PENYERAHAN DAN PENILAIAN TUGASAN ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION AND ASSESSMENT _______________________________________________________________________ _ OUMH1103 LEARNING SKILLS FOR OPEN AND

DISTANCE LEARNERS JANUARI / JANUARY 2013 _______________________________________________________________________ _ ARAHAN KEPADA PELAJAR / INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS 1. Tugasan ini mengandungi SATU (1) soalan sahaja yang disediakan dalam bahasa modul bercetak
kursus ini. / This assignment contains only ONE (1) question that is set in the language of the printed module for the course. 2. Jawab dalam Bahasa Melayu atau Bahasa Inggeris. / Answer in Malay or English.

3. Muat turunkan templat tugasan versi bahasa yang berkenaan daripada MyVLE untuk penyediaan dan penyerahan tugasan anda. Tugasan anda hendaklah ditaip dengan menggunakan saiz fon 12 Times New Roman dan langkau baris 1.5. / Download the language version of the assignment template concerned from the MyVLE for preparation and submission of your assignment. Your assignment should be typed using 12 point Times New Roman font and 1.5 line spacing. 4. Tugasan anda hendaklah antara 2500 hingga 3000 patah perkataan tidak termasuk rujukan. Bilangan perkataan hendaklah ditunjukkan di hujung tugasan anda. Jangan menyalin soalan dan arahan tugasan dalam jawapan anda. / Your assignment should be between 2500 to 3000 words excluding references. The number of words should be shown at the end of your assignment. Do not copy the assignment question and instructions to your answer. 5. Anda dikehendaki menghantar tugasan SECARA ON-LINE melalui MyVLE. Sila rujuk kepada portal untuk arahan mengenai prosedur menghantar tugasan anda secara on-line. Anda dinasihatkan menyimpan senaskah tugasan yang diserahkan untuk rujukan sendiri. / You must submit your assignment ON-LINE via the MyVLE. Refer to the portal for instructions on the procedures to submit your assignment on-line. You are advised to keep a copy of your submitted assignment for personal reference. 6. Anda hanya boleh menghantar tugasan SEKALI sahaja dalam SATU fail. / You can submit your assignment ONCE only in a SINGLE file.

7.

Tugasan anda hendaklah diserahkan antara 18hb Februari 21hb Feb 2013. Serahan selepas 21hb Feb 2013 TIDAK akan diterima. / Your assignment must be submitted between 18hb Februari 21hb Feb 2013. Submission after 21hb Feb 2013will NOT be accepted.

8. Tugasan hendaklah disiapkan secara individu. Anda dilarang meniru tugasan orang lain. Anda
juga dilarang sama sekali memplagiat kerja orang lain sebagai kerja sendiri. / Your assignment should

be prepared individually. You should not copy another persons assignment. You should also not plagiarise another persons work as your own.

PENILAIAN / EVALUATION Tugasan ini akan menyumbangkan 40% markah kepada kursus tersebut dan akan dinilai berdasarkan kepada Rubrik atau Skema Jawapan. / This assignment accounts for 40% of the marks for the course mentioned and shall be assessed based on the Rubrics or Answer Scheme. Anda akan dimaklumkan tentang markah tugasan ini sebelum Peperiksaan Akhir Semester bermula / You would be informed of the assignment mark before the Final Semester Examination commences. PLAGIARISME : POTONGAN MARKAH / PLAGIARISM : MARKS DEDUCTION Amaran : Tugasan yang diserahkan secara automatik akan disemak untuk persamaan. Jika plagiarisme dikesan, markah akan dipotong seperti berikut: / Warning : The submitted assignment will automatically undergo a similarity check. If plagiarism is detected, marks would be deducted as follows: Tugasan dengan pertindihan kandungan antara 10 - 30 % : potongan 20% daripada jumlah markah yang diperoleh. Tugasan dengan pertindihan kandungan antara 31 - 50 % : potongan 40% daripada jumlah markah yang diperoleh. Tugasan dengan pertindihan kandungan lebih daripada 50%: Markah sifar akan diberikan. Assignments with 10 - 30 % overlap with others: 20% deduction from the total marks scored. Assignments with 31 - 50 % overlap with others: 40% deduction from the total marks scored. Assignments with more than 50% overlap with others: Zero mark would be given.

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION OBJECTIVES OF TASK The objective of this task is to assess your ability to: search for information summarise or paraphrase information acknowledge other authors work write an academic report reference external sources used in writing

REQUIREMENT OF TASK

1. You are required to find information on the problems faced by students in

higher education in Malaysia in mastering the English language and its impact on employability.

2. For this assignment, you are only allowed to find information from reliable
sources credible websites, journal and newspaper articles. Below are examples of sources that you can use for your report: Title of Newspaper report Newspaper Date of publication Graduates unemployable due to poor English The Star April 1, 2010.

Title of Journal Article Newspaper Date of publication

Improve on English or lose out in job market, undergrads told The Star March 15, 2011

Title of Journal Article Source Writer

University degree no guarantee of employment mysinchew.com Zulkiple Ibrahim

Date of publication

October 24, 2012

Title of journal article Writers Source Year of publication

Penggunaan Bahasa Inggeris Di Kalangan Pelajar Diploma Kejuruteraan Awam Zainudin Bin Abu Bakar & Dayang Rozina Binti Abang Madni eprints.utm.my 2010

3. Dont limit yourselves to only the articles above. Find a few more articles and
books and make notes from these sources.

