The Effects of Arts-And-Culture-Based Teaching on Upper Secondary School Students Performance Among Orang Asli Students in Perak

This study examines the effectiveness of arts-and-culture-based instruction delivered through the Sedaya Module on the History achievement levels of indigenous (Orang Asli) Form Four students in Perak. The persistently low performance of Orang Asli students is often linked to conventional teacher-centred approaches that do not align with their learning preferences. The Sedaya Module was developed to address this pedagogical gap by integrating singing, educational drama, dance, music, visual arts, and handicrafts as culturally responsive learning strategies. A quasi-experimental design was employed involving a control group (n = 43) and a treatment group (n = 43) through pre-test and post-test administration. The instrument comprised 40 expert-validated objective items, and data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings indicate only moderate improvement in the control group, with no students achieving excellent grades. In contrast, the treatment group demonstrated substantial improvement, with 66.1% achieving high and excellent grades and a reduction in low achievers from 58.14% to 2.32%. This study provides early quantitative evidence supporting the effectiveness of an arts-based module designed specifically for Orang Asli students and highlights its potential for wider implementation in creative and multimodal learning environments.