classroom settings.
However, such programme is only organised once in
every semester and based on the current budget
allocated for the department. The organisation of
such programme is also depending on the
availability of venues, time and limited to a number
of student based on the budget and time frame given
for the programmes to be conducted. These
activities need to be cramped into the 14 weeks of
teaching and learning session, which is also a
challenge to set a date and compete with other
programmes from other departments. In terms of
students’ involvement, not all students are involved
in the programme since some of them might be busy
with other activities at their main department or have
other commitments. Therefore, lecturers have to
encourage or sometimes, force students to join in the
programmes especially for programmes that requires
students to speak in front of an audience such as
Public Speaking and Debate. Referring back to the
first problem as discussed earlier, this is related to
student’s lack of confidence.
Besides that, the limitation of speaking English
only during English courses while most of other
courses are taught in the Malay language is also one
of the factors that contributes to the lack of
supportive environment. There is no restrictions to
what language a lecturer should use in the classroom
as long as the content can be delivered. Technical
lecturers would usually rely on the Malay language
since it is easier for them to deliver the lesson even
though most of the reference books are in English.
Therefore, there is less chance for students to
practice speaking in English during other lessons
other than during their English period.
The environment in the campus also causes
students to speak their own dialect with their peers
since they are more comfortable speaking in their
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mother tongue language. Being apart from their
families, the chance to speak their own native
language with their peers could be one way for them
to feel less homesick. Instead of speaking English,
they rely back to other languages when they are
outside of the classroom. The environment they live
in does not support the need to use English daily.
Therefore, they lack the understanding of the
importance of speaking English.
The physical facilities and infrastructure also
contributes in creating a supportive environment for
the students such as the library. Akomolafe and
Adesua (2016) in their study found that students’
academic performance is highly influenced by the
availability and effective utilization of school
physical facilities. The lack of supportive physical
facilities, for example, the library has affected the
students’ level of motivation in learning the English
speaking skills. Teachers, on the other hand, find it
challenging in looking for current and updated
resources as well as materials and facilities to
support the students to practice their speaking skills.
3. Implications
There are a few implications that can be
identified due to the problems and challenges in
teaching speaking skills in Politeknik Mukah. These
implications affected not only the students, but also
the institution and the industry. Among the
implications identified are:
i. Lack of proficiency,
ii. Students’ lack of progress in L2, and
iii. Feedback from the industry.
3.1 Lack of Proficiency
Due to the problems in teaching English speaking
skills in the classroom, students experience lack of
proficiency. They are left behind due to the factors
listed in the problem statements such as their low
self-confidence, frequent code switching in
communication and unsupportive environment.
Students who are lack of self-confidence find it
difficult to get involved with activities related to
English speaking skills. They come from different
background, environment and goals. The different
levels of proficiency in a classroom might cause
students with lower level of proficiency to feel
intimidated by those with higher level of proficiency
(Melnichuk, Osipova, and Kondrakhina, 2017).
When activities such as group works are conducted,
they need to mix around with students from different
level of proficiency. Students with lower level of
proficiency would usually rely on those with higher
level of proficiency. Therefore, they tend to be less
confident especially when speaking in English which
leads to lack of proficiency in English language
skills in the classroom.
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
The strong influence of students’ mother tongue
(L1) compared to English language (L2) causes
students to code switch frequently in the classroom.
Argellan et al. (2019) emphasized that classroom
code-switching produces low competency students.
The frequent use and high reliance on L1 made
students incompetent in L2 since they know that
they can rely on their L1. This reduces their chances
to practice speaking the language. When lecturers
are actually stressing on the importance of speaking
skills, students find it stressful and difficult to
communicate. Therefore, they rely back on their L1
just to deliver or receive a message, which causes
the lack of proficiency among students.
Ja’afar and Maarof (2016) in their study found
that the use of code switching in a classroom is
unacceptable since it lowers the standard of English
language. When the English language is considered
low, students would not be able to look at the
importance of being competent in the language.
