Journal of Studies in Education E ISSN 2162-6952 2 2012, Vol. 2, No.

Lea arning Techniq T ques am mong Adult A St tudents s in Hig gher Le earning g Institu utions, M Ministr ry of Higher H E Educati ion M Malaysi ia
As shari bin Sik kor Faculty of f Technical Education Universiti Tun Hu ussein Onn Malaysia, M Malaysia M E-mail: a ashari@uthm m.edu.my

Sap pon bin Ibra ahim Faculty of f Technical Education Universiti Tun Hu ussein Onn Malaysia, M Malaysia M E-mail: s sapon@uthm m.edu.my

Mohamad M Hi isyam bin Mohd. M Hashim Faculty of f Technical Education Universiti Tun Hu ussein Onn Malaysia, M Malaysia M E-mail: mh hisyam@uthm.edu.my

Ahma ad Rizal bin Madar Faculty of f Technical Education Universiti Tun Hu ussein Onn Malaysia, M Malaysia M E-mail: ri rizalm@uthm m.edu.my

ed: July 12, 2012 Receive doi:10.5 5296/jse.v2i4.2097

Accepted: Oc ctober 30, 2012 2

Pub blished: Nov vember 1, 2012 2

URL: h http://dx.doi i.org/10.529 96/jse.v2i4.2 2097

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Abstract A suitab ble learning g technique among adu ult students especially e in n the early a adult age. could create an act tive and conducive lea arning envir ronment. Th he objective e of this stu udy is to gate the prob blems faced d by student ts during lea arning proce ess. The stud dy also will identify investig the dom minant learn ning technique being pr racticed by most m of the students. In n addition, th he study will als so point out t the most suitable s lea arning techn nique for th he present t time adult students. s Apart fr rom that, the study will l also identif fy if there is s a relations ship between n students learning techniqu ue with their demograp phical aspec cts. This stu udy focused d on student rly adult ts in the ear age tha at is student ts who are undergo th he course of Bachelor of Educati ion (Techni ique and Vocatio onal) at UTH HM. They are a in the ag ge of 21 yea ars old and above. Sam mple of the research r involve ed 108 stud dents. The research r is carried out qualitative ely through the instrum ments of survey f forms and supporting s interviews. A All data obt tained are an nalyzed by u using the St tatistical Package e for Socia al Science (SPSS) ( soft ftware versi ion 12.0 in order to f find the min score, percentage and standard de eviation. Sp pearmans Rho correlation is u used to att tain the relation nship between students learning t technique with w their demographic d cal aspects namely, their ge ender, race, age and aca ademic ach hievement. The T findings of the rese earch show w that the commo on problem usually fa aced by st tudents is being too worried ab bout the academic ement. Where as, the do ominant lea arning techn nique used by b adult stud dents are dis scussion achieve and me emorizing techniques. t Furthermor re, there is s a slight relationship between students s learning g technique e with their age. Conse equently, it t is highly hoped h that this researc ch could benefit all the entit ties involved. There are e also some e suggestion ns stated in t this research h for the purpose e of improvi ing the learn ning techniq ques of stud dents. Keyword: Learnin ng Techniqu ues, Adult S Students, Hi igher Learning Instituti ions

