Investigating the Phenomenon of Class Tardiness amongthe First Year First Semester

Chemical EngineeringStudents at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP)

Chong Li Feng
Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Undergraduate student:
Academic Writing)
E-mail: esther94feng@gmail.comTel: 010-2790993
Choo Ee Huey
Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Undergraduate student:
Academic Writing)
E-mail: eehueyc@gmail.comTel: 016-5960069
Loh Jie Qian
Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Undergraduate student:
Academic Writing)
E-mail: jieqianloh@gmail.comTel: 016-5980589
Phua Yun Hock
Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Undergraduate student:
Academic Writing)
E-mail: austinpyh3658@gmail.comTel: 010-9625627

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Acknowledgement
The success and final outcome of this assignment required a lot of guidance andassistance from
many people and we are extremely fortunate to have got this all along thecompletion of our
assignment. Whatever we have done is only due to such guidance andassistance and we would
not forget to thank them.We owe our profound gratitude to our responsible and great lecturer, Ms
Gurdip Sainifor giving us an opportunity to do the assignment. The support in which you gave
truly provided great assistance in the progress and the smoothness of this assignment. It
is indeedour pleasure to receive your informative guidance during this whole semester. Besides
that,this project had inculcated the value of being cooperative as a team member in us and we
haddefinitely acquired a brand new experience. Besides that, great appreciation goes to thecourse
mates whom helped us from time to time during the implementation of thisassignment by

helping us to fill in the questionnaires leading to our success in producing thefindings.

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Keywords
: Class tardiness, students, academic, punctuality, UTP
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1.0

INTRODUCTION
Free Dictionary (2003) mentioned that “tardiness” implies a situation where an
individual is coming, occurring or remaining after correct, usual or expected time (as cited
inMalik, Ladhani, &
Bhamani, n.d.). Thus, the term “class tardiness” has been defined as
students coming late, not attending lecture on time, missing out initial time from the
first period and primarily not being present in the time set (Malik et al., n.d.). One of the major c
auses of lateness is going to bed late because it could result in waking up late andinsufficient rest
for the lesson on the next day (Nakpodia & Daflaghor, 2011; Paren, 2012).Besides, lateness is
caused by innate anxiety level of an individual (Nakpodia & Daflaghor).Sprick and Daniels
(2007) stated that there are no positive incentives to be on time asstudents assume that there will
be no constructive activities happen for the first five minutesof the class. The lack of functional
and effective punctuality policy (Nakpodia & Daflaghor;Sprick & Daniels) too causes tardiness.
As there are no immediate consequences for beingtardy and nothing will happen until the tenth
incident (Sprick & Daniels).Many researchers have indicated that class tardiness is a serious
issue. U.S.Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistic (1998) reported
that theamount of time actually spent in the classroom is
crucial element of student‟s academic
success (as cited in Moore, n.d.). Wheat (1998) mentioned that students who possess
regular attendances to school tend to achieve higher grades compared to those students who
arefrequently absent (as cited in Jones, 2006). Students are forced to abstain from the chances
tolearn (National Center for Educational Statistic; U.S. Department of Education) and lose
theinstructional time of great importance (Dinkes, 2007; eCampus.net, 2008; Marzano,
2000;Shupe, 1998; U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics)
whenthey are absent from school, arrive late, or cut class (as cited in Moore). Wheat
mentionedthat a student will find it arduous to pick up what is being taught in the school in his
absenceunless he engages in off campus productively (as cited in Jones, 2006). The learning
of students who go to class on time is also regularly interrupted by tardy or frequently
absentstudents who cause class disruptions (Dinkes; eCampus.net; Marzano; Shupe;
U.S.Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics) and intervene with
other
student‟s chances to learn (U.S. Department of Education, National Cen
ter for EducationalStatistic).
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Studies have shown that one of the greatest concern among stakeholders in educationis tardiness
issue. Class tardiness, a phenomenon not so serious fifty years ago, has becomean educational
crime these days. This study would therefore further investigate
the phenomenon of class tardiness among the first year first semester Chemical Engineeringstude
nts at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) based on the following researchhypotheses:(i)

Class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students atUTP is a
common phenomenon.(ii)

Students with high rate class tardiness perform poorly in academic.(iii)

The main reason for class tardiness among first year first semester ChemicalEngineering students
at UTP is due to sleeping late.

