Mahani Stapa | Universiti Teknologi Malaysia - UTM (original) (raw)

Papers by Mahani Stapa

Research paper thumbnail of Should the CEFR Illustrative Scales be localised to Malaysian Higher Education Standards? – A Conceptual Paper

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive Reading Strategies Employed by Form Three Malaysian English as Second Language (ESL) Students

LSP International Journal

Previous studies reported that many low proficiency students have poor comprehension skills. Ther... more Previous studies reported that many low proficiency students have poor comprehension skills. Therefore, this research aims to study the cognitive reading strategies employed by ESL (English as Second Language) students and suggest appropriate cognitive strategies to be utilized by low proficiency students. This research was carried out in one of the secondary schools in Pasir Gudang, Johor. The purposive sample for this study consists of 60 Form 3 students (30 low proficiency and 30 high proficiency). Explanatory sequential mixed method design was used to carry out this research. The data collected via questionnaire, observation and interview for this research is analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse data gained from questionnaire and observation whereas for the interview data, extracts from the interviews were used to corroborate the findings. The findings reveal that the most common cognitive reading strategies employed by both group o...

Research paper thumbnail of Revisiting the Writing Competencies Expected by Industries in an Exit Test

LSP International Journal

The writing component of the Test of English Communication Skills for Graduating Students (UTM-TE... more The writing component of the Test of English Communication Skills for Graduating Students (UTM-TECS) measures competencies of understanding of task and situation, critical creative thinking, analysis and evaluation of task, choice of lexis, accuracy and clarity of expressions and coherent flow of ideas. Five years into its implementation, a revisit of the requirements was made to reassess the validity of this measurement. The methodology comprises two stages. First, it involved test design, assessment of scripts and sampling of the different levels by the language practitioners as had previously been established. Second, interviews with the workplace professionals from diverse specialisations. The procedure involved showing selected scripts to workplace professionals for them to evaluate the adequacy of the test and to assess the quality of the writing as they deem satisfactory and acceptable in their work settings. Interviews were then conducted after the evaluation session to eli...

Research paper thumbnail of Using Bahasa Malaysia while writing in english: a case study of malay students

Research paper thumbnail of The Roles of L1 in L2 Writing

Research paper thumbnail of Engineering Technical Oral Presentation: Voices of the Stakeholder

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

In Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, engineering students are expected to deliver technical oral pre... more In Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, engineering students are expected to deliver technical oral presentations on numerous occasions prior to graduation. These presentations include survey report presentations, laboratory report presentations, project/assignment presentations as well as final year project presentations. Technical presentation refers to a prepared formal presentation on scientific, engineering, technological, business types, regulatory, legal, managerial or social scientific information topics to the non-expert audience (DiSanza and Legge, 2003). Students often struggled when they have to deliver technical oral presentations and most of the time they had difficulty to deliver effective presentations especially for their final year project. This study was conducted to address these issues with the intention of proposing measures to help students deliver effective technical oral presentation. This paper reports on the preliminary findings on; 1) the specific areas of difficulties faced by the students in delivering effective technical oral presentation and, 2) the different ways on improving ineffective technical oral presentation. A set of questionnaire was distributed to 235 students from six different engineering faculties in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Findings indicated that the students encountered problems when delivering technical oral presentations especially in terms of content, delivery and language. They also provided suggestions on how to improve their technical oral presentation skills. It is hoped that the findings can shed some lights where the teaching of technical oral presentation skills to the engineering students is concerned.

Research paper thumbnail of Digital Portfolio and Professional Development of Language Teachers

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2012

A professional portfolio is an evolving collection of carefully selected or composed professional... more A professional portfolio is an evolving collection of carefully selected or composed professional thoughts, goals, and experiences that are threaded with reflection and self-assessment (Evans, 1995:1). This paper intends to illustrate a successful effort of a group of English language teachers in becoming technology-proficient in their teaching while creating their teacher e-portfolios. In addition to exploiting their knowledge on computer technology and technical requirements of developing their teacher e-portfolio, such effort also contributes to language teacher professional development. This research looks at how the teachers documented, organized, created and shared information and materials in designing their teacher e-portfolio. Findings from content analysis, reflections and interviews indicate that all teachers agreed that the e-portfolio indeed contributed to their professional development. This is confirmed by the responses given by the participants whereby they felt that their professional development has improved after developing the e-portfolio.

Research paper thumbnail of Investigating the Potentials of Classroom Assessment: A Critical Discussion

International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology

Despite gaining currency in the contemporary assessment literature, the depth of the various dime... more Despite gaining currency in the contemporary assessment literature, the depth of the various dimensions of classroom assessment is yet to be explored. This systematic review aims to survey what the current literature reports on the evidence of success of classroom assessment in transforming students towards learning, and it also puts forth a number of implications. The review methodology we adopted includes inclusion/exclusion criteria, identification of the relevant literature, screening articles for the final selection and finally judgment used for the quality of the articles. The search for literature started by the keywords, such as, assessment, summative assessment, formative assessment, formative classroom assessment, and assessment literacy. The search engine and databases we used for the research articles entail Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, JSTOR and ERIC. Considering the reality of the development of knowledge in continuum, we extended the period for literature s...

