EDU 550

MOTIVATION, TEACHING AND

LEARNING:
PROCRASTINATION IN STUDENTS’ LIFE.

PREPARED BY:
NOOR AMIRA BT AHMED (2011888784)
NOOR NADIA HANUM BT MUSTAFFA (2011238228)
GROUP:
ED 227/3A
PREPARED FOR:
MR KAMAROL BAHAREN B. MOHD ROM
1.0. INTRODUCTION
Procrastination is a thief of time. That is a famous saying people usually used to give
awareness to someone or themselves so that they did not procrastinate their works. However,
procrastination cannot be prevented by some individuals for several reasons. Hence, this
study will be informing, discussing and researching on ‘Procrastination in Student’s Life’. As
the scope of title is a little bit wide, this study is narrowed down to the reasons and effects of
procrastination towards students’ life.
Nowadays, students have been stressed out about the important of being a holistic
student. Even though there are various programs and classes created to boost or build up the
holistic qualities in oneself, but it seems that it is impossible to achieve the goal. The urges of
being a holistic student cause the students to burn out and lead on procrastination of works.
Some students tend to procrastinate or delay their works when they are having great tense or
fear of failure. Apart from that, there are some students that have a habit to procrastinate their
works until the deadline. When the deadline is nearer, that is the time they will struggle to
finish their works. This scenario could be seen among UiTM’s students where they tend to
procrastinate their works and assignments. This habit may be overestimated by the students
as something that will not affect them but doing procrastination frequently may have a long
term effect that no one ever expected. This habit can also contribute to unproductive
performances and works by the students.
Based on the observations made, students love to procrastinate their works thus,
resulting their performances in the class as well as in their academic results. Moreover, with
current situation, it is not surprising that there are decrement in student’s achievements as this
problem is not being handled smartly and as fast as possible. In addition, the objectives of
this study are to investigate the reasons why students need to procrastinate, to determine the
types of procrastination made by students, to identify the strategies used by student to
conquer procrastination and to identify the effects of procrastination towards student’s
academic achievement and his/her character.
2.0. LITERATURE REVIEW

Procrastination is globally defined as the delaying of a task to a later time.

