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Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
1
STUDENT-TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES IN DEVELOPING ORAL
HISTORY TEXTS FOR THE TEACHING OF READING IN A FORM
TWO ESL CLASSROOM.
Dr. Azlina Abdul Aziz1
Jeyakumary A/P Narayanasamy2
Dr.Maslawati Mohamad3
Dr. Melor Md Yunus 4
Hamidah Abdul Hameed5
1Faculty Of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia, (E-mail: azlina1@ukm.edu.my)
2SK Saujana Puchong, Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia (Email: jeyasiva407@yahoo.com)
3Faculty Of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia, (E-mail: maslawati@ukm.edu.my)
4Faculty Of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia, (E-mail: melor@ukm.edu.my)
5SMK Puchong Utama (1), Puchong, Selangor (E-mail: meedhameed@gmail.com)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The Malaysian government has announced that students would be using CEFR aligned English
textbooks which are imported from the United Kingdom. However, the use of the imported
textbooks face many oppositions. The proponents of Malaysian based textbooks believe that
English textbooks should be written in English by giving due consideration to contents based
on local setting. Thus, the researchers worked collaboratively with 30 Year 3 TESL student-
teachers who have enrolled in the course ‘Teaching Reading Skills in English as a Second
Language context’ to produce an English supplementary book which consists of oral history
texts with local context for lower secondary pupils. The research objective is to find out to what
extent the student-teachers have gained from creating the oral history texts. This study
employed a qualitative research approach adopting a case study method. Data were collected
from a purposive sampling of 30 TESL student - teachers, who wrote the oral history texts. The
research instruments employed were reflective journals, document analysis and interviews.
The findings are discussed in detail in this paper. It is hoped that this study could give insights
to other educators, policy makers and textbook writers in developing English textbook with
local context.
Keywords : Oral history text, Teaching reading skills, Secondary school, TESL student teachers.
___________________________________________________________________________
Introduction
The government has announced that they have imported English textbooks from the United
Kingdom to teach the newly introduced Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages (CEFR) aligned KSSM curriculum. This is part of the reform employed by the
Ministry of Education to ensure pupils achieve proficiency level aligned to international
standards.
The English Language Roadmap 2015-2025 is part of the implementation of Malaysian
Education Blueprint 2013-2025 to reform English Language education in the country. The
roadmap to upskill teachers to use the Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages (CEFR) was produced by the English Language Standards and Quality Council.
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
2
An educational activist and a professor at UCSI University, Tajuddin
Rasdi, lauded the government’s move as he argues, firstly, imported textbooks from the UK
are written in native English language, which is of higher level in terms of its grammatical
structure and vocabulary, than locally produced textbooks. He further argues that imported
textbooks would broaden our students’ worldview when they are exposed to other culture,
religion and lifestyle.
Our concern over the government’s move is that there is an underlying assumption that
English texts produced in the UK by its native speakers are far more superior in terms of
language and content, and that they are the only authority of the English language. There are
great writers in English from countries outside the UK. In the literature component, they have
included literary texts from the UK, US, and other commonwealth countries including
Malaysia, which is more representative of the diversity of English used in the world.
Undeniably, there are renowned local writers like Tash Aw and Tan Twan Eng, who have
shown great writings representing Malaysian context. The question here is why are we moving
backwards to glorifying British culture and language? If we are, then we have not moved
beyond a colonial mind set. Malaysia for centuries has been open to other cultural influences
while remain rooted in our identity. Thus, there may be some merit in importing foreign
textbooks, but we must not neglect the contribution of multi-lingual and cultural diversity of
Malaysia to the English language. The researchers believes that there is value for our Malaysian
students to read and write texts that are representative of their cultural and real-world context.
This will enable them to see themselves represented in a language that would become less
foreign and eventually feel a sense of ownership of the language. Based on this believe the
study was embarked.
Literature Review
Transactional Theory of reading
A reader performs two categories of reading - efferent and aesthetic. Efferent reading
is reading to “take away” particular bits of information. The reader is not interested in the
rhythms of the language or the prose style but is focused on obtaining pieces of information.
