Pupils’ and Parents’ Perspectives Towards Using Smartphone Strategies to Improve Reading Skills
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1203.09Keywords:
primary school, reading strategy, 21st century learning, mobile learningAbstract
In this 21st century, reading skill is one of the most essential skills to achieve language literacy. On this basis, an early introduction to proper reading strategies shall develop good attitudes towards reading. Based on a study conducted by the Malaysia National Library in 2015, the rate of reading is lower among Malaysians, with only 15 to 20 books on average per year. Due to this, the researchers conducted a reading workshop, “Using Smartphone to Improve English Skills” in three districts in three different states. This qualitative study was embarked to explore the perception of workshop participants (pupils and parents) towards the reading workshop. Despite the pupils’ and parents’ perceptions towards the workshop which generally are positive, however, some suggestions are given to further improve the reading workshop. The participants in this study consisted of 79 people of different ages, races and socioeconomic statuses. The pupils are from primary schools with the ages of 10 to 12 years old (Year 4 to Year 6) and the parents are from the ages of 25 to 50 years old. They are residents of the Southern region of Malaysia which are Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor. The research instruments employed were field notes, open-ended interview responses from Google Form and semi-structured interview responses. The findings suggested that the majority of the students and parents agreed that the various reading strategies introduced using smartphones are both interesting and exciting and may serve as the focus of future studies. The study implies that the smartphone reading strategy workshops should be carried out at different locations to enhance the pupils’ reading skills in reading English materials. Both parents and their children should participate in this workshop to ensure the strategies could be practiced effectively at home.
References
Ahmad, Z., Tariq, M., Chaudhry, M. S., & Ramzan, M. (2020). Parent's role in promoting reading habits among children: an empirical examination. Library Philosophy and Practice, 1-21.
Anstey, M., & Bull, G. (2018). Foundations of multiliteracies: Reading, writing and talking in the 21st century. Routledge.
Bartik, T. J., & Hershbein, B. (2018). Degrees of poverty: The relationship between family income background and the returns to education. https://research.upjohn.org/up_workingpapers/284/
Behtash, E. Z., Barabadi, A., & Eskandari, Z. (2019). Reading comprehension strategies used by Iranian university students while reading academic English texts. Issues in Educational Research, 29(4), 1089-1106.
Brown, C. L., Schell, R., Denton, R., & Knode, E. (2019). Family Literacy Coaching: Partnering with Parents for Reading Success. School Community Journal, 29, 63-86.
Chin, C. (2019, Dec, 3). Malaysia Improves in PISA Performance. The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/12/03/malaysia-improves-in-pisa-performance
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Observation. Research methods in education, 6, 396-412.
Crabtree, B. F., & Miller, W. L. (1999). Doing qualitative research. Sage.
Daud, R., Jalil, Z. A., & M. Gunawan, M. N. F. (2015). Community college students’ perception towards digital learning In Malaysia. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195, 1798–1802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.389.
Driscoll, D. L. (2011). Introduction to primary research: Observations, surveys, and interviews. Writing spaces: Readings on writing, 2, 153-174.
Duff, P. A. (2017). Commentary: Motivation for learning languages other than English in an English‐dominant world. The Modern Language Journal, 101(3), 597-607 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i02.11819.
Erdoğan, V. (2019). Integrating 4C skills of 21st century into 4 language skills in EFL classes. International Journal of Education and Research, 7(11), 113-124.
Fajri, I., Yusuf, R., Maimun, B. A., & Sanusi, Y. (2020). Innovation model of citizenship education learning in the 21st-century skill-learning environment of students in Aceh. Innovation, 7(16), 2334 - 2343.
Ganapathy, M. (2016). Transformation of Malaysia’s higher education system: Malaysia Education Blueprint (2015-2025). Bulletin of Higher Education Research, 5(1), 10-11.
Brittany, G., Sonnenschein, S., Sun, S., & Baker, L. (2020). Poverty, Parent Involvement, and Children’s Reading Skills: Testing the Compensatory Effect of the Amount of Classroom Reading Instruction. Early Education and Development, DOI, 10(10409289.2020), 1829292.
Gerald, R. (2015). The World beyond the Classroom: 21st Century Education, Technology and 4Cs. https://storify.com/RebeccaG27/4cs-in-education
Govindasamy, P., Yunus, M. M., & Hashim, H. (2019). Mobile assisted vocabulary learning: Examining the effects on students’ vocabulary enhancement. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 7(12), 85–92. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2019.071911.
Hashim, H., Md. Yunus, M., Amin Embi, M., & Mohamed Ozir, N. A. (2017). Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) for ESL Learners: A Review of affordances and constraints. Sains Humanika, 9(1–5). https://doi.org/10.11113/sh.v9n1-5.1175.
Hasin, I., & Nasir, M. K. M. (2021). The Effectiveness of the Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Rural Secondary Schools in Malaysia. Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, 8(1): 59-64. doi:10.20448/journal.509.2021.81.59.64.
Intr, A., & Ajaj, I. E. (2021). Adapting Technology to Meet 21st-Century Language Learning Difficulties. Journal of Language Studies, 4(3.), 22-31.
Ismail, I., Azizan, S. N., & Gunasegaran, T. (2016). Mobile learning in Malaysian universities: are students ready? International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 10(3). 17 – 23.
Klimova, B. (2019). Impact of mobile learning on learners’ achievement results. Education Sciences. 9(2). https://doi:10.3390/educsci9020090.
Krashen, S. D. (1988). Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Prentice-Hall International.
