Investigating the Phenomenon of Class Tardiness among the First Year First Semester Chemical Engineering Students at Universiti

Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP)

Chong Li Feng Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Undergraduate student: Academic Writing) E-mail: esther94feng@gmail.com Tel: 010-2790993

Choo Ee Huey Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Undergraduate student: Academic Writing) E-mail: eehueyc@gmail.com Tel: 016-5960069

Loh Jie Qian Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Undergraduate student: Academic Writing) E-mail: jieqianloh@gmail.com Tel: 016-5980589

Phua Yun Hock Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Undergraduate student: Academic Writing) E-mail: austinpyh3658@gmail.com Tel: 010-9625627

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

Abstract Generally, class tardiness is defined as students not attending lecture on time and not being present in the time set. After attending lectures for a period of time, students start getting to know how the lectures are conducted and therefore assume that there will be no constructive activities happen for the first few minutes of the lectures. Class tardiness influences the students themselves as well as others. As is generally known, students who possess regular attendances tend to achieve better results as success is related to ones punctuality. Students who are late to class will also cause class disruption to other students. Indeed, many previous researchers indicated that class tardiness among the students is a common phenomenon. Some of the researches mentioned that students who are tardy tend to achieve lower grades compared to others and sleeping late is the main reason. Therefore, this research will further investigate the phenomenon of class tardiness among the first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP). Throughout conducting this research, quantitative method which is a set of questionnaire was used. The results hence indicated that class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP is a common phenomenon. In conclusion, it can be seen that the three hypotheses made is accepted after carrying this research.
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Keywords: Class tardiness, students, academic, punctuality, UTP

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Free Dictionary (2003) mentioned that tardiness implies a situation where an individual is coming, occurring or remaining after correct, usual or expected time (as cited in Malik, Ladhani, & Bhamani, n.d.). Thus, the term class tardiness has been defined as students coming late, not attending lecture on time, missing out initial time from the first period and primarily not being present in the time set (Malik et al., n.d.). One of the major causes of lateness is going to bed late because it could result in waking up late and insufficient rest for the lesson on the next day (Nakpodia & Daflaghor, 2011; Paren, 2012). Besides, lateness is caused by innate anxiety level of an individual (Nakpodia & Daflaghor). Sprick and Daniels (2007) stated that there are no positive incentives to be on time as students assume that there will be no constructive activities happen for the first five minutes of the class. The lack of functional and effective punctuality policy (Nakpodia & Daflaghor; Sprick & Daniels) too causes tardiness. As there are no immediate consequences for being tardy and nothing will happen until the tenth incident (Sprick & Daniels). Many researchers have indicated that class tardiness is a serious issue. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistic (1998) reported that the amount of time actually spent in the classroom is crucial element of students academic success (as cited in Moore, n.d.). Wheat (1998) mentioned that students who possess regular attendances to school tend to achieve higher grades compared to those students who are frequently absent (as cited in Jones, 2006). Students are forced to abstain from the chances to learn (National Center for Educational Statistic; U.S. Department of Education) and lose the instructional time of great importance (Dinkes, 2007; eCampus.net, 2008; Marzano, 2000; Shupe, 1998; U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics) when they are absent from school, arrive late, or cut class (as cited in Moore). Wheat mentioned that a student will find it arduous to pick up what is being taught in the school in his absence unless he engages in off campus productively (as cited in Jones, 2006). The learning of students who go to class on time is also regularly interrupted by tardy or frequently absent students who cause class disruptions (Dinkes; eCampus.net; Marzano; Shupe; U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics) and intervene with other students chances to learn (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistic).

Studies have shown that one of the greatest concern among stakeholders in education is tardiness issue. Class tardiness, a phenomenon not so serious fifty years ago, has become an educational crime these days. This study would therefore further investigate the phenomenon of class tardiness among the first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) based on the following research hypotheses: (i) Class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP is a common phenomenon. (ii) (iii) Students with high rate class tardiness perform poorly in academic. The main reason for class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP is due to sleeping late.