In efferent reading, “the reader’s attention is focused primarily on what will remain as the
residue after the reading – the information to be acquired, the logical solution to a problem, the
actions to be carried out” (Rosenblatt, 1978, p.23).
Aesthetic reading is reading to explore the work and oneself. Here, readers are engaged
in the experience of reading. In an aesthetic reading, “the reader’s attention is centred directly
on what he is living through his relationship with that particular text” (ibid, p.25). A poem is
under the category of aesthetic reading material because a reader has to pay “attention to the
sound and rhythm of the words in the inner ear,…attention to the overtones of the feeling, the
chiming of sound, sense, idea, and association” (Rosenblatt, p.26). However, Rosenblatt
conceived that the efferent-aesthetic continuum is not only inherent in the text but it is more of
an act of a reader when s/he performs her/his reading. Rosenblatt’s transactional theory is
relevant to ELT material development as it attends to both the cognitive and affective
dimensions. Tomlinson (2008) asserts, most course materials “are preventing learners from
achieving affective engagement by presenting them with bland, safe texts (Wajnryb 1996).
In this study, student-teachers’ will write authentic oral history texts based on their lived
experiences on the theme of ‘family’. The oral history text will be utilised in teaching form 2
ESL reading classrooms. Here, the oral history text based on the ‘family’ theme not only
attends to cognitive but also to affective dimensions. Tomlinson (2008) in his book on “English
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
3
Language Material” critiques on professionally and commercially
developed ELT materials because these workbook are often written for
the benefit of the teacher and take little consideration for students’ language acquisition and
development needs. It focuses too much on the discrete linguistic items which do less to
encourage learners’ language development. Furthermore, textbook that focuses too much on
efferent reading, which entail students to recall facts and information at the expense of aesthetic
reading, do little to promote “both enjoyment of the language and acquisition of it” ( Rosenblatt
1978 in Tomlinson 2008, p.7). In this study, the student-teachers will be exposed to the
authentic use of English through the writing of oral history texts to engage learners in a reading
class both cognitively and affectively. In the reading class, the pupils will be engaged in both
efferent and aesthetic reading as they can relate themselves to the stories on family issues
discussed in the reading texts. The valuable experience gained throughout the process of
developing the oral history texts will encourage the student-teachers to develop more local and
non-commercial materials which is driven by consideration for needs and wants of target
learners and by principles of language acquisition.
Post Colonialism
The term “post-colonial” is used to define “all the culture affected by the imperial process from
the moment of colonisation to the moment of today” (Ashcroft et al.1989). Bill Ashcroft,
Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin explain in “The Empire Writes Back” that today, English is
a world language and the publication of literature in English is dominated by the former British
colonies. Consequently, it is not enough to deal with solely British based texts in school. In
fact, all texts from the imperial centre “can be made to serve colonial interests through
educational systems that devaluate native literatures, and by Euro-centric practices which insist
on Western texts being markers of superior culture and value” (Loomba 75).
Scholes (1998, p.149) argues that “material 'covered' in classrooms and not
incorporated into the communicative lives of students simply fades away”. A more powerful
means of learning would not be the type of text one has read, but rather one’s ability to
deconstruct a text and identify its strengths and limitations. Scholes extends this further when
he argues that students should not only be consumers but also producers of texts. “The best
preparation we can give our students will be the highest level of competence as readers and
writers, producers and consumers of the various texts they will encounter” (p. 154). He sums
it up when he states, “one needs to be able to read, interpret, and criticise texts in a wide range
of modes, genres, and media. What our students need, to function in such a world, then, is an
education for a society still struggling to balance its promises of freedom and equality, still
hoping to achieve greater measures of social justice, still trying not to homogenise its people
but to allow for social mobility and to make the lower levels of its economic structure tolerable
and humane” (p. 84).
