Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet

The Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet to improve students English performance.

Saripah Anak Sinas

MARA University of Technology Kota Samarahan Sarawak Malaysia (2012)

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0

Chapter Overview

This chapter serves as an introduction to the study. It starts by providing the introduction, the background to the study and background of the place where the study is conducted. It then presents the problem statement, the research objectives, the research questions, scope of the study, theoretical framework, conceptual framework and significance of the study, the definition of key terms linked to the study and the conclusion to the chapter.

1.1

Introduction Reading is no more a new issue but it is still an issue when there is not much

progress shown in reading habit among students (Kirsch et al., 1993). Reading is an interactive, developmental cognitive process that requires the active participation of the reader for it to be effective and successful (Anderson et. al, 1985). Students must be motivated to read selected good materials in order to upgrade their skills and enrich their knowledge in the target language. Research has proven that reading is the most important skills to start with in the learning process. Thus, related material from the internet is used to assist students to learn more efficiently (Selwyn, 2003). A few years back, students relied solely on printed materials such as books, magazines, newspapers or media like television. But now in the new era with the rapid technological advancement, Information and Communicating Technology (ICT) has changed many aspects in all sectors including the education sector ranging from schools to tertiary level. ICT here involved any audio visual aids used to help in

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet

teaching and learning process such as computer, laptop, and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), screen board, the Internet, wireless access and so forth. The most popular visual aids used by students is the Internet. The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that is used to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet has been the incubator for new network technologies, far surpassing the expectations of worldwide network suppliers. Its growth has been the steepest shortly after new technology has been deployed and new applications executed. This study is conducted to produce further evidence to support the claim that using the many materials from the Internet, contribute to students interest of reading more English Language materials, which in return will give them more support in their perceived proficiency of the target language.

1.2

Background of the Study Reading is one of the most important skills of the Famous Four language skills

such as Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Without reading, it will be very difficult for students to adapt and absorb learning, especially during activities in classroom. Some good reading sources could give great impact to the students and reading materials should be written by experts of the target language. Students can search the materials from the Internet as their reading materials. Hence, resources from the Internet could be one of the materials for students to read to improve their language. A very resourceful reading material such as English Language materials from the Internet may come handy at times. Using the materials from the Internet,

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet

students can also utilize related interesting pictures such as graphs, tables, charts and animation to help them understand the materials they read. Kirsch et al. (1993) in his study revealed that 40 to 44 million Americans had only the most basic reading skills. He added that students just aren't reading as much anymore. Nevertheless, the need for reading comprehension, texts, articles, journals and magazines in English Language has increased as that is part of the many ways to improve their target language performance. The need is great for strengthening skills such as your ability to read a variety of materials like textbooks, novels, newspapers, magazines, instructional manuals, your ability to understand and remember what you read and your ability to effectively communicate what you have learned from your reading. In argument to the points viewed by Kirsch, the researcher observed that students do read printed materials sometimes but are more interested to surf the Internet all the time. That means students hardly have time to flip printed materials like books or magazines. Students do not spend any significant portion of their free time reading printed materials. Instead, students love surfing the Internet and read materials they browsed online probably due to the recent issues display on the web screen. Students learned and enriched their vocabularies, knowledge as well as their understanding of the materials they read. Good readers are able to read, write, analyse, interpret, and synthesize information (Hay and Roberts, 1989) and reflect on what they have read clearly. Students must know that without committing time to reading, no one can gain the reading skills or knowledge they need to succeed in school, at work, or in life in general. The best way to improve your performance and reading efficiency is to read a lot.

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet

Reading materials comprising reading texts, biographies, articles and journal could easily be found from the Internet for students to read. Furthermore, the Internet is being used in education to assist students to learn more effectively and help teachers work efficiently (Selwyn, 2003). Nowadays, almost every student has his or her own laptop and has used Internet as communication tools such as emails, chat groups, discussion groups, pals club and others to conduct activities (Krajka, 2002) which can also contribute to students improvement in reading. Most of the time, the Internet is also used in facilitating various forums through online conferencing and create virtual discussion with friends or teachers online (Flecknoe, 2000) to share information, knowledge or activities. This provides a wide opportunity for students to increase the usage of the target language. Nevertheless, to enjoy the use of the Internet students must be technologically literate to critically examine, question technological progress and innovation (Saskatchewan Education, 2002). Poor knowledge in the target language may cause students to lack their motivation to read materials. In this study, the researcher focuses on the use of Internet to find English Language reading materials to suit students interest and motivate them to read in order to enhance their English Language performance. In previous study, researchers believe that motivation was one of the factors that could affect reading attitude among students. Littlewood (1987) states that, in second language learning as in every other field of human learning, motivation is the critical force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he perseveres. It is a complex phenomenon and includes many components: the individuals drive, need for achievement and success, curiosity, desire for stimulation and new experience. These beliefs are supported by

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet

Peters (1987) who indicates that academic achievement is more a product of appropriate placement of priorities and responsible behavior than it is of intelligence. Peters (1987) added that intelligent students are often out-performed by less bright students with high motivation. If a child is motivated enough he or she can accomplish learning of any scale including upgrade knowledge. It was believed that there are many factors that affect students motivation to read English Language materials such as family background, environment, peers, personal social interactions, limited academic or technical skills, time, high cost and limited access to the Internet or economic factors. Other factors are the students level of confidence in using the Internet probably due to self-motivation, attitude and the perception that each individual holds. For the present study purposes, the researcher uses selected text extract from the Internet to suit students interest in order to motivate them to read more.