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Introdu uction The wo orld of edu ucation has s expanded d significan ntly with changes c inv volving asp pects of philosop phy, system m change, cu urriculum c change, visio on and miss sion change e as well as in terms of pedag gogical aspect in line with w the curr rent requirem ments (Rusl li Mahmood d, 2002). In order to cope wi ith this chal llenge, high her learning institutions s should be capable c of p producing excellent e world c class teacher rs. Driven by b this nece essity, the Teacher T Trai ining Divisi ion of the Malaysia M Ministry y of Educa ation has em mbarked on n more syst tematic trai ining cours ses in line with w the requirem ment of teac chers based d on subjects s in school (Lokman A. A Wahid et. al., 2003). Teachin ng is a pro ocess where e selection (overt sele ection) and arrangeme ent of infor rmation, activity y, approach and mediu um to assist t students id dentifying the t objectiv ve of learni ing. The selectio on of teach hing strateg gy and suita able teachi ing aids to teach cert tain selecte ed topic. Activiti ies that will l be carried out during teaching pr rocess also need to be identified to t assure that the e process will w run smo oothly and effectively y. In other words, w teac ching is a dynamic d process s that depends on the co ondition of the students s, the enviro onment of t the learning g process as well as the topic c to be taugh ht. Adult s student defi inition invo olved the w whole plann ned educatio on process for adults. This is because e the aim of f adults edu ucation is b broad involv ving their determinatio on to develo op skills, enrichin ng knowled dge as well as a improvin ng their qua alification an nd professio onalism. Th herefore, the app proach of teaching carr ried out sho ould be suita able since in i adults ed ducation ph hase, the tor need to be more sensitive s to owards the differences s of adult s students pr rincipals facilitat compar red to the pe edagogy. Fo or example, the facilitat tor needs to o take into ac account the factor f of students s experienc ces because e andragogy y is differen nt from ped dagogy whic ch is more towards the chil lds psycho ological edu ucation. In this perspective, the Teaching T an nd Learning g Model introduc ced by Knowles base ed on his a assumption would be an alternat tive to assist in an effectiv ve teaching and a learning g process. In the E Europe and the t United Stated, Adu ults educati ion is a soci ial requirem ment that goes along with the e formation of democra acy and indu ustrial revol lution. Adul lts educatio on happened for the first tim me in Europe e in England d during the e early of nin neteenth cen ntury. Wher reas it only occur in the Uni ited States of o America at the end o of the ninet teenth centu ury as an ad dditional sub bject for the adul lts in univer rsities, publ lic libraries and museum ms (Gesner r, 2000). Mohd A Azhar et. al. (2004) stat ted that, adu ults educati ion is a mark k of movem ment in chan nging the commu unity toward ds a meanin ngful life an nd it is also o a strategic c movement t in the new w life of Americ can commun nity in the old days. He therefor re stated th hat, this life felong learn ning is a heritage e of the anc cestors of American A a and Europea an commun nity. Thus, t the develop pment of human being can be perform med if attent tion is paid d to adults education since this learning process s needs to be e quickly ex xpands in lin ne with the developme ent of the co ountry. In the m methodology y of Adults Education n, practically y the instruc ctions for th he adults ne eed to be focused d more on th he process compared to o the content t. Strategies s such as cas se study, sim mulation and self f assessmen nt are the most m effectiv ve. Teacher rs role is more m as faci ilitators and d less as lecturer r or assessor r. Thus, it ca an be seen t that, adults learning l pro ocess is a tec chnique in teaching t
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and lear rning metho od where it involves i the e process wh here adult students real lize how to evaluate experien nces obtain ned to solve e problems. . According g to Esah Sulaiman S (2 2004), it is clear as stated b by Knowles (1968) in th he principal ls of adult students. s Backgr round of Pr roblems In gene eral, the edu ucation syste em can be s said as cons sisting of tw wo main role es. First rol le is as a machine to provid de trained manpower in varietie es of knowl ledge and skills to bo oost the country ys economi ic growth. Whereas on n the other r hand, stud dents are ho oped to be equally balance ed in terms of o emotiona al, spiritual, physical an n intellectua al through th he formal ed ducation system. Thus, edu ucation insti itutions are e where the e process of education n occurs to prepare students s for the wo orkplace req quirement. I It is clear th hat education institution ns have a vi ital role. For inst tance, schoo ols are said d to be able to play the role effecti ively as we ell as evalua ating the progres ss of student ts in the pre ecise manne er. Before entering th he workpla ace, a com mplete prep paration con nsists of v varieties of aspects especially in terms s of knowled dge is param mount. Acco ording to Mok M Soon Sa ang (2002) learning is a proc cess of gain ning knowledge or skill s and it is oc ccurs throug gh trainings s or experien nces that will be able to chan nge the beha avior of a hu uman perma anently and consistently y. By practi icing the nces and kn nowledge ob btained from m the learnin ng process, it can be co onsidered as s change experien in huma ans behavi ior. As agre eed by Hon ney and Mu umford (199 92), learnin ng took plac ce when human can show or o do someth hing new, a although in the t form of f comprehen nsion, realiz zation or ity of doing g certain ski ills. There is s certain eagerness sho own or poss sessed by in ndividual capabili in the p process of le earning. Th here are eag gerness to gain g experience when l learning som mething, eagerne ess to recall ling someth hing, eagern ness to draw w conclusion n and eager rness to imp plement. Learnin ng process also a need to o be seen a as a qualitat tive change when an in ndividual is s seeing, experien ncing and embracing e something in n the real world. w In The 9 9th Malaysi ia Plan, The e Prime Min nister Datuk k Sri Abdull lah Ahmad Badawi stre essed on the need of the co ountry to ha ave first cla ass human capital. c Thi is statement t has been an issue nationally especial lly in the fie eld of educa ation. It is al lso has been n a challeng ge to the Min nistry of Higher Education. . In conjun nction, High her Learnin ng Institutio ons in the country ar re being obligate ed to produ uce graduate es with skil lls and char racter so th hat they can n compete globally. g Neverth heless, few evidences e sh how that the e desired gr raduates are still short o on productio on due to their lac ck of suitab ble learning technique e especially am mong adult students (M Mohd Najib, 2005). Amran (2004) foun nd out that, most m of stud dents depen nd only to the lecturer in n getting kno owledge. He also o stated that t, learning process p of a adult studen nts only concentrated in n the class and a they never d do any revis sions at hom me. Based o on this, it might m have been b caused d by factors such as fatigue, , interruptio on from children, husba and or wife. Excellent achievemen a nt in academ mic is not only de epends on ef ffective lear rning techni ique. The usage u of stud dy method o or techniqu ue is also importa ant in order to success. This is con ncerning esp pecially to adult studen nts who hav ve many kind of f problems such as finan ncial proble em, persona al problems and problem ms to alloca ate spare s, adult stud dents should d be smart enough e to use u the right t study techn nique so time to study. Thus that they can blend d into the lea arning proc cess effectiv vely and systematically y (Sharuddin n, 2005).

