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TAJUK CADANGAN PENYELIDIKAN: Enhancing speaking skill through Madlipz Apps:A
case study on 21st Century Learning Tool

UNIVERSITI YANG DI POHON

Bil Institut Pengajian Tinggi yang Nama Kursus/ Jumlah keseluruhan jam kredit
dipilih Program yang ditawarkan
1. UNIVERSITI PEDIDIKAN MASTERS 42
SULTAN IDRIS EDUCATION
(TESL )
2. USM
3. UM
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1.0 Introduction
English language learning has always become a topic that is discussed by
Malaysian educators regardless of their teaching levels and has been a crucial issue in
Malaysian education all these years. Not only that, it has always been an accepted norm
regard that Malaysians need to have good proficiency in English language in order to
become a successful individual especially in securing job in the private sector and if not
they are considered to be put in the disadvantaged position (The Star Online, 12 June
2016). Thus, many measures have been taken to improve the command of English
language.
In relation to this, Malaysia Employers Federation (MEF) states that more than
90% employers state the urgent need for graduates to improve their English proficiency
in order to be employable. It has been reported that some fresh graduates, school
leavers, and even diploma holders are unable to even construct proper sentences nor
make themselves understood in a conversation during job interviews (The Star, 2017).
The Education Ministry laments that students struggle and are unable to master
communicating in English even after learning the language for 13 years at primary,
secondary and matriculation levels…” (Hammim, 2011).
The cruel reality of students who are unable to string together coherent sentences
in English after 13 years of schooling, propels educators to examine the factors behind
the said failure (Daily Express, 2015; Sani,2016).From the academia perspective,
educators are of the opinion that remedial action needs to be addressed at the school
level as university professors admit that they are unable to solve the said problem within
the short stint of time that students are in the university (Sani, 2016). The spiraling
problem of graduates’ lack of communication skills is traced back to the foundation laid in
English language proficiency classrooms in the formative school years, as this is where
alonger period of engagement is available with the students.
Many linguistics and ESL teachers agree on that students learn to speak in the
second language by "interacting". Communicative language teaching and collaborative
learning serve best for this aim. Communicative language teaching is based on real-life
situations that require communication and mastery of speaking skll. By using this method
in ESL classes, students will have the opportunity of communicating with each other in
the target language. In brief, ESL teachers should create a classroom environment
where students have real-life communication, authentic activities, and meaningful tasks
that promote oral language. http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kayi-TeachingSpeaking.html.
This can occur when students collaborate in groups to achieve a goal or to complete a
task.given. Yet, it is believed that such measures have yet to show positive results. Thus,
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21st century learning tool which includes digital literacy can help to create a better
communicative environment for learners.
In many ESL classrooms in Malaysia, there is limited access to the exposure of
technology has become an inevitable part of education. In various field of studies, the
use of technology has enhanced the quality of research. In the case of English Language
Teaching, the focus has to be on all the four skills could be done through a combination
of technology and face to face interaction. David Crystal in his book on language and
internet shares his view on the paradigm shift in the thought process of the present
generation as:
An emphasis, which formerly was on technology, has shifted to be on people and
purposes. And as the Internet comes increasingly to be viewed from a social
perspective, so the role of language becomes central.

2.0 Problem Statement

Malaysia students tent to be reserved about voicing their own opinions. Some feels oral
expression or open argumentation brings embarrassment and public disgrace.
For the longest time, Malaysian government has taken countless measures in
ensuring its citizen to acquire good command of English language. However, speaking is
one of the skill that is least mastered by Malaysian students. Many failed to realise that
speaking is the essential tool for communication in the 21st century classroom.
It is believed that effective material or media used in English as a Foreign Language
(EFL) classes is a crucial aspect of the teaching method. Also, good teaching media can
stimulate the students’ interest and encourage students’ participation in learning practice
(Heinich, 1993; Abdulrahman, 2017). Thus, it is believed that modern technologies
enhance speaking skill. Therefore, this study attempt to propose a new 21st century
technological learning tool to enhance students speaking skill.
This is coherent with CEFR syllabus which emphasis on keeping interaction going in
longer exchanges by asking a speaker to slow down, speak up or repeat what they ave
said. Hence, students need to be given the opportunity to experiment English Language
in a formal or informal context.
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3.0 Literature Review

In the present scenario, technology has become a handy tool for both teachers and
learners. It enables the teachers to teach in more interesting and innovative ways and in
the process also makes learning fun and can certainly add another dimension.
Technologically advanced tools such as Blogs, Face book, Skype, Twitter, Whatsapp
and Instagram along with sufficient use of gadgets like Smart phones, laptops or PCs
have changed the physical classroom into a world of possibilities for learning English as
a second language.
One of the media that is effective to use in English language teaching is movie clips
through Madlipz Apps. Through movie media, the students will use their two
multisensory, sounds and sight at the same time when doing listening practice.
Moreover, movie media can attract students’ focus and concentration more than only
audio or visual media. Besides, Hruby (2010) also said that audio visual media such as
video may increase the students’ motivation and will make the students happy and fun
when doing listening practice that may affect the students to be more participated in
teaching listening skill process.
4.0 Objectives
The main purpose of this study is to analyse the effectiveness of using movie clips to
enhance speaking competency of second language learner through real-life situation role
play. The researcher aims to examine if using modern technology such as movie clips
can be engaging and helpful in handling real life situations in the 21st century. Hence,
adaptation of this method is hoped to create a motivating and enjoyable 21st century
classroom learning, provide authentic visual context and an exposure to a real life
situation varied language use.
The researcher also believes that by employing this approach to the students it would
contribute to more important findings that would help teachers or educators out there to
understand the phenomenon better and try to overcome problems arise pertaining to
English as second language learning.
The aim of this research is to make the students as better communicators by
incorporating paralinguistic features in their communication through Madlipz Apps, which
would probably enrich their speaking skill.
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5.0 Significance of Study