1.2.1

Background of the Institute This research will be conducted at MARA Vocational Training Institute or

Institute Kemahiran Mara, Kuching (IKMK) which is situated at Jalan Sultan Tengah Semariang Petra Jaya, Kuching Sarawak. The certificate vocational training programme has been introduced in this institution to train Bumiputeras in various technical and vocational fields to make them qualified in order to venture into commercial, business and industrial sectors besides creating potential entrepreneurs. IKMK offers nine programmes such as Certificate in Automotive Body Repair Technology, Certificate in Automotive Technology, Certificate in Maritime Technology, Certificate in Building Technology, Certificate in Water Supply and Sewerage Technology, Certificate in Electrical Domestic and Industry Technology,

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet

Certificate in Electronic Industry Technology, Certificate in Welding Technology, and Certificate in Furniture Design and Manufacturing Technology. This programme is implemented in twelve (12) MARA Vocational Training Institute or Institut Kemahiran MARA (IKM) throughout Malaysia. At present, there are 47 full time programmes being conducted by the IKM, with each IKM offering between four (4) to fourteen (14) programmes. Programmes of choice may be selected based on the minimum qualifications required for each said programmes. The duration of the programme is twenty four months that is two years. The teaching and learning system for vocational education is compiled systematically to generate skilled students. The courses that students are required to study are technical studies, general studies, co-curriculum, attitude development and industrial training. IKM provides only vocational training at the certificate level. The vocational training in MARA exercises the use of semesters in the academic calendar and each year there are two semesters. Each semester consists of 26 weeks with diverse activities. After completing three semesters of the programme, students will have to undergo a six month industrial training at the workplace. In Sarawak, there are two IKM centres. The first is in Kuching (IKMK) and it was first opened in 1983. The newly opened branch is located in Bintulu (IKMB), which mainly focuses on the oil and gas industry. As the training structure consists of theoretical learning as well as the acquirement of practical competency or efficiency to ensure the quality of each trainee, trainees are required to take the Communicative English from the General Studies department throughout their two year study. In IKMK, English is a medium of teaching and references are all written in English. The students are exposed to Communicative English in all three semesters. The topics covered three units such as Communication at the Workplace, Basic Oral

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet

and Written Instructions, Report Writing and Processes and Procedures. They are required to do an English Course in which students are assessed through assignments, oral presentation, mid-term test and final examination paper. The assignments are ongoing and conducted throughout the semester while the final paper will only be conducted at the end of each semester which is usually between week 23 and 26. The on-going assessments are evaluated by their own teacher; on the other hand, the final paper is prepared by the headquarters. Each semester students will have to complete a three unit course. In a mid-term test, students are tested on comprehension in the form of multiple choice questions based on the units taught. There are about twenty questions in the mid-term test with two marks each. But in the final test students are tested on all units. There are comprehension questions of multiple choices as well as short answers. Each question is given two marks and there are forty questions all together. For this study, students performance is tested based on a test set by the researcher and there are ten multiple choice questions to be answered based on a comprehension text and the paper will go through a pilot test before the actual test is conducted with the participants of this study. The total number of students in IKMK is approximately 553 students, comprising of 181 from semester one, 111 in semester two, 151 in semester three and 110 in semester four. For this study, the researcher chooses 80 semester two students from Certificate in Welding Technology, Certificate in Automotive and Certificate in Electrical Domestic as sample.

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet

1.3

Problem Statement Reading is a major problem among students in MARA Vocational Training

Institute or Institute Kemahiran Mara, Kuching (IKMK). Students do not read much to help themselves learn the English Language. They are not motivated enough to read materials, especially in the English Language. IKMK is a place for them to learn skills (psycho-motor) and technical works. Ironically, books and other references in the library are mostly written in English and students need to know the language to understand the content. IKMK has a mini library that is equipped with books, magazines and newspapers. Unfortunately, those books are insufficient in term of cluster categorization and information to facilitate students and to get more information to complete the tasks assigned by their teachers. Nowadays, books are quite costly to buy, especially for most students who come from rural areas. Alternatively, IKMK prepares facilities like two computer laboratories with free wireless Internet access (network) for students to surf for information. Students are allowed to use the laboratories by informing the media officer in-charge. From the researchers observation, students prefer to surf the Internet during their free time to get materials and for free reading. For this study, the researcher believes that the materials from the Internet could help to improve the students knowledge, especially on their vocabularies. Furthermore, most students are attracted to surfing the Internet. They are interested to browse face book, blogger, Google, yahoo.com and the games websites. Others surf the Internet to find information for the purpose of their

assignments, read short stories or articles, read on their favourite celebrities, footballers or artists biography. Therefore, the researcher believes that these students need to use the Internet as a means of learning, especially the English Language.