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Wherea as, accordin ng to Abu Bakar et. al. (1997) ), factors of o financial l, family and time manage ement are the t main li imitation in n their lear rning proce ess. This is s because financial f conditio on and time e allocation are the imp portant aspe ects for stud dent who ar re married and a have family pursuing th heir studies in universi ities. Stude ent nowaday ys are more e exposed to t social es and adva ances of technologies s so quality ti ime of study y and ideal study envir ronment activitie are quit te limited fo or them. Decline e in students academic c performan nce is some ething that cannot c be n neglected es specially when in nvolving stu udents in hig gher learnin ng institution ns. If this pr roblem is no ot controlled during the early stage, ima age of a cer rtain univers sity or instit tution will be b affected b badly in the e eyes of the com mmunity. Th his could leads to loss of trust from m the comm munity and they will no longer sending g their child dren to that t particular university or instituti ion. In the process of gaining excellen nt academic c achieveme ent a student t must have e desire and aim to be su uccessful. There T are some el lements tha at could dist turb success s. Elements that could disturb suc ccess are not having clear ob bjectives, no n ambitions s, incapable e to manage e time correctly, lazy, lack of spi irits and think ne egatively (S Sulaiman, 20 002). If learning techniq que especially for adult t students ca an be identi ified and co omplete with h proper guidanc ce, failure to o achieve excellent e aca ademic performances could c well b be avoided. This is because e students that t know for f themselv ves their le earning tech hnique can learn about t certain subject better. The ey will be ab ble to unde erstand the concept c clea arly. Hence e, academic success nts are high hly depends on the learn ning techniq que practice ed by them. among adult studen Statem ment of Prob blem The wo orld of educ cation has been b expand ding extensively involv ving the asp pect of phil losophy, system changes, curriculum c changes, m mission and d vision ch hanges as w well as cha anges in gical approa aches so tha at it could s suite the cur rrent require ement (Rus sli Mahmood, 5002: pedagog 54). Lec cturers teac ch in any loc cal institutio ons such as Public or Private P or ev ven Poly Te echnique College es are highly y qualified for f the job. There are fe ew findings in the field d of human resource r show th hat most of students are e unable to use suitable e learning te echnique es specially am mong the adult stu udents who are doing part p time stu udies. This statement s go oes along wi ith Anderso on et. Al. (1949) saying that t, most stud dents are h highly depe ending on the teacher or lecturer r for the over, the mo ost practiced d learning te echnique is group g discu ussion and li istening. knowledge. Moreo Apart fr from that, Adult A learnin ng process o only concen ntrated in th he class and they do not do any revision n at home due d to som me factors su uch as fatig gue, lack of time and etc. Based d on this stateme ent, a resear rch has been carried ou ut to identify problems from the aspects of learning among adult studen nts in the Pu ublic Highe er learning Institutions, I , Ministry o of Higher Ed ducation Malaysia. ve and Que estions Research Objectiv To inve estigate the problems faced f during g learning process p amo ong adult stu tudents in pursue of improvi ing their academic a ac chievement ts. To dete ermine the dominant learning te echnique practice ed and to identify the t relation nship betw ween learni ing techniq que and students s demogr raphical asp pects. The Research R qu uestions are what are th he learning problems faced f by
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adult st tudents in th he chase of f improving g their acade emic achiev vement?, wh hat is the dominant d learning g technique e practiced by adult st tudents?, wh hat is the most m suitabl le techniqu ue in the context of adult stu udents learn ning nowada ays? Is there e a signifi icant relatio onship exis st between n students learning te echnique an nd their demogr raphy? Scope o of Study The stu udy focuses s on the pro oblems face ed during learning pro ocess among ng adult students of Educati ion Faculty y in Public Higher Le earning Inst titutions. Be esides that,, this resear rch also focuses s on the dominant d le earning tec chnique pra acticed. Fur rthermore, the most suitable ue for adult t student in current time e is also foc cused. Final lly, this rese earch also id dentified techniqu the rela ationship between lea arning techn nique and students demography d y. In this research, r research her limits th he study on nly on certa ain aspects so that the e scope will l not be too o broad. According to Moh hd Najib (2 2003), a res searcher wil ll not be ab ble to study y all aspect ts of the problem m being ana alyzed. This s research o only involv ved a public c institution n of higher learning namely the UTHM M which of ffers the T Technique and a Vocatio onal Educat tion Progra am. This research h is speciall ly carried ou ut to identif fy learning techniques t suitable for r adult stude ents who are und dergoing master m degre ee course. I It is predic cted that th he findings would be able to contribu ute on imp proving the effectivene ess of acad demic progr rams among g adult students in Public I Institution of o Higher Learning, L M Ministry of Higher H Education. This s research also a will offer so ome suggest tions for the e teaching s staffs so the ey can overcome probl lems faced by adult students s in higher learning l ins stitutions. Research Method dology Design of Researc ch search is ca arried out qualitatively q y. Methods of survey forms fo and in nterview to support This res data obt tained from m the survey forms. The objective of the researc ch is to iden ntify problem ms faced by adu ult student in their le earning pro ocess when n they desi ire a succe essful achie evement academ mically. Besi ides that, thi is study also o aims to fin nd the curren nt dominant t learning te echnique practice ed by adult students who w are unde ertaking Master progra am in UTH HM. The tec chniques being s studied are reading tec chnique, rem membering g or memor rizing, mind d map note e taking, individu ual learning g and group p discussion n technique. . Location of o research is in the Universiti U Tun Hu ussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), ( c concentratin ng on studen nts of Mast ter of Educ cation in Techniq que and Voc cational. Group sam mpling is tak ken from students of M Master of Ed ducation in Tech hnique and Vocational V in i UTHM. T This group of o student is s chosen bas sed on their existing fundam mentals on pedagogy subject, po ossessing working w exp perience, b basic biolog gy, law, psychol logy and so ocial. They are a also in t the early ad dult age. Ins struments u used in this research r are a su urvey form and a an interview. The s survey form m consists of f four parts n namely Part t A, Part B, Part C, and Par rt D. Every question is close ende ed type so th hat they wo ould be easi ier to be answere ed since the e respondent ts are studen nts. Part B and a Part C contained c 8 items perta aining to the prob blems encou untered during learning g process an nd concerning learning g technique.