Therefore, it is impossible to create graduates who
are competent in speaking English.
3.2 Students’ Lack of Progress in L2
Students’ lack of progress in L2 is due to
unsupportive environment they live in. The
unsupportive surrounding causes them to progress
slowly in acquiring L2 since the environment does
not fully support their progress. There is no or less
support and motivation in their surroundings to help
motivate them. Hence, students’ progress in
acquiring new speaking skills and the teaching of
English speaking skills progress is slow.
In a study done by Kiatkheeree (2018) in a Thai
higher education institution, the author found that
inadequate classroom facilities such as computer,
projector and audio player causes the lack of
progress among students in L2. The unsupportive
physical facilities demotivate teachers to teach
English speaking skills which causes lack of
progress among students. This situation also happens
in Politeknik Mukah since there is still inadequate
access to the facilities mentioned earlier. These
facilities helps in ensuring the progress in L2 is
paced accordingly. However, insufficient funds
causes the inability to purchase facilities that could
help facilitate the teaching and learning of English
speaking skills. As for existing facilities, there is
insufficient funds for maintenance.
Besides that, students tend to be less confident in
speaking the language especially in front of an
audience, which causes lack of communication
between two or more person due to anxiety. Kho et
al. (2015) emphasized that students feeling nervous
is one of the factors that affected their presentation
skills. With the lack of proficiency and low level of
self-confidence, students’ progress will be affected
when they are not actively involved in activities
conducted in the classroom.
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Kho et al. (2015) also found that among the
factors that causes students to feel nervous is when
they assumed that the audience are having high
expectations on them. They are afraid of being
laughed at especially when they accidentally made a
mistake. The students’ surrounding has to be well
prepared in order to ensure students are able to
progress well. The implication is that there is slow
progress in L2 due to the feeling of nervousness.
3.3 Feedback from the Industry
Due to the lack of English speaking skills among
students in Politeknik Mukah, there were several
complaints received form the industry after students
completed their industrial training. For a period of
six months, students have to go through an industrial
training before they finally graduate. During this
period, the employer will be able to identify the
strength and weaknesses of the trainees. The
employer will also be responsible in evaluating the
working habit and skills of the trainees at the
workplace to observe whether the working
environment suits the student.
Most company would certainly agree that
Polytechnic students are skillful due to the trainings
and practices they have gone through during their
studies. However, the lack of speaking skills
becomes one of the factors that creates barrier
between the student and the employer as well as
their colleagues. This has been one of the concerns
of the industries since some students were unable to
communicate well especially with their superior
when they are at their workplace. Melnichuk et al.
(2017) in their study emphasized that undergraduates
are aware that English is important for employment.
They realise the importance of English language to
the industry but sometimes failed to meet the
standards. It is crucial for students to master English
language before they start working since it is one of
the skills that is needed.
Their inability to speak to others has made these
trainees lack of soft skills which will eventually
lower down their marketability value. As they are
lack in English speaking skills, they were unable to
grab any opportunities provided by the industry such
as dealing with foreign investors and other big
projects that requires them to speak in English. This
will be a big loss for themselves in their career
advancement as well as for the industry itself.
The lack of English speaking skills has created a
gap at the workplace which causes barriers in
communication, therefore effects in the level of
productivity in the industry. Melnichuk et al. (2017)
in their study emphasized that there is a need to
close the “competency gap” to produce a skillful
workforce with good English communication skill.
Students should be equipped with all the skills
needed to be able to communicate well with others
such as presentation skills. The importance of
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) also has been
acknowledged as an important skill for obtaining
employment (Melnichuk et al., 2017). In order to
place a position in the future professional career,
speaking skills is considered as an important
requirement that a candidate should acquire.
