MARA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (EDU702)

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
TEACHING ARTS IS WAY TO IMPROVE SELF-MANAGEMENT FOR
SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS

PREPARED BY
MOHD ZHAFRI BIN ZULKIPLI
2016207514
ED702 MASTER OF VISUAL ART EDUCATION

SUBMITTED FOR
DR NOR AZIAH ALIAS

CHAPTER 1

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Special needs are term used in clinical diagnostic and functional development to
describe who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or
psychological. For instance, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
and International Classification of Diseases 9 th edition both give guidelines for clinical
diagnosis. Type of special need vary in severity. People with Autism, Down syndrome,
Dyslexia, Chronic Illness, Deafness and Hearing loss, Intellectual Disability, Learning
Disability, Memory loss, Mental Health, Physical Disability, Speech and language
Disorders, Vision loss and Blindness. However, special needs can also include Cleft lips
and Missing limbs.
In context of Education, childrens or students with disability are categorized as
those who are entitled to Special Education. According to The Education for Person with
Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act was passed into law in July 2004. Special
Educational needs are defined in this act as a restriction in the capacity of the person to
participate in and benefit from education on account of an enduring physical, sensory,
mental health or learning disability, or any other condition which results in a person
learning differently from a person without that condition. The EPSEN Act recognizes that
special educational needs may arise from four different areas of disability, physical,
sensory, mental health, and learning disability or from any other condition that results in
the child learning differently from a child without that condition. It is also important to
understand that a child can have a disability but not have any special educational needs
arising from that disability which require additional supports in school.
During learning session, the way teachers teach is the main aspect to ensure
that knowledge can be passed on to them. Teachers play an important role in the
process of delivering of knowledge. The ability of a student to be taken seriously by
teachers before the learning process occurs. Any weaknesses to be identified because

they have different capabilities. For example, how they think, different physical
movements, and how they received the information presented by the teacher. Some of
them physical or mental ability level is very critical to accept and carry out assignments
or main subject of study and curriculum set by the school system. For these students, it
is enough as they are able to learn the basics of managing themselves without the help
of people nearby or surrounding communities. Teaching art or Art Education is a one
way to student with disability manages themselves in the context of their daily selfmanagement without get helping from their family. According to Blandy (1991) Art
education literature has been interested in disability since the 1930s.

1.2. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Living in a group of people who have different cultures and races, perspective
and their belief in the power of art is also different. Art always get negative feedback
from parents. The majority of responses came from parents saying art lessons burden
their children. According to (Lynch and Chosa 1996) attending arts events may be
stimulating and relieve stress, hence leading to improved happiness/ life satisfaction.
They do not believe in the art of teaching and learning, the ability of their children with
disabilities will be improved in terms of their self-management.
To ensure that the objectives are achieved, teacher plays an important role
throughout the learning process. Teachers must study the every aspect of the existing
art and look specifically at the potential of the students. Some subject classification
under art education cannot be done by the students because of the different abilities.
For example the classification of arts education is fine arts, dance, creative arts, crafts
and visual arts.
Teachers must ensure that students have the ability to get input abnormality
learning according to their abilities. In this situation, the arts play an important role. For
example, students cannot speaks or deafness, submission techniques must be
submitted with the technical knowledge of the visual arts by showing them pictures and
also limb movement. This matter, teachers can evaluate and see the effectiveness of

the use of art in special needs learning technique is not only privileged in terms of selfmanagement, but can also be used in other subject learning provide by school.
The problem faced in this study towards on teachers teaching ways. Teacher
are bound by the limit and abilities of theirs disabilities student. Teachers must ensure
that they get the input what are the lessons that they have learning during classes and
how they can practice that when at home. This study involves teacher perception
toward art elements that are able to help them in context of understand about selfmanagement for disabilities student. Teachers should make an observation and study
about suitable arts approach to implement and combine with disabilities student in
teaching and learning lesson. According to (Blandy, 1989b; Eisenhower, 2007, 2008a),
how disability students can elaborate art educations framing of disability, certain
aspects of art education discourses warrant critical attention.

1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study is to determine the using of arts element more helping the
special needs students in their learning process. Thus the objectives of study are to:
1) This study highlight on how an element of arts contributes to helps disability
student for complete daily self-management.
2) This study also focuses on how teachers use elements of arts to teach
disability students in term of self-management to them.
3) To determine that arts element is one of ways that teachers can use in their
teaching technique and collaboration with disability students.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

The following are examples of problems/research question that will be faced by
teachers in teaching art in relation to improve self-management for this special needs
group:
1. How does teachers teaching about self-management using elements of art
to disability students?
2. To what extent do disability students perceive arts as a tool for their selfmanagement?
3. What teachers perception towards art elements to helps them teaching
disability students in self-management context.
4. How to measure the effectiveness using art instruments that have in art
education toward self-management to disability students?
5. What is the relationship between teaching art and self-management for
disability students?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

1. There is no significant relationship between art teaching and improvement

self-management for special needs students
2. There is no significant relationship between art teaching and selfmanagement effectiveness.
1.6 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION
ARTS APPROACH

The arts have been heralded as a panacea for all kinds of problems Artsintegrated school curricula supposedly improve academic performance and student
discipline (Fiske 1999; Remer 1990). The arts have a great potential for helping
students learn, particularly students with disabilities. According to Herman and Smith
(1992) the arts use concrete materials and experiences to teach abstract ideas.
Because of neural immaturity, the students with learning disabilities often have difficulty
grasping abstractions. However, through the use of his or her body or through the use of
the depiction of the body, objects, pictures, and symbols, the student with learning
disabilities can begin to understand abstraction and using the elements of arts has
provide into their self-management. The arts offer opportunities to strengthen visual,
auditory, tactile, and motor areas. Through the arts, students can order his world, make
sense of what he knows, relate past experience to the present, and turn muscular
activity into thought and ideas into action.
In this study, teachers plays important role to convey knowledge to their
disabilities students. Attitudes, perceived competence, educational training, teaching
experience, and prior exposure to disabled individuals were assessed both globally and
within each disability category. The strongest relationships were observed among
indices related to a specific disability category. The results highlight how teachers using
elements or art in their teaching technique. Experience of teachers in creating a positive
teaching environment for students with disabilities and demonstrate that the beliefs of
physical educators are strongly influenced by the disability label of the student.

