ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Despite the aspiration of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) which aims to provide inclusive and quality education for all, refugees remain to be left behind. Therefore, a support mechanism for this group of people is necessary. A baseline literacy study was conducted with 15 Rohingya youth refugees using a snowball sampling technique. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments were used: baseline tests, interviews, and guided questionnaires. Following the findings, a framework emerged and was used as a guide for module development. The Ref-LitPsy Module aims to help youth refugees, specifically the Rohingyas, to function better in Malaysia as their host country. This research-based module comprises two main components: a) Literacy and b) Psychospiritual. The former addresses basic English literacy specifically for non-Roman alphabetical background refugees while the latter assists refugees to cope with stress and losses associated with migration, and also to groom them in helping their community. This paper focuses on the first component, Literacy. The Ref-LitPsy module is divided into twelve structured units that are applied in psychospiritual counselling approach. The Ref-LitPsy module is beneficial for the long-term resettlement success of refugees by grooming social navigators to help themselves and the refugee community.
Benseman, J. (2014). Adult refugee learners with limited literacy: Needs and effective responses. Refuge, 30(1), 93–103. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.38606
Lee, C. (2020). Negotiating dual identities: A case study on the narratives of two Myanmar refugee youths living in Malaysia. Kajian Malaysia, 38 (2), pp. 61–90.
Lee, C., and Don, Z. M. (2021). Belonging and identity in the narratives of two second-generation refugee youths in Malaysia. In Zawawi Ibrahim et al. (eds.), Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia, Asia in Transition 13, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4568-3_14.
Ewing, R. (2001). What is a functional model of language? Marrickville, N.S.W: Primary English Teaching Association
Jacobs, J. (2020). To trace or not to trace? The Learning Professor.
https://learningprofessor.com/2020/02/12/to-trace-or-not-to-trace/
Khairi, A. (2010). Managing the challenges of refugees and their rights in Malaysia 1. The First International Conference on Human Rights in Southeast Asia, 1–12. http://www.ntu.edu.au/faculties/Iba/schools/Law?apl/Retreating/shoesmith.htm
McBrien, J. L. (2005). Educational needs and barriers for refugee students in the United States: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 75(3), pp. 329–364. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543075003329
McKeary, M., & Newbold, B. (2010). Barriers to care: The challenges for Canadian refugees and their health care providers. Journal of Refugee Studies, 23(4), pp. 523–545. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feq038
Mitschke, D. B., Praetorius, R. T., Kelly, D. R., Small, E., & Kim, Y. K. (2017). Listening to refugees: How traditional mental health interventions may miss the mark. International Social Work, 60 (3), pp. 588–600. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872816648256
Ali, M. S., Baharun, H., Abdullah, H., Saad, S. M. N., Behak, P. F., Ismail, H., Idrus, M., Farhana, D., & Zakaria, Z. M. (2020). An emerging framework: Literacy training module for social navigation of refugees. International Journal of Language Education and Applied Linguistics, 10 (1), pp. 41–48. https://doi.org/10.15282/ijleal.v10.3934
Nungsari, M., & Flanders, S. (2018). A comprehensive study of Rohingya construction workers in Peninsular Malaysia and recommendations for a future work pilot programme. Retrieved from
http://www.melatinungsari.com/uploads/2/3/6/3/23631450/finalreport-mnsf.pdf.
Scheible, J. (2018). Literacy training and German language acquisition among refugees: Knowledge of German and the need for support among integration course attendees learning a second alphabet and those with no literacy skills. Edition 1|2018 of the Brief Analyses of the Migration, Integration and Asylum Research Centre of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Nuremberg, 1–13.
Strategic Social Policy Group. (2008). Diverse communities – exploring the migrant and refugee experience in New Zealand. Ministry of Social Development.
Trupke-Bastidas, Julie, and Andrea Poulos. 2007. Improving literacy of L1-non-literate and L1-literate adult English as a second language learners. MinneTESOL/WITESOL Journal 24. Available online: http://minnetesoljournal.org/wp-content/uploads/20 18/06/TESOL-2007.pdf
UNHCR. (2019). Refugee education 2030: A strategy for Refugee Inclusion. Testing and Inclusive Schooling, pp. 152–169.
UNHCR. (2021). https://www.unhcr.org/en-my/figures-at-a-glance-in-malaysia.html accessed on 27 August 2021.
UNHCR. (2001-2021). What is a refugee? https://www.unhcr.org/en-my/what-is-a-refugee.html
Wardeh, M., & Marques, R. C. (2021). Sustainability in refugee camps: A systematic review and Meta-Analysis. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13 (14).
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147686
Wofford, M. C., & Tibi, S. (2018). A human right to literacy education: Implications for serving Syrian refugee children. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(1), 182–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2017.1397746
In-Text Citation: (Abdullah et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Abdullah, H., Ali, S. M., Baharudin, D. F., Baharun, H., Ismail, H., Behak, F. P., Saad, N. S. M., Zakaria, M. Z., & Razali, R. M. (2022). Ref-LitPsy Module: A Literacy-Psychospiritual Module for Refugees. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(1), 889–909.
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non0-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode