Kuala Lumpur, 5 December 2025: Kamleshwary Krishnasamy, an English teacher from SJKT Batu Caves, Selangor, and a proud alumni participant of the HIP-FINCO Reads programme, recently garnered international acclaim by presenting her action research at the prestigious Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) Conference 2025 in Tokyo from 31 October to 2 November 2025. Her participation was co-sponsored by the Financial Industry Collective Outreach (FINCO) and Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA).

Kamleshwary’s research on the Look–Say–Cover–Write–Check (LSCWC) strategy, which she employed to help her Year 4 remedial pupils overcome persistent struggles with basic English vocabulary retention, resulted in her winning the Basil Wijasuriya Award for outstanding presentation at the MELTA Conference 2025 earlier this year.

Following this success, she was invited to present her research at the JALT conference and was met with enthusiastic approval from international educators.

“Many were intrigued by how such a straightforward, structured approach could effectively support remedial learners’ vocabulary retention. Educators from nations like Australia, South Korea, and Japan, whose students faced similar difficulties, found a sense of common understanding, and many indicated they would like to modify the LSCWC method for their own settings,” said Kamleshwary.

Attending the conference significantly broadened Kamleshwary’s perspective on global literacy practices. “I had the chance to hear educators from all over the world discuss their varied perspectives on literacy, especially how reading and writing are related to creativity, culture, and identity,” she explained. “I discovered that literacy entails the development of critical thinking, digital awareness, and intercultural competency in addition to word decoding.”

Workshops on multimodal literacy, storytelling, and technology integration have motivated Kamleshwary to rethink and enhance her teaching strategy for Malaysian students, incorporating an emphasis on learner engagement, inclusivity, and empowerment.

Kamleshwary attributes her professional milestones to the support received through the HIP–FINCO Reads programme, an initiative under the Ministry of Education’s Highly Immersive Programme that aims to improve students’ reading proficiency in English and to support English Language teachers to teach reading and other English language skills more effectively. 

Kamleshwary first participated in the FINCO programme in 2017 and since then, she has seen her remedial students’ reading proficiency improve by 95%, based on pre- and post-test reading scores.

“Both my professional growth and my students’ literacy advancement have benefited greatly from my involvement in HIP–FINCO Reads. The programme has given me the ability to become a more dynamic, creative, and student-centered teacher, enhancing students’ reading confidence, vocabulary, and love of books,” she said.

FINCO’s co-sponsorship of her participation in the JALT conference underscores its continued investment in empowering Malaysian primary school teachers to deliver impactful English lessons with a particular focus on improving reading proficiency, including critical reading skills.

“FINCO is committed to fostering teacher’s professional growth in the teaching and learning of English . It is truly rewarding to support dedicated educators like Kamleshwary through their journey of becoming confident leaders, driving innovative teaching methodologies for improved learning outcomes for students,” said Clare Walker, CEO of FINCO.