Research Instruments

The Pretest and posttest questions consisted of 30 objective questions constructed. Both the pretest and the posttest were conduct using online which consisted of 30 objective questions based on the learning outcomes for the Science laboratory safety. The tests were administered to all the subjects involved in this study. The time allocation for the pretest and posttest is given 30 minutes. In this study, the pretest and posttest were achievement tests to measure the criterion variable of students’ performance which includes their acquisition/test score, the number of problems solved and the mean errors. The two sets of tests were identical except for the order of the questions. The pretest and the posttest were administered before and after the treatment respectively.

3. Result

Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted to analyze the collected data. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were carried out to examine the main effects as well as the

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interaction effects of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The pre test scores are used as the covariate variable. The level of significance α=0.05 was used in this study. Table 2 ANOVA of Pretest Scores of Students

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups _{194.097 1 194.097 10.207 .003}

Within Groups _{551.467 29 19.016}

Total _{745.564 30}

Table 2 showed ANOVA of Pretest Scores of students. A pre-test was administered before the beginning of the study. An ANOVA was used to determine if there were significant differences in students’ pre-test mean scores between VRS and VRNS groups at a 0.05 significance level. The values F(1,29) = 10.207, Mean Square = 194.097, and p = 0.003 showed that there were no significant difference in the pre-test scores between VRS and VRNS groups. This implies that students across the two groups were equivalent in their prior knowledge of science laboratory safety.

ANCOVA of Post Scores of Students in Various VR Groups

In order to reduce the error and increase the statistic ability, the pre-test scores as the covariate variable, a comparison was made among the two groups (VRS and VRNS) again using the ANCOVA procedure (Table 3).

DependentVariable:POSTTEST

Source

Type III Sum of

Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Corrected Model 347.798a 2 173.899 6.901 .004 Intercept 362.575 1 362.575 14.389 .001 PRETEST 208.781 1 208.781 8.285 .008 VR 306.697 1 306.697 12.171 .002 Error 705.557 28 25.198 Total 217778.000 31 Corrected Total 1053.355 30

a. R Squared = .330 (Adjusted R Squared = .282)

Table 3 indicated the results of ANCOVA test of statistical significance on the differences observed in the mean scores of the post-test for the various treatment groups with F(1,28)=12.171, Mean Square=306.697, and p=0.002. Therefore, these differences in the Posttest scores were significant.

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4. Discussion

This study revealed that students using the Virtual Reality with Signaling (VRS) attained significantly higher Posttest score than students using the Virtual Reality Non Signaling (VRNS) in learning of science laboratory safety. It was supported by Chen (2005) and Awaatif & Wan Ahmad Jaafar (2015), they found that students who were using VR with signaling are significantly better than students who were using VR without signaling. According to Mayer (2009) cognitive theory of multimedia learning, signaling is another technique for reducing extraneous processing because it provides cues to the learner about what to attend to and how to organize it. On the other hand, signaling also can help learner to solve the problems when the lessons having too much extraneous material by draw learners’ attention towards the essential material. The significantly positive effect of Virtual Reality with Signaling (VRS) on students’ achievement might because of signaling can help guide what the leaner pays attention to (the process of selecting) and can help the learners to mentally organize the key material (the process of organizing). Without guidance on how to carry out appropriate cognitive processing, the learner is more likely to engage in extraneous cognitive processing such as processing extraneous material and trying to organize it with the rest of the material. According to Mohamed et al. (2012), signaling principles also can help to reduce the cognitive load and relieve the students in mastering the learning process. Therefore, students using of Virtual Reality with Signaling (VRS) could understand the concept of science laboratory safety easily.

5. Conclusion

This study found that the use of Virtual Reality with Signaling (VRS) treatment mode helped pupils performed significantly better than Virtual Reality Non Signaling (VRNS) in learning of science laboratory safety. The superiority of the Virtual Reality with Signaling (VRS) could be due to signaling principles provides cues to learner and helping to reduce learner’s cognitive load. In short, the study strongly indicated that Virtual Reality with Signaling (VRS) was effective in learning of science laboratory safety. It was suggested that Virtual Reality with Signaling (VRS) should be integrated into all courseware on the learning of science laboratory safety.

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Zulhisyam, S., Erita, M. M., Saiful, A. M., Norzainariah, A. H. and Fizatul, A. P. (2011). “A Case Study on the Efficacy of Technical Laboratory Safety in Polytechnic”. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 77.

