Implementation
The acquisition of the English language is inevitable since it is still mainly used worldwide which led to the standardization of English language proficiency tests for universities admission practiced widely for universities candidates. In Malaysian tertiary education context, the MUET examination plays an important role in enrolling students into a local university. Other English language examinations that are accepted as one of the proficiency tests are the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), and Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC).
Participants of MUET Excelerate Workshop 2nd Series 2021 were 54 MUET candidates from around Malaysia from different backgrounds, with 3 invited speakers and 3 moderators. The workshop was conducted on two separate dates which were on the 2nd of October 2021 (Saturday) and the 9th of October (2021) covering all the skills in the MUET examination (shown in Table 1). On the first day of the workshop, an invited speaker Madam Audrey Koh Sui Ean, an experienced English language teacher and an examiner, a motivational and content-based speaker for teachers and students all over Malaysia covered Writing in the first part of the first day of the workshop, then speaking discourse during the second part which was during the evening on the same day. On the second day of the workshop, the workshop invited two speakers from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Miss Nur Anneliza Abd. Latip and Madam Iziana Hani Ismail, which are both language instructors from Preparatory Centre for Science, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. They respectively covered reading skill in the morning session and listening skill in the evening session of the second day of the workshop.
Table 1: Criteria of each skills focused in the workshop
MUET EXCELERATE ONLINE WORKSHOP SECOND SERIES 2021
NUR ANNELIZA BINTI ABD. LATIP IZIANA HANI BINTI ISMAIL
QUEENCIE DOHNY
USWATUN NURRAHMAH BINTI NOORHASSANAH
SITI FATIMATUZZAHRAH BINTI KANAK
Authors
The MUET Excelerate Workshop is usually conducted once/twice a year and for the year 2021, it was held on the 2nd and 9th of October 2021. The upcoming MUET Workshop will be conducted in the year 2022.
Participants can register for the MUET Workshop before their exam to ensure they are well-equipped with the bullets of MUET examination knowledge before their exam. The platform usually will be according to the Standard of Procedures (SOPs) given by the government. Usually, the facilitators will inform on whether it is conducted online or face-to-face.
WHEN IS IT USUALLY CONDUCTED?
The main reason for MUET Excelerate Workshop to be conducted is to help candidates for MUET Examination to be equipped with the latest knowledge on how to answer the paper and how to score for a higher band. The workshop strives to explain to students the differences between the old and new MUET Examination format that has recently been introduced by the Ministry of Education. It also aims to give exposure to students about the format and sample of close to MUET actual sample of questions for every skill; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening as a preparation for them to sit for the exam. It also intends to let students know the techniques to answer the MUET questions effectively. Last but not least, it targets to give opportunity for students to do hands-on activities with the help of lectures/facilitators during the online workshop.
WHY IS IT CONDUCTED?
Background Details
What is it all about?
MUET Excelerate Workshop has been conducted for many years in Preparatory Centre for Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Recently, due to the restriction for official gatherings in the University itself, the workshop had to be conducted online. Usually, the advertisement of the MUET Workshop will be published in UMS Official Facebook, PPST Official Facebook, and other related social medias. There will be facilitators in-charged to answer all the queries and help with the workshop registration. The fees are fairly affordable as per the workshop, a RM50.00 registration fee will be charged for the two-days session. All materials such as notes and valuable exercises will also be given for free in every workshop conducted. In the recent MUET Workshop which was held on the 2nd and 9th of October 2021, Madam Audrey an expert in MUET teaching has touched a lot on how to strive for Writing and Speaking paper in MUET, meanwhile, Miss Nur Anneliza shared on how to score for Reading paper and Madam for MUET Listening paper. Their sharings were mainly about the format, how to score, and tips to aim for a higher band.
The workshop was executed starting from 8:30 am until 4:00 pm with 2 sessions on both days respectively, covering all the skills in MUET examination skills which are writing, speaking, reading, and listening. On the first day of the workshop, the first session was covering on speaking discourse, while the second session covered writing discourse. During the second day of the workshop, reading skill was executed during the first session where after listening skill was in the second session. The criteria shared during the workshop are as followed:
ANALYSIS
This workshop is useful for any student wanting to improve his or her language skills, especially for those preparing for the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) examination. The questionnaire was structured to gain the students' feedbacks on the overall experience of attending this workshop. Of the 54 participants, 45 responded to the questionnaire.
The responses were gathered through the Google Form platform and analysed using the Descriptive Analysis to generate mean score and standard deviation of each item.
This analysis would contribute to the Malaysia Research Assessment (MyRa) scores in Community Engagement (CE):
Table 2: Schedule of MUET Excelerate Workshop 2nd Series 2021
MUET Excelerate Workshop 2nd series 2021 was done fully online and the platform used for the workshop was Webex, an online video conference between the speakers and the participants. As mentioned, the workshop was done fully online since Malaysia was still under the National Recovery Plan (hereafter NRP). As mentioned, the MUET Excelerate Workshop 2nd Series 2021 was held by Preparatory Centre for Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, and the state of Sabah was still in Phase 3 under the NRP on both dates of the workshop, which required all educational activities to be done online. Although the new Standard Operation Procedures (hereafter SOP) has opened more opportunities and eased restrictions for those who are fully vaccinated, the organiser decided to not execute the workshop face-to-face in order to prevent any group infection.
Covering all the skills in the MUET examination, participants were also exposed to the new format of the MUET examination, the assessment criteria, strategies, or tips to gain more marks in all 4 skills as well as sample questions of the real MUET papers.
Handouts were also given to participants before the workshop started and a few hands-on activities were implemented during the workshop on both days. Speakers and facilitators encouraged participants to be active and give feedbacks during the workshop by asking triggering questions about MUET skills as well as the contents and language questions. Although some participants might have difficulties in terms of internet connection or technical issues, most participants gave quite an overwhelming response to the speakers by responding to the questions by turning their microphone on or replying on the chat box in Webex.
In general, MUET Excelerate Workshop 2nd Series 2021 was a success in terms of the completion of execution. The new norm of education has brought new ways of sharing knowledge, and the execution of MUET Excelerate Workshop 2nd Series 2021 has proven that the sharing of knowledge is borderless. The evaluation from participants regarding the workshop will be explained further in this paper.
Table 3: Analysis 1
Table 3: Analysis 1
In general, the participants have gained knowledge and it is important to be applied when they sit for the MUET exam, as well as it is beneficial for lifelong learning. They also feel motivated to continue learning and applying English in the future. This workshop serves as good exposure for them to start practising English for daily communication.
Figure 1
Suggestion for improvement
In general, the participants were satisfied with the workshop. A few recommendations were suggested to improve the overall experience – to include more interactive activities for them to practise English and to conduct this workshop in dual language.
The participants had differing levels of English proficiency and belonged to different age groups. Having to deliver the content-are instructions in the first language might help them understand better. It is hoped that this workshop could benefit the participants, especially those who are sitting for the MUET examination.
Table 4: Participants' Suggestions
This analysis aims to gain the participants' feedbacks which can help to formulate better decisions to improve services for upcoming workshops. A similar platform was used to collect the students' responses to this close-ended question.
