1.

0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Being proficient in speaking and understanding a foreign language is now considered

important in Malaysia. It provides a huge advantages in many aspect especially for those who are
looking to involve themselves in international level of working or living environment. Ministry
of Higher Education (2010) also stress on the statement that knowledge of a third language will
help us to keep up with the increasing competence in the job market both locally and
internationally. In addition, Ministry of Higher Education stated that proficiency in the third
language is vital for developing the core for the individuals to be able to contribute towards
building up the country’s future through involvement in the international arena.

In the economy aspect, Malaysia is seen a multiracial country and is also affected in
economic crisis where the employment made it necessity for graduates to acquire proficiency in
communicating in foreign language. For example, some people may get the access to latest
technologies and information by being able to read and understand the information from sources
originated from foreign countries. They also will have little to no problem when placed in a
diverse working environment and thus becoming more competent in their works. Merrit (2013)
lists a number of benefits that can be gained by it a third language. Firstly, she stated that
multilingual people are skilled enough at switching personalities when they have two different
system speech. Next, she stated that this is indirectly makes them good at multitasking because
they are excel in different structure of work.

According to apb.uitm.edu.my, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) offers up to seven

different foreign languages excluding English which are Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, German,
Korean, Italian, and French which are categorised as third language. However, students of Civil
Engineering were only given the opportunity to choose up to four different language which are
Arabic, Mandarin, German and Japanese. A. Amiruddin (n.d) stated that reasons behind the
selection of third language suited for engineering students are considered being useful in the field
of engineering.

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 However, Civil Engineering studies are well known for the difficulty level which
emphasizes more on calculated and the addition of the graduating requirement to learn foreign
language courses which is nothing close to being calculated-based subject will surely leave some
impact on the students in some aspects. Therefore, this research aims to study the effectiveness
of implementing of foreign languages regards of students of Civil Engineering.

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1.2 Problem Statement

These are the problems that occur based on previous research on the third language
among students of Civil Engineering (UiTM Shah Alam). There are plenty of causes that drive
the students to take the selected third language course. Most of them decided to take the course
according to their own will. One of the reasons for them to be interested in their selected course
is that they have other reason that leads them to take the selected language course. As we all
know, third language is one of the course requirement to be able to graduate on-time. Other than
that, the reason they choose that selected course is most of their seniors recommended to take it.
This is because that course is easy to score and they require an easy third language subject to
improve their CGPA.

Moreover, students are having are having difficulty on learning third language course
because most of them do not have a basic knowledge. To make things worse, some of them are
not enjoying the course they are taking and they have to take the course out of will. So, in this
research, it is to investigate their level of interest towards that course.

Lastly, challenges faced by students need to be focused as well. The major challenges
faced by students are too many new alphabets to memorize and having poor pronunciation. Lack
of time practicing also need to be taken into consideration too. We are to do a research regarding
the level of interest of the third language. One of them is perhaps lecturer of third language
course is hard to approach and talk.

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1.3 Objectives

Third language are important nowadays especially for communication advantage in

carrier life. For an improvement purpose, this research has been organized towards students in
Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam. The research is aimed to study the effectiveness
of the implementation of foreign language courses among civil engineering students:

1.3.1 To study what drives students to take the particular foreign language

1.3.2 To investigate the level of interest among civil engineering students that taking
third language

1.3.3 To find out challenges faced by students when learning third language course

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1.4 Significance of the study

The research study could provide information on the issues related to students to students
taking third language in Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam. Further, this study
would also discuss the obstacles encountered on respondents who are taking third language
course. This study is important to students in coup with their problem facing towards the third
language courses. By providing essential questionnaires to respondents, we can identify what
main causes for the students to not able to master their third language courses. With
questionnaires analysis, we are able to deduce conclusions towards this study. This study is also
important to Akedemi Pengajian Bahsa (APB) in constructing new teaching or delivery
techniques to approach students knowledge regards third language course. They are able to
provide fundamental knowledge about selected foreign language based on the Learning
Outcomes (LO), Problem Outcomes (PO) and Course Outcomes (CO) to respective courses
taken by the students. Vital results of this research could be highly significant and beneficial
specifically to the following:

1.4.1 Akedemi Pengajian Bahasa (APB)

This refer to professional institute collaborate with Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
They will be gaining insights as to what measures are suitable and appropriate to help lecturer
and students in achieving their motives in third language courses. According to Aini Aziz, 2016,
she stated that it will give a significant impact on development of Malaysia. Lecturers are
capable of providing sufficient knowledge and friendly environments to the students so that they
can achieve what they are dream of.