“English teachers have been using films in their classes for decades”James Johnson.
However, re-enacting and revoicing movie clips are rarely done in our classrooms.
Malaysian students’ learning relies heavily on face-to-face delivery dominated by the
teacher and generally lacks student centeredness and dialogues. Therefore, Malaysian
students value learning outcomes rather than the process of learning. Hence, important
learning process such as evaluative thinking, interpersonal communication, leadership
development, real-life conversation is neglected.
In relation to this, Alias & Jamaludin (2005) state that Malaysian students apply three
basic cognitive strategies which are rehearse and elaborate through copying, organize
information through visual organizers and seeking instructor assistance whenever
difficulty arises. Why? Malaysian students are exam oriented and work towards getting
paper qualification for a job.
The Bloom’s taxonomy in the 21st century classroom emphasises on creating,
evaluating, analyzing, applying, understanding and remembering. Thus, using movie
clips is coordinated with the 21st century Bloom’s Taxonomy as it provides platform in
creating, fluency building, application, and innovation.
Not only that, this study will help the teachers or educators to realize the importance of
verbal communication in a realistic setting. According to Flynn (1998) video help the
students to understand the instruction more than a textbook because video bring
language in the context of life in realistic settings to the classroom. When someone
watches a movie or even a clip, feelings and emotions are elicited, facts and reaction
from video such as anger, excitement, laughter, relaxation, love or bore.2009)
By realising the importance of using authentic real world movie content, the teachers
would be able to help the students to practice the soft skills and communication skills
needed to take part in the global communities. Furthermore, this study would aid
teachers or educators to have good understanding of essential communication tool and
discovering innovative technology to teach speaking in classroom. By knowing this,
teachers are to facilitate students in their learning by scaffolding and assist them in the
zone proximal development thus let the students explore English language learning by
themselves. Teachers also have to be open in all possibilities to help students’ language
learning.
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6.0 Research Questions

a) How does Madlipz help to develop students’ creativity?
b) Does Madlipz improve speaking skill and expressive skills?
c) How does Madlipz help enhance long term memory?
d) Does this task promote real-life interactive teaching, cooperative and collaborative
learning for students?
7.0 Methodology
Data will be obtained through observations, open-ended questions and interviews with
selected candidates.
The study will be conducted on Form 1 and 2 students with low oral proficiency in
English but had scored well in exams.
High achievers who rarely speak English at home or outside the classroom.
Researcher analyzes students speaking skill through Madlipz and captures the students’
performance on various aspects of communication such as fluency, cohesion and use of
correct lexical.
In the 21st Century classroom, students are interested in using instant voiceover as an
entertainment. They are willing to adopt the dialogue, accent and pronunciation that are
related to the clips and video. As a result, the participants adopt the gesture and accent
from the video clippings that they have watched, practiced and in turn improved their
Communication skills. They are willing to adopt the dialogue, accent and pronunciation
that are related to the clips and video. As a result, the participants adopt the gesture and
accents from the concept. This is the motif of the researchers that the form 1 and form 2
students should improve the paralinguistic features, in a methodology in which
The learner willingly participated to shape their speaking skills through a model
presentation. This in turn leads to the eloquence of speech which ultimately leads to
eloquence of thought and as technology expands, eloquence of speech seems to be an
area which is contracting or in decline. Enthusiastic internet users can actually get by
with very little speech [16].
The researcher has followed audio lingual method in which the learner easily adopts the
accent, body language, tone, articulation of what they listen to. Besides, rehearsing,
recording and editing spoken work digitally allows pupils to improve their pronunciation,
boost their confidence, extend their speaking and listen back as many times as they like
[15]. Using Madlipz Apps is similar to the synchronous solutions like video-conferencing
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and face-to face interaction through online virtual worlds are becoming increasingly
popular as vehicles to promote language.
learning.

English Language Teaching, 7(1),19.

Astuti, D. K. (2013). The Gap between English Competence & Performance

(Performance:

The Learners Speaking Ability). In FLLT Conference Proceedings by LITU (Vol. 2,

No. 1, pp. 660-670).

Rebecca Rajaendram (Sunday, 12 Jun 2016) English skills vital for all The Star Online
retrieved from

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/education/2016/06/12/english-skills-vital-for-all/

(Saturday, 21 Jan 2017) English proficiency still a big problem for many M’sian grads The
Star Online

retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/01/21/english-proficiency-still-

a-big-problem-for-many-msian-grads/#dBJwZoqweRUy6rRF.99

retrieved from: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kayi-TeachingSpeaking.html.

Al-Jamal, D. A., & Al-Jamal, G. A. (2013). An investigation of the difficulties faced

by EFL undergraduates in speaking skills. English Language Teaching, 7(1),19.

Astuti, D. K. (2013). The Gap between English Competence & Performance

(Performance:

The Learners Speaking Ability). In FLLT Conference Proceedings by LITU (Vol. 2,

No. 1, pp. 660-670).

VASUKI THOPLA GOVENDER: 760802105368
CBBP DB: TESL
VASUKI THOPLA GOVENDER: 760802105368
CBBP DB: TESL
VASUKI THOPLA GOVENDER: 760802105368
CBBP DB: TESL
VASUKI THOPLA GOVENDER: 760802105368
CBBP DB: TESL