Malaysian Pre-university Students Research Articles

Assessing Malaysian Pre-University Students’ Visual Literacy Skills Using Rubric Based On Objective Questions Constructed

This paper discusses the mathematical visual literacy skills among pre-university students in Malaysia. Students’ were tested on a set of mathematical visual literacy skills based on Avgerinou’s Visual Literacy Index. Before conducting the main study, researchers designed a proper scoring rubric to guide scoring students’ performance. An analytical scoring rubric was used and its suitability was defined throughout theprocess. It was found that students performed poorly in mathematical visual literacy skills when the set instrument has given was in structure format but showed some improvements when the questions were changed to objective format.

“Theme-Title-Stanza” Approach to Poetry Reading in a Malaysian Preuniversity Class

This study explores the efficacy of the “theme-title-stanza” approach in teaching poetry analysis to Malaysian preuniversity students. Traditional methods of poetry interpretation often focus on analysing individual elements such as rhyme, meter, and literary devices or otherwise known as the bottom-up approach. However, the “theme-title-stanza” approach, a literary specific top-down approach, emphasizes understanding a poem through its overarching theme, the significance of its title, and the analysis of individual stanzas first, before focusing on the parts and details. Utilizing a survey questionnaire, this research investigates the impact of this teaching strategy on students’ comprehension, appreciation, and engagement with poetry in a preuniversity classroom setting, and on their ability to transfer the skills obtained through the “theme-title-stanza” approach into reading other poems. The finding indicates the “theme-title-stanza” approach to teaching poetry is effective and would be utilised by students to read, understand and appreciate poetry in future. This research provides valuable insights into the potential benefits of incorporating this approach into preuniversity literature curricula, shedding light on effective methods to foster a deeper understanding and passion for poetry among students.

Social Media Influence to the Life of Malaysian Pre-University Students

This study is aimed to investigate the usage and influence of social media to the life of a group of Malaysian pre-university students. Instrument of this study involved a set of closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires that were distributed online to 123 students of the ASASIpintar pre-university program in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The results showed that the students used social media as an entertainment mainly when they were bored. Even though most of the students felt that social media impacted them positively rather than negatively, 55.3% of them claimed that their eyes were not in a good condition after spending hours on social media while 12.2% had lack interaction with parents due to the usage of social media. Besides that, 52% of the students used social media more than seven times daily and 66.7% agreed that the social media had helped them with their studies. In conclusion, social media was a valuable tool for the students to kill their free time and helped them with their studies. However, the usage of social media should be monitored to avoid its negative influence to the students’ social life and physical health.

The Application of MY MAMOVONO Technique to Enhance Malaysian Pre-University Students’ Mastery of the Mole Concept

The MY MAMOVONO technique was created as an innovative way to improve pre-university students’ ability to master the mole concept. The Malaysian pre-university students mentioned that they were confused by the formulas they needed to remember. The technique required them to build a card that contained the four (4) formulas of the mole concept using their creativity. Consequently, the students performed better post-intervention than in the pre-intervention phase. The paired sample t-test analysis revealed that the mean difference (24.44) between the students’ post-intervention mean (82.78; SD = 10.46) and pre-intervention mean (58.33; SD = 7.48) is significant with p < 0.001. Moreover, the target students’ post-intervention performance was significantly better than the minimum distinction mark – the difference between the post-intervention (82.78) and minimum distinction mark (70) is 12.78 with p < 0.001. The MY MAMOVONO technique positively impacted the students’ level of understanding.

English Language Anxiety and Motivation Towards Speaking English Among Malaysian Pre-University Students

This study aims to identify the level of English language anxiety and level of motivation in speaking English among Malaysian Pre-University students. The research sample was composed of pre-university students in Selangor, Malaysia. Using a quantitative research method, the researcher distributed a survey questionnaire which was developed by adapting existing questionnaires by Pappamihiel (2002) for English language anxiety scale and Schmidt, Boraie, and Kassabgy (1996) for motivation. Results of the data analysis established there was a low level of English language anxiety in speaking English among pre-university students, and moderate level of motivation, yet the level of intrinsic motivation was slightly lower than the level of extrinsic motivation in speaking English among pre-university students. The results showed there was a significant correlation between English language anxiety and motivation in speaking language. However, there was no significant difference in gender for English language anxiety and motivation. There was a significant difference on races for English language anxiety and insignificant differences on races for motivation. The findings of this study may serve as a platform for school authorities and policymakers in developing motivation and reducing language anxiety among students.