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1.5 Limitations of the study

The survey involved only thirty respondents consisting of fifth semester until seventh
semester students of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam. Since the duration of the
study is 12 weeks, it may not be accurate enough to be a part of data analysis. Within 12 weeks
of study, time constraints are the main factor that the study are not able to exhibit best results
since there are a lot of informations needed to be concluded. Since we restricted the number of
respondents up to thirty students, it is favorable to get matching data for small group of students.
For example, the number of students taking Mandarin course came up with same problem faced,
which limit the variety of questionnaire data analysis. Last but not least, small scale project is
obstacle that we faced throughout conducting this study. Meaning to say, smaller data analysis is
not as accurate compared to bigger data analysis. Our study is not applicable outside the range of
our target. For example, Universiti Malaya cannot use our study for problem solving since our
data analysis is not accurate. Our study is only applicable for thirty students that responds to the
questionnaires.

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1.6 Previous studies

An interesting study entitled Motivation to Learn Foreign Language in Malaysia was

conducted by Ainol Madziah Zubairi and Isarji Haji Sarudin from International Islamic
University Malaysia. They expose us on difference in terms of the motivation of students from
two universities. In addition, the result showing on importance of producing graduates who is
mastering foreign language into compete global. The finding of the study indicate that Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students were
extrinsically and intrinsically motivated to learn foreign language. The result of the test however
indicate a significant difference in term of motivation of students from two universities.

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1.7 Methodology

1.7.1 Respondents of the study

Thirty respondents, both males and females will be the subjects in this study. They will
be randomly selected to be a subject for this research. We restricted the range of respondents
which are fifth, sixth and seventh semester students of civil engineering. The reasons for this
limitation of respondents because this subjects are related to the study. They are actively taking
third language courses and this is suitable data require on our advantages to reduce to risk of
collecting irrelevant data or un-answered questionnaires. Questionnaire are conducted based on
our objectives of the study. The period of collecting questionnaires is one weeks to subjects. By
doing this, they have ample time to answer all the questions without being pressured due small
time allocated.

1.7.2 Instrument of the study

A questionnaire was chosen to be research instrument for collecting the information from
exact thirty respondents. We think that this method is far more effective compared to
interviewing them face-to-face.

In the questionnaire we are conducting, there are four sections regarding the requirements
for achieving the objectives of this study. In section A, we will ask a little bit about respondent’s
personal background. For example, regarding the gender of the respondent. In section B, there
were four questions and we will ask about what drives them to take the course that they are
choosing. In section C, five questions will be asked regarding how interested they are to take the
course. In section D, there are six questions regarding challenges faced by students when
learning a third language course.

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1.7.3 Data collection procedure

Due to current technology such as Whatsapp, we can get responses from them via
Whatsapp. The method is a s simple as sending questionnaire via Whatsapp to any batch group
since our research is based on all students. Before we forward the questionnaire via Whatsapp,
we constructed questionnaire with the aid of Google Form. This questionnaire will be sent to
students of Faculty of Civil Engineering and the first thirty students. Responses received will be
used as the sample of the study.

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2.0 Findings

This study was undertaken to investigate the Implementation of the Third Language
among Civil Engineering Students. The objectives of this study were to study what drives
students to take the particular foreign language, to investigate the level of interest among civil
engineering students that taking third language, and to find out challenges faced by students
when learning third language course. A questionnaire was distributed to thirty students from
Faculty of Civil Engineering. The results are presented below.

2.1 Background of the respondents

2.1.1 Percentile of respondent’s gender

Figure 1: Gender of the respondents

The total of complete questionnaires were gathered. Based on figure 1, it can be seen that
63.3 percent of them were male. Meanwhile, female respondents represent only 36.7 percent.

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 2.1.2 Respondent’s age

Figure 2: Age of the respondents

Figure 2 at above explain the variety of respondent’s ages. Based on figure 2, it has been found
that 70 percent of them are range between 21 years to 23 years old. The seconds largest which
has a 26.7 percent are 24 years to 26 years old followed by 3.3 percent of them are 18 years to 20
years old.

