Kesan Penggunaan Internet Dalam Penulisan Karangan Pelajar Sekolah

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti kesan penggunaan internet dalam penulisan karangan Bahasa Melayu di kalangan pelajar sekolah. Sampel kajian terdiri daripada 114 pelajar tingkatan empat di daerah Hulu Langat. Sebanyak 57 orang pelajar ditempatkan dalam kumpulan eksperimen dan 57 orang pelajar ditempatkan dalam kumpulan kawalan. Pencapaian dilihat melalui tiga jenis karangan berbentuk fakta iaitu karangan jenis pendapat, perbincangan dan rencana. Skor didasarkan dengan menggunakan skema Pemarkahan Karangan Bahasa Malaysia Kertas 1 (110311) daripada Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia. Untuk melihat tanggapan pelajar dalam penulisan karangan daripada aspek motivasi, sikap, minat dan efikasi kendiri, instrumen soal selidik digunakan. Instrumen soal selidik ini telah diubahsuai mengikut kesesuaian kajian seperti aspek motivasi menggunakan instrumen yang diubahsuai daripada instrumen Warschauer (1 996), sikap daripada instrumen Loyd dan Loyd (1 985), minat daripada instrumen Cramer dan Smith (2000) dan instrumen Shrneck dan Geister - Breintein, (1995) untuk efikasi kendiri. Kajian ini adalah jenis eksperimen kuasi yang menggunakan reka bentuk, praujian dan pascaujian untuk kumpulan tak seiupa (the pre test post test, non equivalent group designs). Pencapaian pelajar bagi kumpulan eksperimen adalah signifikan (p < 0.05), dibandingkan dengan kumpulan kawalan. Penggunaan internet dalam penulisan karangan juga telah memberikan niotivasi, sikap, minat dan efikasi kendiri yang positif dalam penulisan karangan bahasa Melay

Advancing Positive Psychology In South East Asia: The Importance of Culture

Abstract Interest in the field of positive psychology has been overwhelming. This can be observed from the number of academic conferences and journals attributed to this field. Similar patterns can be observed in Asia where more and more research are concentrating on investigating constructs deemed as important within the field of positive psychology. However, comparable to other fields within psychology, positive psychology cannot ignore the importance of culture. This is especially true in South East Asian context when culture is arguably distinct from the American/European traditions in which positive psychology was originated from. Culture is likely to play a significant role in determining how human strengths are being conceptualized and nurtured and eventually determined a person’s well-being and success as experienced within that particular society. Based on some findings from a research of adolescent’s happiness and well-being in Malaysia, this paper highlights the importance of culture in advancing positive psychology in Asia. More specifically, findings from this research demonstrated the importance of positive psychology in understanding and improving quality of life for certain groups of people in a particular society and illustrated several significant cultural and subcultural differences that can potentially enrich our understanding of positive psychological constructs. Findings also indicated the importance of culturally embedded constructs such as family relations and spiritual elements in contributing to happiness. Finally findings from this study suggested the need to unpack more general constructs such as positive relationships and meanings of life as they are contextualized within a specific culture and the call for further exploration on other constructs related to human positive attributes and strengths. Keyword: positive psychology, wellbeing, and  cultur

Influence of perceived neighbourhood environment and health behaviours on body mass index

The obesity phenomenon in Malaysia is becoming increasingly worrying as it is closely linked to deteriorating health consequences. There has in fact been a significant growth in the literature identifying neighbourhood-level environment concerning food and built environment as influential factors of health-related outcomes. However, both of the environmental attributes mentioned have been rarely explored collectively in Malaysia to explain health behaviours and outcomes. Additionally, past studies tended to be based on objectively-measured data while ignoring subjectively-measured ones through self-reported perception of the environment. Self-reported perceptions were found to be as influential as objectively-gathered field data in studies of public health. As such, this study aimed to explain the obesity phenomenon through perceived neighbourhood environmental factors, health behaviours and Body Mass Index (BMI). Participants of the study comprised of 256 adults above the age of 18 years old in the district of Johor Bahru, Johor from 22 higher and 21 lower socioeconomic status neighbourhoods selected using the stratified random sampling technique. Data were collected via a 107 question-item questionnaire administered face-to-face with the assistance of six qualified enumerators. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22.0 (SPSS v.22) and IBM SPSS Amos version 23.0 (AMOS v.23). Confirmatory Factor Analysis was then used to produce the measurement model, while Structural Equation Modelling was used to compute the causal model due to its suitability for quantifying latent variables. Analysis of the data revealed that the causal model linking perceived neighbourhood environment, health behaviours and BMI was a good fit (?²= 2164.5, df= 1356, ?²/df= 1.596, TLI= .903, CFI=.914, RMSEA=.048). Both Perceived Neighbourhood Food Environment (PNFE) (ß= -.303, r²= .092) and Perceived Neighbourhood Built Environment (PNBE) (ß= -.208, r²= .043) were found to have significant direct effects on BMI. Consistent with past studies, the former had a higher influence on BMI. As expected, Diet Quality (DQ) (ß= -.142, r²= -.142) and Physical Activity (PA) (ß= -.169, r²= -.169) were significantly associated with BMI as weight is basically the result of energy intake and energy expenditure. Other variables influencing BMI includes monthly household income, gender and education level. The study also found that full mediation was observed when PNFE and PNBE were tested as mediators between the relationship of DQ and PA to BMI. This suggests that the environmental factors were highly significant as predictors of BMI, warranting further exploration in future studies. Subsequently, a causal model explaining the obesity phenomenon from the aspects of perceived neighbourhood environment and health behaviours was developed. The model exemplifies the intimate implications that urban and regional planning has on public health. This study serves as a basis for inter-sectoral future research by linking more environmental-related variables to public health

