Volume 04 - Issue 01 January 2016

[ w w w . m o j - e s . n e t ]

2016

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational

Science Volume 4, Issue 1

October 2016

Editor-in-Chief

Professor Datuk Dr. Sufean Hussin

Editor

Assoc. Prof. Datin Dr. Sharifah Norul Akmar Syed Zamri Dr. Onur İŞBULAN

Associate Editors

Professor Dr. Omar Abdull Kareem

Associate Prof. Dr. Ibrahem Narongsakhet

Associate Prof. Dr. Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin,

Associate Prof. Dr. Norani Mohd Salleh

Associate Prof. Dr. Wan Hasmah Wan Mamat

Inst. Aydın Kiper

ISSN: 2289-3024

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science 2016 (Volume 4 - Issue 1)

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Copyright © 2013 - THE MALAYSIAN ONLINE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE All rights reserved. No part of MOJES’s articles may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,

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MOJES, Editor in Chief

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The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences (MOJES) strives to provide a national and international academic forum to meet the professional interests of individuals in various educational disciplines. It is a professional refereed journal in the interdisciplinary fields sponsored by the Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. This journal serves as a platform for presenting and discussing a wide range of topics in Educational Sciences. It is committed to providing access to quality researches ranging from original research, theoretical articles and concept papers in educational sciences.

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Professor Datuk Dr. Sufean Hussin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

January 2016

Editor in chief

Message from the editor

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences (MOJES) seeks to serve as an academic platform to researchers from the vast domains of Educational Sciences. The journal is published electronically four times a year.

This journal welcomes original and qualified researches on all aspects of Educational Sciences. Topics may include, but not limited to: pedagogy and educational sciences, adult education, education and curriculum, educational psychology, special education, sociology of education, Social Science Education, Art Education, Language Education, educational management, teacher education, distance education, interdisciplinary approaches, and scientific events.

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Assoc. Prof. Datin Dr. Sharifah Norul Akmar Syed Zamri & Dr. Onur İŞBULAN

January 2016

Editor


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Editor-in-Chief

Professor Datuk Dr. Sufean Hussin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Editors

Associate Professor Datin Dr. Sharifah Norul Akmar Syed Zamri, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Onur İŞBULAN, Sakarya University, Turkey

Associate Editors

Professor Dr. Omar Abdull Kareem, Sultan Idris University of Education, Malaysia

Associate Prof. Dr. Ibrahem Narongsakhet, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand

Associate Prof. Dr. Mohd Yahya Mohamed Ariffin, Islamic Science University of Malaysia

Associate Prof. Dr. Norani Mohd Salleh, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Prof. Dr. Wan Hasmah Wan Mamat, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Inst. Aydın Kiper, Sakarya University, Turkey

Advisory Board

Emeritus Professor Dr. Tian Po Oei, University of Queensland, Australia

Professor Dr. Fatimah Hashim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Jinwoong Song, Seoul National University, Korea

Professor Dr. H. Mohammad Ali, M.Pd, M.A., Indonesian University of Education, Indonesia

Professor Dr. Moses Samuel, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Nik Azis Nik Pa, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Richard Kiely, the University College of St. Mark and St. John, United Kingdom

Professor Dr. Sufean Hussin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zawawi Bin Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Editorial Board

Emeritus Professor Dr. Rahim Md. Sail, University Putra of Malaysia, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Abdul Rashid Mohamed, University of Science, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Ananda Kumar Palaniappan, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Bakhtiar Shabani Varaki, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran.

Professor Dr. H. Iskandar Wiryokusumo M.Sc, PGRI ADI Buana University, Surabaya, Indonesia

Professor Dr. Ramlee B. Mustapha, Sultan Idris University of Education, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Tamby Subahan Bin Mohd. Meerah, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Associate Professor Datin Dr. Sharifah Norul Akmar Syed Zamri, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dato’ Dr. Ab Halim Bin Tamuri, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Abdul Jalil Bin Othman, University of Malaya, Malaysia


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Associate Professor Dr. Jas Laile Suzana Binti Jaafar, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Juliana Othman, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Loh Sau Cheong, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Mariani Binti Md Nor, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Mohamad Bin Bilal Ali, University of Technology, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Norazah Mohd Nordin, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr.Rohaida Mohd Saat, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Associate Professor Dr. Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Dato’ Dr. Hussein Hj Ahmad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Datuk Dr. Abdul Rahman Idris, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Datin Dr. Rahimah Binti Hj Ahmad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Abu Talib Bin Putih, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Abd Razak Bin Zakaria, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Adelina Binti Asmawi, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Ahmad Zabidi Abdul Razak, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Chew Fong Peng, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Diana Lea Baranovich, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Fatanah Binti Mohamed, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Ghazali Bin Darusalam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Haslee Sharil Lim Bin Abdullah, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Husaina Banu Binti Kenayathulla, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Kazi Enamul Hoque, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Latifah Binti Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Lau Poh Li, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Leong Kwan Eu, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Madhyazhagan Ganesan, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Megat Ahmad Kamaluddin Megat Daud, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Melati Binti Sumari, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Mohammed Sani Bin Ibrahim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Mohd Rashid Mohd Saad, University of Malaya, Malaysia


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Dr. Muhammad Azhar Bin Zailaini, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Muhammad Faizal Bin A. Ghani, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Nabeel Abdallah Adedalaziz, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Norlidah Binti Alias, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Pradip Kumar Mishra, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Rafidah Binti Aga Mohd Jaladin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Rahmad Sukor Bin Ab Samad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Renuka V. Sathasivam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Rose Amnah Bt Abd Rauf, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Selva Ranee Subramaniam, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Sit Shabeshan Rengasamy, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Shahrir Bin Jamaluddin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Suzieleez Syrene Abdul Rahim, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Syed Kamaruzaman Syed Ali, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Vishalache Balakrishnan, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Wail Muin (Al-Haj Sa’id) Ismail, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Wong Seet Leng, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zahari Bin Ishak, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zahra Naimie, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Dr. Zanaton Ikhsan, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia

Cik Umi Kalsum Binti Mohd Salleh, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Mohd Faisal Bin Mohamed, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Norjoharuddeen Mohd Nor, University of Malaya, Malaysia

En. Rahimi Md Saad, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Alina A. Ranee, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Azni Yati Kamaruddin, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Fatiha Senom, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Pn. Fonny Dameaty Hutagalung, University of Malaya, Malaysia

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Table of Contents

FORMATIVE FEEDBACK IN A MALAYSIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL ESL CONTEXT 1

Sedigheh Abbasnasab Sardareh

INFORMAL AND FORMAL ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION INFUSION: ACTIONS OF MALAYSIAN TEACHERS AND PARENTS AMONG STUDENTS IN A POLLUTED AREA

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Baniah Mustam, Esther Sarojini DANIEL

MALAYSIAN MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ABOUT THE NATURE OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

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Nuraini Mohd Zikre, Leong Kwan Eu

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANXIETY AND TEST-TAKING C-TEST AND CLOZE-TEST 30

Mozhgan Azimi

SELF-EFFICACY AND CHEMISTRY STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NORTH-CENTRAL, NIGERIA

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Titilayo Funmisho Baanu, Oloyede Solomon Oyelekan, Adekunle Solomon Olorundare

The Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Science 2016 (Volume4 - Issue 1 )

Formative Feedback in a Malaysian Primary School ESL Context

Sedigheh Abbasnasab Sardareh [1]

[1] Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Bandarabbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandarabbas, Iran

ABSTRACT

The idea of providing students with formative feedback is a crucial part of formative assessment. Teachers need to provide students with feedback that improves their learning. In other words, formative feedback should provide learners with information that help them bridge their learning gap. As formative assessment itself is a newly introduced product in an innovative transformation introduced by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia, it would be particularly interesting to investigate how formative feedback which is the main component of formative assessment is being implemented. To answer this main question, classroom observations were conducted and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were carried out with a group of primary school ESL teachers in Malaysia. The results indicated that using feedback systematically to support learning is rare and teachers are not aware of strategies to implement formative feedback to improve students’ learning and use the information in their future instruction.

Keywords: ESL, Formative assessment, Formative feedback, Qualitative research

INTRODUCTION

Feedback has been conceptualized in different ways. The concepts of feedback as a gift, feedback as Ping-Pong and feedback as dialogue or loop have been recognized by Askew and Lodge (2000). Behaviorists define feedback as a gift from teacher to student, even though this concept does not help learners develop autonomy.

As Askew and Lodge (2000) put it feedback as a gift “fosters dependence rather than independence or interdependence and encourages notions of failure/success, wrong/right” (p. 5). Whilst, constructivists believe that feedback should be descriptive rather than evaluative. According to Askew and Lodge (2000) feedback is given “to provide a narrative which can be added to, to offer insights for reflection” (p. 9). Although within this perspective learners are central knowledge constructors, it is still teacher who decides the agenda.

Sadler (2007) and Hattie and Timperley (2007) operated from constructivism and suggested that feedback information should be used to bridge students’ learning gaps. Therefore, effective feedback gives students information about where they are, where to proceed next and how to move their learning forward (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Yet, the importance of personal domain cannot be neglected. As observed by Askew and Lodge (2000) “as soon as we ask for feedback, we open ourselves to the possibility of criticism” (p. 8).

In the sociocultural perspective the responsibility for learning is shared between teacher and students and feedback is viewed as loop or dialogue (Abbasnasab Sardareh & Saad, 2012). As mentioned by Askew and Lodge (2000) “the roles of learner and teacher are shared and expertise and experience of all participants are respected. All parties to such a dialogue have an expectation of learning” (p. 13).

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For a long time, educators neglected to take into account learners’ differences and assumed that

there is no need to adapt instruction to learners’ needs. They considered that failure in learning rely on learners themselves. However, Bloom and his students in the 1960s investigated the idea that the normal distribution of students’ achievements was due to the failure of instruction in taking into account learner differences and the outcome was not natural. Thus, Bloom claimed that one-to-one tutoring is effective in student learning.

According to Guskey (2010), one-to-one tutoring is effective because the tutor identifies errors in students’ work and then provides them with clarifications. This is what Bloom called ‘feedback’ and ‘correctives’. However, this distinction has been counterproductive.

That is to say, information from students’ work becomes feedback only if it is employed to bridge the learning gap (Black & Wiliam, 1998b; Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Ramaprasad, 1983; Sadler, 1989, 2007). Yet, Bloom separated the information about the learning gap from its instructional consequences (Wiliam, 2011). Moreover, feedback should affect students’ future performance and help them improve their learning (e.g., Black & Wiliam, 1998a).

In the 1990s when researchers began to investigate learning from an integrative viewpoint, Graue (1993) illustrated an instructional assessment framework and suggested that “to meld teaching and assessment so that they are simultaneous and dialogic, both teacher and students become learners” (p. 285). The integration of assessment and instruction, particularly from a social constructivist viewpoint, was demonstrated as a part of educational process. Graue (1993) concluded that, “Assessment and instruction are often conceived as curiously separate in both time and purpose” (p.53).

Many researchers and educators support the use of assessment to guide learning and instruction. Sadler (1989) emphasized the cognitive and social functions of assessment and the important role of feedback in bridging the gap between students’ current level of achievement and the desired learning intentions. Based on the new conceptions, assessment is a part of the teaching and learning process and provides students with opportunity to think and reflect on their learning and helps them to use feedback to improve their understanding. Therefore, the current study aims at investigating the ways Malaysian primary school ESL teachers give feedback to their students based on the new conception of feedback discussed above.

METHODOLOGY

Data Collection and Analysi To collect data, this qualitative study adopted Focus Group Interviews (FGIs) and classroom

observations. The purpose of a FGI is to gain a deeper understanding of the participants’ views and experiences, feelings, perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards the successful implementation of formative feedback. This technique is quite popular in the market research to identify needs and interests of clienteles. FGI was set in this study because it narrows to a set of priorities on a problem to get more in-depth information on the phenomena. Moreover, it is one of the approaches to get feedback and input quickly in a non-threatening environment with few meetings and more focused agendas (Morgan, 1993).

In order to provide more comprehensive data, three sessions of each participating teacher's classroom were observed. Classroom observation is one of the important sources of information in qualitative study. According to Nunan (1992), classroom observations provide useful information that help the researcher understand social events in the classroom context. Data from FGIs and classroom observations were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim for further analysis using Constant Comparative method of data analysis. Participants

Three ESL teachers were purposively selected from several government primary schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the participants of the current study. These participants had tenure of not less than ten years. They were directly involved in formative assessment, had attended workshops on formative assessment and were willing to take part in this research.

