ED770 M.Ed (TESL), ED775/ED705 M.

Ed (MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP) &

ED772/ED702 M.Ed (VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION)
RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORM

IN THE FOLLOWING 5 PAGES, SUMMARIZE YOUR EDU755 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

NAME/STD ID
MOHD NIZAM BIN MOHD ANUAR (2013826292)

TITLE



The Effectiveness of Peer Mentoring Programme in Improving MRSM
Merbok Form Four Students Confidence in Using English.

BACKGROUND TO
THE RESEARCH
(what are the
issues/current
scenario
thatbrought light
to the proposed
study?)
Annually, MARA allocates a big sum of money in promoting English
among students and surely MRSM teachers play a big role in improving
English proficiency for English language learners (L2) in Malaysia
through exciting and interesting activities conducted in English class as
promoted. There are problems faced by MRSM Merbok students in
learning English. And based on the feedback given by students, it is
believed mentoring programme will benefit them.

































STATEMENT OF
THE PROBLEM
(identify the gap
which you plan to
investigate with
the intention to
add new
knowledge to the
existing body of
knowledge)















The problems are lack of confidence due to non-English speaking
background and lack of motivation in learning English which later is
translated in their English results in examinations.Therefore, peer
mentoring is conducted to solve the problems .This programme is
designed for Form Four students in MRSM Merbok with an objective to
improve the English results in their final semester examination.In this
research, the researcher willbe focusing on three main topics. They are :
peer mentoring, lack of motivation in learning English and the effects of
peer mentoring programme to both mentors and mentees.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES RESEARCH QUESTIONS






























LITERATURE
REVIEW
(summarize
relevant theories
and previous
research)
















































Peer Mentoring
Mentoring means the use of a mentor to teach a less
experienced person about their job or a particular subject(Macmillan, p.
941). In this study, peer mentoring is defined as Form Four students of
MRSM Merbok who has more experience than their peers in sharing and
helping on the subject matter; English in this case.
Bruce Gearing on the benefits of mentoring children stated, to
keep children from starting at-risk behaviors, protect those already on
deficit paths and to enhance existing potential within children (Gearing,
2008).In this study,it will focus on Form Four students of MRSM Merbok
who have potential to improve their English skills if the right motivation
is given and positive attitudes are practiced.
Peer mentoring in English class is widely practiced by many
educators all over the world. It is implemented in different levels of
different groups of people. Better understanding of relationships among
mentoring phases, functions and outcomes can help organizations and
individuals maximize positive outcomes for mentors, proteges and the
organization as a whole(Chao, 1997).
In relation to English learning,Kristilynn M. Turney in her thesis
states that a peer mentoring model is a promising strategy to improve
the academic performance of English language learners and improve
their socialization(M.Turney, 2013).Therefore, in this study it is believed
that peer mentoring programme is somehow relevant and suitable to be
implemented to Form Four students of MRSM Merbok in order to help
them improving their English skills.
Other than a formal mentoring session, the relationship between
mentor and mentees are prolonged to outside academic hours especially
to boarding school students; in this research it involves Form Four
students of MRSM Merbok. This is discussed by Tammy D. Allen who
says that individuals are likely to develop a series of developmental
relationship throughout various stages of their career(Tammy D.Allen S.
E., 1999).In this study, the developmental of relationship can be seen
between mentors and mentees chosen by English teachers based on
their current performance.This is not a conventional mentoring
programme; one-way mentoring which only allows mentors to guide the
mentees but it is a mutual exchange of ideas and knowledge between
both parties. Tammy D.Allen states that conventional mentoring may
involve more of a one-way helping dynamic, while peer relationships
involve more of a mutual exchange (Tammy D.Allen S. E., 1999).
Mentors in general has typical qualifications. Usually they
demonstrated record as an exemplary teacher, has strong
communication skills, trustworthy and sensitive to obligations about
confidentiality, experienced with similar teaching assignment, easy
accessible, responsible, emphatic, supportive, open and
resourceful(Johannessen, 2010).In this study, all the qualifications are
taken into account but those are the additional characteristics
needed.To make a mentor qualified to be an effective one in peer
mentoring programme for mentees is the English language
proficiency.This is important as they are exchanging opinion and ideas
on the basis of English language.
In this research, it focuses on how peer mentoring programme is
conducted to these group of students as it is done by others in helping
the English learners to improve their English skills; self-confidence,
writing and speaking which later affects their performance in English
examination and surely helpful in improving behavior among teenagers.

