Improving Reading Comprehension of First Year Engineering Students: A Quantitative Study at QUEST, Nawabshah, Pakistan

This paper reports the results of the research conducted to explore whether students learn reading comprehension more successfully using the different approaches based on strategies in reading texts. The study was conducted at QUEST, in Pakistan and the respondents were selected from four engineering departments. Data was collected through a set of questionnaire used as the qualitative instrument among 311 respondents. However, Questionnaire data was analyzed by using SPSS 17. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze research variables for producing the Percentages, Mean and Standard Deviation of the data. The findings of this study reported that this research investigated 18 categories of reading comprehension. The highest mean score in reading comprehension was for “read aloud practices” category (=2.40) rated by all respondents; while the mean score for “asking questions before, during, and after reading” (= 1.48) was the lowest. However, no category of reading comprehension fell into low level of usage. In short, results, discussion and recommendations are presented for developing effective reading strategies to design syllabus for the engineering students to improve their reading proficiency

Perancangan Strategik dan Prestasi Pelajar Sekolah Menengah di Sarawak

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji pengaruh perancangan strategik terhadap prestasi pelajar di samping mengenal pasti hubungan antara kedua-dua pemboleh ubah tersebut. Kaedah kuantitatif digunakan dalam kajian ini dengan mengedarkan soal selidik kepada sampel kajian yang terdiri daripada pengetua sekolah menengah kebangsaan di negeri Sarawak. Kandungan soal selidik telah disahkan oleh tiga orang pakar yang berpengalaman dalam bidang pengurusan sekolah. Sebanyak 130 maklum balas responden kajian dianalisis dengan menggunakan SPSS versi 26.0. Analisis korelasi Pearson menunjukkan perancangan strategik mempunyai hubungan positif yang signifikan dengan prestasi pelajar (r=0.515, p=0.000). Setiap proses dalam perancangan strategik juga berkorelasi secara positif dengan prestasi pelajar pada tahap kekuatan yang berbeza. Analisis regresi berganda melaporkan perancangan strategik mempengaruhi prestasi pelajar sebanyak 35.2%. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan perancangan strategik mempunyai pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap prestasi pelajar sekolah menengah kebangsaan di negeri Sarawak

Computer Self-Efficacy, Computer Anxiety, and Attitudes toward the Internet: A Study among Undergraduates in UNIMAS

Eighty-one female and sixty-seven male undergraduates at a Malaysian university, from seven faculties and a Center for Language Studies completed a Computer Self-Efficacy Scale, Computer Anxiety Scale, and an Attitudes toward the Internet Scale and give information about their use of the Internet. This survey research investigated undergraduates’ computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy, and reported use of and attitudes toward the Internet. This study also examined differences in computer anxiety, computer selfefficacy, attitudes toward the Internet and reported use of the Internet for undergraduates with different demographic variables. The findings suggest that the undergraduates had moderate computer anxiousness, medium attitudes toward the Internet, and high computer self-efficacy and used the Internet extensively for educational purposes such as doing research, downloading electronic resources and e-mail communications. This study challenges the long perceived male bias in the computer environment and supports recent studies that have identified greater gender equivalence in interest, use, and skills levels. However, there were differences in undergraduates’ Internet usage levels based on the discipline of study. Furthermore, higher levels of Internet usage did not necessarily translate into better computer self-efficacy among the undergraduates. A more important factor in determining computer self-efficacy could be the discipline of study and undergraduates studying computer related disciplines appeared to have higher self-efficacy towards computers and the Internet. Undergraduates who used the Internet more often may not necessarily feel more comfortable using them. Possibly, other factors such as the types of application used, the purpose for using, and individual satisfaction could also influence computer self-efficacy and computer anxiety. However, although Internet usage levels may not have any impact on computer self-efficacy, higher usage of the Internet does seem to decrease the levels of computer anxiety among the undergraduates. Undergraduates with lower computer anxiousness demonstrated more positive attitudes toward the Internet in this study