HOW TO MASTER GENERIC SKILLS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE? AN ELECTRONIC-PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING WAY: A MALAYSIAN EXPERIENCE

IJAEDU- International E-Journal of Advances in Education, Vol. 2, Issue 5, August 2016 HOW TO MASTER GENERIC SKILLS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE? AN ELECTRONIC-PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING WAY: A MALAYSIAN EXPERIENCE 1 Assoc Prof Dr Berhannudin Mohd Salleh, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 2 Assoc . Prof Dr Ashley Edward Soosay, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia 3 Assoc Prof Dr Hussain Othman, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 4 Assoc Prof Dr Ahmad Esa, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 5 Assoc Prof Dr Asri Selamat, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 6 Assoc Prof Dr Khairul Azman Mohamad,Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 7 Dr Zulida Abdul Kadir, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 8 Dr Elizabeth d/o Anthony, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 9 Robijah Kamarolzaman, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 10 Zainal Abidin Sayadi, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 11 Mohammad Talha Mohamed Idris, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 12 Abdullah Sulaiman, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia 13 Farhana Hamin, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia Abstract Does it matter in whatever language a student acquires generic skills? The answer is, YES it matters a lot. The reality is that other than the content area or the hard skill, competence in generic skills AND communication in the English language among undergraduates are also of utmost importance, if they are to achieve academic excellence and more importantly secure employment upon graduation. Stakeholders including parents, sponsoring bodies, the community and especially the employers have high expectations on the university to produce graduates who not only excel in the content matter but equally important possess mastery of communication skills in English and generic skills. Unfortunately, the current scenario in Malaysia is not so encouraging. The lack of competence in English and generic skills among graduates in Malaysia have been the two major contributing factors for their unemployment (Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, 2015) so much so that almost half of Malaysian graduates were unemployed (The Star Online, 2013) and 400 thousand Malaysian graduates were unemployed in 2015 (Bernama, 2015 cited in The Malaysian Insider, 2015). The nation has long been asking WHY? Despite the 17 years of education from kindergarten to university level, Malaysia is still grappling with producing graduates who are not only proficient in the English language but basic generic skills like citizenship, honesty, passion, knowledge transfer, critical thinking, perseverance, IT and problem-solving. This paper reveals the findings of a study on the use of Electronic-Problem-Based Learning (ePBL) towards enhancing learning of communication and http://ijaedu.ocerintjournals.org 227 IJAEDU- International E-Journal of Advances in Education, Vol. 2, Issue 5, August 2016 generic skills in the English Language among Malaysian undergraduates. Using purposeful sampling, the samples involved 223 undergraduates and 12 lecturers from Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. The samples were treated with ePBL in their semester long studies; Effective Communication in English (UTHM) and Health Science (UNIMAS). Data was collected using a questionnaire set administered online and interview with both the students and lecturers. The findings show that the use of ePBL has a very positive effect in enhancing learning of the English Language and generic skills among the undergraduates. On the part of the lecturers, the approach has also open up new and more interesting ways of training future graduates who are both competent in the hard and soft skills areas much to the expectations of the nation in general. As a conclusion, ePBL has proven to be very instrumental towards improving learning and there is great potential for the approach to be adopted in other disciplines and the education system at all levels. Keywords: E-learning, Communication, English, Foreign Language Education, ESL/TESL, PBL, Generic, Soft, Higher Education, New Technologies in Education 1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY In Malaysia, the importance of English is undeniably crucial. It is not just a language for academic and social purposes but equally important is the language is widely and must be effectively used in the working industry both the public and the private enterprises. The status of English is considered a second language after the national language, Bahasa Malaysia. It is widely used in almost all aspects of the Malaysian life. Academically, the subject is compulsory and taught as a Second Language (ESL) at schools and tertiary institutions and in the context of this study English is a compulsory subject and a medium of instruction for the many subjects offered at university. One of the main reasons for the importance of English is because most employers prefer their staff to be able to speak and write English fluently. Many multi-national companies in Malaysia who need Malaysian work force are on the lookout for those who are proficient in English, as they are going to deal on the international level. In a survey done by an online recruitment company, JobStreet.com, Malaysia is placed third compared to five other countries in South East Asia on the English proficiency level (The Malaysian Times, 2013) In a market survey on industrial needs conducted for the Ministry of Higher Education, it was found out that employers indicated that most jobs call not only for knowledge and specific technical competencies, but also for a certain level of communication in English. They also emphasize for the mastery of English among graduates because it is the most important language of communication in Malaysia especially in the private sector (Prestariang Systems, 2011) According to a more recent survey conducted by Jobstreet (Malay Mail Online, 2016), employers are more likely to hire based on a fresh graduate‟s positive personality and command of English rather than where he obtained his university qualifications, a recent survey by employment website Jobstreet.com suggests. Malaysia‟s language policy has traditionally singled out Bahasa Malaysia and English as the most important language languages to help steer the country towards becoming a fully developed nation by 2020. Taking note of its multi-racial and religious society, Bahasa Malaysia is considered the language of national integration while English is that of working language for international contribution. In accordance with Vision 2020, Malaysia‟s national project to develop the country as an advanced ICT base by the year 2020, English Language Teaching (ELT) is further emphasized as the key to its success (JACET, 2016) Another equally crucial component of the Malaysian recipe towards achieving Vision 2020 (EPU, 2016) is the abundance supply of a strong workforce highly competent not only in the hard skills but the soft skills or Generic Skills (GS). There is no one definitive definition of (...truncated)