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A prelim minary stud dy has been carried c out o on 30 studen nts to determ mine the rel liability of the items in the su urvey form. Data obtain ned from thi is prelimina ary study are e being anal lyzed and an ny items found to o be not reliable were enhanced. e T The preliminary outcom me shows th hat the relia ability of the surv vey form is a value of Alpha A Cron nbach 0.909. According g to Mohd N Najib Abdul Ghafar (1999), High reliab bility of a ce ertain instru ument has a value of Al lpha Cronba ach more th han 0.80. The dat ta was carr ried out bas sed on item ms in every y part of the survey fo orm. All da ata were accumu ulated and processed p using u SPSS S version 12 2.0 for Win ndows. Out tcomes of the data analysis s are then be eing present ted in tables s form. Data a obtained were w analyz zed in inference way as well as descripti ive by perfo orming min score calcu ulation to an nswer every y research qu uestion. Research Finding gs Table 1 shows th he analysis s of person nal informa ation of re espondents. 71 (66%) ) of the respond dents are female studen nts whereas s 37 (34%) are male students. Be esides that, analysis shows t that, Malay respondent ts are the mo ost recorded d which is 91 9 (84%) fo ollows by ot ther race of 7 (6% %), 5 Chines se (5%) and d 5 Indian (5 5%). There are a 67 stude ents (62%) a aged 21 to 25 2 years, 40 stude ents (37%) aged 26 to 30 3 years, an nd only 1 stu udent (1%) aged a more th than 30 year rs old. In terms o of academic c achievem ment, There are 3 (3%) students with results s of 2.30~2 2.99, 77 students s (71%) wit th results of f 3.00~3.69 and 28 stud dents (26%) ) with result ts of 3.70~4 4.00.

