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Proceedings of the 3rd International Language & Tourism Conference 2019
Sustaining Global Development Goals through
Language, Education and Tourism

Kulliyyah of Languages and Management, International Islamic University Malaysia,
Pagoh Edu Hub, Malaysia 18th-19th October 2019

DO EPISTEMIC BELIEFS PREDICT MEANINGFUL READING COMPREHENSION?
FINDINGS FROM A CORRELATIONAL STUDY OF EFL STUDENTS

Ive Emaliana1* Alies Poetri Lintangsari2 Wi3
1,2,3 Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia

(Email: * [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT
This study is presented the relations of epistemic beliefs on EFL students and their text
comprehension. There were 115 participants which taking paper based instrument to measure
their perspective on epistemic belief. Thus, the participants’ perspectives were also presented
on questionnaire about the epistemic beliefs. The results were that the participants has profiled
as simple, eclectic and sophisticated learners. Their reading comprehensions were tested by
using paper based tests. From the test, it is indicated that there are correlation between
students’ sophistication on epistemic beliefs and reading comprehension. The theoretical and
methodological implications of this research are discussed as the part to show epistemic beliefs,
learning and reading comprehension.
Keywords: Epistemic Beliefs; EFL; Reading Comprehension; Undergraduate

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1.INTRODUCTION
Epistemic belief on students is the part that influences students about their learning model,
thinking modes, and choices on preparing or obtained data, that is used by teachers (Hofer,
2001). From the discovery on this field, learning process has sophisticated parts to orientate
epistemic belief and follow by procedure on reading comprehension in class. Then, the
researchers consider the reading comprehension with prerequisite on learning condition on
teaching. For example, Tsai (2000) found that epistemologically constructivist-oriented showed
investigate earlier information on learning situations by giving lead gathering work and open-
finished assignments in reading comprehension.

Numerous studies have shown the immediate of epistemic belief’s conceptions of learning and
learning systems. Tsai et. al (2011) studied that there are correlation examinations on numerous
source, complex comprehension of advance and information, which are opposite to
understudies’ lower level originations of learning , such as: remembering testing and calculating
and rehearsing. In learning, he also was proved about the positive indicators of understudies’
higher level were played on modern convictions as being developed and support, which
expanded to one’s learning on application, comprehension and tactical in find way. In some
other examinations, understudies learning techniques were ready to prove by epistemic belief.
Lin, Liang and Tsai (2011) found the function of vulnerability, improvement and justification
were closed to profound learning procedures by using correlation investigations and the
replicated convictions of four components of epistemic beliefs in science (EBB), which opposed
corresponded to surface learning methodologies. Kilzigunes, Tekkaya and Sungur (2009)
planned a way model that predicts understudies’ learning, such as: propensity towards
important learning or repetition learning, which was using epistemic belief and through the
intercession of inspiration. They also added in finding that understudies’ belief in outer
specialists drove legitimately to repetition, in other side an immediate job in important learning
has predicted by complex beliefs of advancement and support.

The connections between understudies’ originations of learning and systems for learning have
been examined. An understudy in higher level (sophisticated) originations of learning will in
general utilize profound systems for learning, such as in reading comprehension text, while the
lower level (simple) originations are bound to accept the surface techniques during learning
(Tsai et. all, 2011). In line, it is confirmed the model of originations of learning comprehension
text can anticipate learning methodologies, and also learning procedures can foresee self-
adequacy. These two examinations are a parallel connection delivers that the originations of
learning and learning procedures were build. In this research, the investigations are arisen why
epistemic belief dimensions may be related to components of reading comprehension.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 EFL Epistemic Beliefs

An epistemic belief is belong to educational psychology which derives from epistemology. It is
believe that epistemic comes from Piaget’s consideration of genetic epistemology and Perry’s
work on epistemological development along college students (Richardson, 2013). Muis (2004)

236

stated that Piaget’s problem on cognitive was leaded by problem of knowledge, so called
epistemological problem, which cannot be separated from development of intelligence.
Richardson (2013) supported that Perry had found the multiple possibilities for knowledge
which the students were already exposed in many years by diverse intellectual and social
environments of universities. There were two ideas – the nature of knowledge and justifications
of beliefs, which consider the epistemology as a branch of philosophy (Muis, 2004). The concern
on philosophy and educational psychology employ divergent definitions, theoretical frameworks
and methodologies as deep on students’ epistemic beliefs.

The epistemic beliefs have not focused only in educational psychology (Bräten & Strømsø,
2004), but also to higher education (Fujiwara, et al, 2012), science education (Tsai et al., 2011),
reading and literacy (Bräten et al., 2008), (Olafson & Schraw, 2006), CARL (Mason et al., 2011),
and ELT (Akbari & Karimi, 2013). Those disciplines have used different method and paradigms,
besides the results of this area were appeared in different locations and practically different
construct (Muis, 2004).

In line of epistemic beliefs and English language learning, the theoretical framework has been
limited after conducted research. In first language about concerning epistemic beliefs (for
example in Fujiwara, et al, 2012; Chen, 2012; Franco et al., 2012), an empirical findings has
proven of epistemic beliefs that the students had second language as the target in EFL settings
and demonstrated higher students’ epistemic belief following better EFL proficiency (Akbari &
Karimi, 2013). As the results, the epistemic beliefs on English Language Learning are less
concerned in previous study. In generate the EFL epistemic beliefs, the general epistemic beliefs
must be combine with EFL’s beliefs. In theory of epistemic beliefs, the variables are what
knowledge is and how to acquire knowledge, which is compromised to construct of EFL
epistemic beliefs. The first variable, what is knowledge, explores three dimensions: certain
knowledge, simple knowledge, and nature of language learning. The second variable, how to
acquire knowledge, gives seven dimensions, namely: quick learning, omniscient authority, the
difficulty of language learning, foreign language aptitude, learning and communication
strategies, and motivation and expectation. The previous study had done by Emaliana (2017),
already constructed EFL epistemic beliefs construcs.

2.3 EFL Reading Achievement

In reading skill, the EFL achievement applies by conducting micro skills on reading
comprehension. There are several reading components, namely: topic, reading for main ideas,
reading for detail, organization of the text, understanding implied details, recognizing writers’
opinions, attitudes and purposes, implied details (understanding problem solution, description,
comparison, sequence and cause effect), the tone of writer, pronoun reference, word meaning (
Brown, 2001; ETS, 2012). In addition, some descriptive, factual, discursive, and analytical test
can be to use as tools of assessing EFL students’ reading comprehension. Jakeman and
Mcdowell (1996) states that reading comprehension presents in authentic which are employed
from books, journals, magazine, advertisements, guidelines, and company handbooks. These
texts are taken for a non specialists but also intended to university candidate or seeking

237

professional registration and are expected on daily basis in English speaking environment. The
topics suggest the appropriate and accessible to postgraduates and undergraduates candidate
courses.

3. METHODOLOGY

The objective of this study is aimed to know the relationship between EFL epistemic beliefs and
reading achievement. The significant of this study is the input of appropriate institutional,
program, and students learning outcomes. The advantages for lecturers is a good input to the
English teaching as general course to select appropriate teaching materials, media, techniques
and approach. The study used correctional study, which was aimed to examine research
problems after generated previous research and test specific hypothesis and its relationship. By
conducting the method, the information would be gathered structurally, systematically, and
clearly.

In early, it already mentioned that the research was study the relation between students’
individual differences on EFL epistemic beliefs to English reading achievement. The purpose of
this research is to give prediction between individual difference correlate highly to
achievement. Thus, the alternative hypothesis of this research is the higher the students’ level
on EFL epistemic beliefs, the better their achievement in EFL reading.

3.1 Participants

In conducting to this research, the participants were 115 undergraduate students with 49 males
and 66 females. The demographic age was range between 17 to 19 years. The study was taken
place at Universitas Brawijaya, Malang.

3.2 Instruments

In concerning to the taking data, the researcher used two instruments: EFL Epistemic belief
questionnaire (Emaliana, 2017) and reading performance. The EFL epistemic beliefs
questionnaire has consisted of 39 items by using Likert scale ( 4= strongly agree, 3= agree, 2=
disagree, 1= strongly agree). For calculating data, the researcher used SPSS 20 for measuring
validity and reliability of the questionnaire. The coefficient of items was 0.5 to claim as valid.
The second instrument was EFL reading performances. The technique was taking from
participants’ final test in the end of the semester. The test was developed by the instructors at
class which blueprint have same to reading macro and micro skills.

3.3 Procedures

There are several procedures to gather the data. First, there were 129 students filled the
questionnaire, however only 115 sample among of them used as the data due to consideration
of completeness in responses the questionnaire. The questionnaire sheets were administered in
four different classes from English language education program, which taking 10 minutes before

238

or after the class session based on the lecturers’ convenience. The questionnaire sheets were
distributed in one meeting for each class. Upon providing consent to participate in the
questionnaires, the instructor directed the students to respond of questionnaire sheets. In
completing questionnaire, it was not taking class requirements and no additional credit was
given to students who completed the. The second instrument was the final scores in reading
class, which was taken after the score collected in the end of semester. The scores could be
accessed from the each instructor with permitted letter.

Data Analyses
In analyses the data, Pearson Product Moment method was used to examine the relationships
between factors predicting English learning outcome. Meanwhile, the range is figure out that
.99 - .6 considered as a high relationship, .59 – .30 considered as moderate, and .29 – .01
considered as low relationship. The significant value is also set to know whether the result is
significant (below .05) or not significant (exceed .05) (Butler, 1985).

4. MAIN RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

From the results, the hypothesis of this research is accepted. Then, the higher of the students’
level on EFL beliefs is better their achievement in EFL reading. It is also confirmed that research
findings on correlation of individual differences with EFL epistemic belief to students’ English
achievement.

There are several pedagogical implications from findings and discussion. Firstly, the results of
the study is based on developing course profile in the English language department study
program curriculum, especially in modify focused for English course. In equal to approach of
teaching reading, it needs compulsory course, i.e grammar translation, cognitive, second
language acquisition and communicative approaches. The finding of this research is supported
the teacher that the class needs a development through understanding of the beliefs under
students’ engagement with various reading, speaking, listening, writing activities and tasks
(Trevors, et al. 2017). Moreover, the possibility in fostering of the development on beliefs are
taking a deep engagement with students’ epistemic beliefs, along exposing students to various
teaching and learning approaches, and offering students to ample the opportunities with
interest in English class assignments (Lee & Chen, 2015).