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2.0

LITERATURE REVIEW2.1

Definition of Class Tardiness

Most of the sources define “tardiness”
with similar concept.
Literally, the term “tardiness” implies a situation where an individual
is late inhappening or arriving (Oxford
Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary
, 2010). Breeze et al. (2010)further suggest that t
he term tardiness is synonymous with “lateness”
(as cited in Nakpodia &Daflaghor, 2011), which implies arriving after the expected, arranged or
usual time (Oxford
Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary
, 2010). Besides, Free Dictionary (2003) defines tardiness ascoming, occurring or remaining after
correct, usual or expected time (as cited in Malik,Ladhani, & Bhamani, n.d.).
Therefore, the term “class tardiness” has been viewed as students coming late, not
attending lecture on time, missing out initial time from the first period and primarily not being
present in the time set (Malik et al., n.d.). Similar definition is given by Weade (2004)that is
being late for any measurable length of time past the stated or scheduled start time for school.
2.2

Insights on Class Tardiness

There are a few researchers which directly enquire some respondents regarding thetardiness of
students such as administrative, teachers, parents and students.
Damico et al. (1990) stated that one of the students‟ perceptions on their tardiness i
sthe overcrowded hall due to the population of students (as cited in Weade, 2004). On the
other hand, Moore‟s (2010) research on the perception of students
on class tardiness is foundto be the same in which the administrators and students expressed the
same opinion. Theyagree that crowded hall is the one of the causes of tardiness (Moore).The
inconsistency of the tardy policy caused students to feel that they are treatedwithout fairness as a
lot of teachers did not follow the tardy policy consistently (Moore, 2010;Weade, 2004). Woog
(1992) reported that students will not comply with the policy whenteachers makes their own
policy of compulsory attendance which does not work in aconsistent way (as cited in
Docstoc.com, n.d).

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Weade (2004) also found that the irrelevant course content caused students to become
not interested in attending the courses. To further elaborate on this issue, Moore‟s research onthe
teachers‟ perspective showed that the parental apathy to their own jobs might have
influenced th
e students‟ behaviour and action regarding the “irrelevant” course content.
In most of the tardiness cases, the students come late to class and therefore cause
interruption to the whole class. From the teachers‟ perspective, this phenomenon causes the
progress of the student who come late to be incoherent with other students (Malik,
Ladhani,&Bhamani, n.d.). Malik et al. further elaborated that quite a few teachers will tend to
ignorethem in order to make sure the momentum of class remain smoothly. Weade
(2004)mentioned that class participation has become a behaviour which linked to
schoolachievement and dropout rate. In 1963 a background paper stated that irregular
attendanceand serious tardiness may be predicted at least five years before the students are
dropped out(Weade).

2.3

Causes of Class Tardiness

There are numerous causes of tardiness to class. Amongst others, the following arethe major
causes of tardiness.Going late to bed is one of the major causes of lateness because it could result
inwaking up late and insufficient rest for the lesson on the next day (Nakpodia &
Daflaghor,2011; Paren, 2012). Ukoshi (2004) suggests that individual involved in watching films
andhome videos may be so captivated and hypnotized by it that he/she forgets that he/she has
to be in schools and may not be punctual (as cited in Nakpodia & Daflaghor). In
fact, studentsneed 8-10 hours of sleep to have a keener sense of understanding the lessons
throughout theday (Paren, 2012).Besides, lateness is caused by innate anxiety level of an
individual (Nakpodia &Daflaghor, 2011). Nakpodia and Daflaghor claim that most of the people
who are always latehave relax mind in anything they do and they do not care if they are running
late or not.Sprick and Daniels (2007) claims that there are no positive incentives to be on time
and noconstructive activities happen for the first five minutes of the class, giving students the
impression that they won‟t be missing anything if they are late.

