Page 187 - Jurnal Kurikulum BPK 2020

Finally, MANOVA was conducted after fulfilled all the assumptions. According to the
multivariate results (MANOVA), there was a statistically significant difference among the three
groups (PBL-online, PBL-book, non-treatment) when considered jointly on the variables of the
reading comprehension test scores (post-test 1, post-test 2 and pre-test), F (6,102) = 2.34,
2
p>.0005; Wilk’s Λ = .773, partial η = .121 (refer to Table 7)
A separate ANOVA was conducted for each dependent variable, with each ANOVA
evaluated at an alpha level of .05. There was not a significant difference among the three groups
2
on the test scores of post-test 1, F (2, 53) = .132, p = .877 (refer to Table 8), partial η = .005.
Besides, there was also a non-significant difference among the groups (PBL-online, PBL-book
2
and non-treatment) on post-test 2’s scores, F (2, 53) = 1.304, p = .280, partial η = .047 (refer
to Table 8) even though ‘PBL-book’ group (M=78.118) scored higher than ‘PBL-online’ group
(M=75.0). Since there is no significant difference among the three groups on reading scores of
post-tests 1 and 2, the PBL-online and PBL-book treatments are not effective among other
students.
It is noteworthy that the students of PBL-book did well in post-tests 1 and 2 of reading
comprehension as the means were the highest in both tests i.e. M=72.94 and M=78.12
respectively. Notwithstanding the better performance of PBL-book group in the two post-tests,
the differences of means were not statistically different. This portrays that PBL-online and
PBL-book could not really help the matriculation students in reading comprehension. In
addition, the PBL groups also could not perform better compared to non-treatment. Therefore,
the two objectives stated in this study have been answered.

DISCUSSION

The findings of this study are inconsistent with various researches which have found
that PBL could assist students in learning (e.g. Hajrulla, 2014; Jadhav, Mulla, & Jadhav, 2017;
Kerdpol, 2016; Marwan, 2015; Meyer, 2015; Simpson, 2011; Termizi & Yassin, 2013; Yiying,
2015). This is due to several limitations and slight hiccups in this study. Despite the results that
PBL-online and PBL-book treatments could not be effective among the matriculation students,
this study could open new doors and create connections that can build into future project
designs.
First and foremost, I noticed that my students were lack of motivation because their
reflections were generally too short in the first month (October). Even in Fukuzawa, Boyd, and
Cahn's (2017) study with 49 undergraduates of anthropology course, they found the majority
of the participants were not motivated to do PBL as the post course PBL survey shows that only
22% liked more PBL and 27% felt that PBL benefited their learning compared to traditional
lectures. According to Fukuzawa, Boyd, and Cahn, (2017) and Marwan (2015), students need
to have high level of self-motivation and personal responsibility in PBL. Thus, I commented
on the students’ work to let them realise that this project foregrounded on how they reflect on
what they read and requested them to submit longer reflections in the next task. Besides, I also
encouraged them and stressed the importance of learning in their work.
Due to the feedback and encouragement given, the students tried to write longer and
started to think more critically on how to read beyond the texts using the scaffolding taught.
They attempted to make connections between the texts they read with their prior experience
and current knowledge in the subsequent month. Noticing their struggles, I suggested them to
make better reflections on the texts they read by using questioning strategies (i.e. 5Ws and H –
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?), which can be embedded in the scaffolding taught
earlier (e.g. Does the text remind me of something? How do I feel after reading the text?).
Besides, I also showed them more examples on how to relate reading texts to self, education
and community using other reading materials which were not assigned to them. Therefore, the

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