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

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

2.2 Insights on Class Tardiness There are a few researchers which directly enquire some respondents regarding the tardiness of students such as administrative, teachers, parents and students. Damico et al. (1990) stated that one of the students perceptions on their tardiness is the overcrowded hall due to the population of students (as cited in Weade, 2004). On the other hand, Moores (2010) research on the perception of students on class tardiness is found to be the same in which the administrators and students expressed the same opinion. They agree that crowded hall is the one of the causes of tardiness (Moore). The inconsistency of the tardy policy caused students to feel that they are treated without fairness as a lot of teachers did not follow the tardy policy consistently (Moore, 2010; Weade, 2004). Woog (1992) reported that students will not comply with the policy when teachers makes their own policy of compulsory attendance which does not work in a consistent way (as cited in Docstoc.com, n.d).
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Weade (2004) also found that the irrelevant course content caused students to become not interested in attending the courses. To further elaborate on this issue, Moores research on the teachers perspective showed that the parental apathy to their own jobs might have influenced the students behaviour and action regarding the irrelevant course content. In most of the tardiness cases, the students come late to class and therefore cause interruption to the whole class. From the teachers perspective, this phenomenon causes the progress of the student who come late to be incoherent with other students (Malik, Ladhani, &Bhamani, n.d.). Malik et al. further elaborated that quite a few teachers will tend to ignore them in order to make sure the momentum of class remain smoothly. Weade (2004) mentioned that class participation has become a behaviour which linked to school achievement and dropout rate. In 1963 a background paper stated that irregular attendance and serious tardiness may be predicted at least five years before the students are dropped out (Weade).

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

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

2.4 Disadvantages and Consequences of Class Tardiness Sprick and Daniels (2007) state that tardiness is one of the most frustrating problems in classroom nowadays. Some of the teachers claim that waiting for student to straggle in in the first four to eight minutes is a waste of time (Sprick & Daniels, 2007). Beards George (1881) claims that A delay in few minutes might delay the hope of lifelong (as cited in Moore, 2010). Therefore, there are a few disadvantages and consequences of class tardiness among students which are produces distraction to the individual and the whole class (Nakpodia & Dafiaghor, 2011), leads to students failure in school (Weade, 2004) and causes stress to teachers (Moore, 2010). Tardiness among students tends to rob away the precious instructional time of the teachers and students (Sprick & Daniels, 2007) and these students who are tardy causes disruption to class and interfere with other students opportunities to learn (Moore, 2010). Tyre, Feuerborn and Peirce (2011) state that teachers must continuously restarting their instruction or delaying the beginning instructional periods when most of the students are
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tardy at the secondary level. U.S. Department of Education and national Center for Educational Statistics (1998), Shupe (1998), Marzano (2000), Dinkes (2007) and eCampus.net (2008) all agree that the students valuable instructional time is constantly taken from them on a daily basis and many suffer because of student tardiness (as cited in Moore). Furthermore, excessive tardiness has constituted the 3rd most common reason for students to fail in schools (Weade, 2004; Young, Reddehase, Andrade, & Lambert-Lindley, 2011). Young et al. stated students who are in class on time and behaving well are more likely to be actively engaged in their studies. In contrary, it can be seen that students who are tardy tend to score low grades and produce less GPA during assessments and finals (Malik, Ladhani, & Bhamani, n.d.). Weade also mentions those low-achieving Hispanic high school students have the common characteristics of having low attendance and habitual tardiness. Besides that, Malik et al. and Weade agree that tardiness will cause students to be dropping out from school and leading students to have behavioral problem (Malik et al.). Xiaofeng (2007) states that one of the factors which causes stress to teachers is student tardiness (as cited in Moore, 2010). In addition, Xiaofeng claims that student tardiness can cause teachers to detract from the teaching environment and eventually lead to their resignation from the teaching field (as cited in Moore) as teachers are irritated by the number of classroom disruptions (Moore). Sprick and Daniels (2007) further claim that the range of teachers individual responses is from ignoring them to sending them to the office and this may cause confusion to the students about the importance of punctuality in class. Furthermore, Peter Davis, principal of Hill Classical Middle School in Long Beach, California, says that Tardiness suggests school is not important. (Sprick & Daniels).

