A SMILE OF SWEET ROSES

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

AN ACADEMIC WRITING REVIEW: A pilot study in a quantitative research.

3.5.1 Pilot Study

Pilot Study or pre-study is a method used to assess the validity and reliability of the instrument which was built for the study. Among the aims of the pilot study is to ensure that there are questions in the questionnaire contains items that are easily understood, good content, to avoid confusion and to test the reliability questions. According to Baker (1994), a pilot study used to help the researcher to get an early indication regarding the items in the questionnaire, whether they may or may not be applicable in answering the research questions. Borg and Gall (1983) suggested that a pilot study was conducted prior to the study, which is before the researcher distributes the real questionnaires to the real targeted respondents. Pilot study will reveal the lack of the early research questions, and the researcher had more time to improve their questionnaires before being distributed among the real respondents. This is to avoid more time and costs being wasted. That is one of the advantages of having a pilot study, which is to ensure that the questions in the questionnaire contain easy-to-understand items, good content, avoidance of confusion and incontestability questions. The best is when the researcher did not use the same respondents for their real questionnaire.

An example, for this pilot study, the respondents of 30 students in one secondary school in a state in Pantai Timur are guided to answer the questionnaire. After collecting all the questionnaire papers, the researcher runs the Alpha Cronbach test to know the reliability of the items in the questionnaire paper.

According to Hair (2003), the level of reliability of an instrument is accepted and showed that the respondents were answering questions or statements consistently and almost accurately. And, this reliability of the items is tested based on the Cronbach Alpha which explains the strength of the relationship between items as shown in Table 3.1 below.

Another example, the pilot study was conducted among students in UTM Skudai regarding the study of a generic skill among the graduates as a preparation for their job field in future. In this study, a pilot study was conducted on 30 students who became respondents with the distribution of a set of questionnaires to be used in the actual study. Pilot study on this questionnaire is conducted to ensure that the field to be studied is able to provide good and accurate results. According to Azizi Yahya et al. (2006), many efforts and money have been invested throughout the study period from the planning stage to the questionnaire. The questionnaire in this modified study was administered on 30 students who were not involved as a sample of the study. This is to ensure that the questionnaire used has a consistency from the aspects of item level, the objectives and the understanding of the item itself. The findings from the pilot study conducted by using alpha Cronbach test from 44 items in the questionnaire showed that the reliability was 0.981. According to Chua Yan Phiaw (2004) in the Alpha Cronbach Coefficient table demonstrates the value of internal reliability of these items in excellent order and all items are acceptable because of their high reliability. Cronbach's Alpha value is 0.981 and it is approaching the value of 1. The more Cronbach Alpha value approaches to the value of 1 is the best. Here, it can be concluded that the question raised by the researcher is reliable and can be understood by the respondent. The result of the pilot test shows that respondents do not have problems in understanding the questionnaire items. Table 3.2 below shows the findings of the pilot survey.

Table 3.1: Alpha Cronbach

Alpha Coefficient Range	The Strength of The Relationship
< 0.6 0.6 < 0.7 0.7 < 0.8 0.8 < 0.9 0.9	Weak Moderate Good Very Good The Best

Table 3.2: The result of a reliability test

Case Processing Summary
		N	%
Cases	Valid	29	82.9
	Excluded^a	6	17.1
	Total	35	100.0
a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha	N of Items
.981	44

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ARTICLE REVIEW; JAMALUDIN AL-AFGHANI

INTRODUCTORY

Afghani’s Early Life.

Sayyid Jamaluddin Al-Afghani is one of the Islamic scholars who are mostly known as ‘Ulama’. He is considered as the founding father of Islamic modernism. It is clear when Prof. Dr. Nazeer Ahmed (N.d) also wrote in his encyclopedia that undoubtedly one of the most influential Muslims of the 20th century

He was born in year 1838 at Asadabad near the Afghan-Persian border. In Wikipedia, Asadabad or Asad Abad is the capital city of Kunar Province in Afghanistan. He was called a Seyyed because his family claimed descent from the family of the Prophet through Imam Hussain. The title of “Afghani” refers to his Afghan-Persian heritage (Dr. Nazeer Ahmed, N.d).