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The Perspectives of Autobiography in Malay Historiography Rahimah Hamdan*a, Arba’ie Sujuda, Jama’yah Zakariaaand

Shaiful Bahri Md.Radzib

a_{Department of Malay Language, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication,} Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

b_{School of Malay Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and} Humanities, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

*Corresponding Author: [email protected] ABSTRACT

Western colonialism, especially by the English and Dutch who came to the Malay world in the 17th and 18th centuries, introduced a new trend in literature that had expanded rapidly in line with the Industrial Revolution in Europe, known as realism. This trend emphasized the manifestation of ‘reality’, which means creating literature without ‘supernatural’ element or embellishment. This new trend forms a new genre known as autobiographies and biographies. Abdullah Munshi’s work titled Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah, was considered as the earliest autobiography to be written in Malay language. However, it has invited debate from several scholars that extended to a number of other autobiographical and biographical texts that emerged in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Local and Western scholars such as Syed Naquib al-Attas, Liaw Yock Fang, C. W. Watson and A. Sweeney attempt to justify their scale and classification of the terminology and interpretation of this genre as to suit the values and thinking for conventional Malay literature. This paper aims to compare and analyse the arguments of several scholars with regard to the classification and significance of autobiographies and biographies in Malay historiography. Hence, through the use of descriptive method, this paper will discuss the opinions of the above scholars, and eventually this study would reasoned as to what autobiographies and biographies genre that fit into Malay perspective.

Keywords: Autobiography, biography, Malay historiography 1. Introduction

Islamic tradition also introduced the deeds of the reed pen to Malay authors in Malaya (Braginsky, 1989; 1993:1). Malay authors were alerted to the importance of literature in their lives or to ‘literary awareness’, as it was termed by Braginsky (1993; 1998; 2001). This literary awareness, that was born together with the spread of Islam, led the society to know the objectives, aims, essence, facts, and kinds of literary creation processes in line with matters relating to these ‘deeds of the reed pen’. Accordingly, the most valuable treasure that has been passed down to the present generation is the ‘written literature’ that was mostly composed after the arrival of Islam (Braginsky, 1993:1). The main factor in the development of Malay writing, other than the introduction of the Jawi script, was the tolerance of Islam with regard to the beliefs and original culture of its adherents inherited from the age of animism, especially those myths and legends that cannot be completely uprooted. This is reflected in Malay literary works such as their folk tales, history, sagas, scrolls, epics and several others which mainly include these elements in order to magnify or glorify literary figures.

The need to proclaim the greatness of a state (combat de prestige) among the governments of the Malay Archipelago also enabled these elements to be applied by authors in their works (Sweeney, 1987; Siti Hawa Salleh, 1997 and 2009; Koster, 1997; Braginsky, 2004). Thus,

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this led to the introduction of several Malay historiographical works (historical literature) to fulfil this purpose such as Hikayat Raja Pasai (Samudera-Pasai), Sulalatus Salatin-Sejarah Melayu (Melaka), Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (Kedah), Hikayat Acheh (Acheh) and Tuhfat al-Nafis (Johor-Riau) (just to mention a few texts). This genre was not directed at the masses but was only composed for the ruling kings in addition to the compositions that were centred on the palace. Thus, everything was written to delight and satisfy the king (Sweeney, 1980: viii, and Braginsky, 2004). Since the king was regarded as ‘Allah’s representative on earth’, this indirectly gave rise to the concepts of sovereignty, plague and rebellion, which reinforced the concept of ‘raja-centeredness’ in the production of every literary piece during that era. In this way, a heavy responsibility was placed on the shoulders of every Malay writer (Malay court’s scribe) to combine all the values and ideas to produce a cohesive welstanschauung that could be successfully delivered through their writing activities.

2. The Arrival of the West and the Impact on the Conventions of Malay Literature

Western colonization arrived in the Malay World as early as the 15th century. In the first three centuries (1511 to 1800), the Western colonialists were not interested in knowing and understanding the colonised community (Sweeney, 1987). The Portuguese, who conquered Malacca in 1511, were not considered to be successful colonialists because they did not leave a mark on the acquisition of knowledge in the land that they colonised (Ismail Hussein, 1974). Their presence was more economically motivated so as not to have had a profound impact on Malay literary activities (Ding Choo Ming, 2004). However, the development of the era of Romanticism, which swept Europe in the 18th _{century (around 1800 to 1850), saw} these colonialists being fired with a passion to explore the literature, culture and language of the colonised society in response to the growth of the Industrial Revolution in Europe (Ismail Hussein, 1974; Sweeney, 1987) .