Secondly, students are indicated to have good reading achievement under the prerequisite that
they are flexible exposed to teaching and learning activities. Then, the students are wide open
in practicing and also boost the writing achievement, especially through before, while and after
teaching reading (Aghaie & Zhang, 2012) writing (Teng, 2016), speaking (Zeinivand, et al, 2015),
and also listening (Vahdany, et al., 2016) in class.

Thirdly, the class must be set with more friendly and less stressing during English activities
which is predicted to add students’ achievement. Jahedizadeh, et. al (2016) states that the
cause of students’ English learning apprehension is cored from the less of schemata, linguistics
competence and effective factors, and the lack could be worsen.

239

5. CONCLUSION
The presents study is provided the implication for EFL English instruction. From the findings, it
can be used for the EFL reading lecturer to get better understanding of the characteristics
students’ achievement. This study is also indicated the epistemic belief as significant predictors
into the highlight of individual differences in English reading performances. Thus, the lecturers
give the attention in a possibility, and monitor students’ performance in class, or even modify as
the manner of presenting teaching learning tasks or materials, so the students have better
achievement in English.

Furthermore, there are some limitations to be considered. The subjects of this research are
Indonesian EFL learner from certain university, which are limited to general in wider population
of EFL students. To strength this study, it must be know that it involved a fairly homogeneous
group of EFL learners in linguistics, cultural, educational background and setting of learning. In
future research, the rationale may be provided for these or other options as much has been
discussed on this issue, like researching continue inquiry specially on the relationship among
students’ characteristics longitudinal study.

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Proceedings of the 3rd International Language & Tourism Conference
2019

Sustaining Global Development Goals through
Language, Education and Tourism

Kulliyyah of Languages and Management, International Islamic University
Malaysia, Pagoh Edu Hub, Malaysia 18th-19th October 2019

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCY AND STUDENT TRAVEL

Nor Sabirah Sazli1* and Rafidah Sahar2
1, 2 Kulliyyah of Languages and Management, International Islamic University Malaysia

(*E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])
ABSTRACT

Today, student travel represents one-fifth of all international arrivals in a travel industry,
commanding a market value of $320 billion. More importantly, student travel facilitates
increased intercultural contacts with people from different cultures than before. Against this
background, this paper discusses the value of student travel for developing intercultural
communication skills and competency. Intercultural communication is one’s ability to
communicate and behave appropriately across cultures without violating social norms. Using
a self-reported inventory modelled off of Deardorff Intercultural Competence framework
(2006), an online survey was conducted with 105 undergraduates at a Malaysian university.
Results revealed that female students appeared to be more open towards intercultural
interaction than male. Moreover, students who were self-funded and traveled alone reported
higher intercultural competency than others. This paper concludes that in today’s higher
education context, student travel is one platform that can develop students' intercultural
competency in an increasingly multicultural population.
Keywords: Intercultural competence; Student travel; Gender; Malaysia

242

1. INTRODUCTION

One of the main challenges when it comes to travelling is the matter of adaptability as to
whether travelers are able to adapt to the host culture or not. This is where intercultural
communication competence plays a crucial role in ensuring a successful intercultural contact
with the host culture. Intercultural competence allows an individual to have “the ability to
interact effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations, based on specific attitudes,
intercultural knowledge, skills and reflection” (Deardorff, 2006). A considerable amount of
research on travelling and intercultural competence have suggested that travelling bring
positive outcomes on one’s levels of intercultural competence (see Salisbury, 2011). In other
words, through travelling, one is able to develop and further improve his/her intercultural
ability as a result of experiencing another culture.

As student travel is becoming immensely popular and affordable, it opens up windows of
exposure for intercultural communication allowing students to make contact with people of
diverse backgrounds and cultures. United Nations World Tourism Organisation or UNWTO
(2008) expected a steady growth- an estimation of 500 million by 2025- in travel among youth,
with Malaysia being no exception. The Department of Statistics reported that in 2010, there
were 28.25 million of youth travelers in Malaysia. As the number of student travel continues
to flourish, the current study is motivated to investigate students’ intercultural competency
in relation to their travelling behavior in a Malaysian university. The study hopes to gain
valuable insights on student travel as one of the platforms to develop students' intercultural
competency to prepare them for an increasingly multicultural world population.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Intercultural Competence

Deardorff (2006) defines intercultural competence as “knowledge of others; knowledge of
self; skills to interpret and relate; skills to discover and/or interact; valuing others’ values,
beliefs and behaviors; and revitalizing one’s self” (p. 247). In an intercultural communication
setting, a speaker should be able to anticipate the expectations and assessments of people
from different cultures, hence, he or she will be able to adapt style of communication to
accommodate their communicative needs.

There are many aspects of intercultural communication competence. Chen and Starosta
(1998, as cited in Penbek, Yurdakul and Cerit, 2009) stated three fundamental parts of
intercultural communication competence, namely; intercultural sensitivity (effective process),
intercultural awareness (cognitive process), and intercultural adroitness (behavioral process).
These elements play a big role in determining whether intercultural competence can be
achieved or not. Chen (1988) highlighted four important aspects of intercultural
communication competence, namely: communication skills, cultural sensitivity, psychological
adjustment and communication skills. Chen further divided these four aspects into
subcategories such as being flexible, social and interaction skills, coping with stress and
pressure of changing to a new and unfamiliar environment and understanding the social

243

systems, norms and values of the new culture in order to show appreciation.

2.2 Intercultural Competence Framework (Deardorff, 2006)

In this study, Deardorff’s framework of Intercultural Competence (2006) is utilised to
better understand the mechanism of intercultural competence and its elements. The
framework is then used as a guidance to analyse the respondent’s levels of intercultural
competence.

The Intercultural Competence framework underlies what it means to communicate in an
intercultural interaction. It depicts the continuous process of developing intercultural
competence. The framework consists of five elements, namely: attitude, knowledge, skill,
internal outcomes and external outcomes. The most important element in this framework
is the attitudinal element which comprises of respecting other cultures; showing openness
towards another culture; and tolerating ambiguity and uncertainty (curiosity and
discovery). Next, knowledge element includes cultural self-awareness, deep cultural
knowledge and sociolinguistic awareness. The third element, skills consist of how one
needs to view the world from the viewpoint of others by listening, seeing, assessing and
relating. Both knowledge and skill elements are crucial for gaining and digesting cultural
knowledge. The fourth element, internal outcome consists of adaptability to adjust to a
different cultural environment, flexibility to use communication styles appropriate with
the context, ethnorelative view and empathy. Finally, the external outcome refers to
effective communication and appropriate behaviour under any intercultural
circumstances. The effectiveness can only be assessed by the individual itself whereas the
other person will decide on whether the communication or behaviour are appropriate. In
short, the more elements that are acquired and developed, the greater the chances for a
higher level of intercultural competence.

2.3 Intercultural competency and travelling

Compared to older tourists, young travellers are more adventurous and they have a higher
tendency to travel more regularly and for a longer period of time (Word Tourism Organization,
2016). This shows that they have a higher thirst for travelling. Cavagnaro (2018) shared the
same view by stating that youth travellers are natural travellers where more than 60 per cent
of them travel four to five times a year and they view travelling as an important part of their
lives. She further stated that these youths are expected to keep on travelling as they get older.
Richard and Wilson (2003) in a study on youth and students travel found several benefits that
youth travellers gain from travelling which are appreciation of different cultures, sparks
interest to learn about other cultures, become more tolerable, eager to travel, boost self-
confidence and develop self-awareness. The study reveals several reasons for travelling
among youth and students, namely: exploration of other cultures, excitement and knowledge.
Furthermore, youth travellers focus more on social contact and excitement whereas the older
ones seek for relaxation and individualised experiences.

244

A study by Eusébio and Carneiro (2015, as cited in Blomgren and Ljungström, 2017) revealed
novelty and knowledge as the two most important aspects of travelling motivation among
youth and students. This might indicate that youth and students are inclined to experience
things that are new to them and learn about the places that they travel to (Blomgren and
Ljungström, 2017). Moreover, youth and students have more time to travel and they are
flexible, more open minded and open towards discovering an unfamiliar place (Blaha, 2012).

This in turn, will increase their chances to interact with the people from the host
culture and develop a relationship with them (Eusébio and Carneiro, 2012, in Blomgren and
Ljungström, 2017). This preference of interaction can be linked to youth desire to learn about
other cultures. Such attitude helps them gain cultural enrichment as well as developing
positive attitudes towards people from host cultures.

Travelling opens up windows for a lot of possibility and great experience. According to a
study done by Heinzman, Kunzle, Schallhart and Muller (2015), students who traveled
demonstrated higher intercultural adaptability compared to those who did not travel. In
the study, the students who traveled reacted positively to the representatives of the target
culture whereby they were excited to gain knowledge of different culture. They also
demonstrated higher sense of discovery of new experience than others. Chang, Yuan, and
Chuang (2013) stressed that when people interact and get involved in the local settings,
that is when learning occurs, hence enhances their adaptability. Moreover, in order to
adapt to the new environment, those who travel need to be more open in adjusting and
expanding their existing cultural values in order to fit in the new environment. Gardner
(1985) suggested that intercultural adaptability can be further developed by getting
further involved and increasing contact with the representatives of the culture. In other
words, the longer one experiences another culture, the more chance he or she may get to
adjust his or her existing cultural values in adapting to the new cultural environment.

A study done by Demircioğlu and Çakir (2016), in which they compared intercultural
competency of students who traveled abroad and those who did not, found that those
who traveled abroad have a greater level of intercultural competence. The findings also
highlighted that among those who traveled abroad, female students showed a higher level
of intercultural competence compared to male students. One explanation for this is that
as women are generally more receptive with what is happening around them, they are
more culturally sensitive and have a higher level of empathy. Another study done by Rust,
Forster, Niziolek, and Morris (2013), in which they compared the Intercultural Development
Inventory (IDI) scores of students before and after they went for study abroad programs,
revealed that those who went abroad have a significant increase in their IDI scores. This
study suggests that travelling does improve students’ levels of intercultural competence.
Similarly, Hoffa and DePaul (2010, as cited in Salisbury, 2011) found that one of the
significant benefits of studying abroad is that it can enhance students’ intercultural
competency. In addition, the students who either study or travel abroad are able to expand
their worldview and develop their intercultural sensitivity and awareness as they meet and
interact with new people and understand the host culture. In sum, interacting with the

245

representatives of the host culture is crucial to enhance intercultural learning (Anderson
and Lawton, 2011).

