Hubungan Antara Pembelajaran Aturan Kendiri dan Keyakinan Terhadap Kebolehan Diri Dengan Pencapaian Akademik di Kalangan Pelajar di Institusi Pengajian Tinggi

Tujuan utama penyelidikan ini ialah untuk meneroka hubungan antara pembelajaran aturan kendiri dengan pencapaian akademik di institusi pengajian tinggi. Kajian ini juga cuba menyelidiki pengaruh kepercayaan kepada kebolehan diri untuk belajar dan berjaya ke atas pencapaian akademik menerusi penggunaan strategi pembelajaran aturan kendiri. Pengukuran tahap pembelajaran aturan kendiri dalam kajian ini dilakukan berdasarkan subskala-subskala yang dicadangkan oleh Pintrich, Smith, Garcia dan McKeachie (1991). Berdasarkan model umum motivasi teori jangkaan nilai, hubungan antara komponen-komponen motivasi (kepercayaan kepada kebolehan diri untuk belajar dan berjaya, kepercayaan terhadap kawalan pembelajaran, orientasi matlamat intrinsik, orientasi matlamat ekstrinsik, nilai tugasan dan kerisauan peperiksaan) dengan tahap penggunaan strategi pembelajaran aturan kendiri diperihalkan dalam sebuah skema konseptual pembelajaran aturan kendiri. Teknik korelasi separa digunakan untuk mengawal pembolehubah luaran dalam usaha untuk menyelidiki hubungan antara pembelajaran aturan kendiri dengan pencapaian akademik. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa pembelajaran aturan kendiri mempunyai perkaitan yang positif dan signifikan dengan pencapaian akademik setelah pembolehubah luaran dikawal, r=.43, p<.01

The Relationship between Self-Efficacy in Reading with Language Proficiency and Reading Comprehension among ESL Learner’s

This work investigates the relationship between self-efficacy in reading with language proficiency and reading comprehension. The sample utilized is comprised of 64 postgraduate students from two universities, namely Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Malaya. The students are selected from several Master and PhD programs of faculty of Education, Engineering, and Agriculture. The instruments employed to collect the data, was the Scale of Belief Self-Efficacy Comprehension, and reading comprehension test. Quantitative analysis is utilized to analyze the gathered data. The result indicates that, there is a significant correlation between reader self-efficacy and reading comprehension. Moreover, readers’ self-efficacy in different levels of foreign language proficiency is different, and readers who possess  high level of proficiency, perform reading task better than readers who are considered as  high self-officious. In addition, the result demonstrates that, self-efficacy and language proficiency are the key factors in academic achievement. Furthermore, students who are self-efficacious can perform the task better than who are not, and students who possess high level of language proficiency are more successful in the process of reading. Keywords: self-efficacy, language proficiency, and reading comprehension

Contributions of phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory, and rapid automated naming, toward decoding ability in students with mild intellectual disability.

Reading decoding ability is a fundamental skill to acquire word-specific orthographic information necessary for skilled reading. Decoding ability and its underlying phonological processing skills have been heavily investigated typically among developing students. However, the issue has rarely been noticed among students with intellectual disability who commonly suffer from reading decoding problems. This study is aimed at determining the contributions of phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory, and rapid automated naming, as three well known phonological processing skills, to decoding ability among 60 participants with mild intellectual disability of unspecified origin ranging from 15 to 23 years old. The results of the correlation analysis revealed that all three aspects of phonological processing are significantly correlated with decoding ability. Furthermore, a series of hierarchical regression analysis indicated that after controlling the effect of IQ, phonological awareness, and rapid automated naming are two distinct sources of decoding ability, but phonological short-term memory significantly contributes to decoding ability under the realm of phonological awareness

Turning around at-risk school: What effective principals do

At-risk schools are defined by the Department of Education in the state of Selangor, Malaysia as schools with serious disciplinary problems and low academic achievement. In 2003, the Selangor Department of Education identified 22 schools in this category (Selangor State Department of Education, 2003). Some have shown remarkable improvements and have turned around the situation from being "at-risk" to "excellent." This paper is based on a qualitative study of two selected turn-around at-risk schools, one in the State of Selangor and the other in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Both had been listed as at-risk by the education department, but are now considered as exemplary due to their accomplishments in various endeavors. In this paper, the authors describe and discuss what principals in these schools did to change the climate of their schools into a positive one that enabled them to turn around their at-risk schools to schools deemed as excellent

Integration of ICT in Malaysian secondary schools: What conditions will facilitate its use?

The integration of information and communication technology or ICT in teaching and learning is an innovation that had revolutionized the educational system. In the Malaysian context, although extensive efforts were made under its school computerizing programme to bring ICT to the secondary school classroom there exist a gap among schools in the use of ICT. What conditions will assist teachers in using ICT in the classroom? This study was carried out to determine the presence or non-presence of the eight conditions suggested by Ely, that when present in the school environment will facilitate the integration of ICT in the teaching and learning process. The participants for the study were 429 teachers from 16 secondary schools who taught several subjects in the Humanities, Languages, Sciences, and Technical areas in the state of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. Data for the study was gathered by the use of a set of questionnaires. The findings of the study, indicated that in general only three of the conditions were found to be most present namely commitment by those involved, leadership and presence of knowledge and skills. The other five conditions namely rewards or incentives, availability of resources, dissatisfaction with the status quo, participation, and time were present at a lesser degree in the schools. The results of correlational analysis among conditions suggest that a strong significant positive relationship exist between conditions “presence of leadership” and “commitment by those involved.” Besides that a moderate significant positive relationship also exists between “presence of leadership” and “availability of resources” and with “participation by those involved.