This study is focused on one subject area. The participating teachers were teaching English which is one of the core subjects in primary schools in Malaysia. To reach a point of data saturation, two rounds of

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FGIs and three rounds of classroom observation were conducted with the participating teachers. It is important to mention that Pseudonyms were used to protect teachers' identity.

RESEARCH FINDING

The participating teachers acknowledged the importance of giving feedback to the students and asserted feedback given to the students is not really effective. So students do not know where they are going. They do not know what their level is and they do not feel happy about themselves. For instance, we human beings like compliments, we need to be praised, and that will keep us going. Some students take criticism positively. Some students will turn off. So it is best to pick your words wisely when you want to give feedback to your students (Izyan, Interview; August, 2014).

This assertion indicates that effective feedback should give information on students’ level of achievement. Moreover, when they want to give feedback to their students, teachers need to give it in such a way that keeps students motivated to learn better. The participants recognized that feedback would help teachers ensure students’ learning and encourage them to learn better. “When we give feedback to the students we can understand whether they are learning or not. Teachers and also students can find out their strengths and weaknesses and enhance their learning” (Devi, Interview; October, 2014).

The teachers shed light on the role of feedback in determining where the students stand relative to the learning targets. According to Irwan “Feedback is very important because students need to know where they stand. If you do not give feedback and if you do not tell them their weaknesses, how are they going to improve?” (Irwan, Interview; August, 2014).

The results showed that most of the time the teachers gave feedback to the students in the form of praise. They praised their students whenever they answered the questions correctly or completed a worksheet or activity successfully. If the students gave the wrong answers to the questions or activities, the teachers themselves provided the correct answer or asked other students to respond to the question. It was also observed that the teachers provided the students with one-to-one instruction when they were unable to complete worksheets or activities by themselves.

Based on the studies reviewed, Shute (2008) concluded that formative feedback should be supportive, timely and specific to the students’ work and also non-evaluative. Information from formative feedback modifies the learners’ behaviour or thinking and improves their learning. In other words, the purpose of giving feedback to the students is more than just a process of linear information transmission to correct students’ mistakes; effective dialogic feedback is crucial to improve academic achievement.

As explained by Hattie and Timperley (2007) and Pryor and Crossouard (2008) in order for feedback to be effective, students’ understanding of the quality of the work they are expected to accomplish should be challenged and improved. To this end, feedback should be given through a dialogic approach in which students’ understandings are transformed.

Within a sociocultural perspective, feedback is conceptualized as loop or dialogue that plays an important role in informing learners’ personal competence (Wenger, 1998). Social constructivists view competence as belonging within the community of practice and extending identity towards more central participants. Therefore, feedback on the task is personal as well because it informs and builds “personal histories of becoming in the context of our communities” (Wenger, 1998, p. 5).

The findings of this research revealed that most of the time, feedback given by the teachers did not help the students to extend their identity towards more central participants. To illustrate, we will examine some classroom episodes. In these extracts, the teachers praised those students who gave correct answers to the questions. Yet, this type of feedback given to the students did not help them to develop autonomy.

In the following extract, one of the participants, Izyan, asked the students to spell the word ‘bake’. She asked them to put up their hands and answer the question. Then the teacher gave feedback in the form of praise to S12 and S16 who answered the question.

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Extract 1 T: How do you spell *bake*? OC- Ss are spelling the word ‘bake’ T: ▼ You put up your hand Yes S12: b-a T: Yes Adam? S12: k T: ‘k’ good Ayman ‘e’ Very good OC- The teacher was giving feedback to Ayman (S16)

Figure 1: Feedback 1

This figure indicates that teacher praise for student effort was a one way feedback. It is worth

mentioning that this type of feedback did not lead to the students’ increased engagement, enhanced self-reflections as well as improved understanding. And throughout the observation period S12 and S16 remained peripheral participants.

Devi and Irwan also gave the same type of feedback to their students. For instance, Extract 2 shows that the first three students to accomplish the activity were rewarded by Devi.

S12

S16

T

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Extract 2 T: O.K. Class finished? Ss: No ↑ T: O.K, this is Norree’s work. Because she is the first person who finished, I give a sticker to Norree as

present. O.K. Norree collect your sticker. OC- The chatter decreased when the teacher praised S10. T: O.K, Angel. This one is Angel’s work. O.K, Angel also gets sticker. OC- the teacher gave a sticker to S8

T: Only for first, second and third Sx: Siapa nak jadi ketiga? [Who wants to be the third?] S15: Saya [me] T: So who is the third one? O.K. Faster O.K faster. Who wants the third sticker? Color it nicely O.K. Umar gets the last sticker Ss: Alaa OC- (disappointed) T: O.K, the last sticker is for Umar When the teacher praised S10, S8 who actively participated in classroom activities was persuaded

to finish the work faster to receive a sticker from the teacher. Finally S8 accomplished the task successfully and received a reward sticker. However, it was observed that when the teacher gave reward to the third student, other students felt frustrated to complete the task. That is to say, they did not try to extend their identity towards more central participants as they found out that they would not be rewarded by the teacher.


The same thing happened in Irwan’s class. In extract 3, he announced that he would praise the winners. Irwan rewarded the first three winners of the bingo game by letting them leave the class five minutes earlier than other students. As is evident in this Figure, one way transmission of feedback to some specific students was not converted into increased participation.

T

S8

S10

S15

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Extract 3 T: Let’s see who is the winner of this bingo game. The first three winners I will select three winners you can go back five minutes early today. Ss: Yeay OC- The students were excited


DISCUSSION

According to social constructivists such as Wenger (1998), in an AfL classroom feedback is assumed more than dialogue between teacher and student about the task and involves all formal and informal ways of giving information to students about their competence within a community of practice. By helping learners to develop identity within their community of practice, feedback is considered as a practice rather than just a strategy to be practiced and moves focus from the letter to the spirit of AfL. In other words, for feedback to be dialogic and improve students’ understanding, students should actively participate in the feedback process.

When they get involved in an activity, students should be given an opportunity to comment on each other’s work, move around the classroom, look at other students’ work and learn from each other. Therefore, they receive feedback from their teacher and peers, reflect on their work and become autonomous learners. Through the process of feedback students need to be stimulated to develop their sense of responsibility and agency. To achieve this, teachers need to provide the students with a safe and supportive learning environment such that they can get engaged in the feedback process.

The results showed that the students were not actively engaged in the feedback and their voice was not given credence due to the nature of the tasks as well as teacher authority in the classroom. It was observed that feedback was not integrated into the patterns of participation of the class to become part of the shared repertoire. This finding does not support the results of the studies conducted by Fluckiger et al. (2010), Handley et al. (2011), and Havnes et al. (2012) that highlighted the importance of students’ involvement in the feedback process. The participating teachers lacked effective understanding of feedback (Weeden & Winter, 1999) and feedback given to the students was not based on the principles of AfL (Irving et al., 2011; Newby & Winterbottom, 2011; Tan, 2011)

They were not provided with a collaborative learning environment and only a few specific students dominated the discussions. To illustrate, during classroom questioning and discussion some specific students

T S9

S4

S11

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responded to the questions and received one way feedback in the form of praise from their teacher when they gave the correct answers. When a student gave the wrong answer, the teachers themselves answered the question or directed the question to another student.

Moreover, the students had to complete the worksheets individually and if the teachers noticed that a student could not manage to accomplish the task, they provided that particular student with one-on-one instruction. The same thing happened in language arts classes. During language arts, the students were not divided into groups and more often they competed with each other to finish the task sooner than others to receive a reward from their teacher. Therefore, the students did not have the opportunity to think and reason together. Dialogic feedback is more than hierarchical relationship between teacher and students and it involves relationships in which students reflect on the task, reason together and become more central participants.

REFERENCES

Abbasnasab Sardareh, S., & Saad, MRM. (2012). A Sociocultural Perspective on Assessment for Learning: The

Case of a Malaysian Primary School ESL Context. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 66, 343-353.

Askew, S., & Lodge, C. (2000). Gifts, ping-pong and loops: Linking feedback and learning. In S. Askew (Ed.), Feedback for learning (pp. 1-18). London, UK: Routledge.

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998a). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, 5(1), 7-74.

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998b). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-148.

Graue, M. E. (1993). Integrating theory and practice through instructional assessment. Educational Assessment, 7(4), 283-309.

Guskey, T. R. (2010). Formative assessment: The contributions of Benjamin S. Bloom. In H. L. Andrade & G. J. Cizek (Eds.), Handbook of formative assessment (pp. 106–124). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

Hattie, J. C., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.

Morgan, D. (1993). Successful Focus Groups: Advancing the State of the Art. London, UK: SAGE Publications.

Nunan, D. (1992). Research methods in language learning. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Pryor, J., & Crossouard, B. (2008). A sociocultural theorization of formative assessment. Oxford Review of Education, 34(1), 1–20.

Ramaprasad, A. (1983). On the definition of feedback. Behavioral Science, 28(1), 4–13.

Sadler, D. R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional strategies. Instructional Science, 18, 119-144.

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Sadler, D. R. (2007). Perils in the meticulous specification of goals and assessment criteria. Assessment in

Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, 14, 387- 392.

Shute, V. (2008). Focus on formative feedback. Review of Educational Research, 78(1), 153-189.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Wiliam, D. (2011). What is assessment for learning? Studies in Educational Evaluation, 37(1), 3-14.

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Informal And Formal Environmental Education Infusion: Actions of Malaysian Teachers and Parents Among Students in a Polluted Area

Baniah Mustam [1], Esther Sarojini DANIEL [2]

[1] [email protected] [2] [email protected] Faculty of Education, University of Malaya

ABSTRACT

The study explored Environmental Education infusion among students by teachers and parents in two schools located in a highly polluted area. Qualitative data was collected through observations, interviews and an open-ended questionnaire. Participants of the observations and interviews were 6 Secondary 4 students, 6 teachers and 6 parents. Participants for the open-ended survey consisted of 60 Secondary 4 students, 30 teachers and 30 parents. Data from the three sources were triangulated to identify how Environmental Education infusion happened through formal and informal education in school and at home. Findings indicate that parents and teachers do make an effort to infuse elements of environmental education through different ways.

Keywords: Environmental Education; Infusion; Formal & Informal Education

INTRODUCTION

Malaysia is undergoing vast economical growth with the expansion of manufacturing industries, especially in electronics, chemical products and rubber products. Additionally, the increasing rate of production has resulted in excessive releases of organic and non-organic gases, chemical substances and dust (Department of Environment, 2011). Agricultural activities and exploration for natural resources which involves exploring new locations for human settlement and agriculture, logging, construction of infrastructure such as roads, streets and town buildings, and construction projects for human settlement and industrial activities continue to occur. All these activities result in erosion of land which pollutes the rivers (Haliza, 2007). The latest statistics (Department of Environment, 2011) show that 7 rivers are very polluted and 60 rivers are slightly polluted out of the 143 rivers in the country. Malaysia has realised that there is a need to protect and preserve the environment. Preventive measures and conservation efforts have been continually worked into the Five-Year Malaysia Plans since the early days of independence. In the latest 10th Malaysia Plan which ends in 2015, the government’s focus is on, “Building an environment that enhances quality of life” (10th Malaysia Plan, p. 246). Nevertheless, to achieve this enhanced quality of life is not an easy task and has to be related to the education system of the nation. The education on the importance of the environment is essential to increase the level of individuals’ self-awareness. Environmental education has the potential to assist the future generation to manage life and to establish a prosperous future (Perikleous, 2004).

Environmental Education has been officially integrated across the national curriculum since the nineties. The process of infusion of Environmental education involves integrating the various environmental aspects into all taught subjects during classroom teaching and learning sessions (Curriculum Development

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Center, Malaysia, 1998). The methods and techniques used should create an interesting teaching and learning environment in which the students can participate actively (Adenan Satem, 2004). Several studies have been conducted to try and establish the status of how successful this integration of Environmental Education has been. Pauziah Abdul Wahab’s (2004) research among 115 teachers teaching various subjects in 4 primary schools in the northern state of Kedah showed that 92.1% of the sample stated that the integration of Environmental Education across the curriculum was unsuccessful. Furthermore, 53.6% of the respondents had problems in carrying out the Environmental Education due to time constraint and had difficulty in accessing teaching aids. Five years on in 2009, another study carried out by Hazinah Nor Hanipah among 613 secondary school teachers found that 70.85% of the teachers were confident of integrating Environmental Education in the curriculum and only 8.1% were negative. Positive as this was, another study among primary school heads by Ika Liana Khalid, Rosta Harun, Azizi Muda and Ismi Arif Ismail (2011), revealed that the level of knowledge on environmental education is only moderate (69.5% mean score) and more importantly the study found that the heads are little aware of the implementation of cross-curriculum environmental education in schools.