Specifically, in student’s life, procrastination is the delaying of tasks, assignments or projects
that need to be completed before the due date assigned by the lecturers or teachers. Therefore,
procrastination is closely related and well known for its negative denotation and connotation.
According to Hoover, 2005, he explained that procrastination in the academic realm holds
many negative consequences including lost time, increased stress, lower grades, poor health,
decreased long-term learning and lower self-esteem.
In addition, a study has been conducted and result shows that 80% to 95% of students
that pursue to tertiary level have admitted to procrastinate (Ellis and Knaus, 1997) while 50%
of them are chronically procrastinate (Day et al. 2000). Hence, many researchers and
educators are trying to investigate and get to know ‘procrastinate’ in terms of the causes, the
effects and the strategies to overcome this problem especially when it is part of student’s
matters. First and foremost, there are various reasons exist on why students procrastinate
(Solomon and Rothblum, 1984). However, some of the common reasons are lack of
motivation, difficulty of concentrating, poor organizational skills and time management.
Usually, procrastinators face difficulties and they are likely to put off doing assignment and
studying for exams until at the last minute due to motivational problem (Tuckman, 1998).
Besides, students are lured and distracted with various kinds of attractions and
eventually leads to procrastination. Furthermore, not to be forgotten, fail to manage time well
and lack of organizational skills causing the students to fill their day with unworthy activities
rather than trying to complete the tasks. Thus, before discussing further on answering the
‘how’ questions, we need to figure out the ‘what’ questions first. As a saying goes by
Benjamin Franklin, ‘you may delay, but time will not’. As a student or even as a person,
everyone is trying their best to stay away from procrastination. Procrastination gives a bad
impression to a person and this can be seen since the student shows low self-efficacy, low
self-determination and low achievement motivation. Due to that, it is impossible for the
student to achieve the objective of being a holistic student. The students’ academic
performance also affected and this give rises to other various problems as well. After all,
follow your teacher’s advices thoroughly and procrastination will never be issue.
In addition, a good and an effective strategy is necessary if you want to avoid
procrastination. Plan ahead, get help. It is not as easy as it sound to avoid and conquer
procrastination. Procrastination takes commitment and endless efforts (Dr. Piers Steel, 2007).
Thus, there are many strategies are provided and suitable for the students to follow but, not
all strategies suit for all students. Think wise and select only some strategies that match you
well and something that you believe you can follow well. According to Shelley Ladin (2012),
students need to learn on how to manage their time and this can be done by having a “to do”
lists and target completion of each task. Students can also divide the task into small parts so
that it is easier to begin, (Shelly Ladin, 2012). Another strategy that students can apply is by
rewarding themselves for completing the task well. By rewarding, students become more
motivated and this won’t allow the students to be distracted while finishing the task.
Last but not least, good news for the procrastinators, recent research was conducted
by University of Carleton and they found out that if you forgive yourself for procrastinating,
the probability of you to procrastinate again for the next task will lessen. So, it is never too
late to change your bad habit and make sure to get helps and learn on how to handle
procrastination. There always room for change, but it is all matter of take the actions or not.
3.0. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Method Used
In this study, we used questionnaire as our research instruments to collect data and some
other information. This questionnaire consists of 8 questions and they are in various forms. 2
are yes or no questions, 5 are listing type questions and 1 is open-ended questions. The
person only required 3 to 5 minutes to answer the whole questions. Simple and easy
instructions are provided on each question in the questionnaire.
3.2. Sampling
The samples that we took for our study are the Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 students. They are
the male and female students of part 1 until part 6. Besides that, 20 samples are taken and
they are the students of Faculty of Education of UiTM Shah Alam. In addition, out of 20
samples, we decided to take an equal number of students base on their gender which is 10
male students and another 10 are the female students. Based on the advices taken from our
lecturer and further discussions, the samples that we took are from various parts and
including involving both genders so that our study is more valid and is not on one side only.
Data collected were analyzed using frequency count. Since, we are using just a small amount
of samples, frequency count is the best way to analyze the data and appropriate. After
counting and grouping those data, we arranged and placed them in a bar chart, pie chart and
also in table form. By doing so, the data can be seen more clearly and we can identify the
pattern formed based on the result shown in the chart, pie or the table built.
3.3. Limitations
The research that we conducted is limited to the students of Faculty of Education of UiTM
Shah Alam only. Our scope of respondents is not fully involved the students of UiTM Shah
Alam from all faculties. Besides, we only got the views from the students and not from
lecturers. The views from the students may be different from the perspectives of the lecturers.
Hence, we cannot make the correct assumptions regarding the procrastination as we only
referred to what the students had in mind. Besides, the number of respondents is small which
sometimes the data collected don’t reflect to all the students’ opinions.
4.0. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Procrastination Among the Students

20%

Yes

No

80%

Figure 1: the chart shows the percentage of students that suffer procrastination and
those who not.
Based on Figure 1, the result shows that 80% of the students admit that they procrastinate
their works while 20% of them claim that they do not procrastinate.
This habit of procrastination may happen because of several reasons and attitudes of
the students. Some students tend to delay their works because they underestimate or
overestimate the works. They think that their works can be completed quickly even they
procrastinate. That is when they underestimate the works. In the form of overestimating the
works, they think that they cannot manage to complete their works or assignments because
they could not find the correct sources to do their works. This causes them to keep
procrastinate their works in hoping that they will find the correct sources of their
assignments. However, the students who do not procrastinate probably know the
consequences awaiting them if they delaying their works. They may also face hardships in
finishing their works but they did not take that as a barrier for them to complete their tasks.
Good attitudes such as hardworking and never give up also contribute to lowering the
tendency to do procrastination.
 Forms of Procrastination

18
16
14
number of students

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
ignoring the task underestimating spending hours on believing that preserving only
the work the computer repeated minor part of the task
delays won't
hurt

Figure 2: the graph shows the forms of procrastination that students tend to do.

Based on the graph above, it shows various forms of procrastination by students. ‘Ignoring
the task’ ranked the highest by the students as the most preferred form of procrastination with
18 votes. Followed by, ‘spending hours on the computer’ with 15 votes. However, with 12
votes, students procrastinate because they underestimate the work. In addition, the least
preferred form of procrastination among the students is ‘believing that repeated minor delays
won’t hurt’ with only six votes whereas ‘preserving only one part of the task’ managed to get
nine votes.

