Creat ive Educati on
2012. Vol.3, Supplement, 57-60
Published Online December 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ ce) DOI:10.4236/ce.2012.38b013
Copyright © 2012 SciRes.
57
Requirements Analysis and Arabic M-Learning Activities Module
Design in the Institute of Teacher Education (ITE) in Malaysia
Amani Dahaman1, Zawawi Ismail2, Norasikin Fabil3
1Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Perlis, Malaysia
2University of Malaya, Malaysia
3Islamic Science University of Malaysia
Email: amanidahaman@yahoo.com, zawawiismail@um.edu.my, norasikinfabil@yahoo.com
Received 20 1 2
This study is aimed to identify the student needs for Arabic M-learning modules in Institute of Teacher
Education (ITE) in Malaysia. The sample comprises 150 respondents, 120 respondents were among the
Bachelor of Teaching Program students (Majoring in Arabic and Islamic Studies) and 30 respondents
were the Ar abic lectur ers from the Ins tit ute of Teac her Educ ation i n Mala ysia. The i nstrument us ed was a
refurbished questionnaire from the M-Learning Curriculum Requirements (Ahmad Sobri, 2009). The
findi ngs p r es ented t he sel ec tion of mobi le c omput i ng tec hnol ogy as t he main equi p ment in t he a pp lic ati on
of Arabic m-learning in the ITE, website platform as its operation and email communications are more
dominant c ompa red t o SMS a nd M MS. Si mila r ly, t he p att ern of ap pr opr ia te l earni ng a cti vit ies is i ncl uded
in the M-learni ng which focused on activities that in line with the use of mobile computer technology.
Key words: M-learning Activities; Module Design; Ara bic and Isl amic Studies
Introduction
Education Development Master Plan (EDMP) 2006-2010,
Ministry of Education aims continuous efforts to enhance the
curriculum development of Arabic Language at the Malay-sian
Institute of Teacher Education (ITE) which leads to Graduate
programs for the Arabic teachers holding a Bache-lor of
Teaching (Ministry of Education, 2006) . The plan generally
has an effect o n the declar ation of the Govern ment of Malaysia
in upgrading the Teaching College to ITE.
The declaration provides a major change to the teaching in-
stitution in Malaysia with the commencement of Graduate
Teaching Program conducted in the institute for instance Pri-
mary Teaching Graduate Program (PGSR) and recogni-tion of
Bachelo r degree to primary schoo l teachers through a Bachelo r
of Teaching Program (PISMP) and B. Ed TESL (Asariah Mior
Shaharuddin et.al, 2011).
Furthermore, the condition encouraged the impact of
re-quirements for the Arabic teachers who are positioned in the
national schools. To meet the needs of these teachers the Insti-
tute o f Teacher Ed ucat io n (ITE) has b een given t he ro le to offer
Bachelor of Teaching Program (PISMP) to SPM students
through the formulation of the Arabic curriculum specifically
for the program. The curriculum is specifically designed to give
emphasis to the language skills for instance listening, speaking,
reading and writing, teaching and educa-tion specifically to
guide and prepare teachers who are capa-ble of Arabic lan-
guage and linguistics and has a Bachelor of Teaching Arabic
(Abdul Aziz Mahayuddin, 2008).
The establishment of the program implementation is proved
with the involvement from the Division of Teacher Educa-tion
(BPG). Division of Teacher Education (2010) through ITE
Resolution Seminar in Islamic & Arabic Education, decided a
proposal to establish a strategy or a module that can integrate
learning materials, reference resources, interac-tion of students
and lecturers in all courses involving Islamic education and
Arabic. The strategy or the module will enable the partnership
and interaction between teachers hence forming a learning
process of sharing knowledge, experi-ences and skills of each
student.
The integration process of learning the Arabic language has
been successfully implemented at the institutions of higher
learning in Syria through the Arabic Self Learning Module
involving native-speaking students of Arabic lan-guage from
various courses and educational background (Nimat Hafez,
2005). Hence, the success of this research has achieved major
impetus in the construction of the Arabic M-learning module
design for non-Arabic speaker s at the I TE i n Malaysia.
Objectives of the Study
The objective of this study is to identify the requirements and
the design activities for the Arabic M-Learning module in the
Institute of Teacher Education (ITE).
There are three research questions that will be answered in
the stud y related to the two main elements of the hardware and
requirements operating platform requirements and communica-
tion featu r es and the Arab ic m-learning activities design in ITE.
a) What are the hardware requirements that are suitable for
the Arabic m-learning module in ITE?
b) What are the suitable operating platforms for the Arabic
m-learning module in the ITE?
c) What are the appropriate communications criteria for the
Arabic m-learning module in the ITE?
d) What design patterns of learning activities that are suitable
for the Arabic m-learning module in the ITE?