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

perspective, Malik et al. mentioned that the practice of corporal punishment in Pakistani context is eliminated and replaced with the mode of praise and appreciation as the valuation of students enable them to develop a desirable change in their behaviour. According to Muir (2005), the effective approaches to the tardiness issue can be categorized into two which are behavior modification approach and the needs- based approach. Needs-based approach focuses on recognizing, accessing and referring serious offenders to proper services such as support groups; searching of solutions through brainstorming with parents; establishing free breakfast programs; ameliorate the standard of the instructional program through joint efforts with teachers; changing to block scheduling; interdisciplinary & integrated curriculum; and equipping students with chances to voice out their concerns which is useful to the school operation (Muir). The implementation of a behavior modification based approach intervention program known as Behavior Modification Program comprised of strategies such as providing cards for daily time sign-in, encouraging prompt attendance with points which is exchangeable for rewards and a time-management skills training workshop to provide resources in honing time management skills (Muir; Johnson, 1995). Sprick and Daniels (2007) suggested that the introduction of positive sweep among the students is able to reduce the tendency of tardiness. This works on the central concept of sweeping students who are tardy by the administrators and security personnel into different places followed by processing which can prevent the teachers from wasting the class time and to ensure the active supervision along the hallways and consistency in the immediate consequences of tardiness (Sprick & Daniels). The positive sweep team members including teachers equipped with preparation time after the passing period will supervise through circulation in their assigned zones and gather the tardy students (Sprick & Daniels). These students will be escorted to a sweep room in which they will punished accordingly followed by sweep team members escorting them to the classrooms without interfering the progress of the class (Sprick & Daniels). Tomczyk (2000) mentioned that administrative detention is implemented among students with severe tardiness (as cited in Weade, 2004). According to Malbon and Nuttall (1982), academic policies aimed to resolve the tardy issue are developed by school (as cited in Weade, 2004).

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Hernans (1991) research stated that more integrated tracking systems are designed to badge and track on all students entering and leaving the campus (as cited in Weade, 2004). Anderson and Windeatts (1995) study shows that block scheduling comprised of co-

operative learning activities to enhance the development of interpersonal skills and improve student goal setting decision making technique through usage of physical education portfolios (as cited in Weade, 2004). Wilson (1997) stated that the implementation of a pilot project focused on enhancing vocational education programs resulted in the reduction in tardiness (as cited in Weade, 2004). Wilson further explained that the methodology used is where the control group will receive the conventional vocational programming whereas intensive, competency-based skills employing a new instructional delivery system will be implemented among the experimental groups (as cited in Weade, 2004).

2.6 Summary Over the years it can be seen class tardiness has become an issue of great concern especially with the advant of technology. Many education institutions are taking great steps to reduce class tardiness in order to increase students academic performance. This study therefore would further investigate the phenomenon of class tardiness among the first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP).

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3.0 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Sample and population This study involved the population of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) students. 20 participants selected for this study encompassed first year first semester Chemical Engineering students only. The sampling technique used in this study was a purposive sampling technique. The reason for choosing this technique is we can focus our study on the phenomenon of class tardiness among the first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP).

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3.2 Materials Quantitative method which is a set of questionnaire was used in this research. One page self-develop questionnaire that was designed, consisted of six questions, which investigated the phenomenon of class tardiness among the first year first semester Chemical Engineering students in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) was distributed to all participants. The questionnaire consists of only five open-ended questions and one closeended question. Question one to three was designed to answer the first hypothesis which is to investigate whether class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP is a common phenomenon. Besides, question four was to study whether students with high rate class tardiness perform poorly in academic. Apart from that, question five and six was to identify the main factor for class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP.

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3.3 Procedure A total number of 20 participants were purposively selected and were kindly requested to answer the questionnaire. All the participants were given the questionnaire at the same time and same venue. The survey was conducted in the D4 Lecture Hall after the Material Science lecture session. Subsequently, after the participants received the form, they were guided with explanation to enlighten them on how to answer the questionnaire. Ten minutes were given to the participants. Participants answered the questionnaires immediately to retain its authenticity while being observed by the research team. All the forms were gathered together to conduct analyses and interpretation from the survey. Based on the results obtained, graphs were plotted and pie charts were drawn to better display the phenomenon of class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS.

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4.0 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 1: How Many Times Are You Late and Absent to Class Per Week?
80

Percentage of Students (%)

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 1->5 6->9 10 and above

Times Late Absent

Figure 1 displays the frequency of class tardiness among the participants in a week. The seriousness of tardiness among the participants is proved to be at a significant level. Most of the participants possess the tendency of being tardy which include being late and absent to class. For example, a total percentage of 95% among the 20 participants are tardy. 75% of participants constituting the total percentage of tardiness are late or absent to class for 1 to 5 times per week. Muir (2005) shows a similar idea on this statement where it is stated that principals and teachers have long thought that student tardiness is a chronic issue. It is found out that from a study conducted in the 1990s, 8-12% of students were absent each day, and more than 40% of teachers discover the significance of the tardiness problem among the students (Muir). Apart from that, Malik, Ladhani, and Bhamani (n.d.) also stated that tardiness is considered by the researchers to be a serious matter as six students who turn up late every other day and possess the symptoms of lethargy and disengagement from school in two of the classes which have been taken into under study. The low frequency of absenteeism indicates that these students do not have the intention of being absent to class, instead, tardiness takes place occasionally among them due to some unforeseen circumstances. In their opinions, lectures play a significant role in the classroom and listening to lectures and taking notes have been the crucial elements of their learning process. This contributes to their regular attendances to the class unless due to some factors or obstacles which hinder their
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punctuality such as emergencies. This therefore supports the hypothesis that class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP is a common phenomenon.