Procrastination is the most common issue related to students and can be in various
forms. According to the results collected through distribution of questionnaire, the most
favored form of procrastination is by ignoring the task. With no doubt, if students ignore the
task, they will definitely procrastinate. However, there are reasons why students ignore the
task given. For example, unclear explanation from the teacher or lecturer about the task, lack
of motivation for getting the task done or maybe due to uninteresting task or assignment.
These reasons are very significant and actually did happen at our academic setting. Thus,
with the reasons mentioned before, students tend to ignore the task and eventually lead to
procrastination. On the other hand, the least favored form of procrastination is by believing
that repeated minor delays won’t hurt. Students might think that minor delays won’t hurt
them much with the task’s progression. On the contrary, repeated minor delays will actually
reduce the time given to complete the task. Therefore, students have less time to spend to
complete the task well; they tend to plagiarize and eventually lead to procrastination. Besides
that, other forms of procrastination are, spending hours on the computer, underestimating the
task and preserving only part of the task. These forms of procrastination are due to strong
distractions, being over confident or taking the task too lightly, and for not trying harder to
finish the task. Hence, overall, we can easily say that, any kinds of procrastination did happen
because of the student’s lacking. Therefore, identify forms of procrastination that you did,
look for the reasons of procrastination and strategizing a plan to avoid procrastination in
future.
 Reasons of Procrastination
12
12
8
4
4 2 1 1
0
g s re t
t in d om l em il u en
tra re o b Fa em
n Bo Pr of ag
ce l ar an
n na
Co rso Fe eM
In Pe i m
lty o rT
cu Po
i ffi
D

Figure 3: the graph shows the reasons chose by students to procrastinate their works.
Figure 3 shows the reasons given by the students regarding why they tend to procrastinate
their works. A highest number of students state that they have poor time management which
caused them to delay their works and assignments. This makes up a total of 12 students. 4
students claim that they have difficulty in concentrating to finish their works while 2 students
declare that they procrastinate because of boredom in doing non-stop works. Personal
problem and fear of failure are the least popular reasons choose by the students with only 1
student respectively.
It is stated that most of the students have poor time management that lead them to do
procrastination. They cannot allocate time wisely to do certain works and some students tend
to spend more time to finish a work. This caused them to postpone other works and in the end
they cannot finish the remaining works. In addition, some students have difficulty to
concentrate in finishing their works. There are certain things that easily distract their attention
causing them to leave the works unfinished. The boredom of doing non-stop works caused
the students to delay their works. The students always feel bored when they have to do the
same works again and again. Hence, there is a tendency for them to keep postpone from
doing that works. Personal problems also cause the students to procrastinate their works.
Some students cannot prevent this sort of problems such as financial problems, family
problems and so on. These problems if not thoroughly affect themselves will surely affect at
least part of their life including their studies. The students that cannot face these problems
will end up in procrastinating their works. There are also students who could not face failure.
These types of students seemed to be perfectionist. They think that mistakes are never
acceptable and they must achieve the highest standards of performance than others.
Perfectionists cannot receive criticisms from other people as this will made them depressed
and disappointed. These perfectionists always want other people to appreciate and value their
works. Thus, when they feel that they cannot do a good performance, they procrastinate their
works without hesitantly.
 How Teachers and Peers Affect Students To Procrastinate
Teachers Peers
Unclear Instruction/ 15 Sabotage 3
Explanation
Favoritism 3 Influence To Do Unworthy 12
Activities
Uninteresting Teachers 2 Verbally and Mentally 5
Discouraging Friends