3. METHODOLOGY

3.1 Sample

This study population includes Malaysian and international student travellers aged between
18 to 25 years old studying at the International Islamic University Malaysia. The respondents
were selected randomly from various faculties to participate in this study. They were recruited
through snowball sampling where selected respondents were approached and asked to
recruit potential respondents from among their acquaintances that fit to the characteristics
of the respondents (Alvi, 2016).

3.2 Instrumentation

A questionnaire was adopted and modified from a study done by Scally (2015). The
questionnaire was constructed to investigate students’ perception of their intercultural
competency based on Deardorff’s Intercultural Competence framework (2006). In this study,
the questionnaire consists of two sections. Section A aimed to gather the socio-demographic
background of each respondent. There were seven questions regarding the socio-
demographic profiles of respondents such as gender, age, nationality, year of study, source of
income, style of travel and frequency of travel. Section B intended to elicit students’
perceptions of their levels of intercultural competency. There were nine questions on attitude,
knowledge and skills in a Likert scale design from 1, “strongly disagree” to 5, which is “strongly
agree”. The questionnaire was prepared in English.

3.3 Data Collection

The self-completed questionnaires were administered using Google Form, an online web
survey and disseminated to the respondents through WhatsApp mobile messaging
application. An online-based survey was being utilized due to the fact that it can reach a wide
population in a short period of time. Moreover, it was time and cost effective. A total of 105
responses had been received and analysed.

3.4 Data Analysis

All statistical data analyses were performed using SPSS version 23.0 (IBM Corp, 2015).
Descriptive statistics was employed to analyse the percentage as well as the mean score of
the levels of intercultural competence. In analysing the levels of intercultural competence, the
higher the score, the higher the levels of intercultural competence will be.

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4. MAIN RESULTS

4.1 Socio-demographics of Respondents

The demographic data of the respondents are presented in Table 1, according to their gender,
nationality, year of study, source of income, style of travel and frequency of travel. Males
represented 78.1% of the respondents and females represented 21.9%. Majority of the
respondents are Malaysian (95.2%) and only 4.8% of the total students are foreign students.
The biggest group of respondents was in year 2 (32.4%) followed by year 4 students (25.7%),
year 1 students (16.2%), year 3 students (15.2%) and lastly pre-university students
represented 10.5% of the total students. In terms of source of income, the majority of the
respondents (63.8%) relied on financial assistance from either family or scholarship while
36.2% obtained their source of income either from own saving or part-time job. Majority of
students (85.7%) prefer to travel in groups while only 14.3% travel solo. In terms of frequency
of travel, most students travelled less than twice in a year (60.9%), 29.5% of students travelled
four or less times in a year and only 9.5% of students travelled more than five times in a year.

Table 1 Demographic Profile of Respondents (N=105)

Characteristics Frequency %
Gender 78.1
Male 23 21.9
Nationality 95.2
Level of study Female 82 4.8
10.5
Travel frequency Malaysian 100 16.2
Financial issues 32.4
Non-Malaysian 5 15.2
Travelling styles 25.7
Pre-university 11 60.9
29.5
First year 17 9.5
36.2
Second year 34
63.8
Third year 16
14.3
Fourth year 27 85.7

Rarely (1-2 times) 64

Occasionally (3-4 times) 31

Always (more than 5 times) 10

Self-funded (own savings, 38

working)

Financial assistance (parental 67

support, scholarship)

Individually (solo) 15

In groups (family, friends, 90

husband)

4.2 Levels of Intercultural Competency

Table 2 below illustrates the overall averages for the major elements of attitude, knowledge
and skills. From the three elements, the respondents scored the highest on the element of
attitude with a score of 4.194 out of 5. This positive attitude shows that the respondents are
open towards interacting with other people from different culture in a different cultural
environment. On the other hand, the respondents scored the lowest when it comes to their

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knowledge regarding intercultural competence. The respondents got a score of 3.689 which
is still quite high. The respondents might score the lowest in the element of knowledge
because they are not aware of the importance of equipping themselves with the knowledge
regarding the place that they are travelling to. The last element that is crucial for the
enhancement of intercultural competence is skills in which the respondents scored 3.733 out
of 5 which shows that they are somewhat skilful. Being skilful is important as without having
proper skills, one is not able to execute what they already know.

Table 2 Questionnaire Overall Average

N Mean SD

ATTITUDE 105 4.1937 .70979

KNOWLEDGE 105 3.6889 .81685

SKILLS 105 3.7333 .76292

Valid N (listwise) 105

In questions addressing students’ attitudes, the respondents score the highest on the
statement “It is important for me to be able to interact with and learn from different
languages and cultures”. This reflects the respondents’ innate curiosity (Goldstein & Kim,
2006 as cited in Scally, 2015) in which they understand the importance of interacting in an
intercultural environment. Table 3 illustrates that the respondents get the same positive
score of 4.191 out of 5 for the next two questions which shows that they have a strong
desire to interact with those of different culture and background as well as they are willing
to understand the differences that exists between them. Although in average, the
respondents only travel one to two times a year, nevertheless, they show a positive
attitude in which they have attained the first element of intercultural competence. The
positive attitude to interact with those different from them could stem from themselves
studying in an International University where the students itself consists of people from
different country, background and culture so they are already exposed to being in a
multicultural environment.

Table 3 Individual Response Average on Attitude

A1 It is important for me to N Mean SD
be able to interact with and 105 4.2000 .85934
learn from different
languages and cultures 105 4.1905 .77330
A2 I try to understand
differences in behaviour, 105 4.1905 .80974
values and attitude between 105
myself and others of different
backgrounds
A3 I enjoy interacting with
individuals from a different
culture that is unfamiliar to
me
Valid N (listwise)

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In relation to knowledge, the respondents scored the highest score of 3.838 out of 5 for the
statement “I am conscious of the cultural knowledge I use when interacting with people from
different cultural backgrounds”. Table 4 illustrates that the respondents are aware of what to
do in communicating with those of different culture from them. On the other hand,
respondents are not confident with their knowledge regarding cultural values, norms and
taboos of the place that they are travelling to, which could be due to the respondents
themselves not realizing the importance of equipping themselves with this knowledge when
they travel as they are not staying there for a long period of time. The respondents are
somewhat able to compare the language and culture of their own with the language and
culture of the place that they travelled to.

Table 4 Individual Response Average on Knowledge

K1 I know the cultural N Mean SD
values, norms and taboos of 105 3.4952 .99154
the place that I am travelling 3.7333 1.00256
to 105
K2 I am able to contrast 3.8381 .86740
aspects of the host country 105
(the place that I am travelling 105
to) language and culture with
my own
K3 I am conscious of the
cultural knowledge I use
when interacting with people
from different cultural
backgrounds
Valid N (listwise)

In Table 5, questions addressing students’ existing skills show that the respondents
demonstrated a degree of confidence, with a score of 3.933 in being able to observe their own
behaviour and its effect on themselves as well as on others. Besides, they also feel at ease in
communicating with people in different social situations. This could be due to them having
prior experiences in interacting with people in a different cultural environment than their own
and they have already get used to it. When asked whether they would change their behaviour
(verbal and non-verbal) when interacting in an intercultural communication, they are least
confident that they would. This signifies that they would still maintain their own verbal and
non-verbal behaviour and not change them every time they are in a cross-cultural interaction.
One reason for this could be that their knowledge of the new culture is still unfamiliar to them,
therefore they are more comfortable sticking with their own culture.

Table 5 Individual Response Average on Skills

S1 I change my verbal (e.g. N Mean SD
accent, tone) and non-verbal 105 3.5810 1.06320
behaviour when a cross-
cultural interaction requires it

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S2 I monitor my own 105 3.9333 .82353
behaviour and its impact on 3.6857 1.03138
my learning, growth and on 105
others 105
S3 I feel comfortable
interacting in a variety of
different social situations
Valid N (listwise)

4.3 Gender, Travelling and Intercultural Competency

In relation to gender, on average, there is not much difference in the score between male and
female respondents. Table 6 illustrates that female respondents scored only slightly higher
than male respondents in both the elements of attitude and knowledge. However, when it
comes to skills, male respondents show that they are somewhat more skilful compared to
female respondents. When it comes to the respondent’s attitude, both male and female
respondents showed a very positive attitude whereby they scored 4.015 and 4.244 out of 5
respectively. The high score shows that the respondents are open towards interacting in an
intercultural environment. Having a positive attitude indicates that the respondents value
other cultures and do not hold any judgements towards other cultures (Deardorff, 2006).

In questions addressing the respondent’s knowledge regarding intercultural competence both
male and female respondents scores an average of 3.594 and 3.716 respectively. The score
signifies that the respondents do have prior knowledge about the host culture, but it may not
be enough to make them fully understand the world from the perspective of other people.
Deardorff (2006) explains that deep understanding and cultural knowledge of other culture is
important to enhance one’s level of intercultural competence. Based on the questions asked,
the respondents show the least knowledge regarding the cultural norms, values and taboos
of the place that they are travelling to. Lack of knowledge regarding this might lead to
problems such as mistakenly perceived by the host culture as being rude.

For questions on their existing skills, the respondent’s give a relatively high score where the
male respondents scored 3.826 while the female respondents scored 3.707 out of 5.This
shows their level of ability to listen, observe and interpret their surrounding in becoming
competence in an intercultural interaction. With regards to the three statements on skills,
both male and female respondents stated that they do not switch their behaviour (verbal and
non-verbal) to conform to the behaviour of the people from the new culture. However, they
are still able to monitor their own behaviour and they are aware of the impact of their
behaviour towards others.

Table 6 Average Score of Intercultural Competence according to Gender

Elements of Intercultural Gender

Competence Male Female

Attitude 4.015 4.244
Knowledge 3.594 3.716
3.826 3.707
Skills

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4.4 Style of Travel and Intercultural Competency

Students who travel alone reported a higher level of intercultural competence with a score of
4.111 in comparison to those who travel in groups with a score of 3.832. When it comes to
enhancing one’s levels of intercultural competence, students who travel alone will increase
their chances to meet other travellers and the locals during the journey. Similarly, Richard and
Wilson (2004) emphasised that travelling independently increases interaction with the host
country.