Infusion of Environmental Education The infusion of environmental education refers to the insertion process, integration and the

relationship on the environment into formal and informal education. Teachers are the main factor in successful infusion programmes (Winther, Volk & Shrock, 2002). The environmental teacher’s approaches for success include practising student centred learning, utilising students’ strengths, exhibit experiential teaching orientation, use cooperative techniques, involve external experts and continuously reflect upon and plan lessons (May, 2000). Ernst (2007) found that teachers who have strong environmental literacy knowledge, have support in their schools, environmental sensitivity, positive environmental attitudes and are receptive to environmental education. These teachers are the ones who will try and infuse environmental education.

Besides the formal infusion of environmental education across the curriculum, there are numerous societies and groups who assist schools in the informal infusion of environmental education. For example in the East Malaysian state of Sabah, the Sabah Environment Protection Department, Department of Environment Malaysia, Sabah Forestry Department, Science and Technology Unit, Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah Education Department and other environment-related organisations are active in trying to assist schools in infusing knowledge and skills related to the environment (Pudin, 2008). In relation to this, a longitudinal intervention study utilising environmental education kits for Geography, English, Bahasa Malaysia (the national language) and Science conducted by WWF-Malaysia on the integration of Environmental Education in four schools strategically located in the main four zones of the Malay peninsula from 2008 to 2012, has indicated that although knowledge of the environment among the students is high and positive attitudes abound, this does not necessarily translate into pro-environmental behaviour. These results are similar to Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002). Furthermore, the multiplier effects from this intervention in the local community and parents were not visible. Nevertheless, the study by Vaughn, Gack, Solorazano and Ray (2003) showed that parents learnt from their children who attended an environmental education course. This negative result pointed to weak implementation by teachers as student views of the teaching approaches did not live up to expectations as the focus was on preparing students for national examinations (WWF-M, Research Report, 2010, 2011, 2012). Another finding from the WWF-Malaysia reports was that students preferred field trips. The same was reported by Barney, Mintzes and Yen (2005). Furthermore, Farmer, Knapp and Benton (2007) found that even one full year after a field trip, the participating students could remember the activities during their trip well and seemed to have developed a pro-environmental attitude. The present article discusses a study conducted to investigate the formal and informal infusion of environmental education within a community in a selected polluted area through a qualitative lens. Thus far, no such study has been conducted in Malaysia.

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METHODOLOGY

A qualitative data collection approach was utilized, that is through observations, interviews and an open-ended survey. The location for this study was an area which has a high air pollution index in a district in the central state of Perak. The location is an industrial area which has many factories dealing with palm oil, rubber, steel, cement and vehicles’ accessories and spare parts. The justification for choosing this area is because the researcher assumed that the surrounding pollution should develop awareness towards the environment among students, teachers and parents. Therefore, the researcher wanted to investigate how the location influences the infusion of the Environmental Education in the nearby two schools. These schools will be named as Secondary School 1 and Secondary School 2. The sampling of the students involves Form 4 students. Six (6) students to participate for the interviews and observations. Sixty (60) students participated in the open-ended questionnaire. Six (6) teachers participated in the interview while 30 teachers participated in the open-ended questionnaire. Thirty (30) parents and guardians participated in the open-ended questionnaire, while six (6) of them agreed to participate in the interviews and observations. Data from observations, interviews and the open- ended survey were triangulated to identify concepts and the method of Environmental Education infusion.

Data Collection Techniques Data collection techniques done in three ways, namely observation, interviews and open-

ended survey . Observations were recorded in the observation record form for analysis. The interviews were taped and transcribed before analyzed. While open-ended survey responses were categorized and analyzed. All three techniques carried out on all three groups of respondents, that are students, teachers and parents. The observations were carried out using three different settings which include formal education in the school classrooms, informal education that occurs in the school environment and informal education that occurs at the students’ home. The procedure for the observation was developed based on several aspects which were;

1. The observation related to the informal education at home included i) observations around the students’ home, ii) observations of interactions between the parents and students, iii) observations of the house surroundings and iv) observations during the family activities. The collection of data for observations made informally at home by visit to the house of participants and recorded in the special forms namely Observation Protocol Informal Education at Home. Observations carried out twice and observation time was 40 minutes. Trip time depends on the approval of the participants. 2. The observations related to the informal education in school included i) observations around

the school environment, ii) observations of the school’s facilities and their use, iii) observations of the reading materials and their use, iv) observations of school society activities.

3. The observations related to the formal education in school included lessons conducted in the classroom. The aspects included i) observations on the preparation and use of the teaching aids, ii) lesson set inductions, iii) observations of interactions between the students and the teacher during the lessons, and iv) the closure of the lesson.

The lessons were video recorded after consent was obtained from all participants. The interviews with the students, teachers and parents were carried out in two phases. Phase

1 interviews were conducted to obtain the specific and detailed information while phase 2 interviews were conducted if there is unclear aspect faced in the first phase interviews. The purpose of this phase is to obtain more comprehensive information regarding vague and uncertain matters during the observations. Three interview protocols were prepared for the three groups of participants.

The open-ended questionnaire was planned to obtain answers and responses without limit from the participants. Each group was given different sets of questions.

Data Analysis The researcher analysed the data from triangulating the three resources (Merriam, 2001;

Bailey, 2007). The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The frequency of certain expressions, words, phrases and statements from all three sources were identified to decide the themes emerging from the participants. Each transcript was read meticulously and deep attention was given to each word and sentence to determine essential expressions as early coding was conducted (McMillan, 2000). After this, themes were

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developed based on comparison of the three sources. Triangulation increases the validity and trustworthiness of the findings. The table below shows an example of triangulation.

Table 1: Triangulation of the Three Data Sources

Data Collection Techniques Observation from Teaching and Learning Session

Interview Open-Ended Questionnaire

Meaning of infusion

“ The application of Environmental Education throughout the curriculum... Erm..aa... means teaching and learning session which connects , aa... topics related to environment in subjects such as Science, English Language, Arts and others.” [H, IN, T3, SMK B, (02072013), (4:20)/13-16]

The application of Environmental Education throughout the curriculum is an effort to connect the Environmental Education with all subjects such as Malay Language, Geography and others. [T2, OEQ, SMK A, A1]

Teaching and Learning Method: Discussion

“ I’ll give you 10 minutes, alright. 10 minutes for you to discuss with each other. If you don’t know, you can ask me” [F, T&L, T1, SMK A, BIO, 4P/201-203]

“ Then I use group discussion in which an exercise form is distributed to students and they are given approximately 20 minutes to discuss the effects of human activities.” [C, IN, T2, SMK A, (21062013), (6:38)/38-41]

“ I do group discussion regarding an essay title related to environment, for example types of environmental pollution, causes, ways to solve and then, the students write an essay about it.” [ T5, OEQ, SMK B, A3 (i)]

Notes:

1. Observation cord - [F, T&L, T1, SMK A, BIO, 4P/201-203] : Faris (respondent name), Teaching and learning, SMK A (first school), Biology, Class form 4P/line 201 to 203

2. Interview cord - [H, IN, T3, SMK B, (02072013), (4:20)/13-16] : Hani (respondent name), Interview, Teacher 3, SMK B (Second school), date of interview, time/line 13 to 16

3. Open-ended questionnaire cord –[T5, OEQ, SMK B, A3] : Teacher 5, Open ended question, SMK B (Second school), Answer 3(i).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This section discusses the infusion of Environmental Education informally by the parents at home, formally in the classroom and also informally in school during co-curricular activities.

Informal Infusion at Home by Parents and Guardians The techniques which emerged in the study in relation to informal infusion of environmental

education at home were i) via verbal communication, ii) via actions and behaviour and iii) via instilling moral values. Communicating verbally to infuse Environmental Education informally at home was seen through providing guidance, giving advice, emphasizing, warning, discussion, explanation, and giving reminders. Infusing via actions and behaviour informally at home was carried out through, i) working together, ii)

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modeling or showing examples and iii) teaching from one’s religion. The infusion of environmental education was also subtly done through the instilling of values. Some examples of excerpts are given in Table 2.

Table 2: Excerpts for Environmental Education Infusion at Home

Via verbal communication

Via actions and behavior

Via instilling values

"At home, parents guide us so that we keep the surroundings clean. For example they advise us not to throw rubbish everywhere but into the dustbins". [F, IN, S4, SMK B, (02072013), (6:31)/20-22] "My parents emphasise to me to always keep the house clean – outside as well. Every weekend, we together as a family clean up the garden". [Q, IN, S3, SMK B, (02072013), (5:35)/21-25] "If my parents see me throwing rubbish eveywhere, they warn me sternly”.." [K, IN, S6, SMK B, (04072013), (5:17)/22-23] ”Sometimes my parents discuss with us about ways to improve the surroundings by planting trees and flowers ... to create a garden”. [S, IN, S2, SMK A, (02072013), (5:15)/25-27] "I explain to my children the benefits of caring for the environment so that my children will develop a more positive attitude and be more responsible in not polluting the environment”. [Y, IN, G4, YH, (03072013), (4:47)/27-31] "Aa.. I remind my children and grandchildren that we have to care for the environment. If not the environment will become polluted and we will feel the consequences. As it is now we have to face the haze and air pollution here”. [Z, IN, G2, ZH, (29062013), (3:42)/23-26]

"Every weekend, we as a family work together to clean the garden and the house”. [K, IN, S6, SMK B, (04072013), (5:17)/23-24] "If there are tins around the house collecting rain water, my mother checks and quickly throws them away properly in order to avoid mosquito larvae. I also follow her example”. [F, IN, S4, SMK B, (02072013), (6:31)/22-24] "Before I advise my children, I try and set a good example so that they will follow. For example in the car, I will put all rubbish in a bag and when we reach our destination I will throw the rubbish in a dustbin. I do not want my children to throw rubbish out of the car”, [M, IN, G1, MH, (01072013), (4:20)/34-40] "I always emphasise cleanliness as taught by our religion which teaches cleanliness”. [N, IN, G3, NH, (29062013), (4:17)/34-36]

”........I will teach my children to work together and help one another in cleaning up the surrounding area so that they will realise their responsibilities towards the environment”. [N, IN, G3, NH, (29062013), (4:17)/42-45] "Loving nature is a virtue. I love to plant flowers and other plants. So, I teach my children to love plants and to do what I do. During holidays, we sometimes plant new flowering plants together. This not only keeps us healthy but makes our garden beautiful". [M, IN, G1, MH, (01072013), (4:20)/46-50] "I advise my children that if we do not take care of the environment now, the negative effects will be felt by the future generations like their children”. [N, IN, G3, NH, (29062013), (4:17)/45-48] ”A polluted place can bring about bad health. If we are not healthy, no matter how much money we have has no meaning”. [Y, IN, G4 4, YH, (03072013), (4:47)/38-43]

Communication between parents and children are important (Abdullah Nasih Ulwan, 2004;

Adawiyah Ismail, 2007). Parents must also set good examples for the children (Moore, 1992). It is imperative that parents inform their children that the environment needs to be preserved for future generations (Palmer & Neal, 1994) and that it is everyone’s responsibility (Adenan Satem, 2004). In this study, the pollution in the area probably does encourage parents and guardians to be more conscious in teaching their children about taking care of the environment. As stated by the children, they do ‘hear’ and ‘follow’ what is taught by their parents as was also found by Jaana, Anu , Anssi dan Markku, (2012).

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Formal Infusion in School The teaching method chosen by a teacher is a way to achieve the learning objectives with a well-

managed approach (Hasan Langgulung, 1981; Sharifah Alwiah Alsagoff; 1986; Mok Soon Seng, 1992). In the research discussed in this article, how infusion of Environmental Education occurred was investigated. Several teaching techniques used in the formal classroom emerged, namely giving explanations, discussions, demonstrations, question-and-answer sessions, experiments, simulations and role-play. Excerpts are given in Table 3 to indicate the different ways of infusion.

Table 3: Ways of Infusing Environmental Education in the Formal Classroom

No. Infusion Approach Excerpt

1. Explaining

"In Biology, our teacher explains in detail about the environment and how pollution occurs and what steps we can take to overcome it”. [OEQ, S15, SMK A, A2(ii)] " Ok, in my class just now, I used several approaches – first I attracted the attetnion of my students by drawing the cartoon and then I went on to give the explanation”. [C, IN, T2, SMK A, (21062013), (6:38)/35-37]

2.