At the same time, the theory of Darwinism grew rapidly in Europe, giving rise to the concepts of the “white man’s superiority” and the “white man’s burden”, which reinforced the perspective of racism in Western societies. Directly, the world community is now classified into inferior (colonised) and superior (colonist) groups. According to colonial ideology, European officials and their inherent ideas create characters that are biased towards the indigenous communities. These colonial scholars ignored the negative aspects of colonialism but instead preached that Western methods and culture were superior, that Westerners should lead the world, that they are entitled to the wealth of the Eastern World, and that they make the best administrators. At the same time, the colonialists blamed those colonised for their backwardness and exploitation. Their exploitation of the colonised society was seen as a noble process of improvement and a form of education (Syed Hussein Alatas, 1977). This resulted in many research reports on the colonised communities, including their flora and fauna, culture and literature, which were securely preserved in their academic journals, as described by Knaap (1994:637-638) below:

‘In order to rule the colonies properly, the colonial power of the time were of the opinion that they needed not only a strong army and navy and a well-trained civil service, but also scholarly and practical knowledge of the indigenous society. Scholarly interest in the colonies can thus be interpreted as an offspring of the process of colonial state formation. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in England and France as well as in the Netherlands, all sorts of journals came into being to disseminate knowledge about the colonies. Few of these journals survived the wave of decolonization after the Second World War. In the Netherlands only two survived, Bijdragen and (Nieuwe) West-Indische Gids, founded in 1919. The other well-known journal on Southeast Asia from this period that is still in

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existence is the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, founded in 1878’

Also, in the 18th and 19th centuries, a number of Malay compositions appeared in those states that were under the rule of the West. Malay literary works that had all along consisted of ‘palace and raja-centric’ topics, were now being composed to meet the demands of the Western administrators, who were referred to as ‘rajas’. The purpose of these writings was to reveal the significance of their presence to the colonised societies (Sweeney and Phillips, 1975: xxiii). Local individuals who were serving as teachers or ‘munshis’ would write, either on their own initiative for their European patrons (such as Hikayat Raja-raja Siam, which was written for van der Capeller) or on the orders of the Western administrators (Adat Raja- raja Melayu for De Bruin and Memoirs of a Malayan Family for the British Resident, Butter Hunnings).

The control of the European courts over Malay literary works based in Singapore intensified when Abdullah Munsyi appeared with his autobiographical work titled Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah (1838) and Hikayat Abdullah (1843). Abdullah Munsyi’s closeness to the colonialists, by virtue of his job as a translator for them, added greater value to his writing activities. He was free to experiment with new genres that were emerging in Europe at that time, namely the trend of realism, which considered literary works as actual recordings of the life of the society. Hence, all the depravity and poverty that were being experienced should be specified in a transparent manner based on the senses. Milner (1995) described the realism genre adopted by Abdullah Munsyi as “the use of first person pronouns, reality descriptions of historical events and harsh criticisms of the culture, socio-political culture and practices of the Malay community’. Obviously, this style of writing was totally unfamiliar to Malay writers and even challenged the old conventions of Malay literature that had been handed down. Nevertheless, based on this ‘aberration’, Abdullah Munsyi was crowned the ‘Father of Modern Malay Literature’ in 1907, which directly marked the end of the traditional period and the beginning of a modern era in the corpus of Malay literature.

3. Abdullah Munsyi Was Not The Earliest Malay Autobiographer?

Abdullah Munsyi’s earliest appearance as a teacher of the Malay language as well as a translator for the English presented the Malay literary world with a new phenomenon. Due to his closeness to the colonialists, he was easily influenced by the introduction of realism. This trend obviously promoted a manifestation of the realities of human life without mixing in mythical and supernatural or transcendent elements. This change proved to be a cultural shock to the conventions that had been supported by the Malay writers in particular and the entire traditional Malay society in general, where, according to Skinner (1978: 468):

‘For writers to break out of the established pattern and begin to subject their society and its norms to an even moderately critical scrutiny, an a result of which new themes, new forms, new styles - in fact, a new ‘modern’ literature - would emerges, required some form of ‘cultural shock’.

Abdullah Munsyi’s courage in changing the conventions of Malay literary works introduced a new style of writing into Malay literature, thus giving rise to autobiographies, biographies, memoirs and several others in the late 19th century and early 20th century (Skinner, 1978: 469). The emergence of ‘new Malay’ writers who were English educated, such as Ibrahim Munshi, Mohamed Salleh Perang and Mohamad Said Sulaiman (just to mention a few) continued to present a new phenomenon to the advancement of national literature, so much so