Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS) academic Mohd Yusof bin Zulkefli and his Bachelor of Communication (Honours) Public Relations students Lim Wan Qi, Choo Pui Zhi, and She Rui En took home multiple awards at the 6th National Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences (NACOSS), organised by AID Conference, on 9 April 2021, online.

Yusof won Best Presenter and Best Extended Abstract for his research titled “The Perception of the Family Members in the Rural Area of Having ASD Individual Dealing with Social Behaviour Difficulties”. His research focused on families living in Tanjung Malim, Teluk Intan and Kampar, which are all located in Perak.

“In this research, we note that communication is the ultimate problem for ASD individuals because they do not know the proper way to communicate with each other, thus two-way communication does not happen. Consequently, it will affect their social behaviour. We used a case study as the research design, and the data was obtained through purposive sampling. An in-depth interview was conducted with three parents, three siblings and three grandparents, who were all living with an ASD individual,” explained Yusof.

He added, “The findings showed that the siblings had no feeling of embarrassment towards their sibling who is diagnosed with autism, though at first, they felt sad. However, the findings also showed that when ASD individual transits towards puberty, their behaviours become more challenging because they are confused with the changes happening in their bodies.”

The FAS academic also won the Best Full Paper award for his research titled “Exploring the Acceptance of Difference Culture during the Port-of-Calls Program among Malaysian Participating Youth of the 46th SSEAYP 2019”.

“We learnt of the 52-day voyage of 300 youths from ASEAN countries and Japan, who participated in the Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program (SSEAYP). This programme promised vibrant discussions on social and youth matters, eye-opening cultural exchanges and engaging sports, recreational and club activities. With that experience, this research explored the acceptance of the cultural differences among Malaysian youths. The data collected through an in-depth interview with the Malaysian youths found that these youths were able to explore many different cultures. It was noted that they were open to it yet the homestay programme to every POC has broadened their mind and instil the sense of belonging to be more proactive in preserving the cultures, gems, and treasures of Malaysia,” explained Yusof.

Overall, Yusof received certificates and trophies for the awards. “These awards are an honour but also a test from the Almighty for me to be examined for my humility, and also a way for me to keep improving myself. For the Best Full Paper Award, it is a collaboration between Malaysian Participants Youth (SSEAYP 2019), SSEAYP International Malaysia and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. This paper also won the Best Paper under the Undergraduate category. It is because most of the authors were undergraduate students from various universities in Malaysia. My existence is to guide and help as much as I can since I am the Malaysian Head of Committee (HOC) for the Discussion Group. SSEAYP can serve as the “Knowledge Gap” and also on intercultural communication issues when all the delegates are on board. Research related to the SSEAYP programme is extremely limited. Therefore, it is also one of the reasons why this paper was awarded Best Full Paper,” enthused Yusof.

Lim was also awarded Best Presenter and Most Viewed Virtual Presentation NACOSS 2021 for her research titled “K-Drama ‘It’s okay to not be okay”: Discovering the Existence of the Audient Involvement on Mental Health Awareness”.  She took home certificates and a trophy for her research, which aimed to explore the narration and character engagement that the Korean drama gives to the audience; shaping attitudes and behaviours.

“This research primarily uses audient involvement to discover social learning among them in a qualitative inquiry by using the phenomenological research design to identify the narration and character engagement of the audient. Five young Malaysian audients aged between 18 to 30 years old were recruited using the purposive sampling method to conduct an in-depth interview using semi-structured questions. The findings suggest that the participants were immersive with the narration and the character; the data reflect that social learning happened even without personal engagement with the narration,” explained Lim.

Lim and her team expressed their gratitude to Yusof for his guidance and encouragement. “This will be our graduation gift and we are very happy to receive this honour. We thank our lecturer for always encouraging us to go beyond the average, which has led to this success and recognition,” expressed the team.

Choo and She were also awarded Best Presenter, for their researches, titled “Adaptation of the Social Learning Theory in the Drama Series ‘It’s okay to not be okay’ among young audiences” and “Factors that affect Travelling Behaviour among Malaysian Youth during the Pandemic of Covid-19”, respectively. Both received certificates for their awards.

For Choo, her research aimed to describe the audiences’ experience in the adaptation process of social learning after watching the Korean drama. “Social learning serves as a guideline to deal with a wide range of behavioural changes whereby people observe, imitate and apply in their daily lives. The Korean wave's presence influences the assumption of Korean drama in Malaysia, and the drama "It's Okay Not to Be Okay" highlighted the mental issues, which was the biggest concern in this research. To test the social learning process, qualitative research, namely in-depth interview was used whereby five interviewees were interviewed for this research,” explained Choo. She also mentioned the importance of self-confidence, which she believed has led to her success.

She, on the other hand, explained, “Youth travel has been a part of economic development and global development recently. The United World Tourism Organization estimates that around 20% of 940 million international tourists were young people. Many industries have believed that youth travel has been one of the fastest-growing travel markets in its segment which brings potential long-term growth and economic impact to domestic tourism activities. However, people have been living a new norm of life since the pandemic of Covid-19 where the use of face masks and good hygiene practice must be kept at all time to prevent the spread of the Covid-19. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, travellers from all around the world travelled everywhere they like without worrying about any problems. But today, due to the rapid spread of the Covid-19 in all parts of the countries, the travel industry was badly hit, and travellers had nowhere to go during this period. This is because most of the countries are imposing lockdowns and strict standards of procedure which make it hard for travellers to travel onboard. This study aims to investigate the Malaysian youth travelling behaviour during the pandemic of Covid-19.”

She added, “To meet the objectives of this study, the quantitative research methods have been emphasised for this study and descriptive research served as the research design.  A total of 400 Malaysian youths, aged between 18 to 23 years old, will be involved in this study by referring to the Krejcie and Morgan table to meet the number of respondents. The findings showed that the demographic factors, attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control act as the factors affecting travelling behaviour of Malaysian Youth during the pandemic of Covid-19.”

“I am feeling amazing and grateful. I truly appreciate the guidance of Mr Yusof throughout the preparation. I adore his positive vibes! This award does not only belong to me, but it also belongs to my team. This research was inspired by the catchphrase "Ke Sana Ke Sini" spoken by our Prime Minister. This sentence went viral on social media and represented the behaviour of Malaysian during the implementation of the MCO. Thus, it inspired our team to study the travel behaviour among Malaysian Youth,” enthused She.

Organised since 2016, NACOSS aimed to provide a platform for discussions among academicians, professionals, practitioners, and policymakers in the related field; establish networking among academicians and practitioner; narrow the gap between knowledge in the academic and in the industry; build serious discussions in the related field continuously, and update the industry with the latest empirical studies published by academics around the world.