Afghani’s Education.

Initially, Al-Afghani was home schooled. He received his early education in various religious schools near Kabul, Afghanistan and Qazwin and Tehran, Iran. He studied the Qur’an, Fiqh, Arabic grammar, philosophy, tasawwuf, logic, mathematics, and medicine, disciplines that were the backbone of an Islamic curriculum at that time.

Afghani’s Teen Life.

At the age of seventeen or eighteen, he went to India (1855/6) to continue his studies. During his stay in India until 1882, Afghani became closely used to the positivist ideas of Sayyid Ahmad Khan and wrote the ‘Neichari Sect and an Explanation of the Necharis’ (Hakikat-i Madhhab-i Naychari wa Bayan-i Hal-i Naychariyan), two famous essays. He was apparently much influenced by the Shaikhist school, which emphasized personal leadership and the need for the world to have a ‘perfect man’ (Middle East Encyclopedia, 2007).

Afghani’s Journey of Ilm

In 1870, he traveled to Egypt and Istanbul where he received a warm welcome from Ottoman officials and intellectuals who were instrumental in the creation of the Tanzimat reforms. Afghani went to Egypt for the second time and stayed there for the next eight years (1871-1879) during which time he began to spread his philosophical and political ideas through his classes and public lectures.

At the beginning of 1883, Afghani spent a short time in London and then went to Paris. In Paris, Afghani begun to publish his famous journal al-‘Urwat al-wuthqa’ (“The Firmest Robe” – a title taken from the Qur’an) with the close collaboration of his friend and student, Muhammad Abduh whom he had invited from Lebanon to Paris. Due to a number of difficulties, al-‘Urwah was dropped in September 1884 after eighteen issues.

Through his essays and especially his controversial against Ernest Renan, a French historian, philosopher and positivist, Afghani established considerable fame for himself in the Parisian intellectual circles. He became popular among the intellectuals in French.

In 1886, he was invited by Shah Nasir al-Din to Iran and offered the position of special adviser to the Shah, which he accepted. Afghani, however, was critical of Shah’s policies on the question of political participation. This difference of opinion forced Afghani to leave Iran for Russia (1886 - 1889). The book about ‘The Truth’ was then being translated by Muhammad ‘Abduh into Arabic and published as The Refutation of the Materialists (al-Radd ‘ala al-dahriyyin) in Beirut, 1886.

In 1889 on his way to Paris, Afghani met Shah Nasir al-Din in Munich and was offered the position of grand vizier. But Afghani’s unabated criticisms of the rule and conduct of the Shah led to his eventual deportation from Iran in the winter of 1891. Afghani was later implicated in the murder of Shah Nasir al-Din in year 1896.

Afghani spent the last part of his life in Istanbul under the patronage and, later, surveillance of Sultan ‘Abd al-Hamid II. The demands for Afghani’s extradition by the Iranian officials for his alleged involvement in the assassination of Shah Nasir al-Din were rejected by ‘Abd al-Hamid who, most probably, collaborated with Afghani for the implementation of his political program of pan-Islamism or Islamic unity (ittihad-i islam).

To this end, Afghani sent a number of letters to various Islamic countries and leaders to mobilize and unite them against the British rule while at the same time trying to establish the foundations of a mutual rapprochement between the Sunnis and the Shi`ites.

According to some historians, ‘Abd al-Hamid grew suspicious of Afghani’s meetings with some Arab leaders and the British officials in Istanbul and did not permit him to leave the country.

Afghani’s Death

Afghani died of cancer in March 9, 1897 and was buried in Istanbul.

Afghani’s Major Works

1. Al-Ta’liqat ‘ala sharh al-Dawwani li’l-‘aqa’id al-‘adudiyyah (Cairo, 1968). Afghani’s glosses over Dawwani’s commentary on the famous kalam book of ’Adud al-Din al-‘Iji called al-‘aqa’id al-‘adudiyyah.

2. Risalat al-waridat fi sirr al-tajalliyat (Cairo, 1968). A work dictated by Afghani to his student M. ‘Abduh when he was in Egypt.