Table 7 Average Score of Intercultural Competence in relation to Style of Travel

Group Statistics

Travelling Styles N Mean SD SEM

IC individually 15 4.1111 .38029 .09819

groups 90 3.8321 .69743 .07352

4.5 Financial Issues and Intercultural Competency

Students who self-financed their travelling reported a slightly higher level of intercultural
competence with a score of 3.991 in comparison to those who received financial assistance
with a score of 3.804. The majority of the respondents travel by receiving financial assistance
which suggest that they are financially unstable to support themselves to travel, hence,
explains why the majority of the respondents rarely travel. However, travelling less does not
mean that they are unable to enhance their levels of intercultural competence. According to
Patching-Bunch (2016), the quantity of travelling does not affects one levels of intercultural
competence but quality matters in which one should interact with the host to increase their
levels of intercultural competence.

Table 8 Average Score of Intercultural Competence in relation to Financial Issues

Group Statistics

Financial Issues N Mean SD SEM

IC self-funded 38 3.9912 .52776 .08561

financial assistance 67 3.8043 .72991 .08917

5. CONCLUSION

To review, this paper discusses the data collected to explore Malaysian university students’
intercultural competency with respect to their travelling behaviour. Through analysis of the
data collected, Deardorff’s framework of Intercultural Competence (2006) demonstrated to
be quite fitting to elicit valuable insight into students’ perceptions of their attitude, knowledge
and skills. The findings demonstrate that out of the three elements of intercultural
competence proposed by Deardorff (2006), the respondents in the study scored the highest

251

in the element of attitude. Whereas the element that the respondents show least confidence
in is their knowledge. An overall average score of the respondent’s levels of intercultural
competence was analysed and the findings from the study revealed that the respondent’s
levels of intercultural competence is quite high. Although the majority of the respondents only
travel one to two times a year, their levels of intercultural competence are still quite high. This
might indicate that the quantity of travel does not really matters in enhancing one’s levels of
intercultural competence. Hence, it can be suggested that regardless of how many times one
travelled, as long as they travel, they are able to increase their levels of intercultural
competence. This shows that travelling does enhance one’s levels of intercultural
competence.

Furthermore, the study found that female students scored higher in the elements of attitude
and knowledge. They might be more open towards intercultural interaction, therefore more
willing to learn new knowledge about the places that they are travelling to. Although male
respondents reported less confidence when it comes to their attitude and knowledge, they
gained higher score in the elements of skills. In addition, students who self-financed their
traveling reported a higher level of intercultural competence compared to those who received
financial assistance. Meanwhile, youth who prefer to travel solo reported a higher level of
intercultural competence than those who travelled in groups. To conclude, student travel has
the potential to contribute to enhancing levels of intercultural competency as evidenced by
the positive propensity of the students to seek experience and appreciation of other cultures.

5.1. Limitations and Future Research
This study is small scale in nature and limited to one university in Malaysia. Future research
could be done on a larger scale to explore other aspects of student travel, such as; motivation,
places of travel and mobility program, that might contribute to intercultural competency.
Future research could also consider using other approaches of collecting data such as
interviews to get in depth and richer data.

Bibliography:
1Nor Sabirah Sazli is currently a student majoring in B.A English for International
Communication at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Throughout her study, she
has developed an interest in intercultural communication. For her final year project, she
undertook a small-scale study to investigate levels of intercultural competency of university
students in relation to their travelling behaviours.

2Rafidah Sahar, is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the International Islamic
University Malaysia. Her research interests include: interpersonal communication,
intercultural communication, ELT and higher education studies.

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Proceedings of the 3rd International Language & Tourism Conference 2019
Sustaining Global Development Goals through
Language, Education and Tourism

Kulliyyah of Languages and Management, International Islamic University Malaysia,
Pagoh Edu Hub, Malaysia 18th-19th October 2019

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS AND MANAGEMENT ABILITY OF SELECTED MALAYSIAN
PRIMARY SCHOOL HEAD TEACHERS

Candima Chin Choon Tow*1

Department of International Relations in Education, Institute Aminuddin Baki,
Genting Highlands, MALAYSIA.

(E-mail: *[email protected])

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify the interpersonal skills needed by new
primary school head teachers to upgrade their ability in managing a school. The study is
carried out on six new primary school head teachers in Selangor and Pahang state of
Malaysia. This study uses the theoretical framework of Argyris and Schön’s theory on
congruence and learning to analyse the ability of interpersonal skills in management of
newly appointed Malaysian school head teachers. It is based on the belief that people are
designers of action. They design action in order to achieve intended consequences and
monitor to learn if their actions are effective. Data is prepared through interview method.
The researcher has gone through the following qualitative methods to produce the finding
of this paper: i. Selection of topic; ii. Prepare central research question, research questions
and interview questions; iii. Pilot interview; iv. Data collection (Interview one group
informant and four individual informants); v. Transcription of data; vi. Analysis of data
(Coding of interview questions); Viii. Analysing of data (Generating themes and sub-
themes); ix. inter- rater coding for reliability and at last report the findings and discussion.
The finding of this study revealed that the newly appointed school head teachers need to
enhance their interpersonal skills in management, especially in the field of communication,
self-efficacy and conflict management. This may be achieved through training to enhance
their interpersonal skills ability in managing a school in order to be able to steer their
schools to success in the challenging world. This study may create the awareness of
Malaysian Ministry of Education towards the important of interpersonal skills training to
newly appointed school head teachers. This will enhance the ability of newly appointed
school head teachers in managing a school. Obviously,this study contributes to the field of
educational management. The output of this study is an important source material for
those who involve in planning for the NPQEL course, continuous professional development
(CPD) courses and in house training courses (LADAP) for our educational leaders and
educators.

255

Keywords: Interpersonal skills Communication, Self- Efficay; Conflict Management

1. INTRODUCTION

Educational leadership and the importance of interpersonal skills have been studied
extensively over the past decades (Stephen C. Schoonover, 1988 ; Holy & Crenshaw, 1997
; Ainley et al., 2005, ; Robert Half, 2016 , ; James Bowen, 2017,; Kien Bee Ooi & Su Hie
Ting, 2017, ;Tai Mei Kin & Omar Abdull Kareem , 2018). Although it is acknowledged that
there is a growing need for interpersonal skills, accompanied by increasing demands for
educational excellence and rapid changing global environment, most educational training
centre still neglected the important of interpersonal skills in leadership training at any
place in Malaysia.

Actually, leadership is not a solo activity- it’s based on relationships. It involves a
relational process that requires working with others to accomplish a goal of an
organization. According to Stephen C. Schoonover (1988) interpersonal skills are a vital
necessity of the modern organization as the foundation of all organizational and
managerial success is the ability to work with and through other people. In the same
line and taking a more philosophical stand, James Bowen (2017) claims that how
successful a leader you become is determined by your interpersonal skills and your
ability to relate to others.

Hoyle and Crenshaw (1997, pp. 1-2) and Ainley et al., (2005) argued with regard to
school organizations that to succeed in management, school heads need to have
competence in interpersonal skills and understand how to deal with their subordinates,
parents and others. Robert Half (2016) and James Bowen (2017) strongly support the
argument that our school heads need to strengthen their interpersonal skills as it will
not only improve their connections at work, it will also improve how others perceive
them if they want to survive in this challenging global world successfully.

In fact, school head teachers as leaders in educational field are the key to quality
education. To succeed in managing a school, interpersonal skills in management and
leadership are vital skills that needed by school head teacher and senior assistant as they
need to understand how to deal with their teachers and other people. This is supported
by Carrie Brenner (2012), Interpersonal skills are invaluable at work as a leader won’t get
things done properly if he or she can't get along with his or her subordinates.

In light of this, several findings have revealed that heads of school have little
interpersonal knowledge and skills on how to manage the conflicts for example (Angela
Ignace, 2014 ; Vuyisile Msila, 2012, ; Robert Half, 2016). Thus, if there is an area where
our MOE’s leadership training department and training institutes need to cover, it is in
developing the “people skills”~ interpersonal skills of our school leaders. Interpersonal
skills include not only how we communicate with others, but also our confidence and
our ability to listen and understand. Problem solving, teamwork, decision making,
conflict management and personal stress management are also considered
interpersonal skills. Our school heads need these skills to manage their school every

256

day. This paper is to examine the interpersonal skills and management ability of selected
new primary school head teachers in Malaysia. Hopefully, the output of this study will be
an important source material for those who involve in planning for the NPQEL course,
continuous professional development (CPD) courses and in house training courses
(LADAP) for our educational leaders and enhancing interpersonal skills of new school
head teachers.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Leadership is an activity which base on relationships that needs to deal with Emotional
intelligent. Emotional intelligent is as the skills which include consciousness of others
for examples the ability to empathize, inspire, influence, and coach. Research that spans
the globe has demonstrated that there is a relationship between emotional intelligence
and leadership (Marcy Levy Shankman et. Al., 2015).

Emotional intelligence involves our ability to sense and develop interpersonal and
‘intrapersonal’ skills. What are interpersonal skills? ‘Inter’ means between. For example
if you see an inter-city train it is a train that goes between cities. So interpersonal skills
are ‘skills between persons‘ (Kathleen, 2011). The term "interpersonal skills" is
somewhat of a misnomer, because it refers to character traits of Emotional intelligence
involves our ability to sense and develop interpersonal and ‘intrapersonal’ skills.
Assessed by an individual rather than skills that can be taught in a classroom. Within an
organization, employees with good interpersonal skills are likely be more productive
than those with poor interpersonal skills, because of their propensity to project a
positive attitude and look for solutions to problems.

According to Stephen C. Schoonover (1988), interpersonal skills are a vital necessity of the
modern organization. To succeed in management school heads need good interpersonal
skills, they need to understand how to deal with their teachers and other people. This
interpersonal skills study will help them gain an awareness of their skills and understand
that an awareness of the interpersonal skills of others can help them enormously in
dealing with the work tasks they are responsible for especially in school academic
performance.

2.1 Related theoretical for the study

This study uses the theoretical framework of Argyris and Schon’s theory on congruence and
learning to analyse the ability of interpersonal skills in management of newly appointed
Malaysian school head teachers. It is based on the belief that people are designers of
action. They design action in order to achieve intended consequences and monitor to learn
if their actions are effective. In other words, Argyris and Schon (1974) assert that people
hold maps in their heads about how to plan, implement and review their actions. They
further assert that few people are aware that the maps they use to take action are not the
theories they explicitly espouse. Also, even fewer people are aware of the maps or theories
they do use (Argyris, 1980).