SELF- MANAGEMENT

Self-management has become a popular term for behavioral interventions as well as for
healthful behaviors. This is especially true for the management of chronic conditions.
(Ann Behav Med 2003, 26(1):1-7). Whether one is engaging in health promoting such
as exercise or is living with chronic conditions, he or she is responsible for day-to-day
daily self-management. Self-management instruction is a well-researched technique
that has wide applications across students, age levels, behaviors, and disability labels
(Browder & Shapiro, 1985; Horner & Brigham, 1979; Prater, Hogan, & Miller, 1992;
Strain, Kohler, Storey, & Danko, 1994). Self-management can take on many forms,
including self-monitoring (recording the occurrence or nonoccurrence of one's behavior),
self-evaluation (judging the quality of one's behavior using a rating scale), and selfreinforcement (having performed a predetermined behavior to a predetermined quality
rating such that a chosen reward is accessed) (Carpenter, Musy, & King-Sears, 1997;
Falk, Dunlap, & Kern, 1996; Lalli & Shapiro, 1990).
Self-management can be used, independent of adult supervision, as a method to
promote student independence and desirable behaviors across a variety of settings
(Pierce & Schreibman, 1994; Wood, Murdock, & Cronin, 2002). Although selfmanagement has the potential to empower students in controlling their own behaviors,
there are elements of adults involvement in both teaching students to self-manage and
monitoring students performance after instruction to ensure the desired impact is
occurring (Freeman & Dexter-Mazza, 2004).
When students with disabilities learn to self-manage, they are more likely to rely on
themselves than others for decision-making, they empower themselves for determining
areas where they desire to improve, and the need for other adults or peers to assist in
controlling their behaviors is minimized or eliminated (Firman, Beare, & Loyd, 2002;
King-Sears, 1999; Hughes, Copeland, Agran, Wehmeyer, Rodi, & Presley, 2002).
However, students with disabilities are not likely to learn how to self-manage unless
their teachers select it as an instructional intervention, and know how to teach selfmanagement to them (Grigal, Neubert, Moon, & Graham, 2003).

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study involves sensitivity in human understanding perceptions. This research
involving understanding, a parent's perspective on art subjects toward theirs disability
children. How parents can accept that when using arts elements more easily their child,
to manage themselves. How parents imagine when using arts elements actually can
improve verbal production and absolutely helps their child in situations to expression
their feelings. Teachers role is very important in this situation. Teachers need to ensure
that the subject of art has its own privileges. Abilities and expertise of teachers tested at
this stage but are not all teachers are not having the expertise to attract the interest and
attention of disabled students in the learning process. Teachers must have a strategy to
ensure that teaching and learning objectives are achieved. This study is limited to the
daily school has special education programs around Gombak.

1.8 DELIMITATION
These studies only support the art education teaching toward special education. This
study conducted of special education in primary school in Gombak district. Teachers
were being a main focuses of analysis. This study were give positive result for teacher
to implement art elements in theirs teaching ways. These studies also give good effect
to disability students in special education programed.

1.9 SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH

Teaching profession is a profession that very noble and very important in the human
development, society and the state. In the technological age now, the role and
responsibilities of teachers increasingly challenging. Teachers play a part in raising
awareness himself but also the community and his relationship with God. Solidarity and
social values can be achieved if teachers apply values such as mutual respect for each
other regardless of race, religion and the ability or disability awarded to the individual
person. This study will explored the relationship between teaching and learning
techniques appropriate for those born with disability as perceived by teachers from
primary schools at Gombak district area. The framework of this study has specific into
teaching technique using of art elements to improve self-management also learning
process among specials needs students.
Finally, this study will determine whether use the elements of art, help disabled students
improve the ability to manage themselves and their learning process. This will have a
significant impact on the teacher determines that the teaching techniques will be easier
to use art elements in efforts to educate disabled students.

2.0 ASSUMPTION
Assumptions underlying the present study included:
1- Teachers and Parents are able to give cooperation during this study.
2- School authorities are allows researcher to observe theirs disability students during
school times and during their learning lesson.
3-Positive feedback towards art education will achieve after researcher finish this study.
4-Community is more influence and has positive perception about art education.
5- This study also is one of ways to ensure and helps disability students to successful in
their life.
2.1 METHODOLOGY OF STUDY

Research design of this study was mix method. These studies are focus on teaching art
as one ways to improve self-management for disability students. This study examined
the relationship between teaching arts as perceived by teachers and parents of
disability students itself. It will conduct the perception teacher towards art elements that
can help theirs in teaching disability student in term of self-management. Researcher
will interview several teachers to fulfill the data collection. Questionnaire also will be
asked to teachers about their teaching technique for disability students.

Population and sample

The participants for this study include 25 special education teachers. (5 secondary
school with special education programed) were selected in Gombak. Convenience
sampling was using to select teacher. 40 disabilities students also will be observe by
researcher to understand theirs perceive towards learning process.