Discussions (by using video/ text book etc) in groups

"Ok. In my class, first I gave the students time to watch the video which had music and song and was in a cartoon form. Secondly, after this I used the dicussioin method to get the message across based on the video”. [H, IN, T3, SMK B, (02072013), (4:02)/29-32] Teacher: Air pollution is a common occurrence here. Remember last year? The air quality here was not good. Okay… now I want you to get into your groups and discuss about this. After this we will have the presentations by each group. [N, T&L T4, SMK B, CHEM, 4SC/28-36] "Ok.. In my class this morning, I asked the students to look for the sources of pollution, the effects and how to solve some of the problems. I divided the students into groups and distributed some reading and reference materials for them to discuss. They had to present the results of their discussion. [A, IN, T5, SMK B, (05.07.2013), (7:01)/37-43]

3 Demonstration

Teacher : Ok, the second activity – we will use empty mineral water bottles – I want you to make flowers or an animal like the penquin? Each group can choose. If you want to make flowers you have to cut like this…can you see? If you want the size to be small you make smaller cuts. After you cut it looks like this.. can you see? [L, T&L, T6, SMK B, VAE, 4I/69-81]

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4 Question and Answer

"……Ok ya… come to the white board please. I have drawn a cartoon – now my question. Who can tell me the meaning of the cartoon? Who wants to try? Please raise your hand. Do not worry if your answer is wrong…Ok Najmi go ahead try…”. [C, T&L T2, SMKA, GEO, 4S/16-21] Teacher : …Very good. One activity is logging. Besides logging what other human activity can have an impact upon flora and fauna? Who would like to try, please raise your hand..Yes Akmal? [C, IN T2, SMKA, GEO, 4S/45-49] Teacher : How can we control pollution from becoming a big threat? Student: Have a conservation campaign Teacher: Another campaign? What else? : Kempen. Lagi? Yang perempuan? Student: Organise a clean up : Gotong-royong. Teacher: Another clean –up? Other than these every citizen must follow…? : Gotong-royong. Lagi? Aa… selain daripada kempen apa lagi, Student: Environmental Protection laws. Teacher: Good… : Undang-undang. [H, T&L T3, SMK B, SC, 4A/134-142]

5 Experiments

"In Biology, my friends and I have done an experiment to study the level of water pollution around the factory which spills oil...” [OEQ, S26, SMK B , A2(ii)] "Ok. In science we carry out several experiments to study pollution, such as water and air pollution. [F, IN, T1, SMK A, (20092013), (9:25)/53-54]

6 Simulation

Student 1: Good morning everyone. My group is going to simulate what can happen at a supermarket carpark here. One day Arie and her friend Fahira are going home after grocery shopping. Student 2 (Arie): Please start the car I will be there soon. Student 3 (Fahira): Okay will do Student 1: There is another lady driver who was walking towards her car parked behind Arie’s car. When Arie started her car, exhaust fumes came out and the lady driver of the car behind started to have an asthma attack. Student 2 and Student 3 (Arie and Fahira) rush towards the lady to try and help… Student 1: Perhaps the fumes caused her asthma attack – we better take her to the hospital. [N, T&L T4, SMK B, CHEM, 4SC/156-172]

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7 Role - Play

Student 1(Newsreader): Good evening. We have news that in the small town of TM there is a very unhealthy haze caused by open burning. The residents in TM are facing many health issues because of this. Now let us listen to our reporter who is over there now… Student 2 (Reporter on site): Thank you. I am Aishah from TV X reporting from TM which is experiencing a severe haze since three days ago. I have interviewed several residents .. let us listen to them now…. [N, T&L T4, SMK B, CHEM, 4SC/38-48]

Techniques such as class discussions can be effective in infusing environmental education

(Shahabuddin Hashim, Rohizani Yaakub, Mohd. Zohir Ahmad, 2003) as students learn to express themselves clearly and also the skills of argumentation. Demonstrations and Question and Answer sessions can help students to remember and recall concepts that they learn (Ramlah Hamzah, 1993). Experiments strengthen understanding as well as assist students to conceptualise better (Lave dan Wagner, 1991; Ertepinar H. & Geban O., 1996). The findings do indicate that some of the examples used by the teachers are based on local experience. Hence, it appears that the location of the schools in the polluted area may indeed have made the teachers more aware of the environment.

The Informal Infusion in School Much of the informal infusion of environmental education in school occurs during co-curricular

activities especially in societal activities after school. The analysis indicates that the most common activities are camping, environmental campaigns, field trips, out of class activities, recycling activities and competitions. Table 4 gives some examples.

Table 4: Ways of Informal Infusing Environmental Education in the School


1 Camping

"During camping activities, we go jungle tracking and other activities related to nature. We are taught how not to damage any plants and such. We also learn about keeping the environment clean”. [F, IN, S4, SMK B, (02072013), (6:31)/58-61]

2 Environmental Campaigns

"During our co-curricular activities sometimes we have an environmental campaign. Normally we have outside speakers who will give us a talk about mother earth and how we should care for it”. [Q, IN, S3, SMK A, (02072013), (5:35)/57-59] "In our Science and Mathematics Club, we had a Green Earth campaign and we prepared a herbal gardenas our activity. We planted several types of herbal plants.. to guard our mother earth”. [H, IN, S5, SMK B, (09072013), (4:55)/55-58]

3 Field trips "......Yes. in the Geography society, we try and make field trips – for example I take my students to the sewage or rubbish treatment centres”. [A, IN, S5, SMK B, (05.07.2013), (7:01)/65-68]

4 Out of class

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activities/ Recycling activities

"Emm... in our Consumer and Recreation clubswe emphasise environmental cleanliness. For example we have activities where our members create objects from recyclable activities such as bottles, paper, boxes and sich’. [S, IN, S2, SMK A, (02072013), (5:15)/62-65]

5 Competitions

"Ok.. I can infuse environmental education through competitions. For example in the National Language Society I try and organise speech and peotry competitions, essay competitions and even forums about the importance of caring for the environment. [A, IN, T5, SMK B, (05.07.2013), (7:01)/60-64]

Krantz (2002) emphasized the importance of experiential learning. Through the activities mentioned

above, teachers would be able to infuse Environmental Education inside or outside classroom (Mohammad Zohir Ahmad & Nordin Abdul Razak, 2007). It is clear that several societies in the school plan and execute environmental related activities. Once again this could be because of the location of the schools.

CONCLUSION

Recent disturbing statistics about melting ice and changing weather, the case for effective environmental education [which now in Malaysia as elsewhere evolving into Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)] is even more necessary. In Malaysia as was stated earlier, from the nineties environmental education was to be integrated or infused across the curriculum. Many previous studies of both urban and rural locations have indicated only minimum success in terms of infusion as teachers often say that preparing students for examinations supersedes all else. This study located in a polluted area which investigated both formal and informal approaches both in school and at home indicates encouraging positive behaviour on the part of the teachers and parents in trying to infuse environmental education through the various activities in school and at home. Many of the activities and techniques carried out by the parents and teachers appear to be influenced by the local surroundings. Nevertheless, the parents and teachers for most of the time act independently of each other. Therefore, perhaps this could be a starting point in Malaysia where parents can be consciously included by schools and be continually made aware of what and how they can participate together with the teachers in various school activities to take the infusion of environmental education to the next level. The results also showed the informal infusion of Environmental Education at home and in school are the method of implementing environmental education through experience. The informal infusion at home are also important as a basic environmental education which is begins in childrens live. However, since it occurs indirectly and unplanned, so its less effectiveness than formal infusion in school. Therefore the infusion of formal environmental education in schools is more likely lead to pro environmental behaviour. This is due to the application of methods that are more effective, organized and planned.

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Malaysian Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs about the Nature of Teaching and Learning

Nuraini Mohd Zikre [1], Leong Kwan Eu [2]

[1] University of Malaya, [email protected]

[2] University of Malaya, [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Teachers play a vital role in nurturing and shaping learners in school. Extensive researches have been conducted showing that beliefs in the nature of teaching and learning held by the teachers will affect their actual classroom practices. In Malaysia, not many studies have been done on mathematics teacher's beliefs at the national level. The purpose of this study is to investigate the beliefs of Malaysian mathematics teachers at the secondary level. The sample of this study consisted of 39 mathematics teachers who were randomly selected from all the secondary schools in Malaysia. This is a quantitative study using descriptive statistics and mean differences to interpret the data. The finding showed that constructivist beliefs are stronger than the direct transmission beliefs both the male and female teachers. In addition, there was no significant difference in the direct transmission beliefs and constructivist beliefs by gender.

Keywords: Direct transmission beliefs; constructivist beliefs; secondary mathematics teachers

INTRODUCTION

Learners require the “21st century skills” in order to succeed in todays’ challenging world. As part of developing these skills, teachers teaching and their role as a teacher will also change. Teachers face the challenge to start shifting from the 20th to 21st century classroom. One of the ways to help teachers to overcome the challenge is to study the beliefs held by them. This is because Pajares (1992) claimed that the teachers’ beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning plays a vital role in determining the teachers’ effectiveness and their instructional practices (Leder, Pehkonen, & Torner, 2002; van de Schaaf, Stokking, & Verloop, 2008; Wilkins, 2008).

Studies have suggested that teachers’ beliefs and values about teaching and learning will affect their teaching practices (see reviews by Clark & Peterson, 1986; Fang, 1996; Kagan, 1992; Thompson, 1992). According to Pajares (1992), there is a strong relationship between pedagogical beliefs of teacher, their planning for teaching, teaching decisions and classroom practices (as cited by Fakhri R. Khader, 2012. Ernest (1989) believes that the beliefs hold by the teachers will have a strong effect in their teaching practices. This is because the teacher will convert their beliefs into a practical reality.

Literature Review

Content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and beliefs held by the teachers are factors that will influence the effectiveness of teaching and learning in a classroom. Among these, teacher’ beliefs is the key in determining the teacher’ teaching. According to Johnson (1994), there are three basic assumptions used while studying teachers’ beliefs: (a) Influence of teachers’ beliefs on perception and judgment, (b) role of teachers’ beliefs in translating information into the classroom practices, (c) teaching practices and education

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programs can be improved by understanding teachers’ beliefs (as cited in Farrell, 2005, p. 439). This shows that teachers are highly influenced by their beliefs (William & Burden, 1997).

Beliefs are filters that teachers use as a guide for their instructional and curricular decision making (Pajares, 1992; Prawat, 1992). It thus affects how, what and why teachers adopt a particular approach or method during teaching, which in turn will affect the learners’ development (William & Burden, 1997). Teachers’ beliefs systems indicate their personal theories regarding the nature of knowledge (Hofer & Pintrich, 1997; Lovat & Smith, 1995; Pajares, 1992). Thompson (1984) claimed that teachers’ beliefs is the “manifestations of unconsciously held views of expressions of verbal commitments to abstract ideas that may be thought of as part of a general ideology of teaching” (p. 112 ).

Beliefs held by the teachers are very complex since it involves many aspects (Dogruera, et. al, 2010). Researchers agreed that a system of mathematics beliefs mainly consist of the beliefs about (a) what mathematics is, (b) how mathematics teaching and learning actually occur, and (c) how mathematics teaching and learning should occur ideally (Ernest, 1989a, a1989b; Thompson, 1991). Among these, beliefs about what mathematics is play an important role in determining how mathematics teaching occurs and how it should actually occur, ideally.

A number of researches have been conducted both nationally and internationally. In Malaysia, the study about the teachers beliefs were anylysed by qualitative (Maizan, 2010; Siti Mistima & Effandi, 2010) and quantitative (Roslina, 2007; Marzita, 2005; Cheah, 2001) methods. A study reported that the beliefs of mathematics pre-service teachers were more positive towards constructivism approach (Effandi Zakaria & Norulpaziana Musiran, 2010). Another study by Salmiza Salleh & Afik Aziz (2012) found that Malaysian teachers were still bounded by the conventional teaching methods (teacher-centered). This is consistent with a study conducted by Munirah Ghazali & Santi Sinnakaudan (2014) stating that Malaysian SJKC mathematics teachers favour informal beliefs, which is constructivist belief; while SK and SJKT teachers favour formal beliefs, which is direct transmission belief. However, the results also showed that SK and SJKT mathematics teachers held mixture of both formal and informal beliefs.

According to Schoenfeld (1985), beliefs of mathematics teacher is his / her individual perspectives on how students should engage with mathematical tasks. Beliefs held by the teachers are affected by the teachers’ own experiences, experience with schooling and instruction, and experience with formal knowledge (Richardson, 1996). Randolph Philipp used “teachers’ orientation” to refer to the pattern of beliefs held by the teachers. Philipp (2007) divided orientations into conceptual and calculational orientations.