3. Tatimmat al-bayan (Cairo, 1879). A political, social and cultural history of Afghanistan.

4. Hakikat-i Madhhab-i Naychari wa Bayan-i Hal-i Naychariyan. First published in Haydarabad-Deccan, 1298/1881, this is Afghani’s most important intellectual work that he published during his lifetime.

It is a scathing criticism and total rejection of naturalism which Afghani also calls ‘materialism’. The book has been translated into Arabic by M. ‘Abduh as al-Radd ‘ala al-dahriyyin (The Refutation of the Materialists).

5. Khatirat Jamal al-Din al-Afghani al-Husayni (Beirut, 1931). A book compiled by the Lebanese journalist Muhammad Pasha al-Mahzumi. Mahzumi was present in most of Afghani’s talks in the last part of his life and developed his conversations in to the present book. The book contains important information about Afghani’s life and ideas.

As a conclusion for this introductory part of this article, it is notified that Afghani’s career as a thinker and activist has had a deep impact on the Islamic world and continues to be a source of inspiration and controversy for many today. His project of Islamic modernism that he developed in his lectures, polemics, short essays, and newspaper columns was based on the idea of finding a modus vivendi between traditional Islamic culture and the philosophical and scientific challenges of the modern West. He took a middle way of delivering his thoughts and ideas between the blind Westernization and its wholesale rejection by the traditional ‘ulama’. Afghani’s views on science should be understood in the light of this general program of Islamic ‘reform’ or renewal (islah or tajdid). Afghani, unlike many of the revivalist thinkers of his generation, was well versed in traditional Islamic philosophy (hikmah), and considered philosophy essential for the revival of Islamic civilization. His role in the revival of the study of Islamic philosophy in the Arab and Indian worlds, however, remains unmistakable. Hassan Al-Banna, Abul ala Maududi, Sayyid Qutb are among his students.

AFGHANI’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

In The Aspect of Politic

Afghani’s political program of pan-Islamism (ittihad-i islam) sought to mobilize Muslim nations to fight against Western imperialism and gain military power through modern technology.

Afghani’s call for the independence of individual Muslim nations has been a key factor in the development of the so-called “Islamic nationalism” and influenced such Muslim figures as Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Abu’l Kalam Azad in the Indian subcontinent and Namik Kemal, Said Nursi and Mehmet Akif Ersoy in the Ottoman Turkey.

Later in the 20th century, Afghani became a major source of inspiration for such revivalist movements as the Muslim Brethren of Egypt and the Jama`at-i Islami of Pakistan.

In many ways, Afghani continues to be hailed by various Islamic activist groups as an important example of the activist-scholar type in the Islamic world. Afghani had also a deep impact on many Egyptian thinkers including Muhammad ‘Abduh, Rashid Rida, ‘Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq, Qasim Amin, Lutfi al-Sayyid and Osman Amin.

REFERENCES.

1. Ibrahim Kalin (2007). Sayyid Jamal al-Din Muhammad b. Safdar al-Afghani (1838-1897). http://www.cis-ca.org/voices/a/afghni.html (MAIN REFERENCE)

2. Prof. Dr. Nazeer Ahmed (N.d). Jamaluddin Afghani. https://historyofislam.com/contents/th e-modern-age/jamaluddin-afghani/

3. Asadabad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asadabad,_Afghanistan

4. Jamaluddin Al-Afghani (2007). http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/ jamal_al-din_al-afghani.html

Monday, November 19, 2018

SEVERAL REFERENCES FOR MY ARTICLE: HOW TO TEACH ENGLISH LIKE FINNISH TEACHERS

Thursday, November 15, 2018

SOME REVIEWS OF ENGLISH 1119 PAPER / SPM 2018

Briefly, those 5 questions are;
1. About travel
-A problem you face during your travel - how you solve the problem - what is the lesson?

2. Time.
- Why people dont have free time?
- Suggest ways to use time better

3. A story about a teenager with unusual hobby
- Explain bout the hobby
- How friends also become interested in it
Begin the story with "Even though it was a strange hobby, everyone came to love it.....

