International Journal of Language Education and Applied Linguistics

Does Artificial Intelligence Cause More Harm than Good in Schools?

2024-03-12T05:52:54+00:00

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools presents significant challenges and risks requiring responsible and ethical management. Despite warnings from tech leaders, major corporations push AI adoption in schools, leading to privacy violations, biased algorithms and curricular misinformation. Generative AI, though enhancing resources, risks disseminating false information. Biased AI models perpetuate inequalities, especially for marginalized groups. The financial burdens of AI implementation worsen budget constraints, and AI-driven surveillance raises privacy concerns. Governance must prioritize ethics and student rights, establishing transparent frameworks to prevent commercial interests from overshadowing educational goals. This editorial suggests halting AI adoption until comprehensive legislation safeguards against risks. Stakeholders should prioritize responsible AI development, stressing transparency and accountability. Collaboration between AI developers and educators is essential to ensuring AI serves students and society responsibly.

Exploring Minecraft in the Primary School Syllabus for Enhancing Arabic Learning: A Systematic Literature Review

2023-08-26T23:33:45+00:00

This study provides a systematic literature review of the research done in exploring Minecraft in the primary school syllabus for enhancing learning through Arabic published since 2019 until 2023. Starting from 12,247 sources, 30 articles were selected using predefined selection criteria. The documents were analysed and coded using the categories: Minecraft, Arabic language and its challenges, primary school syllabus, context, role of technology, pedagogical practice, and learning impact. The searching based on three majors’ authentic sources which are 1) Mendeley, 2) JSTOR and 3) Taylor & Francis. That information allowed an identification of major educational outcomes related to the integration of Minecraft will enhance the learning for Arabic language in an effective way and will improve the pedagogy ways and teaching method among educators and students. In addition, the study contributes with a set of identified research gaps and recommendations for future research. As a results, 30 articles showed that by using Minecraft as a gamification can enhance students' understanding on Arabic Learning.

A Review of a Malaysian Public University Students’ Motivational Behaviour in Learning a Foreign Language

2024-02-22T06:22:42+00:00

The motivation of students to learn Chinese as a foreign language has received considerable research attention. Related research has been conducted by the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) researchers or lecturers on UiTM students over years. However, there is currently no research investigating the trend, changes, and prospect of UiTM students’ motivation in learning Chinese as a foreign language, which retard future enhancement of the field. Thus, this study applied the structured review method to review publications produced by UiTM researchers or lecturers from 2003 to 2023. A total of 8 relevant publications were identified and analysed using PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The review indicated that the number of publications on the related topic is still limited but showing a potential growth. This study discovered a methodological gap that calls for more qualitative and mixed method investigations, as well as population and analysis gap which encourage more comparative studies rather than general investigations. The findings demonstrated both Diploma and Degree students’ motivational trend were balanced between instrumental and integrative motivation. Nonetheless, Degree students’ motivational behaviour changed more distinctly from intrinsic to extrinsic, compared to Diploma students. This study suggests putting more attention to nurturing students’ intrinsic motivation, correlates to extrinsic motivation. This study provides pedagogical implications on the teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language. Future study on the factors influencing students’ change of behaviour, the impact of the behavioural changes, and the reason of the rise of situation-specific motives in elder students and higher foreign language learning level students are required.

English Oral Communication Apprehension: A Quantitative Inquiry on Malaysian Administrative Staff in an Educational Institution

2024-02-21T06:01:07+00:00

Even when employed, proficiency in English oral communication skills remains an asset. Mastering the skill is an advantage or could plausibly cause communication apprehension at the workplace. Comprehensive studies have covered English oral communication apprehension, yet the focus on workplace contexts still needs to be improved. Hence, this study investigates the oral communication apprehension levels of the administrative staff at a Malaysian public university. Utilising the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension 24 items (PRCA-24) instrument and a purposive sampling technique, the quantitative methodology of the study sampled one hundred fifteen administrative staff of the institution. The staff generally demonstrated moderate communication apprehension, with the highest in delivering public speeches using English. In addition, the t-tests and ANOVA scores showed no significant difference between the apprehension levels and investigated workplace variables, namely gender, education level, year of service and job grade among the staff. Nevertheless, the results provided sufficient evidence of English oral communication apprehension among the staff, which could intensify and jeopardise their job and productivity in the long run. The study implicates the need to strategies communication professional development training for the administrative staff to improve workplace English communication.