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Distance and location is also one of the factors leading to class tardiness (Nakpodia &Daflaghor,
2011). This is very normal in university life, especially. The further the location of the class, the
more distractions, obstacles like friends to say hi to, hold-ups to beat and go-
slows are there to hinder student‟s punctuality (Nakpodia & Daflaghor).
Another cause is the lack of functional and effective punctuality policy (Nakpodia &Daflaghor,
2011; Sprick & Daniels, 2007). There are no immediate consequences for beingtardy and
nothing will happen until the tenth incident (Sprick & Daniels). Obviously,individuals could
come late if they know that there is no consequences on it (Nakpodia &Daflaghor).Students are
products not only of their school but also of their community, and mostespecially their home
environment (Weade, 2004). Statistics shows that majority of theschool children from singl
e family or two working parents‟ home, where no one is availableto maintain the child‟s
punctuality and regularity (Malik, Ladhani, & Bhamani, n.d.). This
statement is supported by Featherstone et al. (1992) who believe students from intact, two-
parent families had fewer absences and tardies (as cited in Weade). This phenomenon
becomes worse when come to university as no one is control the student‟s life.

2.4

Disadvantages and Consequences of Class Tardiness

Sprick and Daniels (2007) state that tardiness is one of the most frustrating problemsin classroom
nowadays. Some of the teachers claim that waiting for student to straggle in inthe first four to
eight minutes is a waste of time (Sprick & Daniels, 2007). Beards George
(1881) claims that „A delay in few minutes might delay the hope of lifelong‟ (as cited in
Moore, 2010). Therefore, there are a few disadvantages and consequences of class
tardinessamong students which are produces distraction to the individual and the whole
class(Nakpodia & Dafiaghor, 2011), leads to students failure in school (Weade, 2004) and
causesstress to teachers (Moore, 2010).Tardiness among students tends to rob away the precious
instructional time of theteachers and students (Sprick & Daniels, 2007) and these students who
are tardy causes
disruption to class and interfere with other students‟ opportunities to learn (Moore, 2010).
Tyre, Feuerborn and Peirce (2011) state that teachers must continuously restarting
their instruction or delaying the beginning instructional periods when most of the students are

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tardy at the secondary level. U.S. Department of Education and national Center for Educational
Statistics (1998), Shupe (1998), Marzano (2000), Dinkes (2007) and
eCampus.net (2008) all agree that the students‟ valuable instruct
ional time is constantly takenfrom them on a daily basis and many suffer because of student
tardiness (as cited in Moore).Furthermore, excessive tardiness has constituted the 3
rd
most common reason for students to fail in schools (Weade, 2004; Young, Reddehase, Andrade,
& Lambert-Lindley,2011). Young et al. stated students who are in class on time and behaving
well are morelikely to be actively engaged in their studies. In contrary, it can be seen that
students who aretardy tend to score low grades and produce less GPA during assessments and
finals (Malik,Ladhani, & Bhamani, n.d.). Weade also mentions those low-achieving Hispanic
high schoolstudents have the common characteristics of having low attendance and habitual
tardiness.Besides that, Malik et al. and Weade agree that tardiness will cause students to be
droppingout from school and leading students to have behavioral problem (Malik et
al.).Xiaofeng (2007) states that one of the factors which causes stress to teachers isstudent
tardiness (as cited in Moore, 2010). In addition, Xiaofeng claims that studenttardiness can cause
teachers to detract from the teaching environment and eventually lead totheir resignation from
the teaching field (as cited in Moore) as teachers are irritated by thenumber of classroom
disruptions (Moore). Sprick and Daniels (2007) further claim that the
range of teachers‟ individual responses is from ignoring them to sending them to the office
and this may cause confusion to the students about the importance of punctuality in
class.Furthermore, Peter Davis, principal of Hill Classical Middle School in Long Beach,
California, says that „Tardiness suggests school is not important.‟ (Sprick & Daniels).