Scholes's conception of English Education moves away from valuing literary texts as
cultural capital as part of the nationalistic movement or identification of ‘cultured’ citizens.
Instead, it is particularly resonant with people who have experienced and is still experiencing
various forms of injustice and oppression particularly through the discursive use of the English
language. Post-colonial countries such as Malaysia, need to also turn its gaze upon itself
because when its gaze is turned outward toward the colonisers, it fails to acknowledge its own
oppression by enacting the very colonial discourse it opposes. In lieu of Scholes’ conception
of an English Education, where its learners are encouraged to be critical readers and producers
of texts, that this study was conceived. In constructing their own oral history texts, the student
teachers in the course ‘Teaching of reading in an ESL context’ will engage in critical thinking
by studying the three elements of textuality; “how to situate a text (history), how to compose
one (production), and how to read one (consumption)” (Scholes, p. 147), where they would
examine and make a link between their own oral history with social justice on issues being
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
4
discussed in the English textbook for Form 2. The student-teachers who
have developed critical thinking on the community’s social issues would
in turn create a classroom that would encourage and nurture the same critical thinking among
their own students. It is no longer sufficient as part of teacher training to have student-teachers
be mere consumers of texts, but rather need to be producers of texts that inscribe and re-inscribe
their own social reality in the Malaysian context so they may represent their own experiences
whilst examining how their experiences are discursively constructed within a social, cultural
and historical contexts.
Principles of Material Development
Materials can be defined as “anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language,
including course books, videos, graded readers, flash cards, games, websites and mobile phone
interactions” (Tomlinson, 2012, p. 143). They can be “informative (informing the learner about
the target language), instructional (guiding the learner in practising the language), experiential
(providing the learner with experience of the language in use), eliciting (encouraging the
learner to use the language) and exploratory (helping the learner to make discoveries about the
language)” (Tomlinson, 2012, p. 143). He further added that materials should be developed for
learning and not merely teaching and should perform all the above-mentioned functions. It is
also commonly accepted that most language teachers use course books. However, no course
book could meet the needs and wants of every (or even any) class (Tomlinson, 2010).
Therefore, in order to cater to the needs of every class , all teachers could develop their own
teaching materials.
Different scholars have suggested various procedures and criteria for evaluating ELT
materials. Tomlinson (1998) provides an extensive list of principles to be considered in
material development and evaluation.
He proposes that good English language learning-teaching materials should:
“Achieve impact (by having novelty and variety and by being attractive and appealing) besides
helping learners feel at ease and overcome anxiety (by providing plenty of white space and
providing comprehensible input, Krashen, 1988). In any attempt to introduce new materials, it
is utmost important that the materials need to be relevant to the learners’ needs. And promote
learner self-investment (by involving them in projects and creating their own resources) by
presenting them in authentic language. The newly introduced materials should also draw
learners’ attention to linguistic features of the input (which does not necessarily mean an
explicit presentation of grammar)”.
The underlying idea is to promote the use of target language to achieve communicative
purposes (e.g. through information gap activities) consider the fact that positive effects of
instruction are often delayed. The materials developed should consider learners’ varying
learning styles and affective attitudes. Ample time should be given and permit a silent period
at the beginning of instruction. In the process of developing materials, care should be given in
materials which encourage intellectual, aesthetic and emotional involvement that stimulates
both right and left-brain hemispheres (through activities like singing a song). These materials
produced should ensure non-reliance on controlled practice (since it is retained only in short-
term memory). The developers while developing materials, should not neglect from providing
opportunities for the children’s learning outcome by giving feedback (by activities that
encourage them to check their language achievement).
In this study, the experts and student-teachers will review the oral history texts based
on the material evaluation guidelines developed by Tomlinson (1998).The experiences gained
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
5
in the process of developing oral history texts will give exposure to the
student-teachers on authentic material development for ESL context. It
prepares them to be future material developers who are able develop material which gives
consideration for pupils’ language acquisition and development needs.