Figure 2: Do You Think It is Common for Students to be Late or Absent in Class?

Yes No

Figure 2 shows participants opinion on how common is first year first semester Chemical Engineering student late or absent to class. According to the pie chart plotted, surprisingly, 100% of the participants think that it is common for students to be late or absent in class. This shows that most of the students in the class have noticed the severity of class tardiness in their course. This is similar to Sprick and Daniels (2007) where tardiness is to be claimed as one of the most frustrating problems in classroom nowadays. Apart from that, Nakpodia and Dafiaghor (2011) also agreed that class tardiness produces distraction to the individual and the whole class. This is deduced from the observations of the students which are not tardy in the class where they often notice the absenteeism in the class as there is a student late to class, the progress of the whole class will be distracted. This therefore support that class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP is a common phenomenon

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Figure 3:

Late (3.50-4.00) Late (3.00-3.49)

Absent (3.50-4.00) Absent (3.00-3.49)

Figure 3 displays the current CGPA (Foundation) of participants. Participants tend to achieve similar mediocre results based on the frequency of lateness and absenteeism. Participants who are late and absent (ten times and above) to class do not perform well academically in which the results achieved are below Deans list. This is similar to Weades (2004) study who stated that those low-achieving Hispanic high school students have the common characteristics of having low attendance and habitual tardiness. Besides that, Malik et al. (n.d.) and Weade agree that tardiness will cause students to be dropping out from school and leading students to have behavioural problem (Malik et al.). It is found that there is not much difference in the CGPA of students who possess moderate tendency of lateness to class as the percentage difference between those who achieved excellent results (3.50 - 4.00) and mediocre results (3.00 3.49) is not significant. In contradict, the percentage of students who tend to absent to class and yet getting mediocre results is higher, which is the double of those who are in Deans list. This clearly indicates that lateness has no significant influences on students performance as supported by Sprick and Daniels (2007) who claimed that there are no positive incentives to be on time and no constructive activities happen for the first five minutes of the class, giving students the impression that they will not be missing anything if they are late. Besides that, lecturers may be not punctual at times and thus there are no significant impacts on the academic success of students who are late to class. On the other hand, absenteeism may cause students to perform worse in academic assessments and tests.
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This idea is supported by Malik et al. which mentioned that students who are tardy tend to score low grades and produce less GPA during assessments and finals. In conclusion, this therefore supports the hypotheses in which students with high rate class tardiness perform poorly in academic.

Figure 4: What is the Main Reason You or Your friends are Late to Class?

Sleeping late
15% 5%

Lecturers do not come on time Always forgotten the timetable Distance of lecture halls from hostel is too far Other reason

80%

Figure 5:

What is the Main Reason You or Your friends are Absent to Class?

Sleeping late
20% 40%

Cannot concentrate in the class Have to attend events or program

20%

5%

15%

Have no interest in that particular subject Other reason

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Figure 4 and 5 show that most of the students are late and absent to class because of sleeping late which contribute to 80% and 40% of 20 participants approached respectively. Sleeping late and waking up late actually are interrelated to each other because sleeping late at night will cause the students unable to wake up on time on the next day. It is agreed by Nakpodia and Daflaghor (2011) and Paren (2012) where going late to bed is one of the major causes of lateness because it could result in waking up late and insufficient rest for the lesson on the next day. Most of the students who sleep late spend their time to online or to watch drama series until they have forgotten the sleeping time has passed. Ukoshi (2004) also suggests that students involved in watching films at night may be so captivated by it that he/she forgets that he/she has to be in schools (as cited in Nakpodia & Daflaghor). Some students prefer to not to go to class since they are already late and they might be scolded by the lecturers and feel ashamed. Thus, there is no point for them to attend the lecture session. They think that study on their own at room is much better and they are able to concentrate well by studying on their own. Other reasons given by the participants include waking up late, professionalism of lecturers is low, too lots of sleep and do not understand the lecture. This therefore support the hypothesis in which the main reason for class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP is due to sleeping late.