2.5

Present Solutions Carried Out to Reduce Class Tardiness

Malik, Ladhani and Bhamani (n.d.) stated that student reward system and dismissal of policy
of physical punishment are remedies to the chronic tardiness. This can be revised byadopting
dual differing perspectives which are theoretical perspective and cultural
perspective (Malik et al.). The betterment in students‟ school behaviour and practices can be
achieved by offering them reward as well as incentives such as homework passes (Malik etal.).
This works as stimulus induced by a positive event will leads to positive responses
and positive reinforcement takes place due to the increase in reward, which strengthen thestimulu
s and prevents the reoccurrence of the undesirable behavior. From the cultural

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perspective, Malik et al. mentioned that the practice of corporal punishment in Pakistanicontext
is eliminated and replaced with the mode of praise and appreciation as the valuationof students
enable them to develop a desirable change in their behaviour.According to Muir (2005), the
effective approaches to the tardiness issue can becategorized into two which are behavior
modification approach and the needs- basedapproach. Needs-based approach focuses on
recognizing, accessing and referring seriousoffenders to proper services such as support groups;
searching of solutions
through brainstorming with parents; establishing free breakfast programs; ameliorate the standar
d of the instructional program through joint efforts with teachers; changing to block
scheduling;interdisciplinary & integrated curriculum; and equipping students with chances to
voice outtheir concerns which is useful to the school operation (Muir). The implementation of
a behavior modification based approach intervention program known as Behavior
ModificationProgram comprised of strategies such as providing cards for daily time sign-in,
encouraging prompt attendance with points which is exchangeable for rewards and a time-
managementskills training workshop to provide resources in honing
time management
skills (Muir;

Johnson, 1995). Sprick and Daniels (2007) suggested that the introduction of positive sweep
amongthe students is able to reduce the tendency of tardiness. This works on the central concept
of
„sweeping‟ students who are tardy
by the administrators and security personnel into different places followed by processing which
can prevent the teachers from wasting the class time andto ensure the active supervision along
the hallways and consistency in the immediateconsequences of tardiness (Sprick & Daniels). The
positive sweep team members includingteachers equipped with preparation time after the passing
period will supervise throughcirculation in their assigned zones and gather the tardy students
(Sprick & Daniels). These
students will be escorted to a „sweep‟ room in which they will punished accordingly followed
by sweep team members escorting them to the classrooms without interfering the progress of the
class (Sprick & Daniels).Tomczyk (2000) mentioned that administrative detention is
implemented amongstudents with severe tardiness (as cited in Weade, 2004). According to
Malbon and Nuttall(1982), academic policies aimed to resolve the tardy issue are developed by
school (as citedin Weade, 2004).

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Hernan‟s (1991) resear
ch stated that more integrated tracking systems are designed
to badge and track on all students entering and leaving the campus (as cited in Weade, 2004).
Anderson and Windeatt‟s (1995) study shows that
block scheduling comprised of co-operative learning activities to enhance the development of
interpersonal skills and improvestudent goal setting decision making technique through usage of
physical education portfolios(as cited in Weade, 2004). Wilson (1997) stated that the
implementation of a pilot projectfocused on enhancing vocational education programs resulted in
the reduction in tardiness (ascited in Weade, 2004). Wilson further explained that the
methodology used is where thecontrol group will receive the conventional vocational
programming whereas intensive,competency-based skills employing a new instructional delivery
system will be implementedamong the experimental groups (as cited in Weade, 2004).
2.6
Summary
Over the years it can be seen class tardiness has become an issue of great concernespecially with
the advant of technology. Many education institutions are taking great steps to
reduce class tardiness in order to increase students‟ academic performance. This study
therefore would further investigate the phenomenon of class tardiness among the first year first
semester Chemical Engineering students at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP).
The effect of student tardiness on
learning
Students who are late to school miss out on important announcements and activities.Images

Several studies have shown that school tardiness has a negative impact on
learning outcomes.

By the mere nature of arriving late and missing school hours, students
receive fewer hours of instruction than students who are in class when the
bell sounds.

But not only does a student who is consistently arriving late to school
establish bad punctuality habits, their tardiness also disrupts the learning of
other students in their classes.