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 2.1.3 Respondent’s current semester

Figure 3: Respondents’ current Semester

Figure 3 shows that the respondent’s current semester. Based on figure 3, it has been found that
36.7 percent of respondents are sixth semester. Whereas, 33.3 percent of respondents are fifth
semester. 30 percent of respondents are seventh semester.

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 2.1.4 Language that respondents had chosen as a third language

Figure 4: Language Taken by the respondents

Figure 4 shows that the respondent’s choice for third language. Based on figure 4, it had been
found that 56.7 percent of respondents choose German as their third language followed by 26.7
percent of respondents choice is Mandarin. Number of respondents that choose Japanese as their
third language only represent 16.7 percent. None of the respondents are taking Arabic language
as their third language course.

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 2.1.5 Respondent’s current level of the third language

Figure 5: Respondents’ current third language level

Figure 5 shows that the respondent’s current level of the third language. Based on figure 5, it has
been found that 36.7 percent of respondents are taking level 2 of their third language choices.
33.3 percent of respondents are taking level 3 of their third language. Meanwhile, 30 percent of
respondents are taking level 1 of their third language during questionnaire submission.

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2.2 Motivation that drives students to take the particular foreign language
2.2.1 Motivation for respondents to take third language

Figure 6: Motivation that drives respondents to take a third language

Figure 6 shows the motivation for respondents to take third language. It has been found that 30
percent of respondents stated that they were following their friends or classmate. Same goes to
the respondents that said their motivation on taking third language were just a requirement for
graduation. Both of these motivations lead to the highest percentage. Whereas, 23.3 percent of
respondents stated that they need third language for their further studies followed by 13.3 percent
of respondents said that they had basic knowledge related to the language that they selected.
Only 3.4 percent of respondents stated that their motivation is to having relatives speaking in the
language.

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 2.2.2 Main reason for respondents to learn third language

Figure 7: Main reason for respondents to learn the third language

Figure 7 explained that main reason for respondents to learn third language. It was found that 40
percent of respondents stated that it is just an opportunity for them to have an extra credits to
excel in order to improve their Grade Points Average (GPA). Meanwhile, 20 percent of
respondents stated that it is to help them out in academic aspects such as having the abilities to
access more information regarding to their selected third language course. Another 20 percent of
respondents said that their reason were to only provide themselves with more advantage in
advancing their social or communicating skills. The other 20 percent of respondents stated their
main reason was only to assist them in entertainment purpose without the aid of subtitles.

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 2.2.3 Ways that the third language help respondents academically

Figure 8: Ways that third language help academically

Figure 8 shown the way that third language help respondents in the academic. It has been found
that 66.7 percent of respondents believed that they could improve their vocabulary. 20 percent of
respondents said that they were able to access more information for them through books and
journals. 10 percent of respondents stated that they were no longer need to rely on translation
services for their study works. Meanwhile, 3.3 percent of respondents said that third language do
not assist them in academic.

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 2.2.4 Perception on third language as a compulsory subject to pass

Figure 9: Perception of third language as a compulsory subject to pass

Figure 9 shows that the perception on third language as a compulsory subject to pass. It has been
found that 93.3 percent of respondents said that it was compulsory to pass third language.
Meanwhile, the remaining 6.7 percent of respondents stated that it is just for the sake of getting
higher Grade Point Average (GPA). 6.7 percent of respondents also stated that it is not
compulsory to pass third language since not everyone are not understand Mandarin (third
language).

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2.3 Level of interest in learning a third language
2.3.1 Respondents perception on learning their third language

Figure 10: Respondents’ perception for difficulty

Figure 10 described respondents’ perception on learning their third language. It has been found
that 56.7 percent of respondents said that it was moderately difficult to be learned. 26.7 percent
of respondents stated that it was easy to be learned. Meanwhile, 16.7 percent of respondents said
that it was very difficult to be learned.

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 2.3.2 Frequency of respondents to practice their third language

Figure 11: Frequency of practicing third language

Figure 11 arrays that frequent of respondents to practice their third language. It has been found
that 76.7 percent of respondents said that they sometimes practiced their third language. 13.3
percent of respondents stated their answer as rarely. Meanwhile, just 10 percent of respondents
always practiced their third language.