Figure 4: the table shows the students’ opinions on how their teachers and peers affect
them towards procrastination.
Figure 4 shows the ways teachers and peers affect the students to procrastinate. 15 students
claim that they received unclear instruction or explanation from the teachers which lead them
to procrastinate their works. The teachers that show favoritism as stated by 3 students also
cause them to delay their works while 2 students procrastinate because of uninteresting
teachers. The peers according to 12 students affect them to procrastinate by influencing them
to do unworthy activities. There are 5 students state that they have verbally and mentally
discouraging friends who significantly affect them to do procrastination. 3 students admit
they are sabotaged by their peers which consequently caused them to procrastinate.
Based on the results, it is true that some individuals may lead a person to do
procrastination. In this case, the individuals that have been closed with the students are their
teachers and peers. The ways and characters of these two individuals may probably cause the
students to postpone their works or assignments. The teachers who did not give a clear
instruction to the students on how to do an assignment could lead them to delay their works.
The students are dependable to the teachers and must be guided to do certain works. If there
is no guideline from the teachers, they cannot manage to finish or do their works according to
what the teachers expected. Some teachers show favoritism among the students. The students
who are favored by the teachers may simply get enough input and guidelines on how to do a
work but the students who do not receive attention from the teachers may end up postponing
their works. This usually occurs in a class where the teachers give more attention towards
certain students and leave behind other students not knowing the details of a topic. Normally,
the teachers will give some information to excellent students so that they could finish the
works on time while students with low achievement need to search for the information
independently. This leads them to procrastinate if they do not get enough information to do
their works. There are also uninteresting teachers who caused the students to delaying the
works given by them. These teachers unable to attract the students to get involve with the
lesson.
 Effects of Procrastination in Students
Academic Performances
12%

yes
no

88%

Figure 5: the graph shows the students choices regarding on how procrastination
affecting their studies.
Based on the pie chart above, 88% of the students believe that they can’t excel in their studies
if they always procrastinate their works. However, only 12% of the students believe that that
are able to excel in their studies even though they always procrastinate their works.
Procrastination affects people in many ways. For student’s life, the effect of
procrastination can be judge by looking at the students’ academic performances. Based on the
results gained, almost all the students believe that they are not able to excel in their studies if
they always procrastinate their works. As we mention earlier, procrastination known for its
negative effects towards oneself. The reality is, to delay or postpone the task to a later time,
will never contribute any positive affect as the time has been wasted, the task is still
incomplete and it also portrays how bad the person is in managing time. As a saying goes, “if
it weren’t for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done”. Thus, it is not surprising that
most of the students agree that they will not be able to excel in their studies if they always
procrastinate. However, only small group of students believe that they are able to excel in
their studies even though they always procrastinate. The reason for them to be able to excel in
their studies even though they always procrastinate is, they only procrastinate their
assignments, tasks or projects but not for their revision. Thus, although they are not putting
lots of effort on the task, but the time was spent for doing revision. Hence, they are able to
catch up the syllabus and manage to perform well in their studies. Therefore, this data prove
that each student apply their own creative strategies to excel in their studies.
 Qualities
11 Resulted From Frequent
Procrastination
12
10
5
8
6
4 2 2
2
0
y ty n n
c ac ili a tio at
io
ffi ct
ib in it v
l -f E ts ra rm o
e M
Se Di et nt
w fl -D e
Lo Se e m
w i ev
Lo Ac
h
w
Lo

Figure 6: the graph shows the qualities resulted from frequent procrastination.
Figure 6 shows the qualities resulted from frequent procrastination done by the students. A
highest number of students with a total of 11 students states that they will experience low
self-efficacy if they keep doing procrastination. 5 students claim that they will have low
achievement motivation from a frequent procrastination. Distractibility and low self-
determination are chosen by 2 students respectively as the qualities that will be gained by
them from a prolonged procrastination.
The consequences of procrastination can be seen on the student’s behavior and
personality. The qualities that the students gained through the habit of procrastination may
greatly affect them. Some students will experience low self-efficacy where they cannot
produce positive thoughts or outcomes from a certain situation. The students with low self-
efficacy tend to avoid doing a challenging work or task. They always set up in their mind that
they cannot do that work. Procrastination leads the students to have doubts about their
abilities to master in doing certain learning tasks. In addition, the students often face
distractibility in their studies resulted from procrastination. They cannot give full
concentration towards their learning process as they worry about the unfinished works. The
distractibility may also affect the students in other matters such as relationship between
family, friends and lecturers. Thus, procrastination can affect not only distractibility in the
studies but also other aspects of students’ life. Besides that, the students who procrastinate
will have low self-determination. They have been immune to procrastination for several times
that they do not feel the urges to complete the works. They do not have the wills to complete
the works that are given to them as they cannot motivate themselves. They cannot use any
words or phrase such as ‘I must finish this works’ as the procrastination have prevent them
from doing so. There are also students who have low achievement motivation because they
keep doing procrastination. The thoughts of not capable in finishing the works given by
lecturers have lead them in believing that they will not excel in the subjects taught by that
lecturers. This has stopped them from trying to perform well in the class and also in the
examination. As a consequence, they will not get the best results that they are expecting.
 Strategies Used By Students as Suggested