Research Background
Among the earliest studies in the field of M-Learning in Ma-
A. D AHAMAN ET AL.
Copyright © 2012 SciRes.
58
laysia were studies on the implementation evaluation of M-
learning program to some standard five students of a primary
school in Kuala Lumpur (Saedah Siraj and Norlida Alias, 2005).
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the im-
plementation of M-learning program has achieved the aspira-
tions set out on it and also assesses the strengths and weak-
nesses of the program.
Syed Ardi Bin Syed Yahya Syed Kamal & Zaidatun Tasir
(2008) discussed the future of learning refers to the shift in the
era of eLearning technology to mLearning. Study of Nabeel
Farouq (2008) involved the development of M-Learning model
in quality of service in the university environment. He does not
focus on the learning system but the services system in the
university which benefit the students
Goh Chin Shuang et.al (2009) reviewed the student feedback
on the application of M-Learning in foreign language learning.
Hayati Hashim et.al (2009) made an overview of the students
perceptions on M-Learning in educational institutions. Whilst,
Mariam Mohamad & John Woollard (2009) focused on learning
strategies in English learning strategies in secondary schools in
Malaysia.
Ahmad Sobri Shuib (2009) conducted the study of M-Learn i n g
curriculum design for the secondary schools. This study was
the design and development of three phases; requirements
analysis phase, the design phase and the evaluation phase. The
results showed that the implementation of a prototype module
for the Form 1 History subject in secondary schools in Jitra, Kedah
has achieved its resolution based on the 'Stake Countenance’.
Research Methodology
In this study, researcher conducted a need analysis through a
survey using five Likert scale questionnaire. A total of 150
students from Bachelor in Teaching Program (PISMP) who
take Arabic as a subject in several sel ected Institut e of Teacher
Edu cation (ITE) in Malaysia and 30 Arabic lect urers fro m some
selected I nstitu te of Teacher Education.
Before the questionnaire was distributed, the researcher
conducted a pilot study for validity and reliability. Require-
ments analysis is conducted to determine the needs for the
Arabic (M ~ Muallim) M-learning design modules at the In-
stitute of Teacher Education.
The resear cher has outl ine d t he procedure:
1) Identifying the target group or focused groups
2) Conduct a need analysis on students and lecturers
3) The pilot study was conducted before the questionnaire
was distributed in this phase.
The pilot study for the questionnaire instruments involves 30
samples. Alpha reliability of the survey instrument with 16
items was 0 .71.
Research Findings and Discussion
The findings was presented based on (a) the need to involve
software and hardware used and (b) the design of learning ac-
tivities used in the Arabic m-learning in the ITE.
Table 1 shows the frequency and hardware requirements
mean of mobile technology that can be used in the Arabic m-
learnin g at ITE. The sequ ence based on the hi ghest mean value
of equipment needs, led by laptops (mean = 4.54), netbook
(mean = 4.41) and tablet computers (mean = 4.01). While four
other hardwares to get the mean o f less th an 4.0 are smart tele-
phone (mean = 3.86), 3G handphone (mean = 3.76), PDA (min
= 3:37) and mobile phone (3.27).
These findings clearly show the pattern selection of equip-
ment which has been chosen in learning Arabic which is based
on the mobile computer technology equipment. The users of
Arabic m-learning are preferable to use the tools of technology
based mobile computer compared to the usage of mobile phone
technology. Sharma & Kitchens (2004) compared the tradition-
al learning concept with the concept of M-learning that has
changed the existing concept of learning in terms of the learn-
ing environment and school components curriculu m, the t each-
ers and students.
Users are less likely to use mobile phone technology to sup-
port learning Arabic. The usage of mobile phone is restricted to
medium of communication rather than making it as a medium
of learning.
Tabl e 1.
Hardware requirements of mo b ile techno lo gy in learning.
Strongly Disagree Di sagree Uncertai n Agree Strongly agree
Mean
No
(%) No
(%) No
(%) No
(%) No
(%)
Laptop 0
(0) 0
(0) 3
(1.7) 76
(42.2) 101
(56.1) 4.54
Netbook 0
(0) 0
(0) 17
(9.4) 72
(40) 91
(50.6) 4.41
Tablet Computer 0
(0) 1
(0.6) 47
(26.1) 81
(45) 51
(28.3) 4.01
Smartphone 0
(0) 11
(6.1) 51
(28.3) 70
(38.9) 48
(26.7) 3.86
3G Handphone 1
0.6) 8
(4.4) 53
(29.4) 89
(49.4) 29
(16.1) 3.76
PDA 4
(2.2) 27
(15) 73
(40.6) 50
(27.8) 26
(14.4) 3.37
Mobile Phone 13
(7.2) 36
(20) 44
(24.4) 64
(35.6) 23
(12.8) 3.27
A. D AHAMAN ET AL.
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59
Table 2 shows the frequency and mean of operating plat-
forms and communication features in Arabic m-learning in the
ITE. The findings showed that respondents were more likely to
choose a website as a platform for Arabic m-learning (mean =
4.47) compared to blog which is much lower (mean 4.33).