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 2.3.3 Time spent for practicing their third language in a week

Figure 12: Time spent on practicing in a week

Figure 12 shows that time spent for practicing their third language in a week. It has been found
that 60 percent of respondents stated that they spent less than 2 hours to practice their third
language. 36.7 percent of respondents said that they spent 2 to 4 hours on revising their third
language. Meanwhile, 3.7 percent of respondents stated that 4 to 6 hours are their choice in time
spend for practiced their third language in a week.

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 2.3.4 Respondents personal approach for learning third language

Figure 13: Respondents personal approach in learning

Figure 13 illustrated respondents’ personal approach for learning third language. Since this
questionnaire can tap more than two answers, so the result will be more than 30. Based on figure
13, it has been found that 19 respondents said that watching TV shows or any sources of
entertainment in that language. 10 respondents stated that reading books that are related to the
language taken to improve their third language knowledge. 8 respondents said that taking online
courses such as duolingo.com. Based on the result display, it is stated that google, read from
books given, and do own notes share the same amount which are 3.

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2.4 Challenges faced in learning third language
2.4.1 Main challenges for respondents to master third language

Figure 14: Main challenges encountered by the respondents

Figure 14 describes the main challenges for respondents to master their third language. Same as
part 2.3.4, this questionnaire can tap more than two answers as well. Based on figure 14, it has
been found that 16 respondents had difficulty on pronunciations. 12 of respondents had difficulty
in grammar. 11 respondents said that unfamiliar vocabulary is their main challenges in learning
third language. 7 respondents said that they had trouble in learning new alphabets. 6 respondents
said that they had difficulty in recognizing and differentiating symbols of alphabets and numbers.
There are only 1 respondent said that he or she may had difficulty in read the texts in the third
language.

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 2.4.2 Obstacle that respondents have encounter during third language classes

Figure 15: Obstacle encounter during learning the third language

Figure 15 illustrates that obstacle that respondents have encounter during third language classes.
It has been found that 18 respondents stated that they had lack of the availability of time for
preparation for third language. 11 respondents stated that the study plan was not dynamic
enough. 10 respondents had limited communication between respondents and lecturers. 4
respondents said that lack of guidance from the lecturer are obstacles that they encounter during
third language classes. Also, 4 respondents said that they had no friends willing to practice with
them.

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 2.4.3 Opinion for two hours per week for third language class

Figure 16: Perception on two hours lecture per week

Figure 16 arrays the opinion for two hours per week for third language class. It has been found
that 70 percent of respondents gave their opinion stated that it was not sufficient for two hours of
lecture per week for third language. Meanwhile, only 30 percent of respondents agreed that two
hours of lecture was sufficient for mastering third language course.

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2.4.4 Respondents learning experience when taking third language course

Figure 17: Respondents’ learning experience

Figure 17 shown that respondents learning experience when taking third language course. It has
been found that 40 percent of respondents felt it was very enjoyable to learning third language
courses. 30 percent of respondents said that it was an excellent experience when learning third
language. Meanwhile, 20 percent of respondents had a mix feeling or just a satisfactory
experience when taking third language courses.

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3.0 Conclusion

3.1 Background of the respondents

In the section of background of the respondent, it is concluded that most of the

respondents are male. It is also proven that majority of respondents take place in answering
questionnaires is in the range of 21 – 23 years old. Moreover, it was stated that the
questionnaires were equally distributed among part 5, part 6 and part 7 students. According to
our findings, most of the respondents take German language as their third language course. It
was also found out that majority of the respondents are under level 2 of third language course.

3.2 To find out what drive the respondents to select third language course

In term of reason why respondents take selected course, large number of respondents tend
to took the course just to fulfill requirement for graduation. On top of that, the reason why
respondents take the specific third language course was because of the perception that the course
would be able to help improving current GPA. On the other side, here was also a small number
of the respondents said that they took the subject mainly to improve their language vocabulary.
Throughout the research, it was found that majority of the respondents agreed that the third
language courses should be made compulsory for graduating.

3.3 To investigate the level of interest on selected third language course

It was concluded that majority of the respondents, which represented by 56.7 percent of
the total believes that they found it moderately difficult to be learned. In this part, it was also
found out that most of them practices their selected course occasionally. Into detail, it was then
found out that the respondents only revise the course less than two hours per week outside of
class hours. As an approach to learn selected third language, majority of the respondents with
63.3 percent of the total respondents stated that they watch TV or other entertainments as an
approach to learn selected third language.