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For this study purposes, reading English Language materials from the Internet is highly recommended to improve and enrich their knowledge of the English Language vocabularies. Other obstacles for students to learn English Language are their circle of friends and the environment they live in. As a matter of fact, students prefer to converse in their mother tongue. While most of them have a vague sense that whether "English will be useful for my future" or not, they do not have a clear idea of what that means, nor is that a very strong motivator. As technical students, technical skills are more important and that is the reason they are here for. Nevertheless, English Language is a medium of instructions in IKMK especially in teaching and learning, both technical and academic courses. There are many reasons that caused poor results among students and one of the reasons could be the problem with reading motivation among students of IKMK. Not all students have the urge to read books, magazines, newspapers or any other reading materials. Students learn English language only in the classroom for two hours per session. There is only one session per week for each programme and this limited time hinders students from practising the English Language. That would not be enough for students to enhance their English language vocabulary or knowledge. Sometimes teachers have to spare an hour for students to go to the library and practice free reading. That means students are allowed to read whatever materials there are in the library such as books, magazines, newspapers and articles. But the problem occurs when every time they are in the library, only few would grab newspapers and others would just sit waiting for the period to end or browse internet for fun. Hence, without focusing much on reading practice, it is impossible to empower one with speaking or writing skills in the English Language. Reading could help them to speak and empower knowledge of the English Language. It is a great concern among teachers

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teaching the English language course and the management as to how students should be motivated to read more materials in order to learn the language effectively. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify the factors and types of English Language materials from the Internet that could motivate students to read more. Reading English Language materials via the Internet could be a new wave to match the students interest with their language learning. This is because IKMK provides facilities like computers that are equipped with the wireless internet access for students to use for free. Apart from the two computer labs, students can use their own laptops to do their assignment. This is a privilege for students to actually surf and search for online English Language materials to read.

1.4 Research Objectives The objectives of this study are: a) to identify factors that motivate students to read English Language materials from the Internet; b) to identify the preferred types of materials from the Internet that motivate students to read; c) to investigate the contribution of the English Language materials from the Internet to the students improvement in their performance. English Language

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1.5

Research Questions

The following research questions are formulated to meet the research objectives as mentioned above. a) What are the factors that motivate students to read English language materials from the Internet? b) What are the preferred types of materials from the Internet that motivate students to read? c) How do the English Language materials from the Internet contribute to the students improvement in their English Language performance?

1.6

Scope of Study The scope of the study is to investigate whether the use of the Internet can be

used as a channel to search for English Language materials in order to motivate students to read and improve their English Language proficiency. The study is

conducted among eighty students from three selected courses which are Automotive, Electrical Domestic and Welding in IKM Kuching . This study will look at the factors influencing students to read, the types of English Language materials from the Internet that attract their interest to read and how the materials contribute to students target language performances. Carrell (1989) identified the factors affecting reading comprehension that help to achieve effectiveness in the teaching of English reading. Research in the 1970s and 1980s laid out many of the variables associated with the second language reading process (Elizabeth, 2005). Vocabulary is a major factor affecting reading comprehension. As an important factor in reading, motivation is also taken into consideration in the present study.

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1.7

Theoretical Framework The researcher personally believes that it is important to motivate students to

inculcate interest in reading more English Language materials as to improve their language performance. Align with that, students need to use the Internet for selecting English Language reading materials to suit their needs. Besides, students must have the motivation that comes from the inside (intrinsic) and outside (extrinsic) to influence their interest in reading. That means motivation comes from internal and external through self-interest, internal drive, environment, background and influence by friends or people living in the inner circle. In this technological era, students from tertiary institutions are more technologically conscious and this may influence their life experiences and interests (Lillis, 2003). Studies on educational technology have repeatedly echoed the ubiquity of computers and other digital devices in schools or in universities and the way it impacts on teaching and learning (Scharber, 2009; Shana, 2009; Yang, 2006). Harmer (2001) defines motivation as some kind of interval drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something. In contrast, Brown (1994) believes that motivation is a term that is used to define the success or failure of any complex task. Steers and Porter (1991) deal with three matters while discussing motivation such as what energizes human behaviour, what directs or channels such behaviour and how this behaviour is maintained or sustained. Besides that, (Steers and Porter, 1991) added that motivation is characterized as the needs or expectations, the behaviour, the goals and some form of feedback. Ryan and Deci (2000) supported that to be motivated means to be moved to do something. Unlike unmotivated people who have lost impetus and inspiration to act, motivated people are energized and

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activated until the end of a task. Williams and Burden (1997) believe that interest, curiosity, or a desire to achieve is the key factors that compose motivated people. However, they believe that arousing interest is not enough to be motivated. This interest should be sustained. In addition to this, time and energy should be invested and the effect which is required needs to be sustained so as to reach the aim. This present research focuses on the factors that affect students motivation to read the English Language materials from the Internet, the types of English Language materials that students read from the Internet and how these materials contribute to students performance in the target language. The researcher believes that the more students read English Language materials from the Internet the better is the student performance in the target language.

