SEKOLAH JENIS KEBANGSAAN (CINA) SENAI 81400 SENAI JOHOR ACTION RESEARCH

A VARIETY OF ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE ON THE VOCABULARY AND SHORT PHRASES FOR YEAR 4 PUPILS

ADVISOR MS LEONG MOK PENG VICE ADVISOR MDM CHAI YOKE PIN COMMITTEE MEMBERS MDM HON SIAN CHOW MDM YAP YOON MOI MS LOO CHIEW KENG MDM CHEW KIT FAH MR DOMINIC CHONG

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Ms Leong Mok Peng, the Principal, and Madam Chai Yoke Ping, the GP I of !" #" "

$ C % !enai, for gi&ing me &alua'le ad&ice and guidance on this study" I would also like to express my appreciation to all the (nglish teachers of !"#" "$ C % !enai for gi&ing me a 'ig hand on carrying out the study in the school" I wish to thank the staff and )* students of !" #" $ C % !enai in co+operation and contri'ution to this study" "

-his study sets out to examine and o'ser&e the effects of a series specially planned to impro&e on the &oca'ulary and short phrases skills for *pper Primary !chool in a Chinese Primary !chool in #ohor" In general, the study of this pro.ect intends to/ a% culti&ate interest in learning the language '% de&elop confidence in learning the language skills c% make the learning of (nglish an en.oya'le and stimulating experience d% o&ercome the pro'lems in using the language e% create and find solutions for the pro'lems

!"#" " $ C % !enai is located in the town of !enai" It is a Grade 1 school which consists of 1,,2 pupils with 30 teachers" It has 02 classes ranging from Year 1 to Year 3" -here are 14 (nglish Language teachers in the school" 1mong them only two teachers are (nglish optionist" -he rest of the teachers are appointed 'y the school authority to teach (nglish 'ecause the lack of (nglish Language teachers" 1s for the pupils, most of them come from low socioeconomic and non+(nglish speaking 'ackground" -herefore, the only time they exposed to (nglish is during their (nglish lessons, which is only two hours per week"

In !" #"

"$ C % !enai, (nglish Language teachers are facing

pro'lems in teaching (nglish especially on the &oca'ulary and short phrases for pupils in Year ), 2 and 3" (ach (nglish Language teacher uses his5her own methods while teaching the pupils" -he Year ), 2, 3 pupils are re6uired to answer a set of 6uestion papers weekly in preparation for their *P!7 (xamination at the end of the year" In Paper II of (nglish Language, the pupils ha&e to construct sentences with pictures and cue+ words gi&en" It is o'ser&ed that most of the pupils are una'le to construct complete sentences for this section" -hey .ust lea&e the space 'lank or copy the same clue words gi&en to fill up the 'lanks" -he Year ) pupils especially facing more difficulty in constructing the sentences 'ecause the &oca'ulary they ha&e learnt in pre&ious years are &ery limited"

1" -o find out the difficulties of the Year ) pupils at !# $C% !enai in constructing sentences" ," -o test the effecti&eness of a series of acti&ities specifically designed towards 'etter sentence construction skills for upper primary school pupils" 0" -o find out the difficulties of the (nglish teachers while carrying out the acti&ities in an (!L classroom" )" -o o'tain the opinions of teacher and students a'out the acti&ities de&ised in an (!L classroom" 2" -o ascertain the effecti&eness and deficiencies of the con&entional methods of teaching (nglish pertaining to sentence construction"

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!asaran a.ian I studied the pupils from )* class and a 'riefing was gi&en to them

on the aim of the pro.ect" 1 pre+test was then gi&en to all the pupils" -he test consisted of se&eral 6uestions on making sentence 'ased on pictures and cue+words gi&en" -hey must do the passage on their own without any guidance from the teacher" -he purpose of administering this test was aimed to test the mastery of the students9 sentence construction skills and to identify the areas in which most students are weak in" !o the test had 'een constructed in such a way that knowledge of grammatical features and &oca'ulary were re6uired in order to make good sentences" 8", :atasan a.ian In the research of this pro.ect, pupils were tested 'ased on these areas/ $a% !u'.ect+;er' 1greement $'% Misuse of preposition $c% -enses $d% <mission5 Misuse of article $a, an, the% $e% pronouns

8"0 aedah a.ian In carrying out this research, first of all, a 'riefing was gi&en to the )* students 'efore the pre+test" 1fter the pre+test, the teacher marked the papers 'y introducing the performance 'ands" -hirdly, the teacher analy=ed and categori=ed the pupils" Last 'ut not least, acti&ities to impro&e the students9 sentence construction skill were de&ised" 8") Pelaksanaan a.ian i% :riefing and Pre+test" 1 'riefing was gi&en to the students of )* on the aim of the pro.ect" >ext, a pre+test which consisted of ten 6uestions on making sentences 'ased on pictures and cue+words were gi&en to the (xperimental Group and the Control Group" !o the test had 'een constructed in such a way that knowledge of grammatical features, &oca'ulary, etc" are re6uired in order to make good sentences" $7efer to 1ppendix :% ii% Marking the papers" In assessing the pre+test done 'y the students, the method of specifying performance 'ands was used" -he performance 'ands is a guide to which an examiner can refer to compare the performance of different candidate would ha&e in order to o'tain a certain grade" $7efer to 1ppendix C%

iii% 1naly=ing and categori=ing" In the process of assessing the students , some common errors made 'y the students were found " -he errors are categori=ed as follows" $a% !u'.ect+;er' 1greement $'% Misuse of prepositions $c% -enses $d% <mission5Misuse of articles $e% Pronouns i&% 1cti&ities de&ised to impro&e the students9 sentence construction skills" @i&e types of acti&ities ha&e 'een de&ised for the purpose of impro&ing students9 skill in sentence construction" -hese acti&ities include/ $a% !u'stitution -a'le $'% 7e'us Ariting $c% 7earranging #um'le+*p Aords and Phrases $d% !entence Completion $e% >ote (xpansion