Oral History As An Effective Pedagogical Practice In School
Portelli (1997), a professor of American literature at the University of Rome-La Sapienze,
defines oral history as a specific form of discourse in which history evokes a narrative of the
past, and oral indicates a medium of expression. Another historian, Walker (2006), has used
oral histories extensively in her research i.e about memory, communities of memory, and how
people construct the past. She states that, “The very act of telling stories about the past is a way
of making meaning, of interpreting, and explaining” (2006, p. 2, para. 2). Oral history is a
platform for creative and innovative learning and teaching which involve the whole self in the
learning experience. Embodied learning takes a learner on a journey that is visual, oral and
academic. Oral history is a perfect vehicle for embodied learning as it engages the students
actively in a sensory and collaborative experience.
Oral history establishes connections between discreet individuals (the subject of their
oral history) and larger historical events or process that this student-teachers may have
experienced or been part of. In this study, the student-teachers prepared materials for their
pupils to impress upon them that an oral history must be more than an interesting life story.
They too used history to illuminate their personal stories. Pupils, of course, start out with little
or no knowledge of what oral history entails. However, student-teachers will facilitate them
along the lessons.
Oral history promotes the concept of learning from another person’s experiences. In
this study, the pupils learn from their student teachers’ family stories. The pupils could connect
the learning content to their personal family stories where it will emulate the interest in learning
among the pupils. The family themed stories are not only compatible to the need of the learners
but also to the interest of learners.
Nikoletta Christodoulou from Department of Teacher Education, Agusta University,
USA agrees that oral history allows the ability to see oneself and the future through the lives
of others, gain inspiration from them, and be engaged in the present through the processes of
oral history which has the ability to help students to turn “mirrors into windows”. A mirror
always reflects what’s already within a particular range and not allowing us to see what’s
behind or beyond it. The mirror obscures the view. On the other hand, windows, present what’s
out there and the likelihood to see new openings and spaces for inspiration and imaginations,
while gazing towards the future.
In the same vein, the oral history also provides a platform to assemble anecdotes,
students’ life experiences, and traditional knowledge of parents, grandparents and great
grandparents which cannot be found in traditional textbooks and curriculum. Guillermo
Vodniza (2016) believes in the importance in connecting pupils’ lives through oral history and
storytelling to recognise and celebrate an individual’s culture and heritage. He used oral history
and traditional story telling in his teaching practice to support students in discovering
traditional values and identities. This is very much practical in our normal ESL classroom
itself where the collection of stories from the pupils can be collected and utilised as interesting
reading materials.
Margaret Smith Crocco (1998) stated that the use of oral history texts provides a means
of including individual life stories without necessitating an investment in new classroom
materials. For the teacher, the start-up costs are minimal. When student- teachers use the oral
history texts for teaching and learning in an ESL classroom, they become developers of their
own materials without any single cost.
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
6
Methodology
A case study was employed to conduct this qualitative research. This is considered appropriate
as the researchers were interested in obtaining a better and in-depth understanding of the
student-teachers’ experiences when engaging in developing oral history texts for Form 2 ESL
reading class (Yin 2009; Creswell 2009).
A total number of thirty, Year 3 student-teachers from the TESL programme at the
Faculty of Education, The National University of Malaysia (UKM) were selected for this
study. Of the thirty participants of this study, twenty were selected for the individual interview.
These student-teachers were selected because they were enrolled in 'Teaching of Reading’
course and they were the writers of the oral history texts.They fulfilled the characteristics,
which the researchers had determined relevant to the study and they also served the research
objectives of this study (Dornyei 2007).
The research instruments used to triangulate and corroborate data in this study would
comprise of personal reflective journal (PRJ), field notes (FN), document analysis (DA) and
individual interviews (STI). The students were asked to keep a personal reflective journal
detailing what they have learnt and the challenges they faced in the processes involved.