Advancing Positive Psychology In South East Asia: The Importance of Culture

Abstract Interest in the field of positive psychology has been overwhelming. This can be observed from the number of academic conferences and journals attributed to this field. Similar patterns can be observed in Asia where more and more research are concentrating on investigating constructs deemed as important within the field of positive psychology. However, comparable to other fields within psychology, positive psychology cannot ignore the importance of culture. This is especially true in South East Asian context when culture is arguably distinct from the American/European traditions in which positive psychology was originated from. Culture is likely to play a significant role in determining how human strengths are being conceptualized and nurtured and eventually determined a person’s well-being and success as experienced within that particular society. Based on some findings from a research of adolescent’s happiness and well-being in Malaysia, this paper highlights the importance of culture in advancing positive psychology in Asia. More specifically, findings from this research demonstrated the importance of positive psychology in understanding and improving quality of life for certain groups of people in a particular society and illustrated several significant cultural and subcultural differences that can potentially enrich our understanding of positive psychological constructs. Findings also indicated the importance of culturally embedded constructs such as family relations and spiritual elements in contributing to happiness. Finally findings from this study suggested the need to unpack more general constructs such as positive relationships and meanings of life as they are contextualized within a specific culture and the call for further exploration on other constructs related to human positive attributes and strengths. Keyword: positive psychology, wellbeing, and  cultur

Soft Skills Integration in Teaching Professional Training: Novice Teachers’ Perspectives

AbstractThis paper is part of a bigger research project and focuses on issues related to soft skills and teaching professional training. The research project is on developing an integrated soft skills training module for teacher education program in Malaysian Public Universities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent of soft skills that has been integrated in teaching professional training from the novice teachers’ perspectives. The issues of unemployment and lack of quality among teachers are associated with the notion that teachers have not adequately acquired employability skills and soft skills during their training in universities. At the preliminary stage, 15 novice teachers who have graduated from five identified public universities for not more than three years were interviewed. There are a total of three focus group interview cycles. The interview protocol consists of seven soft skills are: communication, critical and problem solving, team work, life-long learning and management of information, entrepreneurship, ethics, moral and professional, and leadership. The findings showed that six out of seven soft skills were perceived as important and relevant to their teaching tasks except entrepreneurship skill. However, these novice teachers were concerned about the insufficient soft skills acquired from teaching training in order to support them in their work place. Since soft skills are important prerequisite in shaping an individual's personality, therefore it is recommended that teacher educators should utilize the integrated soft skills training module during teaching professional training

Kepimpinan Lestari Pengetua, Pengurusan Pengetahuan Organisasi Dan Tingkah Laku Inovatif Pengajaran Guru Di Sekolah Menengah Harian Berpencapaian Tinggi Di Utara Semenanjung Malaysia

Perlakuan inovatif pengajaran guru amat berperanan dalam melestarikan kecemerlangan sekolah. Namun begitu, tingkah laku ini berkait rapat dengan gaya kepimpinan pengetua dan juga proses amalan pengurusan pengetahuan yang berlaku di dalam sesebuah sekolah. Justeru, kajian ini bertujuan untuk melihat perkaitan antara ketiga-tiga variabel di samping melihat tahap amalan bagi setiap variabel di sekolah yang dikaji. Pada masa yang sama, peranan pengurusan pengetahuan organisasi sebagai variabel mediator dalam hubungan antara kepimpinan lestari pengetua dengan tingkah laku inovatif pengajaran guru juga dikaji. Kaedah tinjauan dan temu bual separa berstruktur telah digunakan untuk memperoleh data

Character Strengths and Positive Outcomes

Character strengths have been defined as positive traits associated with individual differences. It has been explored as part of the personality that contributes to well-being, happiness and flourishing. This paper provides a review of the VIA Classification of character strengths and the relationships between character strengths and positive outcomes. Previous research shows that different character strengths predict different outcomes. From the review, character strengths have been found to generally increase life satisfaction, flourishing and leadership. Character strengths also have significant relationships with coping with stress, mastering online education system and recovering from addiction behaviour. Most of the studies were conducted in Western countries across a variety of population. The review highlights the importance of studying character strengths, especially in less studied samples such as Malaysia

Renewable Energy (RE) And Energy Efficiency (EE) Understanding And Awareness Among Secondary School Students And Teachers In Malaysia.

This study was conducted to find out teachers and secondary students perceptions on their awareness and understanding of Renewable Energy (RE) and Energy Efficiency (EE). Earlier in 2003, a program on Renewable Energy (RE) and Energy Efficiency (EE) has been implemented by the Center for Education, Training and Research for Renewable Energy (RE) and Energy Efficiency (EE) (CETREE), Universiti Sains Malaysia

Developing A Local-Based Theoretical Understanding Of Domestic Violence Against Wives

By focusing on the youths of Malaysia, this research investigates how cultural norms contribute towards the acceptance of violent behaviour between spouses amongst the Malaysia population, assesses the influence of religious and cultural beliefs on such acceptance and examine* the relationship between youths' ideas about the position of men and women in society and their understanding about domestic violence against wive

“Don’t marry, be happy!” – how single women in Malaysia view marriage

The aim of this study is to explore how single women in Malaysia who have never been married view marriage and related issues. Two-hundred single women between the ages of 24 to 66 were interviewed in this study. Participants reported their view on gender and marriage (42-items), social expectations related to their marital status (12-item) and their marital plan. Participants reported moderately traditional view about gender and marriage experienced some level of expectations to get married and although they generally felt positive with their current status of being single, they were still open to the idea of marriage. Ideal characteristics of a partner include kindness, sincerity, responsibility and maturity. Findings indicated realistic but open expectations related to marriage