$&% -he Post+test &% 1dministering the 6uestionnaires

? -in.auan a.ian :ased on the results of the students after sitting for the pre+ test, they were di&ided into two groups, the (xperimental Group and the Control Group" Ci&ision of this manner ensures the &alidity of the test 'ecause 'oth groups comprises students of relati&ely similar capa'ilities" 1fter a few types of acti&ities that ha&e 'een de&ised for the purpose of impro&ing students9 skills in sentences construction, a post+test was gi&en to 'oth groups" -he result of Pre+test were shown for Control Group and the (xperimental Group respecti&ely" (&en though the two groups showed impro&ement 'ut these was a group which showed a greater impro&ement compared with the other group" B !oal !elidik $Duestionaires% -wo types of 6uestionnaires were prepared and gi&en out to the (nglish teachers and the student of )* to o'tain their opinions on matters such as teaching and learning of (nglish, difficulties in teaching and learning or sentence construction, the effecti&eness of the 6uestionnaires carried out, etc" Certain terms in the 6uestionnaires were explained in ad&ance to ensure that the content of the 6uestionnaires were fully understood"

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14 @aktor Penye'a' Cata o'tained from students9 responses were 'ased on these reasons/ $a% Lack of interest in learning (nglish since mastering (nglish is not 6uite important in their daily li&es" $'% !ense of difficulty in learning the language due to their family 'ackground" $c% In a'le to understand the meaning of the cue+words gi&en in constructing sentences 'ecause of no guidance 'y teachers" It was also due to students9 low &oca'ulary used in school and at home" $d% !tudents were facing their ina'ility to link the words into sentences and to know the correct word order" $e% -ime factor due to less (nglish lessons in a week" -wo hours per week were not sufficient to learn a language"

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11Perancangan -indakan -he pro'lems faced 'y the students and teachers in the learning and teaching of sentences construction must not 'e o&erlooked easily" Considering the fact that the a'ility to write good sentences is essential to the students in helping them to do well in the examination and it ena'les them to write 'etter paragraphs and compositions, the school authority as well as the teachers need to put in more efforts towards the goal" It is suggested that the school authority $a% !hould appoint teachers who are keen in teaching (nglish and with good proficiency in (nglish teach (nglish e&en though they are non+optionist due to the shortage of (nglish language teachers" $'% (ssential to pro&ide and assist the (nglish teacher in terms of teaching materials, reference 'ooks and other facilities" $c% !hould plan to increase more (nglish lesson in a week" $d% !hould send the non+(nglish optionist teachers for more courses in order to learn different types of methods and techni6ues of teaching (nglish Language"

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1, Pelaksanaan -indakan In the response to the learning and teaching of sentence construction, it is suggested that $a% the way of teaching should 'e made li&elier and language used is easy to understand" $'% 1dopt a friendly attitude towards the students so that they will not feel reluctant to consult the teachers in times of difficulties" $c% -eachers are encouraged to use different methods and techni6ues in teaching the language to students who come from non+speaking (nglish 'ackground" $d% -he strategy of teaching sentence construction must 'e from an easy le&el to difficult le&el and from simple situation to complicated situation" $e% Moti&ation and encouragement is re6uired in order to create in students an interest in learning (nglish and to 'oost the confidence of the students" $f% Ciscussions and meetings amongst the (nglish Language teachers are encouraged to held from time to time to exchange ideas on impro&ing and use more effecti&e ways of teaching" $g% -he acti&ities should not 'e crammed into one particular (nglish lesson to a&oid 'oredom" -he teachers should 'ear in mind that when teaching writing skills, it can 'e integrated with other skills such as reading, speaking and listening"
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10 7eflection 1fter a few acti&ities were carried out, it reflected to us that $a% the students were weak in sentence construction 'ecause of their disinterest in learning" $'% Most of the pupils were not moti&ated 'y the acti&ities carried out 'y the teacher" $c% -hey looked 'ored and worked slowly towards the acti&ities gi&en to them" $d% -he teachers needed to use new methods and techni6ues in teaching the sentence construction during (nglish Language lessons" Ae as teachers should made some changes and impro&ement when teaching (nglish Language to the students" >ew approaches, methods and techni6ues will gradually help the students to impro&e and more interested in learning this su'.ect"

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-his study is carried out to find out the effecti&eness of a series of acti&ities de&ised to impro&e the &oca'ulary and short phrases among the students" -he study also re&eals that (nglish Language is generally not a popular su'.ect among the students and teachers in the school" Eowe&er, it is o'ser&ed that the students show interest in the acti&ities which are carried out" -his implies that teachers ha&e to take the initiati&e to stimulate the interest of the students in learning (nglish Language 'y de&ising more interesting acti&ities"

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