This study adapted several items from The Teaching and Learning International Study (TALIS) study (OECD, 2009). In addition, this study utilised the beliefs on nature of teaching using the two constructs for the beliefs in the nature of teaching and learning, which include direct transmission and constructivist beliefs. Teachers who held the direct transmission beliefs tend “to communicate knowledge in a clear and structured way, to explain correct solutions, to give students clear and resolvable problems, and to ensure calm and concentration in the classroom” (OECD, 2009, p. 92). On the other hand, teachers with constructivist beliefs “emphasize facilitating student inquiry, prefer to give students the chance to develop solutions to problems on their own, and allow students to play active role in instructional activities” (OECD, 2009, p. 92).

Singer (1996) claimed that beliefs held by the male and female teachers may differ systematically (as cited in OECD, 2009). However, Chan (2004) reported that there are no differences in the conception of teaching and learning among the Hong Kong pre-service teachers. Research by Effandi Zakaria & Norulpaziana Musiran (2010) found that “beliefs about the nature of mathematics and mathematics learning are influenced by gender, but no difference was found regarding mathematics teaching” (p. 349).

The differences in beliefs may be caused by teachers’ experiences, which includes upbringing, life experiences or their previous schooling processes (Raths, 2001). Belief was initially formed based on the teacher’s experience when they were students and the influence of their former teachers on them (Effandi Zakaria & Norulpaziana Musiran, 2010). Research by Li (1999) showed that there are links between teachers’ beliefs and students’ gender in mathematics education. Furthermore, Li (1999) claimed that teachers tend to believe that mathematics is male dominant and thus have a more positive attitude towards them. This will, in turn, affect the students’ beliefs as some of them might grow up to be an educator in the future.

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Studying beliefs is very important in education research (Pajares 1992). This is not due to the

emotional debate on the topic, but because teachers’ belief is a complex process. In addition to that, the effects of teachers’ beliefs also have to be taken into account since it involves students’ performance, who will be our future leaders.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Objective and Research Question The objective of this study is to investigate the beliefs in the nature teaching and learning among the

secondary (Form 1) mathematics teachers in Malaysia. The study attempted to answer two research questions:

1. What beliefs does a mathematics teachers hold on the nature of teaching and learning? 2. Is there any significant difference between the male and female mathematics teachers’ beliefs on

the nature of teaching and learning? Participants The focus was given to the national secondary schools since it covers more than 80% of the secondary

schools in Malaysia. The schools were randomly selected throughout the country. Once a particular school was selected, all the form one teachers teaching Malay, English, Mathematics and Science were included in the sample. However, the teachers have the freedom to choose whether to participate or not. In addition to that, if any of the school chose not to participate in the research, then the next school in the randomized list was selected. The same process was repeated until a minimum of 30 teachers were achieved for each subject. For this study purposes, only the sample of mathematics teachers were taken. A total of 39 in-service teachers with 27 females (75%) and 12 males (25%) whose teaching experiences ranged from 1 to 25 years participated in this study. These teachers were all teaching Form One mathematics.

Research Instrument In this study, the researcher employed the quantitative analysis method using descriptive statistics

and independent t-test to analyse the data. The instrument used in this study to gather data was a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of 20 items on teachers’ instructional practices and beliefs in the teaching and learning. For this study, only item 17 on teachers belief on nature of teaching and learning was analysed. The beliefs were measured using four-point Likert scales, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. This question will be used to assess the beliefs of the respondents involved in the research. Item 17, which was adapted from the TALIS study, consists of two main constructs, i.e. direct transmission beliefs and constructivist beliefs.

Reliability of the instrument used was determined by using Cronbach’s Alpha. Table 1 shows the constructs that were measured in this study and the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients. The internal reliability of the instrument ranging from 0.570 to 0.681, while the total reliability of the eight items is 0.650; which indicates acceptable reliability.

Table 1: Constructs and its reliability

Construct Number of items Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient

Direct transmission beliefs 4 0.570

Constructivist beliefs 4 0.681

Total 8 0.650

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RESULTS

Research question 1, “What beliefs does a mathematics teachers hold on the nature of teaching and learning?” was analysed using descriptive statistics. Table 2 summarises the frequencies and percentages of secondary teachers on the nature of teaching and learning. The results showed that the teachers have different perceptions regarding the descriptions of each of the beliefs. The results will be discussed based on the descriptor for each type of the beliefs.

Based on the items Q17a, Q17g, Q17h and Q17k that focuses on the direct transmission beliefs, majority of the teachers believes that in the process of teaching and learning, teachers should

(i) Demonstrate the correct way of solving problem About 92% of the teachers chose “Agree” and “Strongly Agree” that they should show to the students

how to solve problems correctly. Only 2.6% chose “Disagree”. (ii) Provide instruction around problems with clear, correct answers and around ides that most

students can grasp quickly Around 90% of the teachers “Agree” and “Strongly Agree” about this statement.

(iii) Teach facts to the students About 67% and 18% teachers “Agree” and “Strongly Agree” that factual knowledge should be

delivered in a classroom. The last item of direct transmission beliefs showed a variation. Almost the same number of teachers

“Disagree” and “Agree” (15 and 13, respectively) that more quiet classroom atmosphere is needed for effective teaching.

Table 2. Frequencies and Percentages for Teachers’ Beliefs in the Nature of Teaching and Learning

Description Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly

Agree

Dire

ct T

rans

miss

ion

Belie

fs

(Q17a) Effective / good teachers demonstrate the correct way to solve problem

0 1 17 19

0% 2.6% 43.6% 48.7%

(Q17g) Instruction should be built around problems with clear, correct answers and around ideas that most students can grasp quickly

0 1 28 7

0% 2.6% 71.8% 17.9%

(Q17h) How much students learn depends on how much background knowledge they have – that is why teaching facts is so necessary

1 4 26 7

2.6% 10.3% 66.7% 17.9%

(Q17k) A quiet classroom is generally needed for effective teaching

1 15 13 8

2.6% 38.5% 33.3% 20.5%

Cons

truc

tivist

Be

liefs

(Q17d) My role as a teacher is to facilitate students’ own inquiry

0 4 25 9

0% 10.3% 64.1% 23.1% (Q17f) Students learn best by finding

0 2 16 19

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Description Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly

Agree solutions to problems on their own 0% 5.1% 41.0% 48.7%

(Q17i) Students should be allowed to think of solutions to practical problems themselves before the teacher shows them how they are solved

0 0 20 18

0% 0% 51.3% 46.2%

(Q17l) Thinking and reasoning processes are more important than specific curriculum content

0 2 26 9

0% 5.1% 66.7% 23.1%

Based on the items Q17d, Q17f, Q17i and Q17l that focuses on the constructivist beliefs, majority of

the teachers supported this belief in teaching and learning. (i) About 87% of the teachers “Agree” and “Strongly Agree” that their role, in the process of

teaching and learning, is to facilitate on the students’ inquiry, instead of mere transferring of knowledge.

(ii) Almost 90% of the teachers believe that students learn best by finding solutions on the own and think that thinking as well as reasoning processes are important compared to the curriculum content.

(iii) All teachers who answered Item 17(i) “Agree” and “Strongly Agree” that students should be allowed to think of the solutions to the given problem, before they are showed how to solve.

An independent t-test was conducted to answer the research question 2, "Is there any significant difference between the male and female mathematics teachers’ beliefs on the nature of teaching and learning?

Table 3. Mean Score Differences Between Gender using Independent t-test

Construct Gender Mean SD t-value Sig (2 tailed)

Direct transmission beliefs

Male Female

12.78 12.30

1.09 1.81

-.75

.46

Constructivist beliefs

Male Female

13.10 13.37

1.73 1.42

.49

.63

As shown in Table 3, the data on teachers beliefs were obtained from samples of 27 females and 12

males, with a male sample mean of 12.78 (M=12.78, SD=1.09) and a females sample mean of 12.30 (M=12.30, SD=1.81) for the direct transmission beliefs. Male teachers had stronger direct transmission beliefs than female teachers. For the constructivist beliefs, the males sample mean of 13.10(M=13.10, SD=1.73) while the female sample means of 13.37(M=13.37, SD=1.42). Female teachers had higher constructivist beliefs when compared to male teachers. When comparing the two beliefs constructs, male and female teachers had a stronger constructivist beliefs than the direct transmission beliefs.

The independent t test indicated that the direct transmission beliefs means were not statistically significant for male and female teachers (t=-.75, df=37, p=.46). Thus, we fail to reject the null hypothesis that the direct transmission beliefs means were the same by gender was rejected at the .05 level of significance. The results provide evidence to support the conclusion that males and females do not differ in direct transmission beliefs.

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The independent t test indicated that the constructivist beliefs means were not statistically

significant for male and female teachers (t=.49, df=37, p=.63). Thus, we fail to reject the null hypothesis that the constructivist beliefs means were the same by gender was rejected at the .05 level of significance. The results provide evidence to support the conclusion that males and females do not differ in constructivist beliefs.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This study investigated the beliefs in the nature teaching and learning among the secondary mathematics teachers in Malaysia. The results showed some similarities and differences in terms of direct transmission beliefs and constructivist beliefs in nature of teaching and learning.

The results showed that in general Malaysian mathematics teachers had stronger constructivist beliefs then directed transmission beliefs for both male and female teachers. This would mean that they believe in a student-centered learning environment where teachers facilitate the learning and students play an active role in the mathematics classroom. Teachers with a constructivist view would not be too concerned with transmitting knowledge but to also focus on helping students construct their knowledge in mathematics. Furthermore, this would fit nicely with the 21st century learning skills that encourages students to develop their knowledge through exploration and investigation. Teacher education and curriculum implementation would have influenced teachers’ constructivist beliefs. The next step would be to observe whether the constructivist beliefs of teachers would be reflected in their instructional practices.

Male teachers tend to have stronger direct transmission beliefs than female teachers in the nature of teaching and learning mathematics. This is consistent with TALIS study claiming that “female teachers are less likely than male teachers to see teaching as the direct transmission of knowledge and are more likely to adopt structuring and student oriented practices” (OECD, 2009, p. 88). However, the inferential statistics results indicated that there is no significant difference in the direct transmission beliefs by teacher’s gender. For the constructivist beliefs, female teachers had a higher mean score compared to the male teachers. Nonetheless the t-test result showed that there is no significant difference in the constructivist beliefs for the male and female teachers. What is more important is the result indicated that Malaysian teachers supports direct transmission beliefs or constructivist beliefs without looking at gender. In addition, the beliefs about how beliefs in pedagogy played a pertinent role in determining how mathematics teaching occurs and how it should actually occur in the classrooms (Ernest, 1989a, Thompson, 1991).

In future studies, the consistency between teachers’ beliefs and instructional practice could be

investigated. This would provide a clear connection between what teachers’ beliefs and how it affects their classroom practice. The beliefs study could be extended further by comparing on the nature of mathematics and beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning that includes factors such as students’ learning, teacher’s role and teaching practice with the results of this study. By understanding the beliefs of mathematics teachers, the teacher education programme could design and develop courses that suit the need for the 21st century learning skills. A further study could be done to explore the relationships of their beliefs, instructional practice and professional development.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was funded in part by the University of Malaya Research Grant (UMRG) RP004-13SBS, the Equitable Society Research Cluster and the University of Malaya Rakan Penyelidikan Grant.

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The Relationship Between Anxiety and Test-Taking C-Test and Cloze-Test

Mozhgan Azimi [1]

[1] [email protected] of Malaya

ABSTRACT

Anxiety has an important role in teaching and learning. If teachers can recognize which kind of tests create high anxiety then they will be able to omit these kinds of tests. Then, the results of test can probably show the students’ knowledge more carefully. The subjects of the present study were sixty Iranian female junior university students. They were given three kinds of test: an anxiety test, a C-test and a Cloze-test. Descriptive statistics for subjects' performance on the Cloze-test and C-test were used to compare the mean score of the subjects in both tests. Finally, the results of anxiety test and C-test were correlated and then the results of anxiety test and Cloze-test were also correlated. The anxious students feel more anxiety while taking C-test than Cloze-test.

Keywords: Anxiety, Cloze-Test and C-test

INTRODUCTION

Anxiety creates many potential problems for learning foreign languages, because it has negative effects on the acquisition, retention, and production of language (Robinson, 2009). One of the results of anxiety is that students forget lessons and assignments, and cannot concentrate on their lessons and understand them. These lead to memorizing or cheating and generally, they have no chance for success (Coşkun, 2013).

