The outbreak caused by covid-19 led to the cancellation and postponement of many international sporting events. Like many sports organizations affected by the pandemic, athletes also have been severely impacted due to the restrictions made by the government to control the outbreak. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on the sport industry by eliciting information on athletes' physical and mental wellbeing and the risk of virus transmission during sports events and training sessions. This research employed a quantitative method by distributing questionnaires to 109 respondents in Malaysia via Google Forms. The data were statistically analyzed using SPSS (version 27) to determine frequency, mean, and standard deviation. The findings revealed that most athletes agreed to return to their sporting activities after their professional coaches advised them because this approach had a significant impact on their physical and mental growth. Furthermore, results indicated that most athletes in this region found it difficult to stay motivated to exercise because of the restrictions on sporting activities during the pandemic. Many of the athletes in the study concurred that virus transmission increases during sporting events and training sessions. Some of the organizers, on the other hand, did not have any experience or training to deal with the pandemic. Finally, results showed that COVID-19 brought about physical, nutritional, and psychological effects that may impact athletes' ability to return to sports safely and improve their overall health. As a result of missed opportunities and uncertainty about their finances and future, athletes and the sports businesses could suffer severe consequences. This study concludes that the government and athletic federations must help athletes by formulating new and improved guidelines and enforcing them immediately to revive the sport industry during these trying times. Besides, medical, nutritional, and psychological care should be provided more closely during and after the lockdown

Writing is a crucial skill for university students to succeed in the current content-driven era. However, many students are reported to be intimidated by writing as they find the task daunting, thus affecting their participation in writing activities. Students also rarely show encouraging writing behaviour, which leads to unsatisfactory written work. This study aimed to examine factors that contribute to their writing behaviour. A quantitative research method by means of a survey design was employed for data collection. A 43-item questionnaire was distributed randomly using a Google Form link to 84 undergraduate students who were undertaking various fields of study at a public university. Section A of the questionnaire queries the students’ demographic profile, whereas Section B, C, and D seek responses on their psychological state, confidence, and attitudes, respectively. Section E queries their writing behaviour. Descriptive analysis was performed on each factor, and Pearson’s correlation was used to analyse the relationship between the factors and the students’ writing behaviour. Finally, a stepwise multiple regression was employed to discover the factor most contributing to the students’ writing behaviour. The findings indicate that confidence and attitude factors have a significant relationship with the students’ writing behaviour, but the relationship between psychological state factors and writing behaviour was not significant. This finding enhances the understanding of the essentiality of attitude in facilitating students’ writing mastery.

Oral presentation skills are a highly valued core competency that pre-employment students and graduates should acquire prior to entering the competitive employment sector. However, studies and reports have demonstrated a widening gap between graduates’ proficiency in oral presentations and the industry’s demands. Graduates’ oral presentation performance was reported to be unsatisfactory and workplace presentations are viewed as intimidating by many graduates. These issues necessitate a needs analysis to develop a Speech Assistant Tool (SAT) that can assist students in improving their oral presentation skills. A descriptive research design and a cross-sectional survey research were utilised. A questionnaire consisting of four (4) sections was used to analyse the students’ needs. The questionnaire was distributed via Google Forms to randomly-selected students from two public universities in Malaysia. A total of 179 responses were attained and were subjected to data cleaning, which revealed a total of 147 usable responses. A descriptive analysis was conducted to understand the students’ views on all language skills and their current proficiency in technological skills. A t-test was conducted to examine if there is a significant difference in the needed oral presentation skills, concepts, and learning strategies for the development of SAT between male and female students. The t-test results reported no significant difference between the male and female students. The findings, therefore, proved that students from different universities are experiencing similar issues in oral presentations which necessitate the SAT.

Effective communication skills at the workplace are acknowledged as a highly sought skill by employers among university students. However, an incongruity between employers' expectations and students' actual communication skills has been highlighted. An imperative subset of communication skills is oral presentation skills, which are found to be unsatisfactory among students. Thus, this conceptual study proposes examining the moderating influence of grit on the relationship between students' intention to present and their oral presentation performance. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) is based upon modeling the relationship between students' intention, grit, and oral presentation performance. A quantitative method will be adopted using a questionnaire survey for the data collection. Simple random sampling will be employed to select respondents. The study involves a three-stage research process comprising (1) a pre-test, (2) a pilot study, and (3) actual fieldwork. The data obtained from the pilot study will be subjected to exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using SPSS. Subsequently, AMOS will use the data from the actual fieldwork for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and moderation analysis. Results of the analyses are expected to provide more conclusive evidence on the strength of grit in influencing the relationship between students' intention and their oral presentation performance. Contribution/ Originality:This study models the moderating influence of grit to provide further insight into the impact of grit. The relationship between students' intention and oral presentation performance is also proposed in this study to fill the gap in the existing literature.

Critical reading was named a key aspiration in the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2015-2025) and is an essential skill students must acquire. However, an increased number of students was reported to demonstrate poor critical reading performance at the workplace. Thus, Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was utilised to examine students’ beliefs critical reading which encompass behavioural belief (advantages and disadvantages of critical reading), normative belief (identification of people who approve participating in critical reading), and control belief (difficulties in critical reading). A three-stage research design was employed. The first stage, elicitation study, was conducted as this stage has received minimum scholarly attention in the TPB literature and to ensure a more comprehensive analysis. The beliefs were analysed qualitatively, which was proceeded by expert panel review. Subsequently, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the validity of the salient beliefs. Findings from the exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis revealed that beliefs that were elicited from students in this first stage are appropriate and possess sufficient reliability and construct validity. Hence, the results of this study not only contributed to the critical reading and Theory of Planned Behaviour’s literature but have also identified more relevant factors that influence students’ perception toward critical reading.