Kung-Teck, W., Muhammad, M., Abdullah, N., & Hamdan, A. (2020). Mobile-heutagogical practices among student teachers: Its pedagogical affordances and challenges. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 14(2), 130–143.
Koscik, D. (2020). The Impact of a Reading Workshop Approach in a Seventh Grade Supplemental Reading Class (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Carolina).
Lause, J. (2004). Using Reading Workshop to Inspire Lifelong Readers. English Journal, 93(5). 23 – 40.
Li, Z., Qiu, Z. (2018). How does family background affect children’s educational achievement? Evidence from Contemporary China. J. Chin. Sociol. 5, 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-018-0083-8.
Ling, C. K. S., & Yamat, H. (2020). Reading Strategy Use among Good and Poor Primary English as a Second Language Learners. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 10, 318-330. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v10-i1/6853.
Luka, I., & Seniut, I. (2019). Developing students’ language competence and essential 21st century skills for future employability: The case of Latvia and Lithuania. Acta Educationis Generalis, 9(2), 1-23.
Lundstrom, S. (2017). The impact of family income on child achievement: Evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit: Comment. American Economic Review, 107(2), 623-28.
Marshall, M. N. (1996). Sampling for qualitative research. Family practice, 13(6), 522-526.
Masrom, M., Nadzari, A. S., & Zakaria, S. A. (2016). Implementation of Mobile Learning Apps in Malaysia Higher Education Institutions. In E-Proceeding of the 4th Global Summit on Education (pp. 268-276).
Meikeng, Y. (2019, June 23). Malaysian Love Reading, But Fewer Local Books Sold. The Star, https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/06/23/malaysians-love-reading-but-fewer-local-books-sold/.
Mo-Bjørkelund, R. (2020). Readtheory. org–the theory of 21st-century reading: fostering 21st-century reading skills through digital competence, digital teaching aids and frequent digital teaching (Master's thesis, The University of Bergen).
Newman, I., Benz, C. R., & Ridenour, C. S. (1998). Qualitative-quantitative research methodology: Exploring the interactive continuum. SIU Press.
Niko Sudibjo, Lusiana Idawati, & HG Retno Harsanti. (2019). Characteristics of learning in the era of Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0. Proceedings of the International Conference on Education Technology (ICoET), September 2019: 276–278.
Othman, B., Harun, A., Ismail, D. A., Sadq, Z. M., Ali, S., & Ramsey, T. S. (2019). Malaysian consumer behaviour towards internet banking: An application of technology acceptance model. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 23(2), 689-703.
Pellegrino, J. (2017), "Teaching, learning and assessing 21st century skills", in Guerriero, S. (ed.), Pedagogical Knowledge and the Changing Nature of the Teaching Profession, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264270695-12-en.
Perrin, A. & Duggan, M. (2015). Americans’ Internet access: 2000-2015. Pew Research Center (June 2015): 1–13.
Petscher, Y., Cabell, S. Q., Catts, H. W., Compton, D. L., Foorman, B. R., Hart, S. A., ... & Wagner, R. K. (2020). How the science of reading informs 21st‐century education. Reading research quarterly, 55, S267-S282.
Piaget, Jean (1968). Six Psychological Studies. Anita Tenzer (Trans.), New York: Vintage Books.
Purcell-Gates, V. (2020). Comprehending complexity. In Cultural practices of literacy (pp. 197-216). Routledge.
Rajaram, K. (2021). Evidence-Based Teaching for the 21st Century Classroom and Beyond: Innovation-Driven Learning Strategies. Springer Nature.
Royer, J. S. (1987). A connotational theory of workshop structure (Vol. 273). Springer Science & Business Media.
Samsuddin, S. F., Shaffril, H. A. M., Bolong, J., & Mohamed, N. A. (2019). Understanding the reading habit and attitudes among the rural community in low literacy rate areas in Malaysia. Library Management.
Singh, M. K. M., Ying, L. S., & Muniandy, N. (2021). Taking a Peek at 21st Century Reading. Teaching and Learning of English in the 21st Century: Perspectives and Practices from South East Asia. Penerbit USM. https://penerbit.usm.my/index.php/buku/419-teaching-and-learning-of-english-in-the-21st-century-perspectives-and-practices-from-south-east-asia
Swift, K. (1993). Try reading workshop in your classroom. The Reading Teacher, 46(5), 366-371.
Talmi, I., Hazzan, O., & Katz, R. (2018). Intrinsic Motivation and 21st-Century Skills in an Undergraduate Engineering Project: The Formula Student Project. Higher Education Studies, 8(4), 46-58.
Tanaka, M. (2017). Examining EFL vocabulary learning motivation in a demotivating learning environment. System 65: 130– 138. https://doi:10.1016/j.system.2017.01.010.
Towle, W. (2000). The art of the reading workshop. Educational Leadership, 58(1), 38-41.
White P. J, Marston H. R, Shore L and Turner R. (2020). Learning from COVID-19: Design, Age-friendly Technology, Hacking and Mental Models [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]. Emerald Open Res 2020, 2:21 (https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.13599.1)
Williams, M. K. (2017). John Dewey in the 21st century. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 9(1), 7. 91 – 102.
Wong, S. M., Leong, C. M., & Puah, C. H. (2020). Mobile internet adoption in Malaysian suburbs: The moderating effect of gender. Asian Journal of Business Research, 9(3), 90-114.
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications. 5. Sage.
York, C. (2020). Influence of a Shared Reading Workshop on Parent Attitudes Toward Shared Reading (Doctoral dissertation, Middle Tennessee State University).