Table 1. Personal Information I n Analysis o of Responde ents

No. 1. Respondents Descript tion Gender: Male Female Race: : Malay y Chines se Indian n Others Age: d below 20 years and 21-25 ye ears 26-30 ye ears 30 years and d above Ac cademic Ach hievement: 2.00 and below b 2.00-2.2 29 2.30-2.9 99 3.00-3.6 69 3.70-4.0 00 Num mber of Stud dents 37 71 91 5 5 7 0 67 40 1 0 0 3 77 28 Per rcentage (%) 34 66 84 5 5 6 0 62 37 1 0 0 3 71 26

2.

3.

4.

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Problem ms during Learning Process P

Table 2 2. Min Score e Item of Pr roblems dur ring Learnin ng Process

Va ariables Item m No. I Nu umber of Ite em Overall Min Level Medium m

Pro oblems du uring Lea arning 5-12 2 8 2.84 Pro ocess Min Sco ore Range : 1.00-2.00 1 (low w), 2.01-3.00 0 (Medium), , 3.01-4.00 (H High)

Table 2 shows the Overall Mi in Score of f Item of Pro oblems duri ing Learnin ng Process. Base on the tabl le, the overa all min valu ue is 2.84 w which in me edium level l. The result t show that t a lot of adult stu udents of Master M in Tec chnique and d Vocationa al Education n are likely t tend to wor rry about their ac cademic ach hievement compared c to o other prob blems. Thus s, it can be concluded that, the stated it tem is the problem p that t frequently y faced by student whet ther in univ versity level l or even school l level. Domina ant Learning Techniq que Practic ced

Table 3. Analysis Variable V of Items on L earning Tec chnique, N = 108, Like ert Scale 1-4 4
V Variables (Le earning Tech hnique) R Reading R Remembering g/ Memorizin ng M Mind Mappin ng Notes In ndividual Le earning G Group/ Discu ussion T Total Item No. N 13 20 2 21 28 2 29 36 3 37 44 4 45 52 5 13 52 5 ber of Numb Min Item 8 8 8 8 8 40 3.14 3.37 3.13 2.86 3.27 3.15 Level High High High Medium m High High

Min Sco ore Range: 1. .00-2.00 (low w), 2.01-3.00 0 (Medium), 3.01-4.00 (H High)

Based on n data in Tab ble 3, results s show that th he dominant learning techniques prac cticed by stu udents are Rememb bering and Group/Discu ussion with min of 3.37and 3.27 respectively. r Reading an nd Mind Mapping g techniques s with min va alue of 3.14 and 3.13 res spectively. Whereas W Indi ividual Learn ning also moderat tely being pra acticed with min value o f 2.86. Suitable e Learning Technique T with w Curren nt Learning Concept

