The influence of social categories on students’ self-selected group work formation in a private university in Malaysia
When students of multi-ethnic and multi-lingual Malaysians and international students from culturally diverse backgrounds work together in group assignments, negotiations on whom to include or exclude would take place during the formation of self-selected groups. Social categories appears to infl...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2019
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15674/1/31903-98729-1-SM.pdf http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15674/ http://ejournals.ukm.my/ebangi/issue/view/1177 |
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| Summary: | When students of multi-ethnic and multi-lingual Malaysians and international students from
culturally diverse backgrounds work together in group assignments, negotiations on whom to
include or exclude would take place during the formation of self-selected groups. Social categories
appears to influence students’ choices in group membership during these face-to-face interactions.
Set against the backdrop of Intercultural Communication, the objective of this study is to
investigate the influence of the specific social categories of age, gender, nationality, ethnicity,
religion, mother tongue and English language ability on self-selected group work formation.
Relying on a basic quantitative approach for a case study, a set of questionnaire with a 5-point
Likert-type scale was developed. Participants were asked whether or not they prefer to work with
other participants from the same or similar social categories. The study found that in the formation
of self-selected groups, the social categories of age and English language ability are significantly
influential. This study affirms that social categories influence students’ choices in self-selected
group work formations. |
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