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3.4 To find out the challenges faced by the respondents when learning third language
course

It was concluded that the most frequent challenge faced by students was having
difficulties in pronunciation. Going deep into the challenge, it was also found out that most of
them agreed that they have limited time given to practice their third language skill. This can be
supported to the findings that we obtained that they have much more important subjects to be
focused on with most of them agreed that two hours of lecture time is not enough to study and
revise the whole syllabus. However, despite the challenges and obstacles they have to face, it
was learned that most of them does not have any problem and were happy enough to thrive
through it as reported in our research where 70 percent of the respondents as majority described
the learning process of the third language as excellent and were really enjoyable with 20 percent
of them described that the learning process was satisfactory as it is and only less than 10 percent
representing minorities were unsatisfied and that it could be better.

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4.0 Recommendation

Based on our findings, we are able to identify the motivation of the students in taking learning
third language, their level of interest in learning it and the challenges they are facing during
learning process of the third language. According to our study, it was learned that majority of the
students are not really committed in learning this subject as stated in our findings where most of
them only spent 2 hours for revision for this subject each week. This is believed to be related to
the fact that they have no clear motivation behind learning this particular subject. This leads
them to rely entirely on academic class hours as the only method of learning in the third
language course. This can be improved with the better implementation method coming to focus.

Firstly, as the root of the issue is the lack of commitment of the students in taking the
course, academic part of the institution is the one that should be helping. Akedemi Pengajian
Bahasa (APB) of UiTM should play its role better in making it clear on the benefits of taking a
third language for the students. Students should be enlightened on how much the third language
course can be helpful for them so that they can have a strong and valid reason to take the third
language course. This can be their new motivation to be more committed to this course and
excelling in this course.

Secondly, the students are believed having trouble with the time allocated for the subject
as reported in the findings, where majority of the students agreed that the two hours allocated for
third language course each week are not sufficient. This again, are related to the implementation
system of the third language course by the institute which can be improved by introducing a new
way of learning third language other than just class hours. APB should start to implement online
courses as well to support their teaching method where the students will be able to revise or do
exercises anytime they want during the non-class hours. With this, the students are no longer be
relying entirely on the two hours of lecture which is in reality is not sufficient for the course
lecture and practice.

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 Thirdly, the two hours dedicated for class session for this course should be used more
effectively as the respondents reported in the findings where they were having problem
pronouncing words in the third language. More effective learning plan was needed to help them
achieve a better and deeper understanding on the language, so that they can improve their
vocabulary and oral speaking skill. This can be done with the allocation of time for practicing
writing and speaking skill respectively. For example, in the two hours of lecture, lecturer should
allocate one hour for lecture and another hour mainly for speaking and communicating with
students so that the students will have the chances to try to speak in the third language and the
lecturer will be able correct them if they pronounce words incorrectly. In this way, the learning
process will also be more effective as it emphasizes two-way learning as opposed to only the
lecturer getting involved in class sessions. This will also be able to improve the students’ self-
confidence as they are taught to be more involved and vocal in communicating in the third
language.

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5.0 References

Arner, B. (2012, April 2). What are the Main Difficulties in Learning a New Language (Not a
Programming Language)? Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-main
-difficulties-in-learning-a-new-language-not-a-programming-language

Baharudin, M.& Sadik, A. M. (2016). A View into Successful Teaching Techniques; Teaching
Malay Language as a Foreign Language in Malaysia. Retrieved from https://files.
eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1121809.pdf

Merritt, A. (2013, June 19). Why Learn a Foreign Language? Benefits of Bilingualism. Retrieved
from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion /10126883/Why-learn-a-
foreign-language-Benefits-of-bilingualism.html

Seise, A. (n.d). The Importance of Learning Foreign Languages. Retrieved from http://www.top
tenreviews.com/software/articles/the-importance-of-learning-foreign-languages/

Study Committee for the Future Direction of Language Education in Malaysia (2010) Future
Direction of Language Education in Malaysia. Retrieved from https://umexpert.um.edu.
umexpert.um.edu.my/file/publication/00004648_85734.pdf

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Appendix

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