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Table 4. Frequency and a Percenta age of Popula ar Learning Techniques T Nowadays N L Learning Tec chnique R Reading R Rememberin ng M Mind Mappin ng Notes I Individual Le earning G Group/ Discu ussion T Total Nu umber of Respondents 3 6 25 10 64 108 8 Percentage e (%) 2.8 5.5 23.1 9.3 59.3 100

Table 4 shows that t, the most suitable Lea arning techn nique is Grou up/ Discuss sion which recorded r percentage of 59.3 3% follows s by 23.1% % practicing g Mind Map pping Note es as their learning techniqu ue. Furtherm more, 9.3% % chose to le earn individ dually and 5.5% like to use Remem mbering/ Memorizing techni ique as their r alternative e. On the wh hole, it show ws that adult t students in n Master of Tech hnique and Vocational Education Course cho osen Group/ / discussion n technique as their current concept of learning. Relatio onship betw ween Learn ning Techni ique and Gender G

Table 5 5. Relationsh hip between n Learning T Technique and a Student ts Gender

Gen nder Sp pearmans Rh ho Learning g Technique Corre elation Coeffi ficient Sig. (2 2-tailed) 0.05 54 0.57 76

N No. of Responde ents = 108

Table 5 shows th he data from m analysis carried ou ut using the e method o of Spearman ns Rho Correla ation. Based d on the find ding, there is s a weak va alue of positive correlat tion with va alues of r =0.054, , p = 0.576 where w p > 0.05. Therefo fore HO1 can n be accepte ed where th here is no sig gnificant relation nship statisti ically betwe een learning g technique and student ts gender. Relatio onship betw ween Learn ning Techni ique and Race R

6. Relationsh hip between n Learning T Technique and a Student ts Race Table 6

Rac ce Sp pearmans Rh ho Learning g Technique Corre elation Coeffi ficient Sig. (2 2-tailed) -0.1 121 0.21 13

N No. of Responde ents = 108

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Table 6 shows th he data from m analysis carried ou ut using the e method o of Spearman ns Rho Correla ation. Based d on the find ding, there is s a weak val lue of negat tive correlat tion with va alues of r = -0.12 21, p = 0.2 213 where p > 0.05. T Therefore HO2 H can be accepted where ther re is no signific cant relation nship statisti ically betwe een learning g technique and student ts race. Relatio onship betw ween Learn ning Techni ique and Age A

Table 7 7. Relationsh hip between n Learning T Technique and a Student ts Age

Age e Sp pearmans Rh ho Learning g Technique Corre elation Coeffi ficient Sig. (2 2-tailed) 0.23 34 0.01 15

N No. Of Respond dents = 108

Table 7 shows th he data from m analysis carried ou ut using the e method o of Spearman ns Rho Correla ation. Based d on the find ding, there is s a weak va alue of positive correlat tion with va alues of r = 0.234 4, p = 0.015 where p < 0.05. 0 There efore HO3 is s unacceptable where th there is a sig gnificant relation nship statisti ically betwe een learning g technique and student ts age. Relatio onship betw ween Learn ning Techni ique and Academic A Achievemen nt

Table 8 8. Relationsh hip between n Learning T Technique and a Student ts Academi ment ic Achievem
Academ mic Achieve ement Spea armans Rho Learning Technique Correlati ion Coefficie ent Sig. (2-ta ailed) 0.01 0.937