Classroom observations were conducted and documented as field notes.The researchers and
the lecturers from Faculty of Education, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, as non-participant
observers, recorded the progress of the lessons’ implementation in form 2 classrooms of
Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bandar Puncak Jalil and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan
Pusat Bandar Puchong (1) .The researchers carried out individual interviews to interrogate the
student teachers’ experiences in developing the oral history texts for teaching of reading in an
ESL classroom. The interviews were recorded and transcribed in verbatim.
To increase validity and reliability of this study, the researchers applied triangulation
method which according to Creswell (2012) is the process of corroborating evidences from
different individuals, method or type of data. In addition, the interview questions were
reviewed by experts, and the transcriptions of the findings were checked by respondents for
verification. Measures to comply with research ethical conduct were taken, as the researchers
explained to the respondents that their participation was voluntary and their confidentiality was
protected.
Findings and Discussions
The finding and discussion are explained by answering the research question of the study.
How did the TESL student-teachers experience on the development of oral history texts
help them to understand the principle of reading, teaching reading and material
development in an ESL context?
The findings for RQ1 was divided into 3 stages namely pre-writing, while-writing and post-
writing stage and implementation stage.
Pre Writing Stage
In the pre-writing stage, the student-teachers gained valuable knowledge as they are still in the
embryonic stage of writing oral history texts.
a. Consideration For the Need and Interest of the pupils
The student-teachers confessed that they gave great importance for the need and interest as
well as the values they want to instill among the pupils, before writing the oral history text.
Themes derived from the oral history texts were single parent struggles as s/he faces challenges
in life, family struggles to meet basic needs , irresponsible father, siblings’ rivalry, relationship
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
7
among siblings and caring for grandparents, which cannot be found in
traditional textbooks and curriculum. The 6 student-teachers realisation
in this aspect can be evidenced from the following thread of interview responses.
“I have to match with the students’ need and I have to make sure that all the story, all the
flow of the story suitable for the students’ themselves, for the level of the students and also, I
have to make sure the usage of the words and also when constructing the question as well”
(Nur, STI)
“There is a sufficient need to make it very compatible for the students because it is the
matter of their interest. Because when the text is something out the context, out of the
experiences, we could not grab their attention”. (Joe, STI)
The analysis of student-teachers’ personal reflective journal showed that careful consideration
was given to the aspects of need and interest, as Afif wrote …When looking for a topic for
oral history text, I need to find a topic that is suitable to all readers.
In the pre-writing stage the student-teachers’ learned that they need to ensure the texts
have the ability to impact, as suggested by Tomlinson (1998). It should have novelty and
variety and by being attractive and appealing, besides helping learners feel at ease and
overcome anxiety (by providing plenty of white space and providing comprehensible input,
Krashen, 1988).
4.1.2 While Writing
a. Deciding on The Length of the Oral History Text.
The student-teachers’ developed lengthy oral history text (3-4 pages) and during the editing
process by the experts, they shortened their stories as most of the texts in Form 2 textbook are
500-600 words. The students-teachers’ learned that to ensure students stay focused in reading
class, the reading text should be short. The student teachers’ realisation in this aspect can be
evidenced from the following thread of interview responses.
“We have to ensure that the length of the text is suitable with the learners’ level. Previously,
we make it three pages and we have to shorten it into 1 page”. (Irah, STI)
“Actually yes, many of our texts are too long and in that point I think that they are
actually having quite a difficulty to stay focus because we have many long pages”. (Joe,STI)
The data above are also supported by the student-teachers’ personal reflective journals.
Afifah wrote in her personnel reflective journal …. I realised that the story of my essay is quite
heavy for secondary level, and lecturers finally chose Marya’s essay to be our group’s reading
materials.
b. Balanced Distribution of Vocabularies
The student-teachers learned that another important factor to consider in this stage is the range
of vocabulary used in the oral history texts. The vocabulary should be within the form 2 KSSM
syllabus and the distribution of new words should be appropriate to pupil’s level. Their concern
can be evident from their interview responses.
