Students who learn Arabic as a foreign language in a foreign country usually face difficulties to achieve proficiency in the language. This is primarily because of the lack of Arabic language resources. However, this situation does not hinder the emergence of a group of outstanding students who achieve fluency in Arabic by using their own methods. This study investigated the methods used by these students to be used as a guideline for other students. To collect the data, a set of questionnaire was developed from the Imitation Strategy Instrument introduced by Rosni Samah (2014). The questionnaires were distributed to 50 outstanding final year students from the Arabic language department, Faculty of Major Languages, Islamic Science University of Malaysia. The results showed that effective strategies for learning Arabic language as a foreign language were gathering, enhancing and applying. The targets are new vocabulary and sentence. The tools to perform the strategies were Arabic materials and language activities. This study recommends that in learning Arabic language as a foreign language, the three methods mentioned above should be applied. The Arabic materials should be provided and language activities should be organized. The effective methods used by outstanding students should be used as a guideline for other students to be more proficient in Arabic Language.

In adult refugees’ context, functional literacy is the biggest barrier for the refugees to socially navigate in the host community. Functional literacy is ‘the level of skill in listening, speaking, reading and writing that any individual needs in order to cope with adult life.’ Without functional literacy abilities in the language/s of the host country and uncertainties in the journey to resettlement, the refugees tend to become very vulnerable and traumatized. Thus, social navigation for survival becomes an issue not only because they have language barriers but also internal conflicts on the terrains of the imagined (the hopes) and the unexpected (the difficulties) they encounter in the host country. Employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools, this study explored the current English language literacy ability of the Rohingya youth refugees and related challenges. Findings revealed that despite the keen interests the participants have in acquiring English language proficiency, the different alphabetical systems pose problems for them. Despite the challenges in language, the participants exhibited strong sense of brotherhood with other fellow refugees and willingness to extend assistance. Religion developed the powerful bond. Based on the empirical data gathered, a Functional Literacy Course was developed to address language issues embedded with Leadership as well as Islamic Psycho-spiritual elements.

The role and position of the English language within the higher education has increasingly plays a significant role as the leading language of academic publications, technologies as well as communication. The higher institutions in the country hold important responsibilities to educate and produce the younger generation of Malaysians as potential human resources that not only fulfil the needs of the local and international workforce in the attempt to achieve the national’s aspiration of a developed country. This study seeks to understand the undergraduate students’ English language literacies in relation to the demand of the literacy practices and competencies needed at the tertiary level. The literacy practices in this instance include academic literacies that encompasses not only knowledge of discrete language skills and appropriate language use in context, but it is to be holistically understood to include also competence in reading and writing. Subsequently, data were collected via questionnaires and focus groups with selected undergraduate from various disciplines to investigate whether their educational and environmental factors influence their existing level of English language competencies.. Findings of the study provides in-depth insights of the challenges faced, and the language literacy practices needed in meeting the expectations of potential employers of the required English language skills to be used at workplace.

By taking Malaysia as a case in point, this paper explores ideological constructions regarding the position of the English language that are created as a result of collisions between prioritizing nationalist and realizing globalization agendas. Through a discourse analysis of newspaper texts across two of Malaysia’s press, The Star and New Straits Times, the discussion will show how these newspaper items represent certain world-views on ‘measures’ of the standardization of the English language. It is argued that they illuminate some of the many issues that stage dialogues between local/global continuities and disjunctures on how English language ‘should’ be positioned within the changing and challenging landscape of multilingualism and ‘global English.’ This article also attempts to extend the debate further to show examples of postcolonial ‘revisions’ to displace these points, highlighting alternative voices to articulate colonial ‘visions’ of the globalization of English.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) era brings with it exciting new possibilities and at the same time new challenges for the language and education sector. Due to the exponential changes brought about by the 4IR, researchers predicted that pretty soon, we will witness changes in most sectors in the world including the employment sector. Over the years, the delivery of Malaysian Higher Education Programmes (MyHE) has transformed significantly. The challenges and the way forward towards addressing the issues pertaining to 4IR in the realm of language and education are presented and discussed in this editorial.

Efforts to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus have been carried out on a large scale around the world, and among the measures that have been taken is to change the mode of learning among students in universities to online learning. Although various online learning platforms have been made available for student use, the level of mastery of students as well as the challenges they face to maximize the use of technology while studying from home is still understudied. This study will add to the previous research by focusing on the aspects of English language online learning processes experienced by Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) students during the Movement Control Order period. This study collected qualitative data through open-ended questions which were distributed online, involving 29 first-year students from the Bachelor of English with Commerce (BELCOM). The data revealed two (2) categories of challenges – external and internal. Internet connection and environment are for external while understanding and communication are for internal. In relation to each of the challenges, the respondents also shared their coping mechanisms which are two-pronged. Some respondents just accepted those hurdles while many of them took charge and took action in solving the problems. These coping mechanisms could be used as guides for other learners facing difficulties in learning online at home.