N No. of Respon ndents = 108 8

Table 8 shows th he data from m analysis carried ou ut using the e method o of Spearman ns Rho Correla ation. Based d on the find ding, there is s a weak va alue of positive correlat tion with va alues of r = 0.01, p = 0.937 where w p > 0.05. Therefo ore HO4 can n be accepte ed where the ere is no sig gnificant relation nship statisti ically betwe een learning g technique and student ts academi ic achievem ment. Discuss sion Based o on the findi ings of this research, a lot of adu ult students doing the c course of Master M of Educati ion in Tech hnique and Vocational V tend to rev veal that the e most com mmon problem they faced is s worrying about a their academic a ac chievement. This shows s that the pro oblem is com mmonly experien nced by stu udents in university lev vel and also in school le evel. Having g too worrie ed about their ac cademic ach hievement is s might be d due to their r study or le earning tech hnique. Most of the students s are not sm mart enough to pick the suitable tec chnique for themselves s. This phen nomenon
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also ag greed by Ab bdul Ghani (1996) tha at states, on ne of the causes c of d decline in students s academ mic achievem ment is due to their fail lure in adap pting to the teaching an nd learning g style in Univers sity. They al lso do not have h the corr rect and suitable learnin ng style. Co onsequently y, a lot of them fa ailed to obt tain excelle ent results a and admitte ed that they y are lackin ng of knowledge in learning g skills. Th hey failed to o search for r the most suitable lea arning techn nique to su uite their attitude e. On the whole, the dominant learning l tec chniques am mong studen nts in the c course of Master M of Educati ion in Techn nique and Vocational V i is Remembe ering / Mem morizing tec chnique, fol llows by Group/ Discussion n, Reading and a Note Ma aking. Whereas, Individual learnin ng technique also in fairly m moderate pr ractices. Th he practiced d learning techniques have to be e suitable with w the conditio on of being the student ts enrolled i in Master of o Education n in Techniq que and Vo ocational due to the importa ance of ada apting with h individual l differences. Thus, it is clear that every student needs to ha ave their ow wn techniqu ue of studyi ing. This is also agreed d by Hassan n (1996) where h he states tha at a lot of students s wit th the right t learning te echnique ar re doing we ell in the examinations. Nev vertheless, th his finding opposes the finding of f Robiah (2 2004) who says s that bering tech hnique is not the d dominant te echnique used u by stu tudents. Moreover, rememb rememb bering techn nique also not n popular among early adult and adult stude ents. Nowada ays, Group or Discussion learning g technique is i a suitable e and preferr red way of studying s for early y adult aged d students. This T techniq que fitting well w with the e condition o of students where w at early ad dult age, th hey like to discuss in n groups co ompared to other techn niques of learning. l Discuss sion or Grou up techniqu ue could pro ovide them the chances s to interact t with other rs freely. Conduc cive learnin ng environm ment will r results in happy h learn ning situatio on experien nced by students s. Besides th hat, Group or Discussi on learning g technique also a can cre eate a social l context in the p process of assignment a preparation n. Accordin ng to Johnson and Joh hnson (2003 3), when students s are study ying through h Group or r discussion n method, they t could help each other to understand the top pic of discus ssion. They y also could perform th heir ability b based on in ndividual potentia als. Based o on the findin ngs of this research, r the ere is a sign nificant relat tionship exi ist between learning between te techniqu ue and age of students s. It can be seen that relationship r echnique an nd age is fairly w weak althou ugh the val lue of corre elation coef fficient is a positive v value. Rela ationship between n learning technique t and a age are according to t the five learning tec chniques which w are reading g, remembering, mind mapping n notes, indiv vidual learn ning and gr group or dis scussion techniqu ue. Wherea as this rese earch found d that the other o demo ographical a aspects of students namely the gender, , race and academic ach hievement have h nothin ng to do with h students learning techniqu ues. All the e findings st tated are in n line with the t statemen nt of Ee Ah h Meng (200 03) who claimed d that learning techniq que is forme ed by stude ents since they t were c child and will w keep develop ping and being utilized d by individ duals. This means m that adult studen nts will ten nd to use learning g technique e that will give g them t the best ou utcomes for r their acad demic achie evement. Meanw while, young ger students tend to use the beginne ers approach h that has ne egative corr relations towards s their acad demic achie evement. Th his statemen nt also agre eed by Kal lat (2004) that says students s thinking process cha anges with their age. Thus T as the age individ duals increa ase, their way of thinking an nd learning technique t w will change.
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Conclu usion This research can be carried out succes ssfully beca ause all part ties involve ed were giv ving full coopera ation such as permissi ion given t to researche er by lectu ures as well l as permis ssion by students s who answ wered the instruments i s of the res search. Adu ult students s chosen to answer question ns of the in nstruments are assume ed to be ho onest in ans swering bec cause there was no stressfu ul environm ment of answ wering so th hat they cou uld answer all the ques stions caref fully and precisel ly. As plan nned, this re esearch was s carried ou ut to study the problem ms encounte ered by stu udents in learning g process, th he dominan nt learning te echnique us sed and the suitable lea arning techn niques in the lear rning conte ext nowada ays. In add dition, the research al lso identifie es the rela ationship between n learning te echniques and a students s demograp phical aspec cts. Outcome es of the stu udy have answere ed all the re esearch que estions set. I It is highly expected th hat this part ticular resea arch can provide e some infor rmation and d guidance t , educators, parents and d other part ties who to students, involve ed directly or o indirectly in putting e education as s first priori ity in this co ountry. Cooperation among all parties is i highly demanded in order to ach hieve the de esired objec ctive of excellent in the sear rch of know wledge. Referen nces Abdul G Ghani Awan ng. (1996). Learning S Skills in Hig gher Learnin ng Institutio ons. Kuala Lumpur: L Dewan Bahasa dan n Pustaka. Abu Ba akar Hashim m. (et. Al). (1 1997). Rese earch on Stu udents Achiement in U Universiti Te eknologi Malaysia. Faculty of Educatio on, UTM. Anderso on, I. H. (e et.al). (1949 9). The Psy ychology of Teaching Reading. N New York: Roland Press. Ee Ah Meng. (199 92). Pedago ogy, An Int troduction. Kuala Lum mpur: Fajar r Bakti Pub blication Sdn. Bh hd. Esah Sulaiman. (2 2004). Intro oduction to o Pedagogy y. Johor: Universiti U T Teknologi Malaysia M Publica ation. Hassan Ali. (1996) ). Effectice Learning S Strategy. Ku uala Lumpu ur: Publicati ions & Dist tribution Sdn. Bh hd. Honey dan Mumfo ord. (1992). The Manua al of Learn ning Styles. Berkshire, 3 3rd Edition n. United Kingdo om: Peter Ho oney. Johnson n, D. W., & dan John nson, R. T. (2003). Lea arning Together and A Alone: Coop perative Compet tition and In ndividualist tic Learning g. USA: Pre entica Hall. Kalat, J J. W. (2004) ). Introduction to Psych hology. Uni ited States: Wadsworth h Pub. Co. Knowle es. (1970). . Andragogy- Conce epts. Dow wnloaded on 5 Mac c 2008 from the blog.persimpangan n.com/blog/ /2007/08/15 5/andragogi-concepts