257

Self- efficacy theory is another theory which relates to this study and is being used to
analyse the ability of interpersonal skills in management of newly appointed Malaysian
school head teachers. Self-efficacy is defined as an individual's judgment of his or her
capabilities to organize and execute courses of action. According to B Resnick (2013), the
core of self-efficacy theory means that people can exercise influence over what they do
through reflective thought and generative use of knowledge .Theory of Self-efficacy is
toward a unifying theory of behavioural change. Base on Bandura A. (1977), this theory
states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of
self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether
coping behaviour will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will
be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that
are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of
mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive
behaviour. Papers should use 12-point Calibri font. The styles available are bold, italic and
underlined. It is recommended that text in figures should not smaller than 10-point font
size.

2.3 Related Literature Review for the study

Interpersonal skills are the life skills we use every day to communicate and interact with
other people, individually and in groups. According to Timothy Wooi (2015), interpersonal
skills comes from the root word Interaction and Person. In other words it is the
communication among two or more persons. They include not only how we communicate
with others, but also social skills and our confidence and our ability to listen and
understand. Problem solving, decision making and personal stress management are also
considered interpersonal skills. Our country primary school head leaders need soft skills to
manage their school effectively every day (Tai Mei Kin al et., 2018, ; Interpersonal Skills,
2005).

Recent research has identified interpersonal communication skills as critical issue for new
employees and more experienced workers in a work place, (Sam H. DeKay, 2012). There is
a number of schools teachers complain that they do not understand what the school
heads want them to do as their school heads fail to give a clear instruction through
communication. They always get scolded when they could not do according to the
instruction. Thus, a number of teachers feel stress, lost their enthusiasm and interest in
their works which eventually may affect their work quality especially in teaching
performance. Hence, Deborah J. Barrett (2007) found out that leaders need to have good
interpersonal communication skill to give a clear instruction through communication to
their teachers or establish a clear purpose if they need to determine a strategic vision or a
clearly stated direction for their organisation. This will avoid communication
misunderstanding and stress in work issues happen in the organization. According to
Michael (2017) & James Bowen (2017), school heads need good interpersonal
communication skill which will boost up their subordinates’ self-esteem and make a school
leader able to interact well with the school workforce.

In fact, according to Conrad D (2014) and Christine Porath (2015), the main factor is

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employees like to be treated with respect and dignity, and, if a school heads sets the tone
and content of communications to do this, it will help develop a more productive and
supportive workforce.

However, despite the significance of interpersonal communication in the workplace,
knowledge of these skills and how they may be taught is limited. (Conrad D, 2014; Angela
Ignace, 2014, ; Vuyisile Msila, 2012). This may due to many educators have a perception
that interpersonal communication skills is difficult to be taught or learned. I believe
nothing can’t be taught. In actual fact, this interpersonal communication issues could be
resolved through training by the use of videos, audio programs, written scripts, flash
cards, or a combination of these methods. Another important theme of interpersonal skills
in management is self-efficacy. Base on Wikipedia (2018), Psychologist Albert Bandura has
defined self-efficacy as a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular
situation or accomplish a task. In other words, self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities
to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.
One’s sense of self efficacy can play a major role in how one approaches goals, tasks, and
challenges. According to Bandura (1994), people with a strong sense of efficacy believe
they can accomplish even tough tasks. They perceive these as challenges to be mastered,
rather than threats to be avoided. That is why self-efficacy is important and needed by
Malaysian new school head teachers to face the challenges in managing people and
accomplish the tasks to achieve the goals of their new schools.

Another theme of interpersonal skills that will be analyzed broadly by this study is
interpersonal conflict management. Interpersonal conflict management means working
with others to resolve interpersonal conflict and disagreements in a positive way.
According to Flanagan’s (2008), the school heads reiterate that they are lacking of conflict
management skills. They were never trained or prepared for conflicts linked with their
positions. In fact, some of the school heads even have conflict and can’t cooperate with
members of parents and teachers Association (PTA) to upgrade the school infrastructure
and enhance school repair and renovation works.

The school heads show that it is crucial for them to develop conflict competence to
be able to deal with conflict situations in their schools. Besides, several findings also
revealed that heads of school have little interpersonal knowledge and skills on how to
manage the conflicts (Angela Ignace, 2014 ; Vuyisile Msila, 2012). These arguments show
that school heads need to be empowered in interpersonal conflict management skill in
order to be able to steer their schools to success. All concurred that schools experience
conflicts from time to time and when school heads are competent in handling conflicts, this
would help in ensuring that teaching and learning never stops in their schools. Clearly, there
is a dive need for enhance interpersonal conflict management skills for our school heads in
Malaysian education leadership training centre, the authority of the training centre should
aware the importance of interpersonal conflict management skill. They need to enhance
interpersonal conflict management training into the School Heads Certificate Training
Course (NPQEL) in Malaysian educational leadership training centre, Institut Aminuddin
Baki (IAB) which tends to ignore the importance of interpersonal skills as many of the skills
perceived important by policy maker, MoE’s authority are hard skills.

Salleh et al., (2012) argued that a common cause of conflict is poor communication,
which can lead to misunderstandings and allow barriers to be erected and it can be a

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destructive force in people and school organizations. I totally disagree with the argument
that conflict is a destructive force as if conflict is being managed effectively, conflict can be
constructive. Moreover, Salleh (2012) suggest that the best solution of conflict is by
applying Islamic principles such as shura, halaqoh and using the Qu‟ran and Hadith to guide
them out of conflicts.

3. METHODOLOGY

In order to have an in depth study on the study of interpersonal skills in management
of new school head teachers, choice of qualitative design has been chosen. This study
uses the theoretical framework of Argyris and Schon’s theory on congruence and
learning to analyse the ability of interpersonal skills in management of six selected
newly appointed Malaysian school head teachers. It is based on the belief that people
are designers of action. They design action in order to achieve intended consequences
and monitor to learn if their actions are effective.

The researcher has gone through the following qualitative methods to produce
the finding of this paper: i. Selection of topic; ii. Prepare central research question,
research questions and interview questions; iii. Pilot interview; iv. Data collection
(Interview one group informant and four individual informants); v. Transcription of
data; vi. Analysis of data (Coding of interview questions); Viii. Analysing of data
(Generating themes and sub-themes); ix. inter- rater coding for reliability

3.1 Research Approach/ Design

The approach adopted by the researcher tends to be inductive by looking for a pattern
of meaning on the basis of the data that have collected. This involves a move from the
specific to the general and is sometimes called a bottom-up approach. However, this
research project also involve a certain degree of deductive reasoning.

The approach to data collection and analysis for this study is methodical but
allows for greater flexibility than in quantitative research. Data is collected in textual form
on the basis of observation and interaction with the participants e.g. through participant
observation, in-depth interviews and focus groups. It is not converted into numerical
form and is not statistically analysed.

Data collection is carried out in several stages rather than once and for all. The
researchers may even adapt the process mid-way, deciding to address additional issues
or dropping questions which are not appropriate on the basis of what they learn during
the process. In some cases, the researchers will interview or observe a set number of
people. In other cases, the process of data collection and analysis may continue until
the researchers find that no new issues are emerging.
Principles

3.2 Interview Questions

The research interview questions of this study have been chosen carefully to have an

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in depth study on the interpersonal skills in management issues in Malaysian primary
schools. The interview questions are constructed using simple language and focus on
the main idea of central question of the study. This study is based on three formats for
interview design that is recommended by Gall, Gall, and Borg (2003) in Turner, D. W.
(2010): informal conversational interview, general interview guide approach and
standardized open-ended interview.
The following are the interview questions to answer the Research Question 1: How do the
new Malaysian School Head Teachers define Interpersonal Skills in management?
IQ 1. What do you understand by interpersonal skills in management?

IQ2. How you practice Interpersonal Skills in managing your school?

IQ3. Why you need interpersonal skills in managing a school?

Another three interview questions have been formulated to answer Research
Question 2: What are the problems and challenges related to Interpersonal Skills that
new primary school head teachers face in managing a school?

IQ1. How do you respond when your subordinate make a mistake?

IQ2. What are the interpersonal skills you used frequently to minimize conflict and
build up good relationship?

IQ3. How do you overcome the problems and challenges that arise by PIBG
members/ Board of Directors through Interpersonal skills?

RQ3. How the Interpersonal Skills in management of selected new Malaysian School
Head Teachers can be enhanced?

Lastly, there are three interview questions to be formulated to answer Research Question
3: How the Interpersonal Skills in management of selected new Malaysian School Head
Teachers can be enhanced?

IQ1. What weaknesses of interpersonal skills in management that you need to
enhance?

IQ2. How should the training in interpersonal skills in management be carried out to
enhance your ability in managing a school?

IQ3. How to increase the Ministry of Education’s awareness on the need of enhancing
interpersonal skills in management among the new School Head Teachers

3.3 Sampling Procedure

According to Bouma and Atkinson, “A random sampling procedure provides the

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greatest assurance that those selected are a representative sample of the larger group.
The sample of this qualitative study is selected from new school head teachers with
NPQEL certificate and have hold the post of school head teachers in Malaysian primary
school. This study consists of six newly appointed Malaysian primary school head
teachers as informants who are less than three years experienced as a school head
teachers. They are chosen from three primary schools in Selangor state in Malaysia, two
local government Chinese primary school and four government Malay primary schools.
The sampling procedure of this study is as follow: 1) Select a few school head teachers at
random who have NPQEL course background and are newly appointed as school head
teachers in Malaysian primary school for less than three years in Selangor state; 2) Get
official letter from university Dean office to carry out the study; 3) Send consent letters
out to the selected informant for consensus to carry out the interview for the study; 4)
Make appointment for interview and fix the location for interview two weeks before the
date of interview through Whatsapp web or email. The research procedures involve one
instrument that is newly appointed Malaysian primary school head teacher’s interviews.

3.4 Data Collection Procedures

During the data collection, the researcher has made sure that any information collected
is done in a way and for a purpose that is consistent with the Code and complies with
freedom of information and privacy protection legislation. In the interest of effectiveness
and efficiency, efforts be made to collect data that will shed light on issues or
opportunities. To protect the credibility and reliability of data, accepted data collection
techniques are applied to gather the information.
Six steps of data collection procedures in qualitative research are used in this study.