“ I was worried that some of the language or the word usage might be difficult for the students
to understand “. (Aliya, STI)
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
8
“ I learned that the reading text itself must be on the range of the
understanding”. (Maria, STI)
In the same vein, 3 student-teachers also reflected on this. Ong reflected that… , I re-read the
text for a few times and I was pretty confident that it would make an impact to the readers. I
also made sure that the language and vocabularies used are friendly to the young readers that
I will be facing during the reading lesson. Nadiatul also reflected that…. the text must be
comprehensive yet interesting with appropriate vocabulary used in the text.
The writing experience gave the student-teachers’ valuable experience on how to write
an oral history text with balanced distribution of vocabularies. This is an important aspect
which needs careful consideration. Hussin, Nimehchisalem, Kalajahi & Yunus (2016) stated
in their study that learners in Malaysia usually face difficulties in acquiring their four skills:
listening, speaking, reading and writing in English language because of their limited knowledge
in vocabulary and the problem can be solved by giving serious attention to effective learning
of vocabulary.
The student-teachers’ oral history texts were also parallel with the guidelines for
material development for student-teachers (adapted from Mukundan and Nimehchisalem 2012)
The number of new words in the text was appropriate to the pupils’ level with a good
distribution (simple to complex) of vocabulary load across the texts.
c. Parallel To Student’s Proficiency Level
The student-teachers learned not only to pay attention on selection of vocabulary but also to
student’s level of proficiency in the language.
“ We need to filter the suitable text according to the suitable level, level of the students because
every student has different main issue right. So, we really need to come out with few
steps and we need to see which text fits and relate with the students’ real life experiences”.
(Hazman,STI)
The researchers believe that the student-teachers have learned to write oral history texts parallel
to the student’s proficiency level as 3 student-teachers reflected on this.
….As a teacher, we need to be aware of the selection of the text and the context of the question
and it must be parallel with the text. It is because we have to understand the students’ ability
of interpreting the text because the level of the text is important towards student participation
in the classroom. (Nazrol, PRJ)
…. We must help the students to understand text in a simple way. (Nalini, PRJ)
4.1.3 Post Writing and Implementation of the Reading Lesson
a. Impact of the lesson
The student-teachers implemented the reading lesson in two selected schools namely Sekolah
Menengah Kebangsaan Puncak Jalil, and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pusat Bandar
Puchong (1). The experiences gained during the implementation of the lesson, gave student-
teachers positive and negative feedback which helped them to adapt their oral history texts.
During the implementing, the student-teachers faced situations where pupils were not
responding effectively, which was obvious from their facial expression. From the researchers’
observation, the situation was because they were not familiar with their new teachers. They
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
9
were reticent to talk or give expected responses (FN). This can be evident
from the interview as Raidah stated… “Sometimes, when you are
teaching you might feel the students you know their facial expression. Some of them might
follow but some of them might stare at you blankly”.
In some classroom, the student-teachers realised that the level of oral history text was
slightly high for the students. They realised that their family themed oral history text should be
simple to cater for the low proficiency pupils.
“The content itself whether or not it is too deep for the students to actually digest and
understand and relate to and as well as the language because you know in one classroom there
are students of different levels of ability when it comes to the language usage so I was
struggling when I need to use lesser range of the tenses or easier vocabs instead of the complex
one and in terms of the relating classroom activities”. (Ong, STI)
In some classes, the oral history text was delivered successfully and the pupils were
able to read and understand the story besides giving positive responses. The success of the
reading class can be linked to written statement by the student-teachers in their personal
reflective journal.
Iylia reflected that…. I have learnt the way to develop our own teaching materials,
questions and also classroom management. Developing our own teaching material can ensure
that we could cater to every students’ preference and personal experience. Some of the
materials that are available readily like the textbook might not be applicable to all students
thus making them unable to relate to the topic. If the students are able to relate to the content
of our teaching materials, they will become more interested to learn.(PRJ)
b. Realisation on Aspects to Consider in Producing Oral History Texts
The experiences gained by the student-teachers gave the realisation that there are many factors
to consider while writing. Although the student-teachers had enrolled in a reading course and
learned the theoretical aspect of a reading class, the micro teaching gave them a better
realisation and experience.
