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Purpose: Collaborative learning has been increasingly recognized as an effective approach to promote students' success in higher education. To better understand the factors that contribute to successful collaborative learning, this study applied the Biggs' presage-process-product (3P) general model of learning to investigate the role of teaching quality, student-faculty interaction, and relatedness as presage factors, collaborative learning as process factor, and reflective and integrative learning and higher-order thinking as product factors. Methodology: A cross-sectional approach was applied in this study, which included 1,892 Malaysian undergraduates. The study used the Quality of University Learning Experience (QULEX) survey to measure various constructs. First, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to establish the psychometric properties of the instruments. Thereafter, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to evaluate the latent variables relationships. Findings: Based on the findings, collaborative learning fully mediated the prediction of student-faculty interaction, teaching quality, and relatedness on reflective and integrative learning and higher-order thinking. Significance: These findings suggest that collaborative learning with social components and effective teaching maximize students' learning activities, and they should be fostered in academic institutions to improve students' academic success. Implications for improving teaching and learning are also discussed in this paper.

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the relationship and influence of mathematics teachers' perception and readiness on the practice of critical thinking skills (CTS) in implementing pedagogical processes in secondary schools. Methodology: Participants of the study consisted of 226 mathematics teachers who taught in three different secondary school categories, namely high performing schools (HPS), moderate performing schools (MPS) and low performing schools (LPS) throughout the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. The instrument used was adapted from Thurman (2009) to test the teachers' perception of CTS, while the teachers' readiness to apply CTS was adapted from Nagappan (2001) and Yusof and Ibrahim (2012). Besides, measurement of the teachers' practice of CTS was adapted from Aldegether (2009), Barak and Shakhman (2008), and Shim and Walczak (2012). Findings: Teachers' perception, readiness, and CTS practice in mathematics teaching were high in HPS but low in LPS. There was a strong positive relationship between teachers' perception of CTS practice and teachers' readiness to implement CTS practice in mathematics teaching. In addition, a total of 65 percent variance was contributed by both variables, namely teachers' perception and teachers' readiness for CTS practice in mathematics teaching, and this contribution was very high. Significance: The findings of the study also proved that the practice of CTS has improved the pedagogical quality of teachers, especially in meeting the needs of 21st century learning in the classroom. The emphasis on higher order thinking skills (HOTS) is a continuation of the excellence of teaching strategies through a variety of planned learning resources.

Purpose: The Malaysian government has allocated a large budget for "Orang Asli" primary school education via the Department of "Orang Asli" Development (JAKOA) to help improve the "Orang Asli" pupils' academic performance and in, Mathematics as well. Teachers face challenges in ensuring that "Orang Asli" pupils become competent learners of mathematics. Hence, there is a need to explore the teachers' perspectives on the teaching and learning of Mathematics in the "Orang Asli" schools. This study examined the teachers' perspectives on the issues and challenges of the teaching and learning of mathematics for the "Orang Asli" primary school pupils in Malaysia. Methodology: In this qualitative study, two "Orang Asli" primary schools were randomly selected from eight primary schools within an "Orang Asli" Settlement in the District of Sungai Siput. The data were collected via focus group discussions and interviews, which were carried out during the enculturation visits and were fully transcribed and thematically analysed. The research participants were purposively selected and comprised the school's administrators and mathematics teachers. Findings: The results of the data analysis show that there are two main themes, namely classroom challenges and school challenges, in determining mathematics competence among "Orang Asli" pupils. Classroom challenges consists of five sub-themes namely coverage of Mathematics syllabus, Mathematics teaching and learning resources, pupil engagement, language barrier, and Mathematics learning culture. School challenges consists of two sub-themes namely school attendance and discipline. To enhance mathematics competence among "Orang Asli" pupils, it is deemed important to implement programmes and community engagement. Significance: This study contributes towards the knowledge of teaching and learning of Mathematics for "Orang Asli" pupils. Teachers are recommended to allow "Orang Asli" pupils to take home their mathematics textbooks so that they can complete their homework at home. Teachers are highly recommended to conduct mathematics teaching and learning activities in groups for meaningful and engaging lessons.

