Russian language needs among university students in Malaysia
In the context of higher education foreign language courses are viewed as skills-oriented subjects that aim to enable students to communicate in a foreign language. The main four language skills to be developed are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Until recently, decisions about which of th...
Saved in:
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Published: |
Scientia Socialis
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/21126/ http://www.scientiasocialis.lt/pec/node/files/pdf/vol76/693-705.Nikitina_Vol.76-5_PEC.pdf |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Institution: | Universiti Malaya |
id |
my.um.eprints.21126 |
---|---|
record_format |
eprints |
spelling |
my.um.eprints.211262019-05-07T03:03:22Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/21126/ Russian language needs among university students in Malaysia Nikitina, Larisa Mar, Ma Tin Cho Furuoka, Fumitaka PG Slavic, Baltic, Albanian languages and literature In the context of higher education foreign language courses are viewed as skills-oriented subjects that aim to enable students to communicate in a foreign language. The main four language skills to be developed are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Until recently, decisions about which of the linguistic skills should be emphasized in a foreign language program have been taken without seeking the opinions of language learners. To address this issue, the present research examined needs for learning the Russian language among students in a Malaysian public university. To achieve this research aim, a survey questionnaire was distributed among prospective learners of Russian. Four different statistical methods were performed to analyse the data, namely, the descriptive statistics, the independent t-test, the exploratory factor analysis and the reliability test. The findings from the descriptive statistics revealed that the respondents considered developing face-to-face interactive skills, such as the speaking and listening skills, as most important. The findings of the t-test suggested that demographic variables might have some influence on the students' perceptions of the skills' importance. For example, the students who spoke Malay at home placed a higher value on developing their ability to speak in a polite manner and to understand non-verbal communitive acts, such as gestures. The results of the exploratory factor analysis revealed that the language skills as perceived by the students formed several dimensions where interactive and non-interactive skills tended to form distinct clusters. This research concludes with a discussion of pedagogical implications to be drawn from the findings. Scientia Socialis 2018 Article PeerReviewed Nikitina, Larisa and Mar, Ma Tin Cho and Furuoka, Fumitaka (2018) Russian language needs among university students in Malaysia. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 76 (5). pp. 693-705. ISSN 1822-7864 http://www.scientiasocialis.lt/pec/node/files/pdf/vol76/693-705.Nikitina_Vol.76-5_PEC.pdf |
institution |
Universiti Malaya |
building |
UM Library |
collection |
Institutional Repository |
continent |
Asia |
country |
Malaysia |
content_provider |
Universiti Malaya |
content_source |
UM Research Repository |
url_provider |
http://eprints.um.edu.my/ |
topic |
PG Slavic, Baltic, Albanian languages and literature |
spellingShingle |
PG Slavic, Baltic, Albanian languages and literature Nikitina, Larisa Mar, Ma Tin Cho Furuoka, Fumitaka Russian language needs among university students in Malaysia |
description |
In the context of higher education foreign language courses are viewed as skills-oriented subjects that aim to enable students to communicate in a foreign language. The main four language skills to be developed are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Until recently, decisions about which of the linguistic skills should be emphasized in a foreign language program have been taken without seeking the opinions of language learners. To address this issue, the present research examined needs for learning the Russian language among students in a Malaysian public university. To achieve this research aim, a survey questionnaire was distributed among prospective learners of Russian. Four different statistical methods were performed to analyse the data, namely, the descriptive statistics, the independent t-test, the exploratory factor analysis and the reliability test. The findings from the descriptive statistics revealed that the respondents considered developing face-to-face interactive skills, such as the speaking and listening skills, as most important. The findings of the t-test suggested that demographic variables might have some influence on the students' perceptions of the skills' importance. For example, the students who spoke Malay at home placed a higher value on developing their ability to speak in a polite manner and to understand non-verbal communitive acts, such as gestures. The results of the exploratory factor analysis revealed that the language skills as perceived by the students formed several dimensions where interactive and non-interactive skills tended to form distinct clusters. This research concludes with a discussion of pedagogical implications to be drawn from the findings. |
format |
Article |
author |
Nikitina, Larisa Mar, Ma Tin Cho Furuoka, Fumitaka |
author_facet |
Nikitina, Larisa Mar, Ma Tin Cho Furuoka, Fumitaka |
author_sort |
Nikitina, Larisa |
title |
Russian language needs among university students in Malaysia |
title_short |
Russian language needs among university students in Malaysia |
title_full |
Russian language needs among university students in Malaysia |
title_fullStr |
Russian language needs among university students in Malaysia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Russian language needs among university students in Malaysia |
title_sort |
russian language needs among university students in malaysia |
publisher |
Scientia Socialis |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://eprints.um.edu.my/21126/ http://www.scientiasocialis.lt/pec/node/files/pdf/vol76/693-705.Nikitina_Vol.76-5_PEC.pdf |
_version_ |
1643691473453973504 |