4. Based on the notes made, prepare an academic report of approximately 25003000 words on the following:

a) The importance of mastering the English language and its

impact on employability

b) The reasons why many students in many higher educational

institutions in Malaysia are facing problems in mastering the English language

c) Practical suggestions to improve the English language

proficiency of students in higher educational institutions in Malaysia *An academic report resembles an academic essay. However, an academic report is divided accordingly using appropriate headings and subheadings.

5. Your academic report should have the following sections:

Preliminaries

Table of Content (containing the main content and page number)

Main Content Introduction

o The introduction should contain background information, for

example the present situation in Malaysia, pertaining to the importance of mastering the English language and its impact on employability. o The introduction must contain a statement of purpose/ or a thesis statement. This statement would provide the reader the general idea of what would be discussed in the body of your report.

Body of Academic Report o In the body of your report you should provide clear explanation on at least FOUR significant reasons why many students in higher educational institutions in Malaysia are facing problems in mastering the English language. o Each reason should be deliberated under a separate heading. In other words, if your state four reasons, you should have four main headings in the body of your report.

o Appropriate deliberations and examples are necessary to make your

points clear. It is essential that you substantiate your points with experts opinions and survey findings.

Suggestions

o Provide at least FOUR practical suggestions to improve the

English language proficiency of students in Malaysian higher educational institutions. o Each suggestion should be deliberated under a separate heading. In other words, if your state four suggestions, you should have four main headings in this part.

Reference List Write proper in-text citations when including external sources in writing.

o Students are required to paraphrase or to summarise information from

external sources and not only lifting word by word from any external sources.

o A reference list should be prepared to acknowledge all external

sources utilised in writing.

o The reference list should utilise the APA citation style (as shown in
Topic 5 of OUMH1103).

GUIDELINES FOR ANSWERING TASK 1. To know more on how to write a good essay type of assignment, read Topic 5 of the module. 2. To answer this task, you need to search for information.

a) Information on the importance of mastering English and its impact on

employability; and reasons why many Malaysian students in Malaysian higher education are facing problems in mastering the English language can be found on the internet through search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo). Read Topics 7, 8 and 9 of your OUMH1103 module to learn more about Information Retrieval Skills.

b) To retrieve more information on the topic, read Topics 7, 8 and 9 of your

OUMH1103 module to learn about Information Retrieval Skills.

c) Select only scholarly articles/ books/ websites that are relevant to the
assignment topic. The resources of information obtained and used in your writing must be listed in the Reference section. 3. Marks will granted as below:

RUBRICS ASSIGNMENT COURSE CODE : OUMH1103 SEMESTER : JANUARY 2013 NO 1 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Introduction INDEX WEIGHT 1 MISSING ITEMS 0 - Introduction is inappropriate and does not support the content of the report at all POOR 1 - Introduction has inadequate development and does not contain a clear statement of purpose or contains faulty thesis - Body paragraphs are not welldeveloped and contain many illogical and irrelevant ideas - Essay demonstrates very little understanding of the issue - Suggestions given are generally inappropriate AVERAGE 2 - Introduction has adequate development but statement of purpose/ thesis statement was not clear - Body paragraphs are not adequately developed but contain some logical and relevant ideas - Essay demonstrates some understanding of the issue - Suggestions given are reasonably acceptable with GOOD 3 - Introduction has adequate development and contains clear thesis EXCELLENT 4 - Introduction is well-developed and contains clear thesis
MARKS (MAXIMUM)

Body paragraphs: 4 reasons for poor command of English language among students in Malaysian higher educational institutions

- Most paragraphs content information that is out of tangent. - Content does not answer the question at all.

- Body paragraphs contain adequately developed, logical and relevant ideas - Essay demonstrates indepth understanding of the issue - Most suggestions given are appropriate

- Body paragraphs contain welldeveloped, logical and relevant ideas - Writing clearly demonstrates indepth understanding of the issue

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Suggestions

- All suggestions given are inappropriate and illogical.

All suggestions given are logical, appropriate and workable.

some being inappropriate 4 Coherence 1 - Writing is choppy and has a lot of gaps. - Most writing is not connected. - Development is very confusing. - Writing is generally - Writing is partly incoherent due to coherent but ineffective some parts are utilisation of incoherent due to cohesive devices. ineffective - Unclear and utilisation of illogical cohesive devices. connections in most - Unclear and parts of writing. illogical connections in some parts of writing. - Most writing flows due to effective use of cohesive devices - Clear and logical connection between parts of writing - Writing has a good flow due to effective use of cohesive devices - There is clear and logical connection between parts of writing 4

References

- Writing is not referenced.

- Writing is not
cited and referenced OR Inappropriate style of referencing/ citing external sources. structures utilized and many are wrongly constructed Essay has serious mistakes in grammar and mechanics that affect readers

References and citations contain a number of errors.

Most writing is properly cited and referenced.

- Writing is properly cited and referenced

Language

Very limited range of structures utilized. Writing contains a lot of mistakes, structures and mechanics which seriously

- Limited range of

Sentences are moderately varied but some are wrongly constructed Essay may have some mistakes in grammar and mechanics that sometimes

Most sentences are varied and are skillfully constructed Essay may have a few mistakes in grammar and mechanics but these mistakes do not affect

Sentences are varied and are skillfully constructed Writing is free from flaws in grammar and mechanics

affect meaning.

understanding

affect readers understanding

readers understanding TOTAL 40

Appendix 1: Title Page

OUMH1103 LEARNING SKILLS FOR OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNERS

ASSIGNMENT TITLE

Name Matric number NRIC Telephone number E-mail address

Tutors name: Learning Centre:

JANUARY 2013 Semester

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