4. Proposed Solutions
The problems and implications listed is a wakeup
call for the institution to do something. A few
proposed solutions could be taken into consideration
to overcome the problems and challenges in teaching
speaking skills in Politeknik Mukah. Though many
suggestions were given, not all suggestions are
suitable to be implemented. Among the proposed
solutions are:
i. Motivational programme,
ii. Encouragement to learn L2 through 21st
century learning, and
iii. Awareness programme.
4.1 Motivational Programme
Students have the mindset that the
Communicative English course that they have to
take is not an important course as it is not their core
subject. Therefore, they tend to take it easily.
Students tend to put more focus on their core
subjects compared to English courses. Lecturers
should put more emphasis on the importance of
English classes as students could use the skills
learned in English classes for other courses too.
Leong and Ahmadi (2017) emphasized that the
aim of speaking will only be obtainable for learners
if they have positive attitudes towards the speaking
performance. Learners should be motivated to
improve their speaking skills. This could be done by
organising motivational programmes that encourage
learners to speak up. Besides that, teachers should
motivate students to take the opportunity to take part
in speaking activities (Leong and Ahmadi, 2017).
Raja (2017) emphasized that speakers would feel
comfortable speaking in public once their level of
anxiety reduces. By joining activities such as public
speaking, learners would be able to feel comfortable
speaking in an unknown environment. In Politeknik
Mukah, the English Unit strives hard to organise
activities related to speaking skills, which is outside
of the classroom lesson. Among the activities are
Public Speaking Competition, Debate Competition,
Better Spoken English Camp and Story Telling
Competition. The Better Spoken English Camp is
considered as the most favoured activity compared
to the other activities in terms of motivational
programme as it has the most number of participants
involved. Besides that, there were fun group
activities conducted during the programme that
motivates the students to speak in front of the
audience. Through such activities, students could
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improve their speaking skills and expand their
vocabulary. It also helps in increasing students’ level
of motivation and self-confidence.
Motivational programme, which focuses on
students’ self-confidence, can be organised to help
students to be more outspoken. As mentioned
earlier, Public Speaking and Debate Competition
were among the activities most avoided by students
since they lack of self-confidence. It has also been
worrying for the organizers when such competition
is organised due to the lack of participation.
Therefore, workshops or courses related to the
mechanism of the competition should be conducted
for students to be familiar with the rules and
regulations of the competition. This step has not
been done before due to the lack of allocation and
time constraint. Through such activities, students
would be able to understand the flow of the
competition better, which might lead to more
involvement in such activities.
English Speakers’ Corner could also be set up at
various locations to encourage students to speak up
and share their ideas. This is a good way to help
students to increase their level of confidence when
speaking in front of an audience. Lecturers could
also motivate students to get involved by giving
them some token as an extrinsic motivation.
According to Kamaruddin and Zawawi (2017),
various strategies should be introduced to enhance
students’ self-efficacy since it plays a significant
role in foreign language learning. Continuous
practice and trainings should be done to help
students master the skills better. Other than that, it
could also help to boost the level of confidence
among the students. Motivational programmes to
help students to increase their self-confidence should
be organised and attended by the students before
they enter the workplace, for example the Finishing
School programme.
Besides that, the implementation of Industrial
Training seems to be one of the most effective way
to show the students about the importance of
speaking skills. A field trip to the industry might be
one of the efforts that could be taken into
consideration by the institution as an exposure for
the students to the working world. Melnichuk et al.
(2017) emphasized that students should prepare
themselves in terms of their English language skills
before they start looking for jobs in this highly
competitive environment. When students are
exposed to the working environment, they would be
motivated to improve on their English speaking
skills since they can already picture the working
environment. Through exposures to the industries,
students would be able to see the importance of
communicating in English.
Kho et al. (2015) in their study found that
delivery was the most difficult part in speaking
skills. Therefore, group discussions could be one of
the ways for students to enhance their speaking
ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
skills. The institution could organize motivational
programmes related to communication skills such as
forum.