Psychologists believe that anxiety is a drive whose reason is not fully known. Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying. It is a general phenomenon and does not lead to any special target. Anxiety is usually accompanied by danger expectations (Corsini, 1999). Generally speaking, anxiety is an unknown phenomenon. Anxiety is like a wave; at first, it springs up in an individual, then it will be intensified and it will gradually reach its peak and then it will decrease and finally disappear (Lefrancois, 1991,1995). People often experience a general state of worry or fear before confronting something challenging such as a test, examination, recital, or interview. These feelings are easily justified and considered normal. Anxiety is considered a problem when symptoms interfere with a person's ability to sleep or otherwise function. Generally speaking, anxiety occurs when a reaction is out of proportion with what might be normally expected in a situation

Anxiety has been defined “As apprehension, tension or uneasiness from anticipation of danger, the source of which is largely unknown or unrecognized primarily of intrasychic origin, in distinction fear, which is the emotional response to a consciously recognized and usually external threat or danger. Anxiety may be regarded as pathologic when it interferes with effectiveness in living, achievement of desired goals or satisfaction, or reasonable emotional comfort” (Edgerton, 1994, p. 17).

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Spielberger (1983) and Faleye (2010) stated that anxiety is created when someone faces a problem, or an obstacle, so that they cannot satisfy their needs and if these are important and vital needs, anxiety will be more sever and lasting. In addition, if these obstacles reach to the level of constant frustration, the person will always be anxious.

It must be noted here that a small degree of anxiety is normal and even necessary to do things. This fact should be considered that anxiety is very beneficial at normal levels (Csizér & Piniel, 2013), the point is that less anxious students will be more successful than the more anxious students because the former group is more spontaneous, more creative and have better judgment, but the latter ones are very careful about their errors, consume more time solving a problem and check the problems several time and finally cannot recognize their thoughts creatively (Çubukçu, 2008). Anxious learners do not volunteer to answer questions or to participate in classroom activities. These students always complain that their class moves too quickly and they are left behind. It is natural because the anxious students require more time for learning. These factors aeffect not only on learning but also on test taking, they cannot perform well, they do not have enough time and they cannot remember the things, which they have learned before (Tsai, 2013). Anxious students use simple structures in their speaking, this problem will cause these students not to be able to communicate in the second language (Oxford, 1999).

Review of Literature

According to Horwitz (1986) there are four major theoretical approaches to anxiety, but none of them is thorough and perfect. They cannot fully explain the nature and origin of anxiety. However, they present some insights about anxiety, which are helpful in grasping a better view of it.

(1) Biological Theory of Anxiety(2) Psychoanalytic Theory of Anxietya. Freudian Theoryb. Neo-Freudian Theory(3) Behavioral Theory of Anxietya. Cognitive Social Learning Theory(4) Cognitive Theory of Anxiety (Horwitz, 1986)

Here, it will be examined each of these theories separately.

(1) Biological Theory of AnxietyIt is obvious that there is a strong relationship between biological processes and anxiety. But, so far

it has not recognized whether anxiety causes biological changes or biological changes produce anxiety (Horwitz, 1986).

Rreferring to Eysenck’s view (1997), Powell and Enright (1991) stated that “Individual differences in the experience of anxiety may occur as a result of the inheritance of a particular genetic make-up that predisposes the individual toward high or low emotional ability. This is defined as the tendency to react with greater or lesser intensity to a particular stimulus, which might cause distress. Eysenck (1991) also suggests that some individuals are also more likely toward forming strong conditioned responses; it means, certain personality characteristics are believed to have certain genetic components; therefor, they are more likely to experience anxiety in many occasions (Ibid).

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(2) Psychoanalytic Theory of Anxiety This theory consists of two parts as the following:

a. Freudian theory b. Neo-Freudian theory

a. Freudian theory Referring to Freud’s opinions Powell and Enright (1991) believe that “There are three

kinds of anxiety: Real anxiety, which is said or responded to real danger. Mood and neurotic anxiety, which cause psychological problems. The first experience of anxiety occurs as a result of birth. The infant is dispatched from the security of the womb into new and unfamiliar situation. This primary anxiety sets the pattern. Then for all other experiences of anxiety”. (p.35) The other kind of anxiety is moral anxiety, which is called fear of punishment. It is recognized as guilt or shame. The third one, neurotic anxiety is associated with socially unacceptable behavior.

b. Neo-Freudian theory This theory was developed against Freud’s theory. Neo-Freudians rejected Freud’s idea.

According to this theory; “primary anxiety did not occur at birth, but later. A child has not only physiological needs but also psychological. She needs protection and support and anxiety is aroused or potential frustration of these dependency needs” (Powell and Enright, 1991, p.36)

(3) Behavioral Theory of anxiety Watson and Rayner (1993) worked on behavioral theory of anxiety and they believed that anxiety

could be acquired by classical conditioning. They contend that some fears through a process become conditioned. Behaviorist theory believes learning takes place through stimulus and response. The behaviorists believe there is a strong connection between stimulus and response. If the response is desirable, it will be strengthened by positive reinforcement. This process is repeated several times and gradually the desired response will change into a habit. If the response is not desirable, it will be discouraged and it will be hindered before changing into a habit. Generally, reinforcement is a very important tool in learning, especially in the early stages (Ibid).

a. Cognitive-social learning theory This theory is one branch of behavioral Theory of anxiety (Bandura, 1986, Horwitz,

1986). According to this theory, anxiety is learned through four mechanisms: i. By classical conditioning: as mentioned before in behavioral theory of

anxiety section. ii. By vicarious experience: watching another person who suffers from

anxiety. iii. By symbolic instruction: which is associated with learning through

education. iv. By symbolic logic: in which someone might infer or induce some

kinds of danger. This inference might be reasonable or unreasonable. (4) Cognitive Theory of Anxiety Cognitive theorists believe that situations on matters, by themselves, do not produce anxiety. Rather,

the individuals’ interpretation cause anxiety and this kind of anxiety is not related to the external world. Someone might misinterpret a real situation which would cause unreal anxiety (Rieg, et.al, 2007).

Relationship Between Anxiety and Second Language Learning The main point is that anxiety is related to learning other languages. It is a fact that every aspect of a

task has many small elements and this feeling whether we can tackle these elements properly or not, or generally this complex task, can create anxiety ( Pourebrahim, et. al, 2010). Since second language learning

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has many complex tasks, we cannot consider it an exception. Listening and speaking are considered as the main sources of creating anxiety. Spontaneous speech, unprepared communication, inability for understanding words, idioms or expressions and comprehension difficulty create high levels of anxiety, not only at anxious situation but also at normal situations (Tum, 2012).

Anxious students learn at a slow rate and they have more difficulty to recall the learned subjects. The

anxious students study more than normal or relaxed students, but their performance does not reflect their efforts. Another way of compensation is over-studying. Some anxious students will be so anxious when they make errors in their test, and they try to compensate it by studying more. However, these additional efforts will not lead to get better scores (Chapell, et, al, 2005).

According to Faleye (2010), students’ situation in one class may cause anxiety while in other classes

may not lead to anxiety. The students are anxious because of their experiences; they know their teachers judge them. They do not like to be corrected in the presence of their peers. But it is proposed that low anxiety has a positive effect on performance, but beyond a certain level, it hinders learning. Some kinds of anxiety make learning more efficient and some kinds are regarded as hindrances to learning (Faleye, 2010).

Anxiety and Test-Taking Anxious students feel that they learned the materials but their test performance did not reflect their

learning. Horwitz (1988) states that while test taking, most students feel anxiety. They usually complain to counselors and teachers that they know the answers of the questions but they forget them because of high anxiety. It is more common wile oral or speaking test “when many grammar points must be remembered and coordinated simultaneously” (p.28). Horwitz (1988) goes further and states that same problem will be occurred while selling test or syntax. The students remember correct answer after the test when the test anxiety will be completely disappeared. If the student realizes he or she is making preventable errors during the test, anxiety-and errors-may escalate.’(Ibid. P. 28)

Generally, anxiety does not permit students to examine more effective ways (Burns, 2004). They do

not want to wait to find the best solutions. They prefer to become relieved of the anxious situations. They lose sight of broader circumstances and also they cannot see effective ways to their solution. The anxious students are worried not only about answering questions but also about the result of the test. For this reason, they cannot concentrate completely and perhaps this difference is one of the main factors for being successful or unsuccessful. Most students feel anxious on the test so excessively that they forget everything they learned before (Chinta, 2005).

Parks-Stamm, et, al, (2010) pointed out that test anxiety is concerned with many things. The first and

the most important part are related to the lack of preparation. This point can easily be removed. If someone is well prepared, but he still fears, he is suffering from test-taking.

Cassady and Johnson (2002) argued that few people are not suffering from anxiety. He believed that

students become anxious because they should respond in the test even if they are not inclined to. Also they know that there performance in the test reflect their abilities in the second language.

Eum and Rice (2011) stated that test anxious students often put unrealistic demands on themselves

and expect to do things perfectly. Thus test performance is a failure for them. Students who are test-anxious in foreign language class probably experience considerable difficulty, when tests and quizzes are frequent and they do not consider this fact that even the brightest and most prepared students often make errors.

One aspect of anxiety is worrying about frequent testing and it is not clear yet that it is related to

type of test or it can be generalized to every test, because of normal test anxiety. It is generally known that the global test creates less anxiety than specific test (Lindsay, 2010). According to Zeidner (2007), one of the most important reasons for test anxiety is fear of negative evaluation. Another important factor, which

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creates anxiety, is the emotional problems of students. Sometimes, the students’ high anxiety relates to inappropriate family atmosphere, quarrels and… sometimes teachers create anxiety involuntary and indirectly (Ibid). Teachers always compare the students to each other and admire the diligent students. Teachers ignore the anxious students’ abilities and encourage their disabilities and weaknesses. Zeidner (2007) pointed out that fear of failing creates high anxiety, because the anxious students know if they cannot obtain the top score, they must hear taunt and contempt. It is one of the most important factors, which create high anxiety, even though they completely dominate the material test, they cannot perform well (Zeidner, 2007).

Cloze-Test and C-Test It must be mentioned here that Clece-Murcia (1991) referring to Cohen’s statement, pointed out that

“ the origins of the Cloze-test date back farther than many would think-to 1897, in fact” (p.41). Cloze-test for the first time was introduced by Taylor in 1953 (cited in Culhane, 1970. The main idea

of it is that if someone can understand all the message, it is easy to guess a single removed word. If this word is common and simple, guessing will be easy. This notion is a basis for creating Cloze-test. The word Cloze is taken from the concept of closer which is used in Gestalt psychology. It pinpoints to this fact that individuals can fill the gaps of incomplete units.

In a Cloze-test, words are deleted from a selective passage at regular intervals (usually between every

fifth and every tenth words). This is periodic or fixed-ration deletion, but we can use of random deletion. The length of removed words must be at the same length.

To construct a Cloze-test, firstly choose a long passage in which you can produce at least fifty blanks.

The kind of selective test depends on the purpose of the test. Second, every nth word must be deleted and put a blank with the same length, until you have 50 blanks. The first and the last sentences must be intact.

Every nth word means if every fifth word has been deleted in first paragraph, we must delete fifth

word in other paragraph. Then, the reader must read the whole passage and guess the deleted words. This process is comprehension first and then production.

There are two ways to score Cloze-test: The testee must guess the exact word. The testee can write appropriate word which is acceptable in the text. Cloze-test has been used to to measure the readability of the written materials, and then it was

applied to first language reading comprehension (Heaton, 1975). Generally speaking, it was used as a teaching device; the teachers used them to improve the students’ reading silks. The students must read more carefully, use the contextual clues, and they were actively involved with the reading passage.The Cloze-test has been used to measure English language proficiency (Aitken, 1977; Brown, 1993; Caulfield & Smith, 1981; Chavanachat, 1986; Fotos, 1991; Oller & Conrad, 1971; Stubbs & Tucker, 1974).

It must be mentioned here that Cloze-tests are different form simple blank-filing testes. In Cloze-

tests, deleted words are selected subjectively, namely, of structural comprehension ability. But, there was a controversial argument about Cloze -test. It was believed that traditional fixed-word-deletion could only measure reading ability at the word or the sentence level not at discourse level. There was no production and generally it was not clear that Cloze-tests could measure language proficiency or not. For these reasons another form of Cloze-test has been proposed by Klein-Braley (1981), which is called C-test or first letter Cloze. In this method, the second half of every second word is deleted. Like Cloze-tests, the first and the last sentences must be intact, but there is a difference here; a C-test consists of a number of different texts. Using many topics in one test, we can measure different language elements and also evaluate writing ability with reading ability. In other words, there is comprehension and production at the same time in C-test but there is a problem here; by deleting half of the word, students may not understand the whole text but can guess

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the deleted words. According to Raatz (1985) cited in Klein-Braley (1997), C-test is based on the following criteria:

1. The C-Test should be much shorter and should have at least 100 items. 2. The deletion rates and starting points of deletion should be fixed. 3. Only exact word scoring method should be employed. 4. There should be a number of different texts. 5. The words affected by the deletion should be a representative sample of the text. 6. Adult educated native speakers should make perfect scores on the test 7. The test should have high reliability and validity (p. 136). Nonetheless it is not clear so far that test anxiety would hinder the learners’ performance more on

C-tests or Cloze-tests.