The findings of the study showed that the respondents are
more comfortable using email as a communication feature in
m-learning with a high mean of 4.28. While the other three
elements scored the mean less than 4.0 which were the use of
chat as communication features in m-learning (mean = 3.71),
SMS (mean 3.70) and MMS (mean = 2.87).
The findings were equivalent with the previous findings (see
Table 1 ) related to the use of hardware-oriented mobile compu-
ting technology. The choice of website and email platform is
based on portable computer technology oriented.
Table 3 shows the frequency and the mean of appropriate
learning activities in Arabic M-Learning at ITE. The findings
show that the learning activities are concerned with the one-
way interaction or delayed bilater al interaction which chosen by
the respondents. This can be seen by the downloading of mate-
rials (mean = 4:59), notes reading (mean = 4:56), finding in-
formation (min 4:43), and quizzes (mean 4.39).
Activities that involve delayed bilateral interaction can also
be seen in the use of forum activity (mean = 4:56) and email
(mean 4.25). These activities have interactive features but not
in direct.
Activities that are more dominant in the use of mobile com-
puter technology equipment are still at the highest position
among the respondents. They believed that mobile -oriented
learnin g activity like SM S (mean = 3.86 ) and MMS (mean 3.49)
as well as chat (mean = 3.87). Independent ability in learning
needs t o be applied with th e help of ICT and learn ing materials
that complement the latest technology (Ghazali Eric et al.,
2011).
Tabl e 2.
Operating platform requirements and communication features in m-learning.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Uncertain Agree Str ongly Agree Mean
No
(%)
No
(%)
No
(%)
No
(%)
No
(%)
Website 0
(0) 1
(0.6) 5
(2.8) 83
(46.1) 91
(50.6) 4.47
Blog 0
(0) 0
(0) 12
(6.7) 97
(53.9) 71
(39.4) 4.33
Email 0
(0) 1
(0.6) 15
(8.3) 96
(53.3) 68
(37.8) 4.28
Chat 5
(2.8) 13
(7.2) 43
(23.9) 88
(48.9) 31
(17.2) 3.71
SMS 0
(0) 23
(12.8) 41
(22.8) 83
(46.1) 33
(18.3) 3.70
MMS 20
(11.1) 36
(20) 75
(41.7) 45
(25) 4
(2.2) 2.87
Tabl e 3.
Proposed learning activities in Arabic M-Learning.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Uncertain Agree Strongly Agree Mean
No
(%) No
(%) No
(%) No
(%) No
(%)
Downloading P&P materials 0
(0) 0
(0) 7
(3.9) 61
(33.9) 112
(62.2) 4.59
Forum 0
(0) 0
(0) 6
(3.3) 67
(37.2) 107
(59.4) 4.56
Notes reading 0
(0) 0
(0) 4
(2.2) 71
(39.4) 105
(58.3) 4.56
Find i ng info r matio n 0
(0) 0
(0) 9
(5) 84
(46.7) 87
(48.3) 4.43
Quizzes 0
(0) 0
(0) 15
(8.3) 80
(44.4) 85
(47.2) 4.39
Giving feedbacks 0
(0) 0
(0) 18
(10) 96
(53.3) 66
(36.7) 4.27
Downloading vide o 0
(0) 0
(0) 22
(12.2) 93
(51.7) 65
(36.1) 4.24
Chat 0
(0) 15
(8.3) 37
(20.6) 85
(47.2) 43
(23.9) 3.87
SMS 0
(0) 24
(13.3) 27
(15) 80
(44.4) 49
(27.2) 3.86
MMS 6
(3.3) 29
(16.1) 44
(24.4) 73
(40.6) 28
(15.6) 3.49
A. D AHAMAN ET AL.
Copyright © 2012 SciRes.
60
This finding indicates that the situation preferences which at-
tracts the attention of respond ents whereb y they are more likel y
into formal e-learning activity rather than informal activities.
Conclusion
This study has been able to produce the selection of mobile
computing technology as the main equipment in the application
of Arabic m-learning in the ITE. This prompted the selection of
websites as a platform of operations and communication fea-
tures that are more dominant in using this platform like email as
compared to SMS and MMS. Similarly, the appropriate pat-tern
of learning activities is included in the m-learning that focused
on activities which parallel to the use of mobile com-puter
technology.
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