Vocabulary problems phenomenon among Malaysian technical students: Developing AMIT (Aplikasi Mudah Istilah Teknikal) as a solution

Abstract

Most technical students in Malaysia, especially in the engineering field, have little exposure to technical terminology in Bahasa Malaysia (BM) as most technical courses are usually carried out in English. Since most of the students are second or other language speakers of English, they often face problems in understanding technical terminology in the language. Such phenomenon is known as Vocabulary Problems. Failure to understand the real meaning of the terminology will result in the misunderstanding of the concept of the subject. In order to understand a subject, students should be able to translate the technical term and comprehend the concept to find solutions for any related problems. At present, students and instructors heavily rely on the ‘Buku Istilah Kejuruteraan’, (Engineering Terminology) published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. However, the book is only available in its hardcopy version and bulky. This makes it rather inconvenient to carry around. Thus, this study proposes the development of AMIT (Aplikasi Mudah Istilah Teknologi), a mobile application that can be used in both in and outside classroom for quick, updated and convenient reference for equivalent technical terminology in English and BM. With the ardent availability of technological application nowadays, AMIT can be used as education tools and digital content for engineering students. The fact that AMIT is mobile, compatible and easy to be downloaded for any android smart phones makes it useful for student own learning beyond classroom sessions.