?The questionnaire comprises of ten questions.? An evaluation of the results to the responses of the questions in the questionnaire was done. One hundred copies of questionnaires were distributed to and collected from undergraduates of an Islamic institution. This paper seeks to analyze the questionnaire data. Some of the findings are illustrated by tables.
?The objectives of the questionnaire are to test:
the understanding,
?acceptability and
?preference of appeal in terms of language use.
?The questions in the questionnaire were devised to test and analyse the responses to three main objectives: acceptability, understanding and preference of appeal in terms of language use of two sets of extracts from the two translated versions of the Quran. Ten questions were devised to retrieve certain information needed from the students’ responses revolving around the three main objectives. The main questions to test acceptability in the questionnaire are:
Q5: Have you ever thought of the Quran as a text possessing literary value apart from its religious values?
Yes???????????????????????????????????????? No
Q10:Do you think that the English language translations of the meaning of the Quran can be used as a text for the teaching of literature in the English language especially in Islamic institutions?
Yes??????????????????????????????????????? No
This writer felt that it is important to know how students felt about the texts used in the classroom. There must be a sense of acceptance or agreement towards the text selected and used in the classroom by the students. This way, learning can reach an optimal level because there is a positive interaction between the student and the text. Thus, the teacher can also benefit from this because the students can then give better feedback in terms of discussions and classroom participation. The main question to test understanding in the questionnaire is:
Q8: In your opinion, which of the 2 sets of the verses above is easier to understand?
A??????????????????????????????????????????? B
This writer felt that it is important to know the students’ level of language competence in terms of understanding a particular text. It will be pointless if the student “likes” or accepts a particular text but is unable to give feedback in the form of written exercises or discussions and classroom participation because of lack of understanding. The main question to test preference of appeal in terms of language use in the questionnaire is:
Q9: Which one of the 2 sets of verses above is more appealing?
A????????????????????????????????????????????B
This writer felt that it is important to know the students’ preference of appeal in terms of the different types of English language used in the two extracts translated from the same original text. This knowledge will help in the final selection of the text, all things considered. A student may find? (A) more appealing than? (B) although at the same time, the same student may find? (B) easier to understand than? (A). The extracts printed in the questionnaire were marked (A) and (B) and the names of the translators were not disclosed. Thus, the responses from the students were based solely on their opinions on reading extracts (A) and (B). This is beneficial for those who have no idea who Muhammad Asad and Abdullah Yusuf Ali are. The results were also illustrated by tables to facilitate better understanding of the responses to the questions in the questionnaire.
?
?
All the 100 respondents were Muslims. Their ages ranged from 19 - 28 years of age with a mean of 22 years of age, as explained in Table 1. The majority of the respondents? aged between 21 and 23 years .
Table 1:? Age Distribution in Years ???????????
Age in Years
No. of? Students
Mean Age in Years
19-20
11
22
21-22
65
23-24
21
25-26
1
27-28
2
The majority who responded were females, comprising 84%. There were only 16% of males. The majority of students who responded were Malaysians (89%) and 11% were international students, as explained in Table 2. The 11 international students came from different countries: Thailand, Albania, Tanzania, Algeria, Tunis, Pakistan, Sudan, Nigeria, Indonesia. Out of the 11 international students, 5 were males and 6 were females.
Table? 2:? Nationality of the Respondents
?
Malaysian Students
International Students
89(89%)
11(11%)
Out of the 100 respondents, the majority were Malay-medium students 77 (77%), 13 (13%) were English-medium students, 7 (7%) were Arabic-medium students and 3 (3%) students under “others”, as explained in Table 3. Specifically, these 3 students had their medium of High School instruction in Thai language (for 2 students) and in Albanian language (for 1 student).
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