4.2 Encouragement to Learn L2 through 21st
Century Learning
The advancement of technology enables students
to learn in a more interactive and interesting way.
They could also learn at their own pace. Therefore,
educators should take this opportunity to encourage
students to learn L2 through the 21 st century learning
methods. Today’s students need to stay competitive
in this changing job market by ensuring that they are
equipped with the learning skills, literacy skills and
life skills as stated in the 21 st century skills.
In teaching English speaking skills, collaboration
and communication are among the important
aspects. Students should be able to collaborate and
work together in a team to achieve an understanding.
Communication, above all the components, is a vital
aspect that an individual should have to determine
whether an idea is conveyed effectively (Stauffer,
2020).
Raja (2017) in his study emphasized that virtual
environment can help facilitate students’ level of
confidence. There are a lot of interesting
applications and methods that can be used in
teaching English speaking skills virtually. Lecturers
should adapt the latest technology into their teaching
methods to encourage students to learn the English
speaking skills more effectively. Students, on the
other hand, could learn in a more fun and interesting
way compared to the traditional method.
The integration of technology in the lesson could
help students to understand a technique and use the
targeted language at the same time. Ningsih and
Syaief (2019) in their study found that there is a
positive impact to students when using videos vision
in machine technology towards students’ learning
achievement and activity. This is one of the efforts
done in helping mechanical engineering students to
improve their English speaking skills and it was
proven successful. Students were able to understand
the content of the lesson and practice their speaking
skills at the same time. Parallel study like this could
give more understanding towards both, the content
of the lesson and also achieving language
competency.
Students should also be encouraged to learn L2
through 21 st century learning. Among some of the
learning tools that can be utilised are WhatsApp,
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, besides other games
and applications that could be used in learning L2.
In a study done by Menggo, Suastra, Budiarsa, and
Padmadewi (2019), they found that students
preferred material designs which are able to promote
21st century skills. Materials that are designed for
the students should be able to fulfil the needs of the
students in learning English speaking skills. There is
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also a need to use current technologies, applications
and any sort of new technologies to ensure that
students are interested to learn. These supportive
speaking materials motivates students to learn and
speak in English (Menggo et al., 2019).
The Learning Management System (LMS) built
by Polytechnic is also a way to adapt the 21 st century
learning in the classroom. Though this method has
been practiced for quite a period of time, there is a
need to increase the awareness of the importance of
this learning tool. Students would be able to learn at
their own convenience and at their own pace with
the use of the LMS.
Besides that, the communication and
collaboration skills in the 21 st century learning
should be embedded in teaching English speaking
skills. Menggo et al. (2019) agreed that speaking
materials should be revised by looking at the needs
of the industry. Since English speaking skill is
required by the industry, students should be
equipped with oral communication skills. The use of
the 21st century learning skills help the students to
be familiar with the technologies used in the
workplace.
4.3 Awareness Programme
Students should be aware that speaking skills
play an important role for them to function
effectively at the workplace. As English is an
international language, they should be able to speak
the language well in order to be successful in life
especially when they are planning to go to a higher
level. Therefore, there is a need to create awareness
among lecturers, students and the community on the
importance of speaking skills to the graduates.
Among the efforts that can be taken by the
lecturers are by attending training and courses.
Heron (2019) in his study emphasized that teachers
should be sent to workshops for professional
developments to reflect their own performance.
Continuous trainings and courses help the lecturers
to understand the demand of the current generation
besides enable them to share knowledge about the
importance of speaking skills. This would be a good
effort in helping teachers to upgrade their skills and
knowledge, besides upgrading their teaching
methods.
Lecturers should also engage with the industry to
discuss matters related to the preparedness of the
students before entering the job market. Lecturers
could join the Lecturer Industrial Attachment
programme (LIA) to be attached to the industry for a
certain period of time. This will help the lecturers to
update their skills and knowledge of the current
needs of the industry. With the awareness of the
needs of the industry, lecturers could prepare the
students well and equip them with all the necessary
skills before their Industrial Training. By doing so,
students will be more confident when entering the
workplace.