1.8

Conceptual Framework For this study purposes, the researcher will identify the factors that

motivate students to read, the types of English Language materials from the Internet that students usually read and how the materials contribute to the students performance. According Atkinson ( 1957), students performance increase after using the English Language materials from the Internet. In this study, the researcher believes that students who read actively the English Language materials such as articles, journals, e-magazines and e-newspapers are able to practise the target language and explore more vocabularies. Based on the previous studies, students are not interested to read due to a few factors that hinder them from reading the English Language materials. According to Williams and Burden (1997), interest, curiosity and desire to achieve something are the key factors that compose motivated person. While Peter (1987) believes that the

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factors which affected students motivation to read English Language materials are the family background, environment, and peers, personal and economic factors. Nowadays, students are exposed to the advancement of technology to help them surf for English Language materials from the Internet. Students are also interested to explore the reading materials from the Internet such as e-book, enewspaper, journal, articles including the graphs, pictures and diagrams that help them to understand what they read. In this study, the researcher believes that the Internet helps elicit students creativity in reading skills, enrich vocabularies, enhance knowledge and deepen their understanding towards the target language. In the present study, the researcher will identify the factors that attract students interest towards English materials, the types of English Language materials and how these materials contribute to students improvement in their English Language performance. Past study found a range of factors that affect students interest to read, which include confidence with the use of the Internet, attitude or perception. Others are probably the limitation of social interactions, limited academic or technical skills, self -motivation, time, high cost and limited access to the internet. Above all the factors, the researcher perceives that self-motivation from students is very important to intrigue students interest to read more and get more knowledge from what they read.

1.9

Significance of the study It is hope that the findings of this study will provide knowledge and

information for the students and teachers at IKMK that English Language materials from the Internet are suitable to motivate students to read. The purpose would be to encourage and help students to improve their reading. This study will enable teachers

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to plan the right activities for their lesson to suit the level of students and encourage the use of English Language materials from the Internet among students.

1.10

Definition of key terms The terminologies used in this study are defined as below.

1.10.1 Reading attitude. Goodman (1995) defines reading as the receptive process of written communication. Reading begins with a linguistic surface expression encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which the reader decoded. On the other hand, Grabe (1991) states that reading is not merely a receptive process of picking up information from the page in a verbatim manner but it is a selective process which is characterized as an active process of comprehending. Reading is also described as a complex process of making meaning from text, for variety of purposes. Readers typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge and experience with text to help them understand a written text (Pang et. al., 2003). Nuttal (1982) claims that we read for meaning, because we want to get something (facts, enjoyment, ideas or even feelings) from the writing. Williams (1984) defines it more simply as a process which requires a reader to look at a text and understand what has been written. In his terms, in reading one does not need to understand everything he or she reads. In this study, reading is defined as a process of understanding texts, articles, journals and other materials by answering questions and seeking meaning to new vocabularies. In the present study, reading attitude means students personal interest and positive perception towards reading. In order to encourage students to read, students need to have the right attitude towards the English Language materials. Students need

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to believe that only by reading more English Language materials can enrich their knowledge, skills and vocabularies. In the previous study, reading attitude is defined by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) as a learned disposition on how to behave, either negative or positive; and the reading attitude refers to the persons predisposition towards reading as an activity. The McKenna Model of Reading Attitude Acquisition (McKenna, et. al., 1996) suggests that the individuals attitude towards reading develops over time as a result of three complex factors: normative beliefs how ones friends view about reading, beliefs about outcomes of reading whether reading is likely to be pleasurable, useful, frustrating or boring and beliefs about outcomes of competing activities and specific reading experiences. The degree of positive or negative attitude towards reading differs according to the kind of reading to be performed and the purpose of reading. Therefore, it is more meaningful and practical to discuss reading attitude with reference to a particular type or use of reading (Taylor, et. al., 1988). In the study, reading selected materials taken from the internet are encouraged among students to meet their needs in learning the language.

1.10.2 Reading Motivation Motivation is the impetus behind what we actually dothe interior mental state that leads to action. It influences what we choose to do, and how well and for how long. Educators have long been interested in fostering and measuring aspects of student motivation because of the link between motivation and the learning activities that students actually do. Motivation is defined as "some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something (Harmer, 2001) also forces that account

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for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behaviour (p.51). A student who studies hard and tries for top grades may be described as being "highly motivated", while his or her friend may say that he is "finding it hard to get motivated". Such statements imply that motivation has a major influence on our behaviour towards a goal. Hence, motivation is very crucial to intrigue students interest to read English Language materials towards improving their target language performance. Reading motivation is the energizing force that actually causes reading to occur when a favourable attitude towards reading exists. Mathewson (1976) as cited in Taylor, et. al uses the term interest to describe the action orientation that occurs when positive attitude and motivation are both present. He believes attitude towards reading by itself does not cause an individual to read. Interest becomes a factor that triggers actual reading. Interest and motivation are two main factors being focused in this study. It is believed that these two factors affect students motivation to read and time to spend looking for relevant materials to read. For the present study, the researcher tries to identify whether the materials from the internet could attract students interest and inspire them to read more materials, especially in the English Language. The English Language materials from the Internet such as articles, journals or texts and other non-linear information provide interesting and attractive visual or pictures to encourage students to read. Students are attracted to pictures or visual and these pictures help them to understand the content of the materials that they read.