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5.0 CONCLUSION

This research focused on the phenomenon of class tardiness among the first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP). Throughout the research the severity of class tardiness among the students was studied. This study was designed to investigate whether class tardiness is a common phenomenon among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP. Secondly, students with high rate class tardiness was also being studied to find out their academic performance. Lastly, it was also designed to study the main reason for class tardiness among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students at UTP. It was found that class tardiness is common among first year first semester Chemical Engineering students. However, there were some limitations in term of time, population and transportation. Therefore further studies should enhance their research with extended time frame for observation, a large portion of population including other faculties and year of studies, and both qualitative and quantitative methods be applied.

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References: Jone, D. J. (2006, April 7). The impact of student attendance, socio-economic status and mobility on student achievement of third grade students in title I schools. Retrieved July 17, 2013, from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04202006154606/unrestricted/jonesapproveddissertationsapr7.pdf Malik, T. A., Ladhani, S.,& Bhamani, S. (n.d.). Decreasing student tardiness through strategic reward system: An action research report. Abhinav National Monthly Refereed Journal of Research In Arts & Education, 2(2), 19-26. Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://www.abhinavjournal.com/images/Arts_%26_Education/Feb13/2.pdf

Moore, J. S. (2010). Best practices employed by Georgia High School administrators to reduce student tardiness. Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://eaglescholar.georgiasouthern.edu:8080/jspui/bitstream/10518/2599/1/moore_jason_ s_201001_edd.pdf

Muir, M. (2005, February 13). Strategies for dealing with tardiness. Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://www.principalsessentials.com/xpdf/Effective%20Strategies%20for%20dealing%20 with%20Tardies.pdf

Nakpodia, E. D. & Dafiaghor, F. K. (2011, April 4). Lateness: A major problem confronting school administrators in Delta State, Nigeria. International Journal of Science and Technology Education Research, 2(4), 58-61. Retrieved July 8, 2013, fromhttp://www.academicjournals.org/ijster/PDF/Pdf2011/April/Nakpodia%20and%20D afiaghor.pdf Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. (2010). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Paren, R. (2012, April 1). Action research on tardiness. Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://rimmon-educationinthephilippines.blogspot.com/2012/04/action-research-ontardiness.html

Sprick, R. & Daniels, K. (2007, October). Taming the tardies: Every minute counts.
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Middle Ground, pp. 21-23. Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://www.safeandcivilschools.com/research/articles/tamingtardies.pdf

Tyre, A., Feuerborn, L.,& Pierce, J. (2011). Schoolwide intervention to reduce chronic tardiness at the middle and high school levels. Preventing School Failure, 55(3), 132 139. Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://carolinessf.wikispaces.com/file/view/Reduce+Tardiness+Journal+Article.pdf

Weade, B. L. (2004, May). School and work tardiness in high school students in rural Wisconsin. Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/lib/thesis/2004/2004weadeb.pdf

Young, Z., Reddehase, S., Andrade, K.,& Lambert-Lindley, S. (2011, January 31). Dashboard metrics: Phase 2 metric overviews and technical specifications. Retrieved July 8, 2013, from http://www.districtconnections.com/CDMDownloads/Texas%20Student%20Data%20Sys tem%20-%20Complete%20Metrics%20Documentation%201.31.11.pdf

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Appendix:

QUESTIONNAIRE The purpose of this survey is to investigate the phenomenon of class tardiness among the first year first semester Chemical Engineering students in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP). Your cooperation will be highly appreciated. Thank you very much. Instruction: Please tick your answer at the space given.

1. How many times are you late to class per week? 0 6-9 1-5 10 and above
2. How many times are you absent to class per week? 0 6-9 1-5 10 and above 3. Do you think it is common for students to be late or absent to class? Yes No

4. What is your current CGPA (Foundation)? 3.50 4.00 3.00 3.49

2.50 2.99 2.00 2.49

5. What is the MAIN reason you are late to class? Sleeping late Lecturers do not come on time Always forgotten the timetable Distance of lecture halls from hostel is too far Other reason (please state one): ________________________________________ 6. What is the MAIN reason you are absent to class? Sleeping late Cannot concentrate in the class Have to attend events or programs Have no interest in that particular subject Other reason (please state one): ________________________________________ -The End-

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