METHODOLOGY

Subjects and instruments This study conducted to compare learners’ performance on C-test and Cloze-test and find out which

kind of these two tests create more anxiety. To achieve the object, one university in Mashhad, Iran was selected, randomly and then, 60 Iranian female Junior students were chosen randomly among three classes with the total estimated average number of students 150 (both sex); since females are more anxious than males (Kendler, et. al, 1992, Aida, 1994,Shear,1997, Pigott, 2003, Buss, 2011, Chaplin, et. al., 2013, Caballo, et. al. 2014), subject must be of the same sex. All the subjects were studying Bachelor degree in English Translation. First of all, the researcher must determine anxious students, for doing this, they were given an anxiety test. For this research, Hamilton test was selected as a standard anxiety test. After this procedure, C- test and Cloze- test were given, simultaneously. Both tests must be similar together as much as possible. Proficiency and difficulty level and numbers of item should be the same, both tests must have the same length.

The researcher selected Mashhad as the study site because she was completely familiar with the

teaching context in this city, since she has been teaching there for more than 15 years as an English teacher. All of the selected participants were learning in Mashhad; however, they might have originally come from other parts of Iran.

Procedures All subjects were given Cloze-test with 30 blanks, at first, they were asked to read the whole passage

quickly, because of this belief that students do better if they have a general idea about it (Culhane,1970; Heaton, 1975). One minute was given to respond to each item of the test. After 40 minutes, when all participants completed the Cloze-test, an anxiety test with unlimited time was given. Based on the results of anxiety test, the anxious students were identified, but the results were not announced. It was only recorded for analysis. It must be mentioned here that the students with a score more that 100 points were considered anxious students. Two weeks later, the same passage was given to the same students while it was changed into C-test. It must be mentioned here the purpose of doing these two tests, Cloze-test and C-test, is to measure reading comprehension ability in the present study. The test was constructed out of the passages extracted from authentic source.To control the observer effect, the tests were administered by the subjects' own teacher and in their own class time.The used scoring methods for Cloze test was guessing the appropriate word method and for C-test was guessing the exact word method.

Analysis Descriptive statistics for subjects' performance on the Cloze-test and C-test were used to compare

the mean score of the subjects in both tests. And then, Coefficient correlation formula was taken to determine whether there is any relationship between two variables; between C-test and anxiety test, and Cloze-test and anxiety test. It must be mentioned here that treatment was not necessary in this research.

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Cloze-test and C-test have been chosen for this paper because Cloze tests have been widely used for measuring reading comprehension since their introducing to the testing world by Taylor in 1953. But in 1982, Klein-Braley criticized cloze procedure mostly for their deletion and scoring problems. They introduced their newly developed testing procedure, C-test, which was an evolved form of cloze tests without their deficiencies (Klein-Braley, 1982 cited in Baghaei, 2008). After that, the effectiveness of C-test and Cloze test became the main interest of the scientists in the field of language testing. The other reason for choosing these two kinds of tests for the present paper is that they are easy to construct and to score (Connelly,1997; Raatz & Klein-Braley, 1985), and highly reliable and valid ( Connelly, 1997; Dornyei & Katona, 1992; Klein-Braley, 1997; Weiss,1983) and finally, they are economical (Weir, 1990, 1993).

After scoring, for the ease of comparison all the scores were calculated out of 100. Descriptive

statistics for both Cloze test and C-test are represented in Table 1.

Table 1 Descriptive statistics for subjects' performance on the Cloze-test and C-test

N Minimum Maximum Mean Standard Deviation

Cloze-Test 60 42.10 84.21 65.72 10.82 C-Test 60 28.57 76.78 49.83 12.20 As table 1 presents, the mean score of the subjects in cloze test (65.72) is higher than the mean score

of them in the C-test (49.83).

Table 2 SPSS output to test the relationship between anxiety and Cloze-Test & anxiety and C-test

Anxiety Cloze-Test C-Test

Anxiety Pearson Correlation 1.000 -.723** -.474**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 N 60 60 60

Cloze-Test Pearson Correlation -.723** 1.000 .752**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 N 60 60 60

C-Test Pearson Correlation -.474** .752** 1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 N 60 60 60 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). The SPSS results show a clear relationship between anxiety and C-test.

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One conclusion of this research is that students who experience high anxiety in the second language class, they will feel more anxiety in the test-taking and while comparing Cloze-test and C-test, the students feel more anxiety while taking C-test. Cloze-Test seems to test general knowledge of English comparing with C-Test. Birjandi and Alemi (2010) pointed out that students feel less anxiety while doing a test in general English. Moreover, Cloze-Tests are more similar to some academic tests while C-Tests are more about guessing. Dordi Nejad et. al. (2011) stated that there is a negative relationship between test anxiety and academic performance. Dedeyn (2011) suggested that there is negative relationship between anxiety and language performance evaluation. It can be concluded that Cloze is easier to take than the C-test, because the higher number of deletions in the C-test makes the process of comprehension difficult, and If C-test is assumed to be reading comprehension test, more time will be needed. The other reason refers back to his fact that there is more than one word which begins with the same letters.

Implications We investigate the negative effects of high anxiety so far. By referring too much valid research could

approximately show its outcomes. But how can we overcome this negative feeling? Or if it is impossible, how can we decrease it? Most psychologists believe that there are many ways to remove anxiety which are very easy theoretically and almost impossible practically. The consultants can play a major role in reducing the anxiety which has been created by the kind of the test. First of all, the root of anxiety (here, C-test) must be specified. By clarifying the problem, a plan can be constructed to overcome anxiety; try to change individuals’ attitudes about their personal feeling and help them to concentrate on the tasks rather than on feelings of fear, for example.

Another technique for removing anxiety is that teachers help students gain learning strategies and

they can also change instructional method and evaluation. The main step for removing anxiety includes some efforts to deal with the situation.

There is an important point here that a person can overcome his anxiety at low level. As anxiety

grows, overcoming will be more difficult and finally at the very high level, it will create panic and serious problems. For this reason, it is better the anxious students discuss their problem with an educational counselor, directly. The responsibility of consultants is an attempt to change self-related cognition. Anxious students can concentrate on the positive parts of their abilities. They must consider their abilities and try to encourage them and step by step, they must change their attitudes.

It should be noted here when an issue creates anxiety, the anxiety can travel from that issue to

another issue or even to other issues; in this case, the anxiety will get worse and many types of anxiety will be mixed to each other. Based on the findings of the present study, consultants must consider the fact that the type of test taking which creates anxiety, can lead to create the other kind of anxiety.

One of the best solution for decreasing the feel of anxiety is social support; the consultants can make

some groups of students who have the most similar characteristics and introduce some new anxious students to these groups.

The other support which anxious students can be received is informational and emotional support

which lead to decreasing academic stress and anxiety. This important job can be done by educational consultants and teachers.

The findings of the present study is important to the teachers and consultants showing them the

causes of anxiety and also give the some possible ways to decrease it; however, we should do research to discover ways of preventing test-anxiety from developing in the first place. Up to now, researchers have had

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difficulty in showing the role of anxiety in second language learning. Questions remain about the manner anxiety influences language learning.

LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDIES No research is absolutely complete and consequently no researcher can claim that the results of

her/his study can be applied in all possible cases. Additional research is obviously needed. This study is not, however, an exception. There are other alternatives related to this research, which are worthy of further investigation. This study focused on two kinds of tests and Participants were selected from Mashhad, the hometown of the researcher. Hence, the results of this study cannot be generalized to all students in Iran or worldwide . On the other hand, the participants of this study were all females. Therefore, according to Nazari (2007), the underlying principles can be generalized to the theory, not to a population. That is to say, the issue will be put forward and the related general theme not by “enumerative induction” but “analytical induction” (Mitchell, 2000). Considering the limitations of this study, further researches can be conducted such as:

1- The effect of age on the test-taking 2- Just one kind of tests can be chosen 3- The place of the research can be tested, i.e., will this research with the same topic have the same

results?

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Self-Efficacy and Chemistry Students’ Academic Achievement in Senior Secondary Schools in North-Central, Nigeria

Titilayo Funmisho Baanu [1], Oloyede Solomon Oyelekan[2], Adekunle Solomon Olorundare [3]

[1] School of Science, Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, Nigeria. [email protected] [2] Department of Science Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria [email protected] (Correspondence author) [3] Adekunle Solomon Olorundare Department of Science Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Self-efficacy reflects the extent to which students believe that they can successfully perform in school. It usually positively correlated with outcome expectations but it is possible that a student’s has high self-efficacy does not transform into a high academic achievement. This study sought to find out the relationship between chemistry students’ self-efficacy and their academic achievement in senior secondary schools in North-central, Nigeria. The study is an ex-post facto research and is a descriptive survey. The subjects of the study were one thousand one hundred and fifty (1150) senior secondary school III chemistry students selected from Kogi, Kwara and Niger States of Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics of mean, percentage and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The findings revealed that no significant relationship existed between self-efficacy and the academic achievement of the chemistry students. The study concludes that students’ self-efficacy needs to be complemented with a host of other factors to achieve high academic achievement in Chemistry. It is therefore recommended that attention be paid to other factors necessary for better students’ achievement in chemistry to complement students’ high self-efficacy, so that a combination of these factors could result in high academic achievement in Chemistry

Keywords: Self-efficacy, Chemistry Students, Academic Achievement, Senior Secondary Schools, Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION

Self-efficacy is defined as one’s belief in his/her capacity to perform a specific action successfully (Bandura, 1997, 2001). Self-efficacy determines how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes, which include cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes. A strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways, such as academic achievement.

Students might have different self-efficacy judgments in different types of tasks or domains. For

instance, a student who feels efficacious in biology might not feel that efficacious in chemistry. Self-efficacy influences people’s choice of tasks, showing effort and persistence at the task, and thus, is a better predictor of performance and motivation compared to other variables (Bandura, 1997). Similarly, Hampton and Mason (2003); Multon, Brown and Lent (1991); Pajares and Miller (1994); Shell, Colvin and Bruning (1995); Kupermintz (2002); Pintrich and Schunk (2002); Britner (2008); Kiran and Sungur (2011) have affirmed the relationship between self-efficacy and students’ achievement. According to Schunk (1985), self-efficacy

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beliefs mediate the effects of prior achievement, knowledge and skills on subsequent achievement. For instance, in schools, students with high self- efficacy tend to choose more challenging tasks, show more effort, and do not give up easily, which explains why students of similar ability can have different academic achievement (Bandura, 1997).

Efficacious students look for new challenges, show persistence at tasks and have the ultimate success

(Britner, 2008; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000). Even though such students have prior difficulties, the belief in their capabilities to overcome these difficulties results in the motivated performance (Bandura, 1986; Schunk, 1985). Studies have shown that science self-efficacy is associated with science achievement and science-related choices across grade levels (Britner, 2008). Andrew (1998) also found out that science self-efficacy predicted achievement at the college level. Among high school students, science self-efficacy was found to be a good predictor of achievement and engagement with science-related activities than gender and parental background (Kuperminty, 2002; Lau & Roeser, 2002; Lodewyk & Winne, 2005).

As a science subject, Chemistry is concerned with the study of composition and properties of natural

substances. It occupies a pivotal position in science and technology and is needed by everybody and in every aspect of human endeavor (Agwagah & Harbor-Peters, 1994; Akinsola, Tella & Tella, 2007; Olayemi, 2009; Abubakar & Eze, 2010). For instance, human beings have used organic compounds and their reactions for thousand of years in the manufacture of many valuable products for men use e.g. soap, oils, hydrogenated oil, kerosene, petrol, plastic, lubricants, vaseline, ceramics and detergents. More so, the ancient Egyptians used organic compounds (indigo and alizarin) to dye cloths which are products of scientific discovery. Chemistry is regarded as the hub of science and it is considered as a service subject (Bajah, 1997). Chemistry is the catalyst for sustainable national growth and development.

In spite of the central position of chemistry among science subjects and its importance in sustaining

sustainable economic growth and development, the performance of Nigerian candidates in School Certificate Chemistry over the years is not encouraging (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Performance of Nigerian students in the Chemistry in the May/June School Certificate

Examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council between 2008 and 2014. (Source: Statistics Division, West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Head Office, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria).