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1.10.3 Internet The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that is used to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. In this study, the researcher focuses on the use of the Internet to get materials for students to practice reading in the English language. Kasper (2003) talks about how important technology can be in the development of students literacy. Using the internet can help students with poor reading skills since they are more accessible and handy too.

1.11

Conclusion This first chapter presented the introduction to the present research topic,

motivating students to read related materials from the Internet to enhance their target language performance. The researcher believes that as the most famous four of the English language skills, reading should be nurtured in students. The chapter also outlined the background to the study, background of the place where the study is conducted, the problem statement, the research objectives, the research questions, scope of the study, theoretical framework, conceptual framework, significance of the study and the definition of key terms linked to the study

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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Chapter Overview

This chapter presents the overview of the findings of previous studies. It discusses related studies done on factors such as the personal attitude or interest towards the use of the Internet, motivation to read, intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivational orientation and other factors that motivate students to read the English language materials from the Internet. In addition, findings of previous studies on the types of materials from the Internet and their benefits are also discussed in this chapter.

2.1

Introduction Currently, there is a great interest in exploring factors that are specifically

associated with reading motivation to improve students performance in the target language. Motivation has been researched by psychologist and educators extensively in the late 80s or 90s but there has been limited attention given to the role of motivation in reading development (OFlahaven, Gambrell, Guthrie, Stahl, & Alvermann, 1992) and (United States Department of Education, 1986). In the present study, the researcher will identify related factors that motivate students to read the English Language materials from the Internet. The researcher will also discover the types of English Language materials from the Internet that contribute to the students improvement in the English Language performance. The researcher believes that by reading the English Language materials from the Internet help to enrich students vocabularies and skills in using the target language. Besides, students could gain knowledge and information by reading the

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English Language materials from the Internet. Students could explore the skills to read non-linear information, visuals, text, style of writing, technical terminology and so forth.

2.2

Personal attitude or interest towards the use of the Internet According to Anderson (1984) an attitude is a moderately intense emotion that

prepares an individual to respond consistently in a favourable and unfavourable manner when confronted with a particular object. Baron and Byrne (1994) asserted that attitudes shape individuals perceptions of the world and their social behaviour. Hence, attitude is likely a personal factor which could influence a person on the use of the Internet to find related reading materials. This is because the users attitude may directly influence their attention to use the computer or ICT (Speier, 2008). Thus, the researcher observes that students attitudes influence their motivation to read English Language materials from the Internet. Students with positive attitude read more to enrich their language vocabularies and improve their language performance.

2.3

Motivation to read According to Anderson (2003), reading for information and reading for

pleasure are two general reasons for reading. It is important to motivate readers to undertake varied sorts of reading activities. In his study, Anderson found that there was no significant correlation between the purpose factors and reading achievement, but motivation factors are significantly correlated with reading achievement. The stronger the subjects motivation, the higher the reading proficiency they may have.

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Other than the factor mentioned in the previous study above, the present study believes that selection of materials can contribute to increase reading interest among students. Interesting materials with attractive pictures can boost students motivation to read more English Language materials from the Internet. There are four characteristics of motivated students: (i) he or she wants to learn; (ii) he or she has a desire to accomplish the task; (iii) he or she has a positive attitude towards the task; (iv) he or she exhibits effort to accomplish the task (Ngeow, 1998). Motivation consists of two broad categories: (i) intrinsic and (ii) extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation means that the students want to complete the task because they are interested on their own (Guthrie & Solomon, 1997). Extrinsic motivation comes from compliance with teachers, parents or peers (Metsala, et al. 1997). Students interest in reading is vital to motivate students in any reading assignment (Collins and Decker, 1996). According to them, if a student is intrinsically motivated, the student wants to read the material because he or she is interested in it. Educators often only think of basic readers and trade books when promoting reading. Although trade books are very important to reading education, there are many other materials that can promote reading (Collins and Decker, 1996).The students want to read the material because they are so determined to learn more about the subject and they will also want to work hard at it (Guthrie and Solomon, 1997). The previous study believed that motivation is one of the most important factors that affect students interest to read. According to Littlewood (1987) in the second language learning situation, as well as in every other field of human learning, motivation is the critical force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he perseveres. It is a complex

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet phenomenon which includes many components such as the individuals drive, need for achievement and success, curiosity, desire for stimulation and for new experience. Another study by Peters (1987) supported that "academic achievement is more a product of appropriate placement of priorities and responsible behaviour than it is of intelligence." (Peters, 1987) added that intelligent students are often out-performed by less bright students with high motivation.

