A Case Study on Week without Walls (WWW) in UiTM Negeri Sembilan: Critical Reading and Creative Writing beyond the Second Language Classrooms
Abstract
Teaching and learning critical reading and creative writing in the second language have gone beyond the four walls of classrooms and language classrooms. Apart from flipped classrooms, where lessons and assignments can be conducted and done during weekends, public holidays and festive breaks, Universiti Teknologi MARA has moved another step in implementing Week without Walls (WWW) where students learn in a less structured way outside the classrooms. Qualitative method namely case study is used to design the research methodology for this study. The focus on the case study is to see how learning is demonstrated through the use of social media. The case study on diploma and degree students from three faculties found that WWW has increased motivation and interest in teaching and learning of second language reading and writing. Other than using the usual teaching videos, notes on the online platform, students are asked to read Reader’s Digest magazines and post a caption of an interesting article or activity they have read on the social media. Using social learning theory, analysis of the students’ narratives on social media postings reveal that given the freedom to demonstrate their learning experience, students can be creative by posting pictures and videos of what they have read on their social media and realize that learning is not just for assessments.
Keywords: week without walls, learning beyond the classroom, second language, social media, social learning theory
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