20
16
12
8
4
0
r k ts on n
wo par ati ctio
in er n du
rta all sti se
ce m c ra lf -
s o se
do nt
o
f pr to
o i
et sk so es
tim ta n ce ach
e
te vid qu ro
o ca di nse app
all co e
the itiv
ct gn
fle e co
r e us

Figure 7: the graph shows the strategies used by the students as suggested, to conquer
procrastination.
The graph above shows the suggested strategies used by the students to conquer
procrastination. Based on the results collected, the best strategies picked by the students is to
allocate time to do certain work which received 19 votes. However, with only two votes, the
least favored strategy chose by students is by reflecting the consequences of procrastination.
On the other hand, by dividing the task into smaller parts and by using cognitive approaches
to self-seduction received 10 votes and six votes respectively.
Based on the results recorded, most of the students believe that, the best way to avoid
procrastination is by allocating time to do certain work. It is efficient to do so because; by
allocating time to do certain work it will make sure the student to stay focus in completing
the task. Nowadays, students are assigned with various task, assignment and projects by their
lecturers; hence, a good time management is necessary so that these tasks can be completed
by the time needed. Therefore, as the results show, it is more effective for the student to
allocate time to do certain work and indirectly avoid procrastination. However, by reflecting
the consequences of procrastination is the least favored strategy used by the students compare
to other strategies. The reason for that is students are not affected by the consequences
directly. The forms of consequences may show at the low grade examination result or being
scolded by the lecturers. Thus, the students only face the consequences after the tasks are
handed. Besides, students seem to get use with the consequences and are able to handle them
wisely. For example, stress is one of the consequences that a student might face if he/she
procrastinate the work. Based on the experiences and right techniques, students are able to
defeat the stress and thus, by reflecting the consequences of procrastination is chose as the
least favored strategy to avoid procrastination. Overall, implying a good strategy is a must in
order to avoid procrastination and each individual depend on specific strategy.
 Strategies Preferred By Students to Avoid
Procrastintion