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2.4

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivational Orientation

As important as achievement goals are to student learning, on their own they may not be sufficient to describe the motivational picture of developing students. This is because the complex process of learning over many years is likely to be related to multiple types of motivations. It is difficult to imagine students focusing on mastery goals in domains from which they derive no enjoyment, interest, or satisfaction. Therefore, intrinsic motivation, satisfaction deriving from the activity itself, should be expected to play a role in motivating school performance (Csikszentmihalyi & Nakamura, 1989; Miller, DeBacker, & Greene, 1999). Intrinsic motivation is characterized by pleasure and enjoyment, interest, curiosity, and an intense focus on the task itself, as opposed to anything external to it (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999; Gottfried, Marcoulides, Gottfried, & Oliver, 2009; Henderlong & Lepper, 2002; Lepper, Corpus, & Iyengar, 2005; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008). People doing things for which they are intrinsically motivated like what they are doing and would choose to do it again. While developing students may find learning and practicing to be enjoyable and interesting, they may also be aware that the skills they develop will result in rewards that are external to the learning. In many workplaces, tangible

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rewards such as raises, bonuses, new titles, or better offices are frequently used to reward or motivate employees. The winners of competitions might obtain medals or prize money. In other situations, the rewards are not tangible, but are still external and outward rather than internal, such as recognition from others or renowned. The importance and effects of these types of extrinsic rewards are likely to vary with the individual. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are not thought to be mutually exclusive; research has demonstrated that students can hold both orientations at the same time, at different levels (Lepper et al., 2005; Lepper & Henderlong, 2000).

2.5

Other factors that motivate students to read English Language Materials

from the Internet In the previous study, (Carrell, 1989) identified the factors affecting reading comprehension and the effectiveness of learning the English Language by reading suitable materials. Research in the 1970s and 1980s laid out many of the variables associated with the second language reading process (Elizabeth, 2005). Reading presumably is enjoyed by everyone provided that the materials meet their interest. Lim (1993) in her study on trainees undertaking the Malaysian Teachers Diploma Course, perceived that trainees appear to have a fairly adequate exposure to the opportunity to read and improve the target language. The finding found that the language proficiency of TESL trainees was sadly inadequate as trainees hardly read outside the needs of their course requirements. Adlan et al. (1997) in his studies on first semester English option teacher trainees, found that students were weak in the basic reading skills. Hence, the students reading achievement was affected. Other variables such as the school and home environment also affect the students language performances.

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Knowing that reading is very important, students should be encouraged to read more good English Language materials to improve their proficiency in the target language. Carrell (1988) maintained that reading, as one of the skills in language learning and teaching, should be given more prominence because reading competency gives access to a world of knowledge. That means there is a relationship between attitude of reading among students and their language performance. Krashen and Terrel (1983) substantiated the point that good readers with good reading attitude usually have higher proficiency in the target language. Hence, this study will investigate the need to develop good reading attitude to improve students language performance in the areas of vocabulary, structures, styles and skills. Reading is often carried out to meet a specific end such as to provide answers to comprehension questions or to find out meanings of difficult vocabulary. Reading has to be extended to other sources of reading materials to help students develop a regular habit of reading for personal or other reasons. In the local context, several studies on Malaysian university and secondary school students were carried out by Pandian, (1997) and he reported the increasing phenomenon of reading reluctance. According to Pandian ( 1995 ) 86% of the high school students are reluctant readers and causal factors included parental influence, a place to read, exposure to English materials at home and school, interest towards English Language and attitude towards reading in English. According to McDorough (1983) and Ellis (1994) there are factors that might cause students to have low proficiency such as the students motivations and attitudes towards reading English Language materials. Norizan (1992) added that socio-

linguistic could be another reason why learners are weak in the language, especially

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those in rural areas as they might not see the importance of learning the English Language. Other reasons could be their lack of exposure or material to read. Whatever it is in this twenty-first century, we are all living in the age of digital technology. Therefore, students are exposed to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), specifically on the use of the Internet. It is a force that has changed many aspects of the way we live. The Internet has been used worldwide to help people such as in business, trade, marketing, science, education and others (Brian, 2000). Hence, English Language materials can be easily retrieved from the Internet for students to read. Now, the Internet is currently being used by students to get related reading materials. Reading attitude could help students to learn the language in an effective way and help them to impart knowledge efficiently (Selwyn, 2003). Students should be able to utilise the Internet and retrieve the types of reading materials which can benefit their learning of the target language. They should realize its impacts on their knowledge, skills and learning process (Alexandru, 2007 & Campell, 2004).

2.6

Types of materials from the Internet and their benefits According to Wu (2005), the impact which has been brought by this media, is

very visible and stiffening. In his report, he stated that students are posting more than eight articles online during one semester. This new technology instrument has changed and innovated the way we learn. The Internet provides a variety of learning opportunities for students to learn language (Melor, 2007). Students use the Internet to search for information or materials that are related to English Language for reading activity. The reading materials comprise of reading text, comprehension, articles and journal which are easily retrieved from the Internet by students to read.