A study by Hammill Institute on Disabilities (Caldarella, Christensen,

Young & Densley, 2011), looked at decreasing tardiness in primary school-
aged students using teacher-written praise notes.

The researchers found that students who are frequently late to school often
miss out on important opening announcements and academic activities.

‘Teachers can become frustrated as late students disrupt instruction, often

requiring reteaching of what they have missed. Tardy behavior can also
negatively affect the overall classroom environment,’ the study says.

Arriving late to school can also mean that students miss out on activities
designed to build connections with their peers, potentially impacting their
social interactions and creating a greater sense of alienation from their
classmates.

Punishment or positive reinforcement?

So, how can teachers tackle the issue? The report suggests it is generally
not helpful for teachers to punish late students once they get to class,
because it could potentially aggravate the situation.

‘There appears to be a lack of empirical evidence that punishment for

tardiness yields any positive results,’ the study says.

Instead, the authors suggest using praise as a specific positive

reinforcement strategy, as it has proved to be effective for addressing
problem behaviour.
‘Praise has been recognized as perhaps the easiest modification teachers
can make to address students’ problem behaviors,’ the study notes.

When implementing this strategy, the authors point out that there are several
things to consider. Firstly, they suggest using recent school data to identify
which students show a consistent pattern of being late. ‘For example, it
makes little sense to intervene with a student who had a pattern of tardiness
at the beginning of the school year but is currently tardy only occasionally.’

They also note that young students often rely on an adult to get them to
school on time, and teachers should be cautious of the fact that the students’
tardiness may be a result of parent behaviour rather than student behaviour.
‘In such cases, intervention may need to be directed more to the parents,’
the study says.

A schoolwide plan

At a secondary school level, chronic tardiness can significantly reduce the

minutes of instruction for all students enrolled in the class, not just the tardy
student.

A US study titled Schoolwide intervention to reduce chronic tardiness at the

middle and high school levels found that ‘instructional time lost to
widespread tardiness is likely to significantly affect the capacity of the entire
student population to meet rigorous academic standards’.

The research suggests that a system-level intervention is required to combat

student tardiness, to ensure guidelines are current and consequences for
tardy behaviour is implemented and effective.

The report recommends a preventative schoolwide plan include the

following:

 active supervision of students in common areas during all transition periods

 clear definition and explicit teaching of expectations for behaviour during transition
periods
 immediate and consistent consequences for tardiness
 data-based decision making with respect to intervention planning and monitoring of
outcomes (Tyre, Feuerborn & Pierce 2011).

The impact on other students

In his 2014 academic paper – The achievement effects of tardy

classmates: Evidence in urban elementary schools – Michael Gottfried
explores the impact of tardy students’ behaviour on their peers.
Gottfried acknowledges that if teachers respond to the educational needs of
late students by reallocating regular class time, then other students are
adversely affected and classroom instruction is slowed by this disruption.

‘With tardy students entering the school day at abnormal times and
potentially missing a large number of cumulative instructional hours,
teachers must divert their attention away from regular teaching time and
towards remediation,’ he says. ‘As such, there are negative effects on
achievement generated when one student’s actions impede learning for
other classmates.’

References:

Caldarella, P., Christensen, L., Young, K. R., & Densley, C. (2011).

Decreasing tardiness in elementary school students using teacher-written
praise notes. Intervention in School and Clinic, 1053451211414186.

Gottfried, M. A. (2014). The achievement effects of tardy classmates:

Evidence in urban elementary schools. School Effectiveness and School
Improvement, 25(1), 3-28.

Tyre, A., Feuerborn, L., & Pierce, J. (2011). Schoolwide intervention to

reduce chronic tardiness at the middle and high school levels. Preventing
School Failure, 55(3), 132-139.

As a school leader, do you have a schoolwide plan in place to tackle the

issue? How have you communicated this to staff, students and parents?

As a teacher, consider your own behaviour when a student arrives late to

class: If you’re working with young students, is this a parent behaviour
problem or a student behaviour problem? How do you ensure that on-time
students are not adversely affected by this disruption?