Despite the aspiration of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) which aims to provide inclusive and quality education for all, refugees remain to be left behind. Therefore, a support mechanism for this group of people is necessary. A baseline literacy study was conducted with 15 Rohingya youth refugees using a snowball sampling technique. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments were used: baseline tests, interviews, and guided questionnaires. Following the findings, a framework emerged and was used as a guide for module development. The Ref-LitPsy Module aims to help youth refugees, specifically the Rohingyas, to function better in Malaysia as their host country. This research based module comprises two main components: a) Literacy and b) Psychospiritual. The former addresses basic English literacy specifically for non-Roman alphabetical background refugees while the latter assists refugees to cope with stress and losses associated with migration, and also to groom them in helping their community. This paper focuses on the first component, Literacy. The Ref-LitPsy module is divided into twelve structured units that are applied in psychospiritual counselling approach. The Ref-LitPsy module is beneficial for the long-term resettlement success of refugees by grooming social navigators to help themselves and the refugee community.

This study explores the motivation of learning English among students in selected Tahfiz government and state schools in Malaysia. Questionnaires adapted from Dornyei (2004), with an additional construct, were administered to 1,017 students aged 13 to 17. Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with Robust Maximum Likelihood estimation technique (MLR) were used. From the SEM analysis, a new model of motivation in learning English among Tahfiz students is proposed. The study discovered that attitudes towards community, promotion, prevention, parental encouragement, interest, Islamic values, ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and attitudes towards learning English all play central roles in the proposed model. A comparison motivation model between the Tahfiz government and state schools was also provided. The results suggest that Tahfiz English language teachers and other relevant parties should be aware of their students’ motivation in learning English, and try to create a more conducive learning environment in the classroom. This can equip the students with sufficient language skills to be well-rounded Islamic preachers.

Listening, in general, is a challenging language skill for many learners in which they usually face frustration (Arnold, 2000; Goh, 2000). The emphasis of this study is to identify the experiences of ESL learners when learning the listening skill for IELTS while applying metacognitive strategies in learning. The research instrument used in the present study is the semi-structured interviews with the aim of gaining foundational understanding from the selected respondents regarding their use of metacognitive strategies in learning the listening skills for the IELTS examination. The qualitative results of this study were based on interviews conducted among 10 participants who are undergraduate students, underwent an intervention programme which was designed for them to acquire the listening skills using the metacognitive strategies. The semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis by using the coding method. Findings of this study suggest that metacognitive strategies presents a viable solution for acquiring appropriate skills in the listening component because although most individuals of normal intelligence engage in metacognitive regulation when confronted with an effortful cognitive task, some are more metacognitive than others. Those with greater metacognitive abilities tend to be more successful in their cognitive endeavours. Additionally, it was also found to have positively impacted learning behaviours with the learners being receptive to the changes and gaining more confidence with independently learning. There is a vast potential that can still be evaluated for the application of metacognitive strategies with other level of learners for acquiring appropriate listening skills in the English language.

This article explores how the Hybrid Problem-Based Learning (HPBL) approach can improve the Libyan EFL learners’ performance in English language speaking. The paper employed the case study research design in which qualitative data through observation and interview were collected and analysed thematically. The participants involved in the study were 30 first-year undergraduate students in one of the Libyan public universities. The study was conducted in the period of 9 weeks. The course was conducted alternatingly between traditional and PBL lessons. The PBL lessons were based on 7 steps of Schmidt, Dauphinee and Patel (1989). At the end of each PBL lesson, students presented their possible solutions for the problem presented in a form of oral presentation (OP). It was found that after undergoing the HPBL process, the speaking ability of the learners improved in fluency, grammar, comprehension, vocabulary, confidence level, intonation skills and pronunciation. It is, thus, concluded the HPBL approach is a worthwhile alternative for English lecturers for the transformation of the stagnant approach to the teaching of English language in the Libyan EFL context.

Drawing on interviews with parents of indigenous communities, this article presents insights into indigenous parenting aspects related to inside-and-outside classroom learning, cross-cultural complexities, and literacy practices by taking perspectives of Malaysia’s indigenous parents as an example. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological model on how individuals navigate complex interactions in a particular society, indigenous parents' authority and agency play important roles in navigating competing issues of indigenous learners' literacy, learning, and class. Implications on parenting practices, particularly on uplifting indigenous parents with sociocultural, learning, and literacy engagement within changing and challenging expectations of indigenous learners inside and outside their homes, are presented.