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Lokman n A. Wahid d. (et. Al). (2003). Perc ception of Students S on the implem mentation of f Option Subject t in Teacher r Training College. C Kua ala Lumpur r : Institute of o Bahasa M Melayu Mal laysia. Mohd A Azhar. (et. Al). A (2004). . Andragogy y : Teachin ng the Adult ts How to L Learn. Improvent In Educati ion Series, PTS P Publica ations & Di istribution Sdn. S Bhd. Mohd N Najib Abdu ul Ghafar. (2003). Ed ducation Research. R Universiti U T Teknologi Malaysia M Publica ation. Mohd N Najib Abdu ul Ghaffar. (et. Al). (20 005). Perso onality Char racteristics in teh Sele ection of Student ts Carier Path, P Style e of Learn ning and their Relationship T Towards Academic Achieve ements. Joh hor: Univers siti Teknolo ogi Malaysia a. Mok So oon Sang. (2 2002). Teach hing Educat ation Series: Pedagogy of o Teaching g Diploma Semester S 3. Suba ang Jaya: Bu udiman Gro oups Sdn. Bh hd. Robiah Zakaria. (2004). ( Relationship b between Stu udents Lear rning Cultu ure with Academic Achieve ement in Technical Fi ield. : A Re easerch in Sekolah S Me enengah Te eknik (SMT T) Johor. Kolej U Universiti Te eknologi Tu un Hussein Onn: Maste er Thesis. Rusli M Mahmood. (2 2002). Tech hnology as the Tool in n the Implem mentation of f Smart Sch hool and Manage ement of Sm mart Learnin ng. The Edu ucation Jou urnal, 9. Ko ota Bharu: K Kota Bharu Teacher Training College. Sharudd din A. Lat tiff. (2005). . Full Tim me Adult St tudents Lea arning Tech hniques in UTM. Nationa al Proceedin ng Seminar, , UTM. Sulaima an Masri. (2 2002). Exce ellent Stude ents. Kuala Lumpur: Pu ublication & Distributi ion Sdn. Bhd.

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