The purpose of this study is to investigate Indigenous pupils' achievement in Mathematics with Bilingual (Bahasa Melayu and Temiar) versions of mathematics tests. Both tests were based on Mathematics computation and word problem items. This study involved eight Orang Asli (Indigenous) primary students from eight schools in the district of Sungai Siput, Perak. A total number of 230 Grade 5 (11 years old) pupils participated in the study. Difficulty index was used to measure pupils' achievement in mathematics computation and word problem items involving Bahasa Melayu and Temiar (the Orang Asli native language). 50 Multiple Choice Items (MCI) were administered in two languages which were the Malay language and Bilingual (Malay and Temiar) languages, where the Temiar language is the Orang Asli's language in the oral form. The oral form of the Temiar language was translated from the Malay language by Temiar native language experts, which were then audio recorded by the researchers. The study provide evidence that the Bilingual test version that used Temiar language is easier for the pupils and this version had also improved Grade 5 pupil's achievement in mathematics word problems items in. It is conjectured that the Orang Asli pupils' performance in the computation test is better than the word problem items in Mathematics.

Failure in addressing students' needs in the context of student learning experiences may lead to negative impact on the image of higher education. Framed in self-determination theory, this study examined students' relatedness on most satisfying experiences in their respective universities. Participants' (N=1974) responses to open-ended questions were inductively coded to understand relatedness principles of student learning experiences to emerge from the data. The findings revealed that students valued the role of lecturers in professional and personal contexts, peers for friendship and teamwork and academic and non-academic experiences resulted from projects and activities. Given this, to provide a positive learning environment for students, university management needs to address and support lecturers' well-being, pay attention to student relations on campus and support academic and non-academic activities. By understanding the roles of connecting students to lecturers, students to students and students to administrative staff, we could build a dynamic and functional campus environment for each party to live and care about each other.

Purpose: This study examined the quality of English test items using psychometric and linguistic characteristics among Grade Six pupils. Method: Contrary to the conventional approach of relying only on statistics when investigating item quality, this study adopted a mixed-method approach by employing psychometric analysis and cognitive interviews. The former was conducted on 30 Grade Six pupils, with each item representing a different construct commonly found in English test papers. Qualitative input was obtained through cognitive interviews with five Grade Six pupils and expert judgements from three teachers. Findings: None of the items were found to be too easy or difficult, and all items had positive discrimination indices. The item on idioms was most ideal in terms of difficulty and discrimination. Difficult items were found to be vocabulary-based. Surprisingly, the higher-order-thinking subjective items proved to be excellent in difficulty, although improvements could be made on their ability to discriminate. The qualitative expert judgements agreed with the quantitative psychometric analysis. Certain results from the item analysis, however, contradicted past findings that items with the ideal item difficulty value between 0.4 and 0.6 would have equally ideal item discrimination index. Significance: The findings of the study can serve as a reminder on the significance of using Classical Test Theory, a non-complex psychometric approach in assisting classroom teacher practitioners during the meticulous process of test design and ensuring test item quality.

Purpose:In an attempt to explore item characteristics that behave differently between boys and girls, this comparative study examines gender Differential Item Functioning in a school culture that is noted to be 'thriving' mathematically. Methodology: Some 24 grade eight mathematics items from TIMSS 2003 and TIMSS 2007 released items, with equal number of computation and word problem items were administered on 460 boys and 445 girls studying in Grade Eight from three secondary Chinese-medium coeducational schools. Word problem items were defined as items set in a real-world context. Content validity was established by constructing a table of specifications. By employing the software WINSTEPS version 3.67.0 that is based on the Rasch Model for dichotomous responses, Differential Item Functioning analysis was conducted by using Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square method. DIF items were flagged when the Mantel-Haenszel probability value was less than 0.05 and classified as negligible, moderate or large DIF based on the DIF size suggested by Educational Testing Service DIF category. The focal and reference groups were girls and boys respectively. The main delimitation was substantive analysis by using expert judgment was not conducted to identify biased items. Findings: Using Mantel-Haenszel chi-square, two moderate DIF items that assess subtraction favoured girls. They assessed "Knowing" from topics "Whole Number" and "Fraction". Sources of DIF are linguistics density and item presentation style. The findings suggest that with only two moderate DIF mathematics items, there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the mathematics items functioned differently between boys and girls in school culture noted for successful mathematics learning, even though linguistics complexities of the test language cannot be ignored. Significance: While constructing Mathematics multiple choice items, careful considerations need to be given in selecting suitable numbers in composing the content of the item so that, only the correct algorithm would produce the correct answer 'if and only if' those numbers are used. The modest results of detecting two moderate DIF items nevertheless inform national testing agencies and teacher educators on the principles of building fair items as a part of their test improvement practice in the 21st Century. The novelty of this study is that gender Differential Item Functioning was studied in the context of school culture, which is notable for successful mathematics learning.