4. Young people - make their own decision. Agree or not?

5. Describe an event. A sport event
- what you saw?
- what happened?
- how you felt on that day?

And, for Section A, Write a REPORT TO THE TEACHER, AS BELOW;

SO, NEXT YEAR STUDENTS CAN PREPARE FROM NOW, DONT WAIT UNTIL THE DAY OF THE EXAM, THEN YOU JUST THINKING OF STUDY HARD

WAIT FOR TEACHER'S UPDATE, TEACHER WILL EXPLAIN ALL THE TOPIC ABOVE!

EVERYDAY IS YOUR DAY TO BE A BETTER PERSON....

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

SOME REVIEWS AFTER ATTENDING THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT IN UIN, JAKARTA, 2017

The conference is opened by the melodious Patriotic song from all participants. Indonesian very respect their national song as they rise and sing with heart. I am thankful to Allah to be given this opportunity to join them. Then, the speech was given by the Rector of UIN. Among the key notes of him is English lang should be oriented in our daily life. And, English has a capability in all components such listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Another several inputs I gained from the conference;
1. Multiracial people need a common agreement to live in harmony
2. In inductive grammar - activities for drilling and ice-breaking such as games are needed
3. To teach students to write, teacher must teach them the category of sentences first, until they understand between simple sentence and complex sentence.

4. The use of Facebook in teaching and learning English.
- The 21 century education requires teachers to create learning environment socially, pedagogically, physically, and virtually
- FB is chosen because there are 500,000 new users everyday, it is the famous soc-med
- Theoretical Background;
= Cooperative instructional
- It can teach students to be self-efficacy too
= 21st century characteristics
- Every person has a smartphone in hand 24 hours
- Mostly teenagers
= FB as a tool of instructional model
- The result would be;
1. Motivation and effects
2. Variation in types of learning
3. Group activities as a good way of learning
- Make a group in FB for study
4. Assessment and feedback

5. Dean of the department; Puan Nur Azkiyah
- knowledge and pedagogy
- teacher level of education
- teaching experience
- students' outcome is a measurement of teachers' quality

- Teachers' instruction in the classroom
1. raise the higher expectation for all students equally
2. Clear presentation

- Teacher's quality is related to DYNAMIC MODEL
= Classroom can be used in dynamic model to see teacher's quality, which are students' responses and survey & classroom observation

- Factors of quality of teaching;
1. Orientation
2. Structuring
3. Modelling
4. Application
5. Questioning
6. Assessment
7. Classroom as learning environment

- How to measure teacher's quality;
1. test
2. Students survey
3. Portfolio
4. Students' outcome
5. Observation
6. Interview
7. Reflection after teaching
8. Principal evaluation

6. Prof Hje Chodijah key notes
- English is very important tool of communication
- it is a global language
- the concept of teaching and practicing Eng have to be changed
- Students must become an ACTIVE LEARNER

- Reflective-based in Service training
1. Focus on teachers classroom management and teaching techniques
2. Improve teacher's awareness
3. Refine the classroom
- Students mind must ready to learn Eng
- Teacher must find students' interest
- Teacher must stress on objective of teaching not the materials in the textbook

7. Four ways of EFFECTIVE READING;
= Selecting texts
= Summarizing the texts
= Supporting responses with evidences from teachers
= Combining the summary with coherent responses

8. HOW TO MAKE A SLIDE FOR PRESENTATION IN THE CONFERENCE
1. Topic
2. Background of the study
3. Research question
4. Previous studies
5. Methodology

Methods	Qualitative
Participants	10 students Third semester
Setting	Universiti Islam Antarabangsa, Kuala Lumpur
Instrument	An interview

6. Result
= Students are found to prefer FB
= Teachers are aware about the issue

THANK YOU.

9. TEACHING STRATEGIES IN SPEAKING CLASSROOM;

= STORY-TELLING

= A DISCUSSION

= A FORUM

= A DIALOGUE

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR READING MY REVIEWS. WILL ATTEND THE NEXT SEMINAR IN KUALA LUMPUR, DECEMBER, 2018

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