12

10

0
form study groups do the work instantly obey the timetable rewarding
strictly

Figure 8: the graph shows the strategies used by students to avoid procrastination.
Based on the graph above, with 11 votes, the most preferred strategy chose by the students to
avoid procrastination is to get the work started and done instantly. However, by forming
study groups is the least preferred strategy chose by the students with only one vote. In
addition, some students also chose other alternative by rewarding themselves for not
procrastinate and preferred to obey the timetable strictly. Both strategies gained six votes and
two votes respectively.
There are many ways of avoiding procrastination. However, as results shown above,
students preferred to do the work instantly as the best way to avoid procrastination. It is true
and experiments have been conducted that, by do the work instantly, students definitely avoid
procrastination since, they there is progression and efforts put into it to complete the task.
Usually, once the students are able to make the first move on completing the task, the rest of
the work become much easier and it is impossible for the students to miss out necessary
points or items needed in the task as the points are still freshly remain in one’s mind. Besides,
if the students do the work instantly, they are able to get an immediate help or guidance from
the lecturer or from the peers. Thus, it is unavoidable for the student to procrastinate their
works if they know how much works need to be done and efforts to be added to finish the
task on time. Furthermore, there are students preferred to form study groups as a strategy to
avoid procrastination. But as the results shown, it is the least favored strategy used by the
students. Study group is well known as an effective way of learning process as well as a
platform to discuss and completing tasks. But, an issue rise in applying this strategy because
there is a big question and how to effectively form a study group and make sure the study
group runs well. Thus, due to this reason, students are not favor to form study group since
there lots of things need to take care of in order to form a study group. Therefore, don’t try
and think harder of a strategy that suits you well as a shield to avoid procrastination.
5.0. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Based on the research conducted, we are discussing on the types, causes, effects and
strategies on how to avoid procrastination. According to the data collected, students are really
practicing procrastination in their daily life and day by day, this problem have becomes a
very serious matter. Besides, we learnt that, there is lack of exposure on about this matter.
Hence, no serious actions are taken to overcome the problem and this shows on the low
academic performances by the students.
On top of that, along the research was carried out, we found that students don’t really
know on how to handle procrastination even though they want to. Therefore, for future
research, we hope that there will be more researches conducted related to the causes, effects
and strategies used to avoid procrastination. Specifically, researches on how procrastination
takes place by comparing the aspects of genders, ages and occupation of the samples. In
addition, we will be delightful if there are researches on how teachers’ and peers’ roles in
helping out students with procrastination. Thus, there are still lots of things need to be
discover and discuss on the topic ‘procrastination’. If people are exposed and informed about
procrastination, there will be more researches carry out and eventually benefit others. Hence,
to spread the words, everyone needs to take actions and be part of it. As a student, we already
acknowledge the effect of procrastination can cost us especially in our academic
performances. Due to that, students can play their roles by constantly advising and guiding
their peers who suffer with procrastination. Besides, we would like to recommend to the
students that they should form a study group comprising of 4-6 students that will act as a
medium for the student to make discussions and most importantly, to complete the tasks or
assignments given.
Moreover, we need to highlight that, as a student, he/she should always be positive,
encouraging and supportive to his/her friend in order to avoid procrastination. On the other
hand, lecturers and teachers should always update with his/her students’ progression
frequently. By doing so, students will become more prepared and procrastination can be
avoided effectively. Furthermore, lecturers may also reward their students as another
initiative to motivate and inspire their students for doing better at the task. Therefore, to get
the prize, students need to make a detail and careful research to complete the task, which
consume lots of time and efforts. Hence, it is impossible for the students to procrastinate their
works. However, not to be forgotten, the faculty itself can take actions on creating
campaigns, workshops or even classes on how to conquer and avoid procrastination
especially focusing on how to manage time and be motivated in getting works done. Some
people might see it as not so important but somehow, these little efforts may give an impact
to the students to be better students in handling procrastination, specifically.
Last but not least, we hope that this search will be very useful to everyone especially
to the university students in giving information about procrastination and strategies on
handling procrastination. Our last humble reminder, taken by Tom DeMarco and Timothy
Lister, “there are a million ways to lose a work day, but not a single way to get one back”.
Thus, to avoid from having any regrets, do your works well and avoid procrastination.
6.0. REFERENCES

1. Ladin, S. (2012, October 11). collegetidbits.com. Retrieved from How To Avoid the
Procrastination Trap in College: http://www.collegetidbits.com/college-life/College-Life-
How-to-Avoid-Procrastination-Trap-in-College.html

2. Santrock, J. W. (2011). Educational Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.

3. Neal Thakkar: Why Procrastinate: An Investigation of the Root Causes behind

Procrastination. Lethbridge Undergraduate Research Journal. 2009. Volume 4 Number
2.
Questionaires – Procrastination in Student’s Life

1. Do you procrastinate your works?

Yes No

2. Which of the following forms of procrastination that you tend to do?

(You must tick 3 only)
Ignoring the task
Underestimating the work
Spending hours on the computer
Believing that repeated minor delays won’t hurt
Preserving only part of the task

3. Why students tend to procrastinate their works? (Tick 1 only)

Difficulty concentrating
Boredom
Personal problems (financial problem, fighting with your boyfriend…)
Fear of failure
Poor time management

4. How teachers and peers affecting you to procrastinate your works? (Tick 1 only)
Teachers: Peers:
Unclear explanations/instructions Sabotage
Favoritism Influence from peers to do unworthy
activities
Uninteresting teacher Discouraging friends

5. Do you think that you can excel in your studies if you always procrastinate your works?
Yes No

6. What are the qualities resulted from frequent procrastination? (Tick 1 only)
Low self-efficacy Low self-determination
Distractibility Low achievement motivation

7. What are the strategies used by students to conquer procrastinate?

(You may tick at most 2)
Allocate time to do certain work
Divide task into smaller parts
Reflect the consequences of procrastination
Use cognitive approaches to self-seduction (tell yourself ‘I can do it’ or ‘if I get this
done, I’ll be able to enjoy my time better’)

8. What is/are approaches you use to avoid procrastination?