The emerging commuter families and changes in psychosocial and health behaviour profile

The present paper provides a descriptive analysis of commuters and their families. It also explores gender differences and the impacts of commuting among young families in Malaysia. The study was conducted in the Klang Valley, and the sample consisted of commuters working outside the Klang Valley. Data were collected using in-depth interviews and a descriptive survey. The findings showed that 44.4% of commuters were working away from home because it was requested by their employers. Although there were more men than women who perceived the commuting lifestyle as a positive situation, there were not gender differences observed on how commuting impacted personal wellbeing. Nonetheless, significant differences were found between those with a positive outlook of the commuting life and those with a negative perception of the commuting lifestyle. The emerging commuter family dynamics and its impact on work-home life balance for young Malaysian families need to be further investigated

Against all odds: factors contributing to the success of students with special needs

In the Malaysian education system, students with special needs, such as the deaf, blind and those with learning difficulties, who follow the national curriculum are given the opportunity to sit for the Malaysian Standardized examinations at the end of Year 6, Form 3, and Form 5. The objective of this paper is to discuss factors contributing to the academic achievement of deaf and blind students based on the reports by their teachers, students and school administrators. More specifically, the paper highlights the psycho-social profiles of the students who excel in the examinations in terms of their motivations and the influence of their peers, parents, and teachers towards their performance, as reported by themselves and their teachers. This is a descriptive study which employed both the quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative data were analysed to examine the special needs students’ performance in their examinations and the administrators’ perspectives on the factors relating to their performances. In general, most of the deaf and blind students scored grades E and D for the standardized exams. However, a small number did well in the standardized exams by obtaining As and Bs, indicating that they have the potentials to succeed academically. The factors which influence the achievements are internal factors (self-motivation, diligence and hard work, as well as possessing good memory) and external factors (peer influence, parental involvement, teacher encouragement, and school support)

The teacher commitment and motivation : have they diminished?

This paper discusses findings of a study investigating the changes in psychosocial profiles of secondary school teachers in Selangor. The study involved 304 teachers from 16 secondary schools in Selangor. Data were collected through questionnaires consisting of items measuring changes in teachers’ commitment, motivation and burnout levels. Frequencies, t-test and correlations were the main statistical tools employed. The findings revealed that generally there are significant changes in the current teachers’ commitment and motivation compared to their commitment and motivation in the past. There are negative changes in teachers’ motivation and commitment and an increase in teachers’ burnout levels. Teachers attribute the negative changes mainly to the increase in work load, and the positive changes to their personal development. The findings suggest that there is much to be done to increase teachers’ commitment and motivation and to reduce teachers’ burnout. It is highlighted that teachers’ work load is the main factor that needs improvement

Understanding media violence and the development of aggressive behavior of school children

Aggressive behaviour among school children had raised a cause of concern in Malaysia. The development of aggressive behaviour places children at serious risk for future mal-adaptation in the form of continued aggression, conduct problems, and overall difficulties in the domain of social relationships. Therefore, there is a need to study the origins and development of aggressive behaviour. This paper focuses on the nature of aggressive behaviour among school children, the theories that underlying the aggressive behaviour, and the impact of media violence on the development of aggressive behaviour of school children

The burnout phenomenon: changes in psychosocial profiles of secondary school teachers

In Malaysia, apart from teaching, teachers are burdened by clerical and administrative works as well. This phenomenon requires them to constantly learn new skills, take good care of their students’ well-being and mediate the school and the community. The present study investigated the secondary school teachers’ psychosocial profiles, such as (a) commitments, (b) motivation (c) self-confidence, (d) efficiency, (e) competence, and (f) social skills. Other influencing factors being studied were: (a) work load, (b) work conditions, and (c) burnout. A total of 304 teachers from 16 schools, inclusive of rural and urban schools, as well as at-risk and normal schools were involved in the study. A self-report survey was developed by the researchers to be administered to the respondents and to collect the research data. Five dimensions of teachers’ psychosocial profile and one aspect of teachers’ perception towards change in working conditions were studied using items measured in a 5-point scale, except for burnout which was measured using a 4-point scale. Reliability of items measured was obtained using Cronbach’s alpha. In general, the findings revealed that there were changes in the teachers’ psychosocial aspects that should be taken seriously and their burnout levels have increased significantly over the years, i.e. from 1.7713 (SD=1.7713) to 1.9387 (SD=1.9387) (df=299, t=6.39, p<.05). Thus, it was suggested that teachers need support from all quarters to ensure a positive change in their psychosocial profiles