Multiple Intelligences and English Writing Proficiency Levels among Malaysian Pre-university Students with Rural and Urban Socio-economic Backgrounds: A Comparative Study

The disparity of the English language performance between the Malaysian rural and urban students remains a crucial issue, yet much is to be known about factors that actually influence the students' English proficiency across levels, especially those who live outside the cities. The objectives of this paper are to identify the Multiple Intelligence profiles and the significant intelligence of the urban and rural pre-university students at a public university in Malaysia, and to investigate whether there is any difference in the English writing test scores between the two groups. A demographic questionnaire, Multiple Intelligence Profiling Questionnaire (MIPQ III) and a Paper 800/4 (Writing) Question 2 of Malaysian University English Test (MUET) March 2016 question were used in this study. Sixty pre-university students were purposively selected for the current research from Preparatory Centre of Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia. The data were collected and analyzed using the Independent Sample t-test. Results suggest that there is a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of Interpersonal, Environmental, and Visual-Spatial intelligences between the urban and rural pre-university students. Unexpectedly, the findings show that the urban students display higher Environmental intelligence compared to the rural group. Additionally, a significant difference is also identified between urban and rural students in their writing scores, as the results show that the urban students performed better in the writing tests than the students in the rural areas. This study calls Malaysian English educators to acknowledge students' differences in learning, thus creating a conducive classroom experience and redesigning the lessons by incorporating all intelligences for the students to actively manifest their preferred learning styles in acquiring English language. Future research would include more language skills to be examined in a bigger number of students.

The Self-Perceived Problems among Malaysian Pre-university Students: Implications for College Counselling

This study investigates the self-perceived problems among Malaysian pre-university students in a public research university in Malaysia. A survey study using Mooney Problem Checklist of Measurement was conducted in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). A total of 278 pre-university students were selected using simple random sampling. Results indicated that the level of problems faced by pre-university students is low. The study found that the main problems faced by the pre-university college students are related to their future-vocational and educational, followed by adjustment to school work, personal-psychological relations, moral and religion, social-psychological relations, health and physical development, home and family, curriculum and teaching procedures, social and recreational activities, finance, living conditions and employment, and finally, courtship, sex and marriage issues. This study shows that there are major related problems faced by the students at the pre-university level. These findings highlight the importance of considering guidance and counseling services to assist pre-university students to ensure that these self-perceived problems will not affect their emotional and academic achievement. Implications of college counseling were discussed in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Keywords: Academic Issues, Career Adjustment, College Counselling, Pre-university Students, Self-perceived Problems

Validating the S-STEM among Malaysian Pre-University Students

The purpose of this study is to validate the measure of student attitudes toward science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (S-STEM). This study used the cross-sectional design to employ translation and cultural adaptation as well as providing evidence of the reliability and validity of the S-STEM. The instrument was administered to 748 pre-university students in Penang, Malaysia. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with AMOS 19.0. Results support S-STEM as a three-factor multidimensional construct, namely attitude towards science, attitude towards technology/engineering, and attitude towards mathematics. All statistics such as factor loadings, average variance explained, construct reliability, evidence of discriminant validity, and goodnessof-fit indices were found to be at acceptable values. These positive results are significant because although the instrument has undergone numerous modifications, such as translation and others, the generalizability of the instrument is still preserved in pre-university Malaysian students. Counselors may administer the instrument to facilitate the choice of courses to enroll at university. The research may utilize the instrument to gather data in providing measures to improve students’ participation in learning STEM. The practical implications, as well as the methodological limitations of the present study, are discussed.

Validation of competing structural models of inter-relationships in the teaching–learning ecosystem for two Malaysian STEM courses

This study reported the results of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analyses on 13 competing structural models on the inter-relationships among academic achievement and student- and course-related attributes. The samples were Malaysian pre-university students enrolled in two STEM courses (biology, n = 326; mathematics, n = 339; biology only, n = 92; mathematics only, n = 105; biology and mathematics, n = 234). For both courses, interdisciplinary cross-validation was observed for four models which hypothesized that current academic achievement could be predicted (1) directly by prior academic achievement (high school grades) and student approaches to learning (SAL), and (2) directly and/or indirectly by personality, intrinsic motivation and course experience (CE). For at least one course, all constructs (except intrinsic motivation, clear goals and standards, openness and conscientiousness) significantly and directly predicted current academic achievement. The strongest predictor of current academic achievement was prior (high school) academic achievement, with the largest effect sizes, followed by SAL. Current academic achievement was significantly and positively predicted by all CE constructs (except clear goals and standards) for only mathematics, with moderate and large effect sizes. Only one personality construct (neuroticism) significantly and moderately predicted current academic achievement (biology). SAL partially mediated relationships between current academic achievement with workload appropriateness, assessment for understanding and neuroticism for at least one course. Generally, the strongest predictors of SAL were assessment for understanding, workload appropriateness and intrinsic motivation. Multigroup invariance analysis revealed differences in five hypothesized paths, attributable almost entirely to significant paths found in mathematics but not biology (prior [high school] to current academic achievement, conscientiousness to surface approach to learning, intrinsic motivation to deep and surface approaches to learning). Therefore, this study is the first to report course-nuanced differences in the presence of reduced interpersonal differences. The implications of this study is that, besides the importance of prior high academic achievement which might not be within educators’ control, factors in the teaching–learning ecosystem within educators’ control which influence current academic achievement are strongly mediated by SAL, which is itself influenced most by assessment, workload and intrinsic motivation.