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Related materials from the Internet enable students to learn cognitive knowledge (Wagner & DU, 2005) and enrich content in accordance with the students current knowledge (Juang, 2008). In addition, Kasper (2003) said that the technology is very important to the development of students literacy. Using materials from the Internet can help students to learn and understand what they read and can help improve those with poor reading skills (Erkunt & Akapinar, 2002). The Internet also support class interaction (Chang, et al.,2008) and discussions as well as enhance class presentation. In addition, Paskin (1997) reported that more than 100 million documents have been published on the Internet and that this number is predicted to reach 800 million in the next decade. Tonta (2000) supported that in the near future virtual texts might replace printed text. Pack (1994) compared printed publishing with Internet publishing and pointed out the advantages of electronic publishing in reaching readers, pressing process, distribution and lower cost. Internet publishing introduces possibilities for correction and updating or individual publishing and interaction. In addition, the main features of materials from the internet are attractive and interesting for students to read (Soderberg, 2001). Furthermore, the web pages, wikis, blogs, search engines, new group, e-mail, simulations, audio music and video sharing sites, web based software and other internet based tools and environment are now accepted as educational tools to be used in learning the language (Arikan, 2008).

2.7

Conclusion This chapter presented a review of relevant previous studies done in the area

of the present study. The most important area here refers to the factors that motivate students to read, the preferred types of English Language materials that can influence

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet students interest to read and the benefits or contributions of the materials to improve their English Language performance.

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CHAPTER THREE METHDOLOGY

3.0

Chapter Overview

This chapter describes the methodology of the study. It presents the participants involved, the research design, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure of this study.

3.1

Participants The participants involve in this study are semester two students from different

technical programmes such as Cars Body Repair and Maintenance (STBK2), Electrical Domestic and Industry (STED2) and Welding (STKN2) from MARA Vocational Training Institute or Institut Kemahiran Mara Kuching Sarawak (IKMK). The teaching will involve a lot of motivation since their language proficiency level is mixed ability. A total of eighty students aged between seventeen to twenty four years old will answer the questionnaire and answer a reading comprehension text (a Pre-test and an Actual-test). Random sampling technique is used in selecting the samples.

3.2

Research Design This research will be based on a quantitative approach which seeks the usage

of the Internet to motivate students to read English language materials. Hopkins (2002) indicates that quantitative research is to determine the relationship between one thing (an independent variable) and another (a dependent or outcome variable) in a population. In the present study, the factors and types of English Language materials

Usage of English Language Materials from the Internet from the Internet is the independent variable and how the materials improve students English Language performance will be the dependent variable. This study adapts quantitative measures from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, and McKeachie, 1991). Another instrument use to support this study is a Reading Comprehension Text to conduct a pre-test and an actual-test with the samples. It uses to examine how the English Language materials from the Internet can affect students language learning performance. Research shows that by using more than one data collection

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instruments could increase the trustworthiness of data. The rationale of using multiple data-collection methods is to increase the trustworthiness of the data (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2006; Glesne, 2006). Quantitative research designs are either descriptive (subjects usually measure once) or experimental (subjects measure before and after a treatment). A descriptive study establishes only associations between variables. In the present study, the researcher uses descriptive study to identify the factors and types of English Language materials from the internet that motivate students to read more. English Language materials here refer to articles, e-newspapers, comprehension texts or passages, journals, short stories, or any relevant reading materials that students found interesting from the Internet. In this study, the researcher uses a comprehension text which will be extracted from the Internet to test students knowledge of the English Language. An important goal of reading is the comprehension, or the construction and reconstruction of meaning from the text (Wood and Moe, 1999). There are two levels of comprehension; literal and inferential. Literal comprehension enables the readers to restate or combine facts that are explicitly stated in the text (from the text) while

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inferential comprehension allows students to interpret the content by using their own knowledge to interpret the text (which means from your thought to text).

3.3

Research Instruments This study uses two instruments to collect data: a questionnaire and a reading

comprehension test. 3.3.1 Questionnaires The questionnaire adapts the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaires (MSLQ) by Pintinch, et al. (1991). The questionnaire (refer to Appendix C) generates from a review of related literature and insights from informal discussions with teachers. It employs a 5-point Likert scale from strongly agree, agree, not sure, disagree to strongly disagree. The questionnaire is first pilot test with students

from other groups to check the content validity of the instrument. Pilot testing is carried out in order to look at the reliability of the items. The researcher corrects the errors and the inappropriate items in the questionnaires before distributing it to the actual participants of this study. A total of eighty sets of questionnaires will be distributed to the participants. This questionnaire survey consists of two sections, A and B. Section A consists of eight items related to general background information of the participants. These items use to get the insight information about the participants. Section B consists of forty seven (47) items under the eight (8) subsections as follow: attitude or interest, time, knowledge and information, features attraction, people, environment, academic and non-academic materials and improve English Language skills as to provide answers to the research questions. The questionnaires use to identify the factors that motivate students to read related English Language materials, select the types of related

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materials that motivate students to read and the contributions of the English Language reading materials to improve students English Language performance. Participants will take 30 minutes to attempt the questionnaire and the researcher collects questionnaires from the participants immediately.