3.5 Piloting and Improving Questions

The pilot test of this study has carried out in SK Sri Layang in Pahang state. The new
headmistress is a NPQEL course trained school head teacher and just posted to Sri Layang
Malay Primary school for 6 months. After collecting data for the pilot interview with the
headmistress, one of the question (IQ3 for RQ 3) need to be changed as the pilot
interview question is ambiguous and not focus on a single phenomenon or concept of the
research question.

3.6 Inter-rater Reliability

Two inter-raters are used by the researcher to test the information credibility and
reliability of the study. It also uses to check the reliability of the finding of the study. Main
ideas and themes has been developed from the transcribed information by the
researcher. Then the researcher requested the two inter-raters to develop themes from
their main ideas too. The inter-rater are given the full transcript to look at while
generating the themes from the main ideas. The inter-rater are knowledgeable in the
management area and has developed the themes from the main ideas. Formula is used to
calculate the reliability of the researchers’ coding.

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The result of the reliability calculation of the first rater and the researcher yield 95.00%,
while the second inter-rater gives 97.50%. The average of the two rating is 96.25% which
is a good reliability to undertake a study. Base on the result, theresearcher conclude that
the themes of this study are good enough for the researcher to continue the study.

4. MAIN RESULTS

The finding shows that Informants can define Interpersonal skills in management in the
themes of interpersonal communication, problem solving, practicing team work and
social knowledge. The finding is supported by the previous study of Timothy Wooi (2015),
interpersonal skills comes from the root word interaction and person. They include not
only how we communicate with others, but also social skills and our confidence and our
ability to listen and understand.

Finding of this study also reveals that the new school head teachers face problems and
challenges that related to themes of interpersonal skills such as interpersonal
communication, conflict management, practicing team work and decision making.
According to Conrad D (2014), the problem of communication misunderstanding and
stress in work issues that happen in school can be solved by dealing with teachers or
staffs involve with respect and dignity respect and dignity way, it will help to develop a
more productive and supportive workforce. Other then that, Salleh et al., (2012) argued
that conflict is a destructive force but if conflict is being managed effectively, conflict
can be constructive. That is the reason why conflict management skill is vital to primary
school heads. Besides, according to Atique Ur Rehman (2008), interpersonal teamwork
can leads to collectivism and success but it can be destructive and failure to the school
if school heads fail to handle the problematic team members with concern and respect
their own interests.

This study indicates that the newly appointed school head teachers’ ability in
management can be enhance through training , especially in the field of
communication, self-efficacy and conflict management. In fact, the finding also shows
that there is a need to increase the awareness of MoE of Malaysia on the need of
enhancing interpersonal skills of new school head teachers through school visiting of
MoE officer and do interpersonal skills in management research on new school head
teachers. In relation to this, several findings also revealed that heads of school have
little interpersonal knowledge and skills on how to manage the conflicts (Angela
Ignace,2014 ; Vuyisile Msila, 2012). These arguments show that school heads need to
be empowered in interpersonal conflict management skill in order to be able to steer
their schools to success. This shows that there is a dive need to enhance interpersonal
skills of primary school heads as interpersonal skills are the basic of managing all the

Lastly, as a whole practically, this study contributes to the field of educational
management. The output of this study is an important source material for those who
involve in planning for the NPQEL course, continuous professional development (CPD)
courses and in house training courses (LADAP) for our educational leaders and educators.
Apart from these, this findings of the study may increase the awareness of MoE of

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Malaysia on the need of enhancing interpersonal skills of new school head teachers.

5. CONCLUSION
The finding of this research shows that when subordinate make a mistake, informants who
are new school head teachers will use interpersonal communication skill to solve the
mistake through discussion and use conflict management and decision making to minimise
conflict and build up good relationship.

Argyris and Schon’s theory on congruence and learning is used to analyse the ability of
interpersonal skills in management of newly appointed Malaysian school head teachers.
According to Argyris and Schon’s theory on congruence and learning which based on the
belief that people are designers of action. They design action in order to achieve intended
consequences and monitor to learn if their actions are effective. In other words, the
selected new school head teachers are applying Argyris and Schon’s theory unconsciously.
They have designed the action by using discussion which deals with interpersonal
communication skill to resolve the mistake make by the teacher. If they manage to achieve
the intended consequences for example if they manage to resolve the mistake that makes
by the teachers through discussion then they will monitor to learn. They learn on the
communication interpersonal skills action that they have taken which leads to success.

Besides, Argyris and Schon (1974) asserts that people hold maps in their heads about how
to plan, implement and review their actions. This finding shows that our new school head
teachers have plan to use interpersonal communication skill to solve the mistake through
discussion and use conflict management and decision making to minimise conflict and
build up good relationship. They review their action after implementing the action. If the
action is successful then they will learn and keep what they have learned from the
successful action they have taken. They keep the learning information into the maps in
their heads. This finding shows that the informants have unconsciously applied Argyris and
Schon’s theory on congruence and learning in managing a school.

Obviously, few people are aware that the maps they use to take action are not the
theories they explicitly espouse. Also, even fewer people are aware of the maps or theories
they do use (Argyris, 1980).

Apart from these, the finding of this study support self- efficacy theory which can be used
to analyse the ability of interpersonal skills in management of newly appointed Malaysian
school head teachers. Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s own ability to successfully
accomplish something or achieve a goal of the organization. Self -efficacy theory tells us
that people generally will only attempt things they believe they will fail. Self- efficacy also
defines as an individual's judgment of his or her capabilities to organize and execute
courses of action.

According to the finding, the newly appointed school head teachers’ ability in
management can be enhance through training , especially in the field of self-efficacy,
interpersonal communication, and conflict management. Self- efficacy is one of the main

264

theme of the study and one of the main weaknesses of interpersonal skills in management
that the new school head teachers face.

B Resnick (2013) states that the core of self-efficacy theory means that people can
exercise influence over what they do through reflective thought and generative use of
knowledge. This self –efficacy in management can be enhance through training. Our newly
appointed school head teachers need such an interpersonal self- efficacy training. If their
self-efficacy is being enhanced, they will have the confidence to face the challenges and
problems face in managing a school. In other words, they may can accomplish even difficult
tasks. They see these as challenges to be mastered, rather than threats to be avoided.
(Bandura, 1994).

Obviously, this study contributes to the field of educational management. The output of
this study is an important source material for those who involve in planning for the NPQEL
course, continuous professional development (CPD) courses and in house training courses
(LADAP) for our educational leaders and educators. Hence, MoE of Malaysia should
enhance the newly appointed school head teachers’ self -efficacy ability so that they can
steer the school to success with flying colour.

Bibliography:
Madam Candima Chin Choon Tow
Senior lecturer of Institute Aminuddin Baki, Genting Highlands, Pahang , Malaysia.
[email protected]
Author/ researcher of Interpersonal Skills and Management Ability of Selected Malaysian
Primary School Head Teachers.

Acknowledgment:
I would like to thanks my beloved mom for her moral support. Besides, I gratefully
acknowledge the guidance and helping hands of Professor Dr. Ismail Sheikh Ahmad, who
have helped make this research a reality.

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Proceedings of the 3rd International Language & Tourism Conference 2019
Sustaining Global Development Goals through
Language, Education and Tourism

Kulliyyah of Languages and Management, International Islamic University
Malaysia, Pagoh Edu Hub, Malaysia 18th-19th October 2019

THE PILLARS OF SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY OF MIDDLE LEADERS IN FOUR PRIVATE
SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ISLAMABAD, PAKISTANS

Saira Riaz1*

Kulliyyah of languages and Management,
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Pagoh, Malaysia

(E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This study unveils the roles, responsibilities and challenges faced by middle leaders in private
secondary schools in Pakistan. The study also focused on their contribution to schools in order to
bring democratic changes in thinking, attitudes and behavior of school leadership system in a
developing country. This was a case study which used interviews to collect data from four
coordinators working in four different private schools in Islamabad. Four semi structured
interviews were used as research instrument. The data revealed that coordinators work between
senior management and teachers. Their role is multidimensional and multifunctional as teachers,
mentors, monitors, administrators and managers. Their responsibilities were diversified in
accordance to their roles. Carrying a significant set of responsibilities in relation with senior
management, teachers, support staff, students and parents, middle leaders positively perform
their duties by creating a culture of collaborative learning communities and fulfilling the trust of
senior management. The study indicated that middle managers’ perceptions of their diversity of
roles within a hierarchal structure resulted in multiple challenges for them, for example
unrealistic demands of senior management, teachers and parents, staff lacking seriousness and
passion for work, and external pressures from stake holders. Conclusions were drawn that middle
leaders exerted effective leadership through their hard work, vigour, motivation, creativity,
positivity, flexibility and strong sense of commitment. They were involved in teaching,
coordination, event management, decision making, knowledgeability and capacity building of
staff, developing collegiality by shared vision for social cohesion, using their mediation and
interpersonal skills for public satisfaction.

Keywords: Middle leaders; Roles; Responsibilities; Collaborative learning; challenges

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1. INTRODUCTION

Effective leaders practice an indirect but significant and powerful influence on school
effectiveness and students’ achievement (Wallace, 2002, Leithwood and Jantzi, 2000). Middle
leaders are teachers who hold middle-ranking positions in the hierarchical structure in a school.
The middle position indicates dynamic roles and their direct influence on others. They secure
better learning outcomes for students from their positive influence (Leask, 2007, Thomas,
Sammsons and Mortimore, 1997). They collaborate and build the capacity of teachers by creating
strong professional learning communities. This leads to sustainable improvement where teachers
can enquire and develop together (Harris and Jones 2010, Hopkins and Jackson 2002, Fullan,
2001). This research paper highlights the importance of middle management in the private school
setting in Pakistan. It also discusses the multifunctional roles, responsibilities and problems in
relation to middle leadership.

1.1 BACK GROUND OF STUDY

The international research emphasized on the importance of leadership. In recent years, the idea
of leading from the middle has developed as a strategy: “That increases the capacity and internal
coherence of the middle as it becomes a more effective partner upward to the state and
downward to its schools and communities, in pursuit of greater system performance” (Harris and
Jones, 2017, p.1). This concept indicates that leadership is not only restricted to principalship but
a line of management that works between senior management and teachers, support staff and
students. With vision and hard work, they actually uplift the standard of school (Glover et al.,
1998). According to McKinney, McMahon and Walsh (2013, p.1): “Middle managers play a critical
role in the ultimate ability of a company to achieve its strategic goals”.