Figure 1 shows that during the percentage credit pass was less than 50% for most of the years

reviewed. In 2013, the performance improved but slid back again in 2014. Self-efficacy researchers typically assume that students’ belief in their ability to succeed in chemistry tasks, courses, or activities, or their sense

44.4 43.7

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of self-efficacy, has a powerful impact on their choices of science-related activities, the effort they expend on those activities, the perseverance they show when encountering difficulties, and the ultimate success they experience (Bandura, 1997; Britner & Pajares, 2006; Zeldin & Pajares, 2000; Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). Could the dismal performance of Nigerian candidates in School Certificate Chemistry be traceable to their self-efficacy? It is on the basis of the preceding paragraphs that this study was conducted to find out the relationship between students’ self-efficacy and their academic achievement in chemistry in North-Central Nigeria which include Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Self-efficacy is largely grounded in the social cognitive theory. This theory explains that human

functioning results from interactions among personal factors (e.g., cognitions, emotions), behaviors and environmental conditions (Bandura, 1986, 1997). From this perspective, self-efficacy affects one’s behaviors and the environments with which one interacts and is influenced by one’s actions and conditions in the environment. Self-efficacy is hypothesized to affect individuals’ task choices, effort, persistence and achievement (Bandura, 1997; Schunk, 1995). Compared with learners who doubt their capabilities, those who feel self-efficacious about learning or performing a task competently are apt to participate more readily, work harder, persist longer when they encounter difficulties and achieve at higher levels.

Learners acquire self-efficacy information from knowledge of others’ performances through social

comparisons. Similar others offer the best basis for comparison. Students who observe similar peers learn a task may also believe that they can learn it. Such vicarious information typically has a weaker effect than actual performance because vicariously-induced self-efficacy can be negated by subsequent performance failure.

Some researchers such as Pajares and Schunk (2001) and Usher and Pajares (2006) have reported

that students’ beliefs in their abilities to achieve desired goals strongly influence their academic achievement. In view of this Finn and Frone (2004) concluded that academic self-efficacy reflects the extent to which students believe that they can successfully perform in school. Self-efficacies are usually positively correlated with outcome expectations but it is possible that a student has high self-efficacy but low expectations about the grades earned from the examinations (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996).

Self-efficacy beliefs develop as a result of information from four types of resources: mastery

(enactive) experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion and physiological states. Mastery or enactive experiences are derived from what one has experienced are said to be the most forceful reference of self-efficacy beliefs. Vicarious experiences are gained by observing a model’s performance and comparing it with the observer. A comparatively weak source of self-efficacy is the persuasion like ‘I have faith in you’ given by others. The last source of students’ self-efficacy is physiological reactions which are stress, anxiety and other feelings seen as signs of physical incompetence (Bandura, 1997).

Self-efficacy beliefs are domain specific and refer to perceptions of capabilities to learn or perform

given tasks within specified domains (Pajares, 1996). In gauging self-efficacy, people assess their skills and capabilities to translate those skills into actions. Possessing skill can raise self-efficacy, which in turn can lead to further skill acquisition, but skill and self-efficacy are not synonymous in meaning. Students’ own performances offer the most reliable guides for gauging self-efficacy. In general, success raises self-efficacy and failures lower it, although an occasional failure after some successes is unlikely to have much impact. How people act can often be predicted better by their self-efficacy (i.e. the beliefs about their capabilities) than by their actual skills (Bandura, 1986). Self-efficacy also depends on students’ intelligence and abilities. In general, high-ability students feel more efficacious about performing well than do low-ability students, but self-efficacy is not necessarily a direct reflection of students’ intelligence and abilities.

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Purpose of the Study The main purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between self-efficacy and

chemistry students’ academic achievement in North-central, Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined: i. the level of academic achievement of senior school chemistry students in North-central, Nigeria. ii. the level of chemistry students’ self-efficacy in senior schools in North-central, Nigeria. iii. the relationship between students’ self-efficacy and their academic achievement in chemistry.

Research Questions The study provides answers to the following questions:

i. What is the level of the academic achievement of senior school chemistry students in North-central, Nigeria?

ii. What is the level of chemistry students’ self-efficacy among senior schools in North-central, Nigeria?

iii. Is there any relationship between senior school chemistry students’ self-efficacy and their academic achievement in chemistry?

Research Hypothesis HO1: There is no significant relationship between self-efficacy and academic achievement of senior

school chemistry students in North-central, Nigeria.


The study is a research conducted via a descriptive survey. The population for the study comprised all the chemistry students in the senior school three (SS3) in North-central, Nigeria. Four hundred chemistry students were selected by stratified random sampling from ten secondary schools in Kogi, Kwara and Niger States which made up of 1200 chemistry students and thirty secondary schools altogether in which one thousand one hundred and fifty chemistry students duly completed the questionnaire for the study.

Two instruments were used for the study. The first one was a researcher-designed questionnaire

named students’ self-efficacy questionnaire (SEQ) adapted from Bandura (1986). The modification of the questionnaire involved changing the response modes to the questions in the questionnaire from Very True (VT), True (T), Untrue (U) and Not At All (NAA) to Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD) respectively, in the believe that the response modes better represent respondents’ personal opinions. The change in the response modes necessitated the transformation of the questions which make up the questionnaire items into statements. The responses were scored 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively.

The items investigate the confidence which students had in undertaking different tasks in chemistry.

The questionnaire was validated by three lecturers in the Department of Science Education, University of Ilorin, Nigeria for item structure and language clarity. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined using a test-retest method of two weeks interval, in which the questionnaire was administered to thirty chemistry students from another school not covered by the main study. The data obtained was subjected to Pearson Product Moment Correlation. A calculated reliability coefficient of 0.72 was obtained.

The second instrument was the Chemistry result of the respondents in the Joint Mock School

Certificate Examination jointly conducted by all states in North-Central Nigeria. The Joint Mock School Certificate Examination questions were normally taken through the basic processes of validation and reliability before they were administered. Hence, the examination questions were deemed valid and reliable.

Copies of the questionnaire were directly administered to the students in each of the schools and

retrieved same day the school was visited. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using frequency counts, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation was employed to test the only hypothesis.

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DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS The data obtained are presented and explained as follows: Research Question 1: What is the level of the academic achievement of senior school chemistry

students in North-central, Nigeria? The results obtained in respect of this research question are presented on table 1.

Table 1: Students’ grades in Chemistry in the Joint Mock Examinations conducted by states, in North- Central, Nigeria in 2012.

States Grades Total

A1 B2 B3 C4 C5 C6 D7 E8 F9

Kwara 4 3 5 11 28 36 50 49 214 400

Kogi 26 6 14 32 44 88 66 50 74 400

Niger 2 39 47 59 53 62 43 23 22 350

Total 32 48 66 102 125 186 159 122 310 1150

Source: State Ministries of Education.

Table 2: Description of Chemistry Students’ Grades in Joint Mock Examinations in Kogi, Kwara and Niger States, Nigeria.

Grade Frequency Percentage Cumulative percentage

A1 32 2.8 2.8 B2 48 4.2 7.0 B3 66 5.7 12.7 C4 102 8.9 21.6

Continued

C5 125 10.9 32.4 C6 186 16.2 48.6 D7 159 13.8 62.4 E8 122 10.6 73.0 F9 310 27.0 100.0 Total 1150 100

Mean score is 49.39 Tables 1 and 2 show the level of Chemistry students’ academic achievement in the Joint Mock

Examinations conducted in Kogi, Kwara and Niger States, Nigeria. The result shows that only 559 (48.61%) of the respondents from Kogi, Kwara and Niger states passed at the credit level. It could be concluded that the level of academic achievement of chemistry students is low because the percentage score at credit level was

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less than 50%. The 48.61% was obtained from the addition of frequency from A1-C6 grade levels on table 2 and divided by the total frequency multiplied by one hundred i.e. 556 divided by 1150 multiplied by 100.

Research Question 2: What is the level of students’ self-efficacy among senior school chemistry

students in North-central, Nigeria? The data obtained in respect of this research question are presented on table 3.

Table 3: Summary of ranks of students’ self-efficacy mean scores among senior school chemistry students in North-central, Nigeria.

Item No Items Mean Rank Self-efficacy

83 I like explaining difficult topics in chemistry to other students 2.92 1st High

81 I always obtain good grade in chemistry test and examinations.

2.85 2nd High

90 I find it easy to explain the main ideas of public lectures on chemistry. 2.85 2nd High

85 I find it easy to explain the main ideas of public lectures on chemistry. 2.83 4th High

Continued

89 I easily apply theories learnt in chemistry class to laboratory practical work. 2.83 4th High

86 I learn chemistry without fear. 2.82 6th High

80 I conveniently talk to scientists about chemistry. 2.82 6th High

82 I am always in need of my chemistry teacher to supervise me during practical class. 2.78 8th High

88 I always get high grades in essay part of Chemistry questions during the examination 2.77 9th High

84 I easily get an appropriate formula to solve Chemistry problems. 2.74 10th High

87 I easily write out the summary of a television documentary that deals with chemistry. 2.72 11th High

Table 3 presents data on the level of students’ self-efficacy among senior secondary school chemistry

students. The obtainable scores for the response modes of strongly disagree, agree disagree and strongly agree are 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively, making 4 the maximum obtainable mean score for each of the items in the questionnaire. Self efficacy was then graded at three levels:

Low: 0-1.4 Average: 1.5 – 2.4 High: 2.5-4.0 The table shows that all the eleven items were ranked high with the mean scores ranging from 2.92

to 2.72. This means that all chemistry students in the study had high self-efficacy. Research Question 3: Is there any relationship between senior school chemistry students’ self-

efficacy and their academic achievement in chemistry? The corresponding hypothesis to research question 3 is hypothesis 1.

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HO1: There is no significant relationship between self-efficacy and academic achievement of senior school chemistry students in North-central, Nigeria.

The data obtained in respect of the question and the hypothesis is presented on table 4.

Table 4:Summary of Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient between self-efficacy and academic achievement of senior school chemistry students in North-central, Nigeria.

Variables No Mean SD df Calculated r p-value

Students’ self-efficacy 1150 30.40 6.415

1148 .038 .200 Academic achievement 1150 49.39 12.480

Not sig. at P> 0.05 Table 4 shows [r (1148, 0.05) =0.200]. Therefore, the null hypothesis was not rejected. This

suggests that there was no significant relationship between self-efficacy and chemistry students’ academic achievement in chemistry in North-central, Nigeria.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS From the findings of this study, it could be summarized that: 1. the academic achievement of the respondents from Kogi, Kwara and Niger States was

low. 2. the chemistry students’ self-efficacy in the three states under the study was high. 3. there was no significant relationship between self-efficacy and chemistry students’

academic achievement in chemistry in North-central, Nigeria.

DISCUSSION

The outcome of this study indicates that chemistry students in senior secondary schools in North-central Nigeria had a low level of academic achievement in the Joint Mock Chemistry Examination, as only 559 (48.61%) of the respondents passed at credit level. This is in spite of the fact that the result presented on table 3 shows that all the respondents had high self-efficacy in learning chemistry. This finding contradicts that of Britner (2008) and Kiran and Sungur (2011) who also reported high students’ self-efficacies in their studies, but which produced a corresponding high level of academic achievement in Chemistry. The finding is also not in agreement with those of Kupermintz (2002), Lau and Roeser (2002) and Lodewyk and Winne (2005) who reported that science self-efficacy were a better predictor of achievement and engagement with science related activities among high school students. It appeals to common sense that a high self-efficacy should produce a corresponding high academic achievement in learners, but the outcome of this study has indicated that this may not happen all the time. The differences observed in the outcome of this particular study and those of others could be due to the influence of other variables that contribute to students’ achievement complementing self-efficacy in their own study but not in this particular study.

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CONCLUSION

In this study, it was found out that students’ level of academic achievement in chemistry in North-Central, Nigeria was low. Yet, their self-efficacy was high. It was also found out that there was no significant relationship between the students’ self efficacy and their academic achievement. Hence, it could be concluded that the academic achievement of the students could not be ascribed to their self-efficacy alone as other factors contribute to the achievement of students in chemistry. The outcome of this study suggests that no matter how self-efficacious students are, it may not have any significant impact on students’ achievement in chemistry if other crucial factors to the proper learning of chemistry are left unattended.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Since the outcome of this study has indicated that, self-efficacy alone cannot impact significantly on students’ achievement in chemistry; attention should be paid to other factors necessary for better students’ achievement in chemistry. Such factors like provision of adequate laboratory materials, recruitment of qualified teachers, provision of conducive classroom environment etc should be taken much more seriously so that these can be complemented with the high self-efficacy of the students to produce a better achievement of students in chemistry.

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