The shift in contemporary workplaces has caused higher education institutions to place importance on developing non-academic attributes along with academic success to help students accomplish academic and occupational goals. Reflective and integrative learning as a cumulative process of students' experiences inside and outside the classroom during university years can facilitate the development of desired attributes among undergraduates. The current study, grounded in Biggs' ("Higher education research and development," 12(1), 73-85, 1993) 3P model approach, investigated the role of student-faculty interaction, assessment and feedback, and campus environment as presage factors, and reflective and integrative learning as the process factor and academic and soft skills gain as the product factors into a full mediation model. A total of 1892 final year Malaysian undergraduate students from 18 universities across Malaysia participated in the cross-sectional survey study. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that reflective and integrative learning fully mediates the relationship between student-faculty interaction, assessment and feedback, campus environment, and academic and soft skills gains. The implications for teaching and learning and student development are discussed.

This is the first standard setting study in Malaysia aimed at developing Performance-Level Descriptors (PLDs) and determining cut scores that differentiate undergraduates with low, moderate and high employability skills using a newly developed Situational judgment Test (SJT). SJT items from five domains critical for future job employment: 1) critical thinking and problem solving, 2) enterprising, 3) integrity, 4) leadership and 5) teamwork were developed. Modified Angoff method involving PLDs and cut scores were developed by five subject-matter experts. Two test instruments were used: 10 practice and 36 original bilingual Malay-English SJT items. The PLDs and two cut scores to distinguish low, moderate and high employability skills were validly developed, without compromising consequential validity. The findings benefit undergraduates with low employability as they can be trained with current global job readiness skills by the universities, which also forms the practice implication of this study. Another practical implication is academicians can be further encouraged to understand the theoretical framework of establishing standard setting for employability.

This study examined the validity of trilingual test as a test accommodation to assess the Indigenous pupils' mathematical performance in Malaysia. The study employed two tests; BM-only test with items written in Malay language (BM) and trilingual test, which had items written in BM and English, and oral audio recording in their native Temiar Language. Each test had the same 30 computation and 20 word problem items, which measured the same mathematical content and skills. Using spiral administration, 33 Grade Five pupils sat for the BM-only test while 34 pupils sat for the trilingual test from two schools in one state. Rasch analysis was conducted using WINSTEP 3.72. The results indicated that both tests had comparable content and score. The trilingual test that used orally translated items in the Indigenous native language benefitted the Indigenous pupils in bilingual immersion programmes and was a valid measure of their mathematical ability.

The shift in contemporary workplaces has caused higher education institutions to place importance on developing non-academic attributes along with academic success to help students accomplish academic and occupational goals. Reflective and integrative learning as a cumulative process of students' experiences inside and outside the classroom during university years can facilitate the development of desired attributes among undergraduates. The current study, grounded in Biggs' (Higher education research and development, 12(1), 73-85, 1993 (See CR10)) 3P model approach, investigated the role of student-faculty interaction, assessment and feedback, and campus environment as presage factors, and reflective and integrative learning as the process factor and academic and soft skills gain as the product factors into a full mediation model. A total of 1892 final year Malaysian undergraduate students from 18 universities across Malaysia participated in the cross-sectional survey study. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that reflective and integrative learning fully mediates the relationship between student-faculty interaction, assessment and feedback, campus environment, and academic and soft skills gains. The implications for teaching and learning and student development are discussed., Author(s): Rosna Awang-Hashim [sup.1] , Amrita Kaur [sup.2] , Norhafezah Yusof [sup.3] , S. Kanageswari a/p Suppiah Shanmugam [sup.1] , Nor Aziah Abdul Manaf [sup.4] , Ainol Madziah Zubairi [sup.5] [...]

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic subsequently led to the digitalization of education, whereby globally virtual learning was implemented to sustain learning. This study aims to explore the challenges faced by Orang Asli pupils when carrying out virtual learning from the mathematics teachers' perspectives. By employing exploratory qualitative research design and purposive sampling, five teacher participants from two schools in two states in Malaysia were selected. Data was collected from two online and face-to-face focus group interviews. Thematic analysis identified four major themes, which are challenges related to language proficiency, logistic, home and classroom. Based on these emergent themes, various stakeholders can focus their efforts to address these challenges to mitigate Orang Asli pupils' potential learning loss in the post-Covid era and thus, ensure they remain abreast to current mathematics learning. Further studies should explore on mobile and modular learning as promising alternatives means of content delivery for their future virtual learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]