The researches indicated that middle leadership is a global phenomenon. Abbott et al., (2015)
and Bush (2002) highlighted that the role of middle leaders is to teach, perform administrative
tasks and manage people and resources. In the countries like England, Australia and New Zealand
middle leaders performed similar roles. They are heads of departments, coordinators, subject
specialists who are responsible for teachers’ development through trainings (Bassett, 2016, Gur,
2013, Busher et al., 2007). In Pakistani public schools, the concept of middle leadership is vague
as the principal is the main authority (Khaki, 2005).

Middle leaders carry diversified responsibilities. In England, middle leaders perform the
responsibilities of the whole school: “there is evidence that responsibilities of middle leaders
have grown significantly” (Brown et al., 2000, p. 249). In Australia, they work as mentor and
coaches between principals and teachers. In New Zealand, they lead, teach and learn, develop
linkage with stake holders, faculty and departmental management (Ministry of Education 2012).
In Pakistan, middle leaders are involved in “Providing leadership, strategic planning and the
overall responsibility for students’ behavior” (Nooruddin and Baig, 2004, pg. 21). Simkins, Sisum
and Memon (2010) discovered that in community based progressive schools, after the principal,

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middle leaders’ role is central: “Her role is seen, on the one hand, as a moral agent – a leader
with high levels of commitment, patience, care and facilitative role, and on the other, an effective
manager to run the affairs of school efficiently by fulfilling expectations of the stakeholders in a
participatory approach” (Lizotte, 2013, p. 3). Khaki’s study (2005, p. 2) labeled it as “prophetic
model”, which means a combination of managerial and humanitarian qualities.

Middle leaders face many challenges. For example, in England, middle leaders are “sandwiched”
between conflicting senior management and the departmental colleagues (Bush, 2002). In
Australia, high expectations from the school owners and senior management are challenging. In
New Zealand: “Three main challenges are interpersonal relationships, collegiality and
accountability; and a lack of allocated time” (Bassette, 2016, p. 100).

In South Asia especially in Malaysia, with respect to middle leaders’ roles and challenges, Bush,
Javaid and Ng (2017) highlighted the factors such as ambiguous and unsatisfactory roles
relationships. Their study on the international schools also indicated the facts such as limited
broad based leadership opportunities for middle leaders and teachers and less involvement in
decision-making. Teaching and learning was found the most powerful and central component in
schools.

In Pakistan, tensions are normally created by the senior management for the middle leaders to
adopt assertive attitude which results in overall tensed working environment as Nazir (2010)
mentioned: “Pakistan is characterized by authoritarian and hierarchal relationships” (p.2). Other
challenges include high expectations from the stake holders and parents, lack of resources, lack
of cooperation from senior managers and teachers (Simkins, Sisum and Memon, 2010).

1.3 CONTEXT OF STUDY

This research was a three dimensional study (as shown in figure 1), which looked into the roles,
responsibilities and challenges of middle leaders in Pakistan.

Responsibilities Roles
Challenges

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Figure 1: Three dimensional studies on middle leaders in school

This study was conducted to identify the roles of the middle leaders in secondary private schools
in Islamabad. Simultaneously this research also looked into middle leaders’ responsibilities and
challenges that they encounter in their professional lives. As they delegate, coordinate,
administer and manage work with a variety of public, therefore they encounter multiple
problems and obstacles. Many times their efforts remain unnoticed or they do not get credit for
their qualities; professionalism, devotion and commitment. Slowly and gradually, middle leaders
become demotivated and they suffer from anxiety. According to McKinney, McMahon, and
Walsh (2013, p.1): “Overburdened and undertrained, middle managers are on the verge of
burning out”.

1.4 Significance of Study

The role of middle leaders is under researched (Simkins, Sisum and Memon, 2010). Therefore,
the researcher attempted to study the domain of middle leadership. There is limited information
on middle leaders in schools. This study is an attempt to fill this gap by doing a research on middle
leaders in school setting with a view to construct a profound and realistic knowledge-base, which
could be used to improve both policies and practices regarding school middle leadership with
strong impact on stake holders, principals, teachers, parents and students.

1.5 Problem Statement

The study looked into the roles, responsibilities and challenges faced by middle leaders in private
secondary schools of Islamabad. The researcher chose the need to carry out this research and
study because middle leaders are in the position to unveil their hidden identities and their
contribution to schools in order to bring democratic changes in thinking, attitudes and behavior
of school leadership system of a developing country of Pakistan.

1.6 Aims of Study

 To assess to what extent, middle leaders’ roles influence teaching and learning in private
schools.

 To investigate the duties of middle leaders that make them accountable to the senior
managers.

 To explore the obstacles and tensions faced by middle leaders in carrying out their professional
responsibilities.

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1.7 Objective of Study

To assess the middle leadership with special focus on their roles, duties and problems that they
encounter in their professional lives in the private secondary schools in Islamabad. To address
the aims and the objective of study, this research was guided by the following research question.

1.8 Research Question

What are the roles, responsibilities and challenges of middle leaders in the private secondary
schools?

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

The study of the global perspective in the literature on middle leaders indicated different
theories. The theoretical framework served as base to investigate the key roles, responsibilities
and challenges faced by middle leaders. Robinson (2007) derived five leadership dimensions from
13 core studies. These dimensions are educational direction, strategic alignment, learning
community to improve students’ success, constructive problem talk and smart teaching and
learning tools.

2.1 Roles

The literature illuminated that Middle leaders’ role is multidimensional, multifunctional and multi
performance (Harris and Jones, 2017). They teach, coordinate, monitor and take crucial decisions
(Hammerly-Fletcher and Brundrett, 2005). They facilitate and empower communities at various
levels within the school just like “buffer and bridge” (Aubrey-Hopkins, 2013, p. 462). They directly
influence students’ learning progress as well (Leithwood, Hopkins, 2008, Harris and Jones, 2017).
In his study, Busher (2005) indicated six roles of middle leaders; vision, managership,
implementation with staff, coordination, mediating contexts and teachership. He labelled middle
leaders “as agents for a school’s senior management” who ensure that teachers in their
classrooms are producing quality work (Busher, 2005, p.144).

2.2 Responsibilities

Literature review on responsibilities of middle leaders highlighted the responsibilities of middle
leaders into four categories (Glover et al., 1998, Wise and Bush, 1999): academics, administrative
and managerial responsibilities. Busher et al., (2007) also highlighted responsibilities such as
representation of institution and liaison of colleagues, management and allocation of resources
and collegiality. Infect the responsibilities of middle leaders extend to the whole school (Earley
and Fletcher-Campbelle, 1989). In a study, Bennette, Woods, Wise and Newton (2007)
highlighted the involvement of middle leaders in monitoring, mentoring and professional
accountability. They built the capacity of teachers through trainings in a collaborative learning
community leading towards sustainability.

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2.1 Challenges

The literature review highlighted the challenges in the education sector. Hussain, (2015), Iqbal et
al., (2013), Leithwood et al., (2007) identified problems in the education sector in Pakistan such
as lack of proper planning, gender gap, social constraints, lack of funds, cost of education, war on
terror and lack of technical education, political interference, lack of social recognition, absence
of professional development programmes, lack of resources and monitoring. The middle leaders
are ‘fraught with difficulties’ with never ending tensions targeting the ‘nature and expectations
of middle leadership’ (Benette et al., 2007, p. 462). They take pressure from top and bottom
(Fullan, 2010). Four main parameters of challenges were indicated by Busher and Harris (2017);
firstly, structural configuration of a department, secondly social cohesion and collegiality within
a department, thirdly status of a department in organization and fourthly power imbalance
between leaders and followers. McKinney, McMahon and Walsh (2013) indicated: “These are the
managers who are at risk of burning out and leaving your organization—unless you provide the
proper support and development to perform their new responsibilities” (p.2).

3. METHODOLOGY

This section presents the research methodology. This study was exploratory and descriptive and
was designed to give insights into the roles, responsibilities and challenges faced by middle
leaders in four international schools in Islamabad, Pakistan. This study is an attempt to examine
and probe the phenomenon studied rather than developing generalizations about middle
leaders. The qualitative approach was used to investigate the roles, responsibilities and
challenges faced by four middle leaders of four different schools in an interpretivistic manner
(Creswell, 2007).

Interviews were found suitable for this study because such a method enabled the researcher to
interact with the participants of the study in a natural setting, where the real world situations
unfold naturally (Yin, 1984). It was “non-manipulative, unobtrusive, non-controlling” (Tuli, 2004,
p.4). It made possible to study the central phenomenon as it happened and recorded the
immediate reactions and attitudes of the participants (Robinson and Tuli, 2004). Considering a
range of methodological choices, the case study method suited to this study. Infact only case
study method allowed the study to be carried out with a small sample which is four coordinators
or middle leaders of their respective schools. The data were collected by using semi-structured
interviews. The four selected schools were among the best private schools of Islamabad. They
catered to the educational needs of students belonging to the upper middle class and known for
their quality teaching and learning. The selected participants were academic coordinators and
administrators with two to five years of experience as middle leaders. In each school, one
coordinator was chosen to be the sample. Purposive sampling was used because the selected
coordinators were working as middle leaders in their schools as shown in table 1.

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Table 1: Sampling profile of the participants of the study.

School Name Names in data Staff identities in data Experience
5 years
Supernova school School A Coordinator and
teacher A 3 years

International Grammar School B Coordinator and 5 years
School System substitute teacher B 3 years

Scholanova School School C Coordinator C

City school School D Coordinator and
teacher D

Data was collected through four interviews of four coordinators. A general interview guide was
used which permitted the researcher to explore the roles, responsibilities and challenges faced
by middle leaders. The semi structured interviews were conducted and recorded after fixing an
appointment with the coordinators. The interview questions were pilot tested for suitability and
accuracy before the real interviews were conducted. Data was inductively analyzed based on the
predetermined three major themes: roles, responsibilities and challenges. Each theme had sub-
themes. The major themes were predetermined themes and sub-themes as emergent themes
that emerged from data. The transcriptions were coded using the Descriptive Coding method as
highlighted by Saldana (2003, 2008). To ensure validity and reliability, each interview was
transcribed. Similar questions were asked to four coordinators. Member checking was carried
out where the transcripts were shown to the participants again to confirm the accuracy of the
transcriptions (Creswell, 2007). Data collection only proceeded after ethics approval. The
participants were given assurance about confidentiality of data in a password-secured computer
with anonymous identity.