3.3.2

Reading Comprehension Test In order to probe the eighty participants improvement in their English

Language performance, a comprehension text and a test are used to conduct a Pre-test and an Actual-test (refer to Appendix A). From the researchers personal

observation, most of the students who read e-newspaper are interested to read the sports column. Hence, the adapted comprehension from the Internet entitled No bed of roses for Rajagopal is selected for the Pre-test purpose to suit the students interest. K.

Rajagopal is a famous Malaysia football coach to help Malaysian Under-23 won the Southeast Asian Games in Laos in the year 2008. The Pre-test contains ten multiple choice questions to be answered based on an adapted comprehension text taken from the Internet. Participants answer two questions focusing on vocabulary, four questions on True (T) and False (F) and four short answer questions. Participants read a text and answered all the questions that follow. The full marks for scoring are ten (10)

marks. They will attempt the questions in one hour. Before conducting the actual test with the selected participants, the test will be pilot tested with a group of ten students from other programmes. The focus of the test is to determine the participants progress in learning the language after using materials from the Internet. For the Actual-test, the same comprehension text and test will be used.

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3.4

Data Collection Procedures The research will be conducted in six weeks, following a research procedure

recommended by Faizah Abd Majid & Izham Shah Ismail (2010). The research procedure is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Data Collection Procedures.

Pre-test
Practice Actual-test Distribute Questionnaire To begin, participants will first be asked to do the paper-based reading comprehension test. The pre-test papers will be distributed to the participants to be answered in an hour. The teacher will invigilate them and collect the papers once they have finished. The teacher will mark the paper based on a scoring criterion. The full mark for scoring the Pre-test is ten (10) marks which is equivalent to a hundred per cent (100%) marks (refer to figure 2). The score will be recorded and used for analysis. Figure 2 below shows a scoring (marks) range for the test as refers to scoring marks use in IKMK. Figure 2: A Test Scoring Range.
0 0% 1 10% 2 20% 3 30% 4 40% 5 50% 6 60% 7 70% 8 80% 9 90% 10 100%

Score / Mark (%)

For practice purposes, the participants will be given the opportunity to search for materials of their interest from the Internet. There will be at least three sessions

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which means one session a week for the students to practise their reading using the materials from the Internet. In the first session, participants need to read the article, answer the related questions and highlight new vocabularies from the article and they need to share by reflecting on the information they have read from the article with the others in the classroom. The teacher will monitor and assist the participants as they share the information with the class. Later, in the second session and third session the students are given the opportunity to work on their own by searching for the English Language related materials from the Internet. Participants need to read the article, answer the related questions and highlight new vocabularies from the article and they need to share by reflecting on the information they have read. Others will give feedback or comment (peers checking). After they have practised using the English Language materials, an actual-test will be conducted to examine the improvement of the participants target language performance. The actual-test papers will be distributed to the participants to answer in an hour. The teacher will invigilate them and collect the papers once they finish answering the test. The teacher mark the paper based on scoring criteria. The full mark for scoring the actual-test is 10 marks (refer to figure 2). The score will be record and use for analysis. After the actual-test, a total of eighty sets of the questionnaire are distributed to eighty participants for feedback or response. Participants will be given thirty (30) minutes to attempt the questionnaire and the answered questionnaires will be collected from the participants immediately. This study takes between four to six weeks to complete that is from the month of July 2012 until August 2012. This period of time will be taken as the researcher

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needed to fit in with the availability of participants and the programmes in the institution.

3.5

Data Analysis Fifty five items in the questionnaire will be analysed. A low score indicates a

high agreement, whereas a high score indicates a low agreement. SPSS 17 (Statistical Package for the Social Science) software will be used in order to analyse the data. Descriptive analysis focuses mainly on the mean, standard deviation and frequency of the items. Pre-test and an actual-test will be conducted and the score will be analysed using T-paired test. T-paired test will be carried out at a significant level of 0.05 to determine the significant contribution of the English language reading materials from the Internet in improving students English Language performance. The following is a table to show the summary of the data analysis procedures. Figure 2 : Data Analysis
Research Questions a) What are the factors that motivate students to read Questionnaire English Language materials from the Internet? the Social Science) softwarewill be used in order to analyse the data. b) What are the preferred types of focuses mainly on the mean, English Language materials Questionnaire from the Internet that of the items. motivate students to read? c) How do the English T-paired test analysis will be used standard deviation and frequency Descriptive analysis SPSS 17 (Statistical Package for Instruments Analysis

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Language materials from the Internet contribute to the students improvement in their English Language A Reading Comprehension Text and a test

to investigate the contribution of the English Language materials from the Internet to the students improvement in their English Language performance.

performance?

3.6

Conclusion This chapter describes the methodology of the study. It presents the

participants involved, the research design, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure of this study.