Research paper thumbnail of Should the CEFR Illustrative Scales be localised to Malaysian Higher Education Standards? – A Conceptual Paper

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive Reading Strategies Employed by Form Three Malaysian English as Second Language (ESL) Students

LSP International Journal

Previous studies reported that many low proficiency students have poor comprehension skills. Ther... more Previous studies reported that many low proficiency students have poor comprehension skills. Therefore, this research aims to study the cognitive reading strategies employed by ESL (English as Second Language) students and suggest appropriate cognitive strategies to be utilized by low proficiency students. This research was carried out in one of the secondary schools in Pasir Gudang, Johor. The purposive sample for this study consists of 60 Form 3 students (30 low proficiency and 30 high proficiency). Explanatory sequential mixed method design was used to carry out this research. The data collected via questionnaire, observation and interview for this research is analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse data gained from questionnaire and observation whereas for the interview data, extracts from the interviews were used to corroborate the findings. The findings reveal that the most common cognitive reading strategies employed by both group o...

Research paper thumbnail of Revisiting the Writing Competencies Expected by Industries in an Exit Test

LSP International Journal

The writing component of the Test of English Communication Skills for Graduating Students (UTM-TE... more The writing component of the Test of English Communication Skills for Graduating Students (UTM-TECS) measures competencies of understanding of task and situation, critical creative thinking, analysis and evaluation of task, choice of lexis, accuracy and clarity of expressions and coherent flow of ideas. Five years into its implementation, a revisit of the requirements was made to reassess the validity of this measurement. The methodology comprises two stages. First, it involved test design, assessment of scripts and sampling of the different levels by the language practitioners as had previously been established. Second, interviews with the workplace professionals from diverse specialisations. The procedure involved showing selected scripts to workplace professionals for them to evaluate the adequacy of the test and to assess the quality of the writing as they deem satisfactory and acceptable in their work settings. Interviews were then conducted after the evaluation session to eli...

Research paper thumbnail of Using Bahasa Malaysia while writing in english: a case study of malay students

Research paper thumbnail of The Roles of L1 in L2 Writing

Research paper thumbnail of Engineering Technical Oral Presentation: Voices of the Stakeholder

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

In Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, engineering students are expected to deliver technical oral pre... more In Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, engineering students are expected to deliver technical oral presentations on numerous occasions prior to graduation. These presentations include survey report presentations, laboratory report presentations, project/assignment presentations as well as final year project presentations. Technical presentation refers to a prepared formal presentation on scientific, engineering, technological, business types, regulatory, legal, managerial or social scientific information topics to the non-expert audience (DiSanza and Legge, 2003). Students often struggled when they have to deliver technical oral presentations and most of the time they had difficulty to deliver effective presentations especially for their final year project. This study was conducted to address these issues with the intention of proposing measures to help students deliver effective technical oral presentation. This paper reports on the preliminary findings on; 1) the specific areas of difficulties faced by the students in delivering effective technical oral presentation and, 2) the different ways on improving ineffective technical oral presentation. A set of questionnaire was distributed to 235 students from six different engineering faculties in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Findings indicated that the students encountered problems when delivering technical oral presentations especially in terms of content, delivery and language. They also provided suggestions on how to improve their technical oral presentation skills. It is hoped that the findings can shed some lights where the teaching of technical oral presentation skills to the engineering students is concerned.

Research paper thumbnail of Digital Portfolio and Professional Development of Language Teachers

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2012

A professional portfolio is an evolving collection of carefully selected or composed professional... more A professional portfolio is an evolving collection of carefully selected or composed professional thoughts, goals, and experiences that are threaded with reflection and self-assessment (Evans, 1995:1). This paper intends to illustrate a successful effort of a group of English language teachers in becoming technology-proficient in their teaching while creating their teacher e-portfolios. In addition to exploiting their knowledge on computer technology and technical requirements of developing their teacher e-portfolio, such effort also contributes to language teacher professional development. This research looks at how the teachers documented, organized, created and shared information and materials in designing their teacher e-portfolio. Findings from content analysis, reflections and interviews indicate that all teachers agreed that the e-portfolio indeed contributed to their professional development. This is confirmed by the responses given by the participants whereby they felt that their professional development has improved after developing the e-portfolio.

Research paper thumbnail of Investigating the Potentials of Classroom Assessment: A Critical Discussion

International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology

Despite gaining currency in the contemporary assessment literature, the depth of the various dime... more Despite gaining currency in the contemporary assessment literature, the depth of the various dimensions of classroom assessment is yet to be explored. This systematic review aims to survey what the current literature reports on the evidence of success of classroom assessment in transforming students towards learning, and it also puts forth a number of implications. The review methodology we adopted includes inclusion/exclusion criteria, identification of the relevant literature, screening articles for the final selection and finally judgment used for the quality of the articles. The search for literature started by the keywords, such as, assessment, summative assessment, formative assessment, formative classroom assessment, and assessment literacy. The search engine and databases we used for the research articles entail Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, JSTOR and ERIC. Considering the reality of the development of knowledge in continuum, we extended the period for literature s...