Metadiscourse in the Academic Writing of Local and International Students at a University in Malaysia

This study examines the use of metadiscourse markers among 50 Malaysian and 50 Arab Pre-University students. The findings of this study indicated that there was a significant difference in the use of metadiscourse markers between Malaysian and Arab Pre-University students {χ2 (1, n = 100) = 7.17, p-value is .007} where the use of metadiscourse markers among Malaysian Pre-University students was substantially higher than that of the Arab Pre-University students. In the use of interactive markers, the results showed significant differences between Malaysian and Arab Pre-University students in the use of transitions, evidential and code glosses. Additionally, in the use of interactional markers, Malaysian and Arab students differed in their use of hedges, engagement markers and self-mentions. These variances in the frequency and forms of metadiscourse markers utilized by the students could be attributed to the diverse cultural backgrounds of the two groups of students. It is therefore suggested that English language teachers integrate and incorporate cultural elements in their lessons with regard to metadiscourse markers.

The association between backpack use and low back pain among pre-university students: A pilot study.

BackgroundIndividuals aged 30–60 years have a high possibility of experiencing low back pain. However, children and adolescents are not exempted from this problem. This study aimed to determine the relationship between backpack usage and the frequency of low back pain in pre-university students.MethodsA total of 101 currently enrolled pre-university students were recruited for this cross-sectional study. They answered a questionnaire about their demographic details and their frequency of backpack usage. Their backpacks were weighed for four consecutive school days. The Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire and Body Discomfort Chart were used to rate discomfort levels.ResultsThe use and weight of a backpack were not significantly associated with low back pain, as indicated by the Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire and Body Discomfort Chart (p > 0.05).ConclusionThis study did not find an association between the use of a backpack and low back pain in Malaysian pre-university students.

Malaysian Pre-University Students' Level Of Intellectual Quality

AbstractThis study identifies the level of intellectual quality of pre-university students in Malaysia. A mixed method approach is adapted to acquire data and information from the samples and informans. A total of 500 sixth form pre-university students from 38 secondary schools in Penang was selected quantitatively. Classroom observations of pre-university classes of 8 students from 8 schools in Penang were done to obtain information for qualitative method. Data analysis using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used. The research findings show that the intellectual quality of pre-university students is at a moderate level with girls showing higher intellectual level than boys for all six dimensions of intellectual quality. Meanwhile, the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and Problem Solving Skills dimensions have the most number of students at a high level compared to other dimensions. The study also showed that the students who major in religious studies shown a higher intellectual quality for all dimensions compared to those who major in science and arts. Information gain through qualitative study also found that students shows an interest in learning the subject when the teachers integrated the usage of ICT during teaching and learning session. This enhanced the students to apply HOTS as well as Problem Solving Skills. Information gathered through this study will provide new understanding and knowledge to teachers and researchers related to intellectual thoughts and pedagogical practices that can be used to improve sixth form pre-university students intellectual quality and hence help improve students’ intellectual capital to keep abreast with the rapid developing country in the 21st century.

Relationship Between Productive Vocabulary Knowledge and Speaking Performance

The significant role of vocabulary knowledge in second language (L2) learning has been acknowledged by various studies conducted by researchers with different purposes. Of the previous research conducted, hardly any attempted to examine how well productive vocabulary knowledge predicts the speaking performance of L2 learners. Therefore, the current study was conducted with the purpose to systematically investigate how well productive vocabulary knowledge predicts the ESL speaking performance of Malaysian pre-university students. Seventy Form Six students from a Malaysian secondary school participated in the study. A productive vocabulary knowledge test and a speaking performance task were carried out onto the participants and the results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The finding revealed that productive vocabulary knowledge has a weak positive correlation with the speaking performance of the students which is not statistically significant. The result thus suggests that productive vocabulary knowledge is not a good predictor of the speaking performance of ESL pre-university students.

Influence of Malaysian University English Test Training on the Speaking Performance of Pre-University Students

Formal training in a second language (L2) could be one of the essential factors for acquisition of the target language. In Malaysia, Malaysian University English Test (MUET) training is provided to pre-university students (Lower Form Six and Upper Form Six) in preparation for the actual test. However, does the amount of MUET training received by these L2 learners influence their speaking performance? This study therefore aims to investigate if the amount of MUET training factor received by pre-university students significantly distinguish them with regard to their speaking performance. To this end, a speaking test was administered to seventy Malaysian pre-university students from two different intact classes (a group of 35 Lower Form Six and 35 Upper Form Six students). The results of the study revealed that the Upper Form Six students who received more exposure to MUET training obtained a significantly higher mean score than the Lower Form Six students in the speaking assessment. Hence, it can be concluded that MUET training provided to the Form Six students seems to have a significant influence on the L2 learners’ speaking performance

Language Learning Motivation among Malaysian Pre-University Students

The study describes and examines Malaysian pre-university students' integrative and instrumental motivation toward learning English language. In this study, 182 non-English major students in one of the Malaysian public universities are selected to fill out a questionnaire reflecting their attitudes and motivation towards learning English. The findings indicate that Malaysian pre-university students have very high motivation and positive attitudes towards leaning English and that they are more instrumentally motivated. Based on the findings some suggestions and recommendations for teachers have been highlighted.