 ISBN PROSIDING SEMINAR ILMIAH
All efforts would not succeed if the students did
not do their part in practicing the language. Students
should make their own effort to practice English
speaking skills not only in the classroom but also
outside of the classroom. Presentations, role-plays or
group discussions could also be a platform for the
students to practice speaking skills in the classroom.
Such activities are integrated into the syllabus to
assess students at the end of a topic.
Hussain (2018) emphasized that there is a need
for the syllabus to focus on speaking skills and
students’ speaking abilities are assessed at the end of
the semester. This will help students to acquire good
speaking skills. Through continuous assessments,
students would be able to know and evaluate their
level of proficiency. Feedback from the lecturers
could also help students to improve in their speaking
skills. Awareness programmes such as talks on the
importance of English speaking skills at the
workplace could help students to improve their
speaking skills. This can be done before students are
sent for their Industrial Trainings. With such
exposures to the industry, students would be more
prepared to face the workplace.
As future graduates, students should also realise
the importance of English speaking skills at the
workplace. They need to be fully prepared and gear-
up to ensure that they are well equipped with all the
needed skills. They should also ensure that they have
high level of competency before entering the job
market. This relies back to their own effort and
awareness on the importance of English language
proficiency.
The community, on the other hand, plays a role
in providing a space for learners to learn and speak
in English. When students are able to learn in a
supportive environment, they could learn the
language faster. Programmes such as speaking
English on a certain day, which can be practiced in
schools, could actually encourage students to speak
only English language throughout the day with
everyone in the school compound. This method
could be implemented in Politeknik Mukah with the
involvement of the top management and all staff.
Besides improving the English speaking skills
among students, lecturers and everyone in the school
compound can practice the use of English language
at least once a week. This creates a supportive
environment for the students to progress in their
English speaking skills.
5. Conclusion
The problems and challenges in teaching English
speaking skills in Politeknik Mukah has to be taken
seriously since it will impact the marketability of the
graduates and determines the quality of
Polytechnics’ product in the future. In line with the
Polytechnic and Community College Strategic Plan
2018-2025 (Ministry of Higher Learning, 2018),
there is a need to produce a quality TVET graduate
to fulfil the demand of the job market. Therefore, the
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institution has to ensure that emphasis is given to
English speaking skills as one of the most desirable
skills demanded by the industry.
The problem of students’ lack of confidence in
their speaking skills through complaints made by the
industry needs to be overcome by conducting
motivational programmes that could help increase
the level of confidence among the students. Besides
that, the incompetency in L2 due to the use of code
switching in the classroom that has caused reliance
on L1 can be overcome through the encouragement
to learn L2 through the 21 st century learning
methods. Lastly, a supportive environment is
important to ensure that learners show progress in
L2. Therefore, the management of Politeknik Mukah
should put more emphasis in terms of awareness
programmes among the lecturers, students and
community to be more focused especially on the
importance of speaking English language.
Looking at the way forward, students should be
well equipped with speaking skills before they
graduate to ensure that they are able to communicate
well at the workplace. Besides that, this could also
help them to secure a position in the competitive job
market. As we are looking at producing a high
quality and competitive workforce in the future,
graduates should be well designed and are capable in
facing all the challenges at the workplace.
It is hoped that through the discussion and
suggestions given, Politeknik Mukah would be able
to produce graduates who meet the demands of the
job market and of high value. This will also uplift
Politeknik Mukah’s reputation in contributing high
quality and skillful workforce to the country.
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Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher

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UNIT PENYELIDIKAN, INOVASI & KOMERSIALAN
POLITEKNIK MUKAH

Politeknik Mukah Sarawak,

Km 7.5 Jln Oya, 96400 Mukah, Sarawak
No Telefon : 084-874001
No Faksimili : 084-874005

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