Ong stated…. “At first, my knowledge was really shallow when it comes to this reading class
because of my previous experiences as a student, but later on when I was learning from my
lecturer in this course, I found out that there are actually many aspects that we need to pay
attention to during a reading lesson in an ESL classroom like you know, the whole casts, the
language usage and the content itself, a lot of stuff that we need to actually pay attention to”.
(STI)
The study gave the student-teachers the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge and
this can be evident from the responses given during the interview and researchers’ field notes.
c. Putting Theories into Practice
The study gave an opportunity to the TESL student-teachers to put into practice all the
knowledge they gained from GGGV3223–Teaching of Reading in an ESL Context course.
“ This course helped to practice the theory in the class. It actually improved my writing and
teaching skill. I improved my understanding in reading text because this course taught me how
to separate types of questions, which level it should be and then how to write suitable texts for
pupils. Many things are new for me because before this when I see text, I just see a text. After
I joined this course, I learned that there are many things that we can do with reading texts.”
(Hazman, STI)
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
10
d. Improved Oral History Text Writing Skills
The student-teachers improved their oral history text writing skills. This will be a stepping
stone towards producing more authentic reading materials in the future. This can be evident
from responses recorded from one of the interviews.
Ivy highlighted that, “ I gained knowledge about how to create the good text and how to relate
with the questions so that the students are able to understand and analyse the text to answer
the question. Yes it is useful in future so that I will be able to create a very good text and
comprehension questions that the students can use ”.(STI)
Marya also reflected that…..I personally like this task because it helps to build our sense of
imagination in creating a story.(PRJ)
Implication of The Study
Findings of this study have definite implications on the student-teachers. They have gained
valuable experiences on how to develop oral history texts for the teaching of reading in an ESL
classroom. They gained a greater understanding on the principles of reading, teaching reading
and material development in an ESL context. This experience will be a stepping stone for the
student-teachers to enable them to produce more reading materials based on Malaysian social
and cultural context. The study shows that there is value for our Malaysian students to write
texts that are representative of their cultural and real-world context in order for them to see
themselves represented in a language that would become less foreign and eventually feel a
sense of ownership to the language.
The findings will be able to guide the current and future teacher training educators.
Teacher-educators may need to implement more material development courses in the
universities for the fresh teacher-trainees so that they will not merely be consumers of materials
but also developers of teaching and reading materials which are based on Malaysian social and
cultural context.
Curriculum planners and developers may also need to consider using more locally
produced teaching and learning materials since there are many renowned writers in Malaysia.
This study also shows that student-teachers can be trained to be materials developers in the
future. Locally produced authentic materials based on Malaysian social and cultural context
will help our students to value their own culture more. Rather than depending on professionally
and commercially produced textbooks and teaching materials, the curricular developers should
encourage local, non-commercial materials which are not driven by the profit imperative but
rather driven by considerations of the needs and wants of the target learners and by principles
of language acquisition.
Conclusion
The present study investigated the student-teachers’ experiences in developing oral history text
for the teaching of reading in form two ESL classroom. The findings showed that student-
teachers gained valuable experiences and a deeper understanding of the principles of reading,
teaching reading and material development through the inter-twining engagement between
theory and practice. The process of developing the oral history text for the reading class also
harnessed the student-teachers’ creativity and thinking skills. They can continuously value
creative and critical thinking skills while being engaged in their respective classrooms in the
future. Besides, the student-teachers learnt to value personal narrative as a mean to engage with
social and cultural issues, by reading the ‘word and the world’, connecting the personal with
the sociocultural and engaging the students both cognitively and affectively (Tomlinson
2008).These experiences are believed to boast their confidence in developing more teaching
Proceeding: 3rd International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and
Technology (ICSHT, 2019) (ISBN:xxx)
Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, Malaysia
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and learning materials that are representative of our cultural setting and
they can see themselves being represented in the target language.
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