Lack of motivation in learning English
Motivation is an important element in boosting the interest of
students in learning English.With correct and impeccable motivation
given by mentors, mentees will be able to gain their self-esteem to
confidently speak, write and continuously use the language. This is in
accordance withDornyei, who states that motivation refers to why
people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the
activity and how long they are going to pursue it (MelorMdYunus,
2011).In an exploration carried out by Yashima,Zenuk-Nishide&
Shimizu,2004 on Japanese adolescent learnerswillingness to
communicate (WTC) in English as an L2,results show that those who
have higher WTC scores tend to communicate more in the classroom
and to talk to teachers more frequently outside classroom (Khajehpour,
2011).With right motivation surely will help the mentees to have
confidence in using the language.
Furthermore, Kristilynn M. Turney in her thesis stated that
effective peer mentoring began with heart, motivated from inside, then
manifested itself outwardly-not the other way round(M.Turney,
2013).This shows that, motivation comes from within yet there must be
a trigger factor to cause the mentees to feel motivated in improving
their English by using the language.
This is strongly supported by Bruce Gearing, who clearly
mentioned that peer mentoring is to keep children from starting at-risk
behaviors, protect those already on deficit paths and to enhance existing
potential within children(Gearing, 2008).Each person, in this study; the
mentors and mentees have equal potential to be excellent if they are
properly motivated and encouraged.These mentees, even though they
are not excellent in English, they are given the chance to explore their
interest, experience the fun and excitement in learning English
regardless of their proficiency of the language.
Jim Herry,Holly Huff Bruland and Jennifer Sano-Franchini stated,
mentoring was effective in providing the four constructs key to
mentoring as identified by Nora and Crisp (2008) : psychological /
emotional support; support for setting goals and choosing career path;
academic subject knowledge support aimed at advancing a students
knowledge relevant to his or her chosen field; specification of a role
model(Jim Herry, 2011).
It is not only mentees who need to have a meeting with their
mentors.To make efficient mentors, meeting between mentors is
necessary. The meeting of mentors provides a support system in that
mentors can hear from each other about familiar challenges and can
contribute to problem solving together(Johannessen, 2010).This is
important as mentors need a good support system as they are also
learning in dealing with mentees problems; in this study specifically on
English skills writing, speaking, listening and reading, and in addition-
psychology issue.
It is clearly shown that, in order to make the learning of English
for mentees a success, motivation plays an important role. Without
proper encouragement and motivation, the learning of English for
mentees will not be much helpful as there is no triggering factor that
would motivate them.Here comes the mentors role in encouraging,
motivating mentees to speak, practise and understand the language.

The effects of peer mentoring programme
Effects on Mentors
Mentors are the spine of this programme who make it a
success. Without effective mentors,mentees will not be
encouraged and motivated. As much time spends together in
encouraging, motivating, correcting and sharing the experience
in learning English, mentors have little time for themselves.
Therefore, it is good to have mentors meeting as this will help
them to share their thoughts, ideas and problems among
them.The meeting of mentors provides a support system in that
mentors can hear from each other about familiar challenges and
can contribute to problem solving together(Johannessen, 2010).
This shows that, eventhough mentors have less time for
themselves, it helps them to be more effective by sharing their
experience in dealing with mentees. Mentors who play the role
of a teacher gets to practice the knowledge taught by teachers to
L2 and get the chance to improve on the knowledge learnt
earlier.
Mentors are also affected psychologically as they are
given the trust to help the mentees which mentees surely have
high expectation towards them.But, competency of the mentors
might become an issue.This is supported bya study conducted, it
says that 17% of the negative experiences reported by protgs
were related to mentor competency issue(Lilian T.Eby,
2000).Some of the mentors are incompetent in the subject
matter that they are dealing with. In this research, teacher has
conducted series of examinations and mentors are chosen based
on their performances in each examination and teacher will
always guide them by conducting classes for mentors.

Effects on mentees
Mentees are also affected positively as they get to
analyse their weaknesses, correct the mistakes and improve on
the understanding which surely help to boost their self-
confidence. It is stated that, those who have been mentored
(protgs) receive substantial benefits such as higher promotion
rates, greater career satisfaction and higher overall
compensation(Tammy D.Allen S. E., 1999).
Mentees get to ease themselves and assimilate in the
group as they understand each others needs.This peer
mentoring programme is a tool to analyse ones weaknesses,
understand the needs of each individual mentee. This helps them
to reduce the stress as they get the chance to improve through
self and peer-response. Formal peer mentoring would be
particularly efficacious in terms of learning outcomes such as
socialization and stress reduction(Tammy D.Allen S. E., 1999).
In contrast to what mentioned earlier, misinformation
might happen as mentors and mentees are students.Youth are
working with their peers, this can lead to misinformation,
therefore, mentors must develop their own skills(M.Turney,
2013). As a precautionary measure, mentors were trained in
areas in which they were mentoring prior to entering the
mentorship relationship(M.Turney, 2013).
Other than that, several potential problems with
mentoring are noted by practitioner literature including poorly
skilled mentors, mismatches between mentors and proteges,
mentors using inappropriate teaching tactics such as
embarrassing proteges in front of peers, lording over proteges,
and intentionally sabotaging proteges career development(Lilian
T.Eby, 2000).This might also happen to mentees, yet can be
overcome with teachers monitoring and guidance.
It is clear that, peer mentoring program can be efficacious if proper
guidance, guidelines and correct measures in choosing mentors are
done. Both mentors and mentees will get to improve their confidence in
using English in MRSM Merbok regardless of their proficiency.
RESEARCH DESIGN
(tick only one)
a) Qualitative
b) Quantitative
c) Mixed method
d) Case study
e) Others (please specify : __________________

METHODOLOGY
(describe your
instruments , data
collection
procedures and
method of
analysis)











































REFERENCES
(at least 5)






















































For office use :

Suggested supervisor 1)

2)

3)



Date : _______________________________








-im-(mac/2013)