Limitation of Study
The limitation of study is a small number of participants; four participants and one from each
school. This would restrict the generalizability of the findings of this study.

4. FINDINGS

The data analysis gave the following findings:

Roles

It was found that all coordinators had clarity of roles. Their main task was to carry out formal
tasks which were assigned to them by the school heads or the ministry. The following sub themes

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reflected the roles of middle leaders and broadly categorized as academic tasks and relationship
building.

Academic Tasks
Academic tasks of middle leaders included teaching, coordination and monitoring.

Teaching
As teachers, coordinators A and D emphasized on integrating values in lessons. According to
Coordinator A: “I like to inculcate values among students and to integrate values with syllabi.”It
was found that coordination was a series of tasks; curriculum planning, lessons plans checking,
mentoring, monitoring, organizing extra-curricular activities, staff meetings, teachers’ trainings,
record keeping and coordination with support staff. Coordinator A mentioned: “…a part from
teaching, coordination is additional job which includes checking planners, supervision of teachers
at different levels, I conduct teachers’ workshops…..” It was noted that all coordinators
monitored teachers in collegial environment. Coordinator B highlighted: “I go to different classes
to inspect what students are learning and are teachers delivering according to work plans or not.”
It was observed that senior management involved coordinators in decision making. Coordinator
A highlighted: “I am present when senior managers interviewed or took their demonstrations.”

Relationship Building

It was found that coordinators as mentors helped teachers in learning new teaching methods.
Coordinator B mentioned: “I developed a new syllabus and guided my teachers at every step….i
share everything with them”. It was discovered that middle leaders were satisfied with their
senior managers. Coordinator A mentioned senior managers as “quite accommodating”.
Coordinator B reported that senior management preferred “team work” and “trusted” her.
Coordinator C defined three parameters:” trust, annual appraisals and responsibilities”.
Coordinator D also showed satisfaction. Coordinators highlighted that it was vital to develop
good relations with parents. Coordinator A: “If parents are not happy then you face a lot of
problems.”It was found that coordinators were encouraging leaders towards teachers. According
to coordinator A: “ You try to motivate the ones who are not too willing to work….i think it’s a
combination of reward and reprimand ”.

Responsibilities

It was observed that all coordinators carried out their responsibilities positively with many extra
duties.

Teaching

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The findings indicated that teaching was a major responsibility followed by creativity, monitoring
and teachers’ training. It was found that coordinators liked to teach. Coordinator A considered it
as “the best part of her career”. Coordinator B mentioned: “I love teaching” and I substitute for
my teachers as well”. It was noted that coordinators encouraged creativity. Coordinator D
reinforced that: “…..pair work, group work, and multimedia. It should not be ordinary; so that
students do not get bored, they have a feeling that they achieved something.” All coordinators
monitored teachers. Coordinator A: “I observe teachers annually in the presence of headmistress
in classrooms.” Coordinator B explained: “ I go to classes to inspect what students are learning
and what teachers are teaching”. Coordinator C highlighted: “I check at what time are teachers
coming and going ”. Coordinator D indicated: “…to supervise teachers whether they are following
syllabus breakdown and also if they are making use of correct teaching strategies.”It was found
that coordinators as mentors, created communities of learning for sustainable development.
Coordinator A mentioned that she conducted workshops for learning and to “settle disputes
among people”.

Administration

Besides academics, middle leaders were involved in administrative and extra-curricular activities.
Coordinator C mentioned: “I daily upload homework and syllabus for different classes on the
school software.” It was found that extra-curricular activities such as singings, dramatics were
also as important as academics. Coordinator A indicated: “…extra-curricular we try to
incorporate to curricular activities like group work”. It was observed that all coordinators
practiced team work by engaging teachers in planning and implementation of activities.
Coordinator B highlighted: “I make activity calendar and show to my teachers and we plan
together”.

Challenges

Challenges were broadly categorized under the two sub themes: multi-tasking and relationship
building.

Multitasking

Job dissatisfaction was observed among middle leaders as they were expected to be playful,
clever and manipulative by senior management. Coordinator A shared her feelings: “The life of a
coordinator is not easy. That’s so because you do not have any friends, you have to report them
to your heads, who are their heads as well and you are there as a spy.” Monitoring was found as
a threat to collegiality as it was disliked by teachers despite of collegial environment. Coordinator
A: “…teachers know that you are a supervisor. Yet they hold back a few things, they do.” It was
found that extra duties were performed by middle leaders. Coordinator A complained “Early I

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was only asked to check their planners later it included workshops….”Coordinator B pointed out:
“Organizing events is not my duty but I am doing it.” Coordinator C expressed “I am doing a lot
extra…sometimes we have to do much more than what is written.”

Relationship Building

Relationship building was found challenging considering the demands of senior management,
parents and lack of teachers’ cooperation. Middle leaders, coordinators created collaborative
and trustworthy environment but still teachers’ non cooperative behavior was a challenge.
Coordinator A expressed: “Not every worker is a willing worker…… certain teachers consider
teaching only a source to earn money…. getting work done by such people is the biggest
challenge.”Senior managers were found powerful and demanding while neglecting the
coordinators’ capacity. Coordinator A indicated: “Basically senior management wants you to
work as a spy….you can’t please everyone all the time. They are happy as long as you are following
their dictates.” It was found that parents created tensions with their unrealistic demands.
Coordinator B mentioned: “If parents are not happy then you face a lot of problems.” Coordinator
C criticized: “In a private school parents expect that school should do everything for the child and
it is hard for us.”It was found that coordinators positively accepted their multiple responsibilities.
They were satisfied that senior management was appreciative and trusted them. Coordinator A
highlighted: “I wouldn’t have been given this job if I was outspoken kind of a person. I don’t raise
my voice.” Under the roles, middle leaders actually perform tasks delegated by the principal.
Their responsibilities are related to academics, administration and relationship building. Through
effective leadership, they face challenges related to multitasking and relationships.

5. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

From the study of middle leaders’ roles in school, the fact emerged that they worked in between
their respective principals and teachers as mentioned by Bush and Saran (2013). They fulfilled
the demands of their post through the implementation of school policy and smooth functioning
by delegation and supervision (Glover et al., 1998). Besides teaching they performed leadership,
managerial, administrative responsibilities; mentoring and monitoring (Harris and Jones, 2017).
They worked in multiple capacities as echoed by Hammersley-Fletcher and Brundette (2005). As
a result, they connected and protected their staff like “buffer and bridge” as described by Aubrey-
Hopkins (2013). Middle leaders projected their potential through their roles within the school
hierarchy which was geared towards improvement as indicated by Busher and Harris (1999).

Middle leaders’ responsibilities were designed in accordance to their multifunctional roles. They
performed academic, administrative, managerial duties (Busher and Harris, 1999). Their
responsibilities extended to the whole school as explained by Earley and Fletcher-campbelle
(1989). They performed their duties timelessly and positively. Hence they transferred dynamism
and motivation to their juniors while focusing on their capacity building with their knowledge,
skills and years of experience as mentioned by Busher and Fletcher et al., (2007). Through their

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effective leadership, middle leaders influenced teaching and learning by transforming into values
based teaching as highlighted by Busher et al., (2007). They encouraged a culture of caring and
sharing through learning communities as mentioned by Busher and Harris (2010). Considering
their excellent mediation and interpersonal skills, middle leaders were also expert of building
good relationships with their seniors and juniors.

Middle leaders encountered multiple challenges. Owing to their middle position, they took
pressures from seniors and juniors while targeting the “nature and expectations of middle
leadership” (Fullan, 2010 and Benette et al., 2007). Multitasking: Coordination, monitoring,
relationship building, lack of cooperation from senior management and teachers were major
challenges as highlighted by Javaid et al., (2017), Glover et al., (1998) and Wenger (1998).

6. CONCLUSION

This study investigated the roles, responsibilities and challenges of middle leaders in four private
schools in Islamabad. Qualitative method and case study approach was used whereas semi
structured interviews were conducted to study middle leaders. In the private school leadership
system of Pakistan, middle leaders play a play a pivotal role in sustainable development through
teachers’ capacity building and improved students’ learning outcomes. Using their knowledge
and rich experience, they actually uplift the standards of schools, explore and tap the resources
through social networking. Middle leaders evolve the traditional educational leadership of
Pakistan by bringing change in thinking, attitude and behavior hence they are the PILLARS of
schools, leading towards sustainable development.

7. RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Transformational leadership trainings are recommended for the stake holders, senior
management and principals. The purpose is to transform the traditional leadership system by
involving middle leaders in decision making and giving them a separate identity.

2. Sensitizational workshops are recommended for public.

For future implications, a national level, mixed method study may be conducted to
explore in detail the middle leadership in educational institutions.

BIOGRAPHY:

Name: MS. Saira Riaz
Title: Academic Fellow for French language
Affiliation: KLM, IIUM
Country: Malaysia
Email address: [email protected]

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Title of the abstract: The Pillars of school: A case study of Middle leaders in four private
secondary schools in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the principals and coordinators of the four schools in Islamabad in
Pakistan who gave their time and provided facilitation in data collection for this research.

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Proceedings of the 3rd International Language & Tourism Conference 2019
Sustaining Global Development Goals through
Language, Education and Tourism

Kulliyyah of Languages and Management, International Islamic University Malaysia,
Pagoh Edu Hub, Malaysia 18th-19th October 2019

LEARNING STRATEGIES: PERCEPTIONS ON USING SONGS AND MOVIES IN
LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Adlina Amani Abdul Razak*1, Shahrul Nizam Mohd Basari2
1, 2 Department of English,

International Islamic University Malaysia, Pagoh Campus, MALAYSIA
(E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])
ABSTRACT

In the current era, movies and songs are very common in our daily lives; hence language
learners should utilize these strategies in acquiring a new language, especially when their
benefits and advantages have been highlighted in many studies. However, there are still
some limitations that are faced by instructors and learners when integrating songs and
movies in language learning. Thus, this paper aims to explore i) the perceptions of IIUM
students on the integration of movies in foreign language learning and ii) the perceptions
of IIUM students on the integration of songs in foreign language learning. This study
employed the quantitative research design. It used online questionnaires which were
analysed using descriptive statistics. From the findings, it is found out that the majority of
the students have positive perceptions towards the integration of both songs and movies
as a strategy in learning a foreign language. Upon completing the paper, the main
limitations that were faced by the researcher were to get the targeted respondents to
answer the questionnaires and also time constraint.

Keywords: Language; Learning; Strategies

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