English Language

Action Research

Prepared by :

Mona Mustapha
SK Seksyen 9 Kota Damansara
 ABSTRACT

 To assist 41 pupils of Year 4 Alfa who had difficulty in using

the correct form of the SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
 They had no idea when and when not to plus an ‘s’ or ‘es’
to the verb
 Ran instruments s.a. surveys, pre-test & post test
 Collection of basic vocabulary in verbs is quite rich (prior
knowledge)
 It convinces and enables me to run the research activities
among the pupils. I strongly believe that these activities
which I called 2PIC (further elaborated under Execution of
Research section) would benefit and assist them to tackle
this problem later
 Drilling process and step by step formulas for each activity
along the way, so that it would build the pupils’ confidence
when answering such questions
 1. Background of Research
1.1 Early Observation
- Unable to tackle questions on SIMPLE PRESENT
TENSE in classroom exercises, tests and examinations
- Favourite grammar item under Section C in UPSR
Paper 1

1.2 Reflection on Previous Lesson

- Simple writing activity based on a picture (Sports Day)
- Write one simple sentence consists of 3 – 5 words
(S-V-A using the SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE)
- Only 6 out of 41 pupils wrote the correct form of verb
- Disappointed!
 2. Research Focus
 Differentiate the subject & noun in a sentence
 Focus only on countable nouns as the subject s.a. girl, apple,
book, tiger, etc.

 2.1 Objectives of Research

 2.1.1 General Objective
- To improve pupils’ understanding in using the SIMPLE
PRESENT TENSE

 2.1.2 Specific Objective

- a) The pupils’ score for the 30-question Post Test should
increase from the Pre-test score after all the activities
have been carried out
- b) The pupils should gain 1 mark under Section C
(Question 16 – 20 : Grammar Item) in the next test
or exam
2.2 Target Group

 41 pupils of Year 4 Alfa

 Consists of 21 boys and 20 girls
 Have the potential in getting grade A for
the subject
 Committed mistakes when doing
exercises on this particular grammar item
 Strong need to assist them for a better
understanding when tackling this grammar
questions
 3. Research Methodology
 3.1 Survey
- Two surveys ; Survey 1 and Survey 2
- Survey 1 - pupils’ personal background and interest in learning
- Survey 2 - pupils’ basic understanding on the SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

 3.2 Pre-test
- Sit for the Pre-test consisting of 30 questions on this item
- To assess pupils’ understanding in using the SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE with
the prior knowledge they have

 3.3 Research Activities

- Four interesting activities 2PIC: 1. 6-piece Puzzle
2. Let’s Part & Fix Them
3. I Say… You say…
4. My Collection of Authentic Materials
- Considered as a treatment for the pupils
- Drilling process & step by step formula

 3.4 Post Test

- To assess the pupils’ achievement after all four activities have been carried out
- Contains the exact 30 questions of Pre-test
- How well they have developed in understanding and tackling the questions
 4. Execution of Research
 Involving few stages s.a. problem study, planning, execution of activities, test and data
analysis as well as reflection on the research
 4.1 Problem Survey and Analysis
- Conducted two sessions of surveys; Survey 1 and Survey 2.

NO PROBLEMS YES ( √ ) NO ( X )
1 Do you like coming to school?

2 Are you always ready for the daily lesson?

3 Are you interested in the English Language subject?

4 Do you like your teacher?

5 Does your teacher focus on you in the class?

6 Can you pay attention to the lesson?

7 Do you like reading English materials?

8 Is your teacher’s instruction clear?

9 Is your homework easy?

10 Do your parents concern with your homework?

 SURVEY 2

YES NO
NO PROBLEMS
(√) (X)

1 Have you heard of the word ‘subject’?

2 Have you heard of the word ‘verb’?

3 Does ‘verb’ means ‘action’?

4 Can ‘subject’ be ‘noun’?

5 Can you differentiate ‘subject’ and ‘verb’?

6 Do you know what is ‘singular’?

7 Do you know what is ‘plural’?

 Following is the data gained through the surveys:

NO PROBLEMS PERCENTAGE

1 Not self-motivated and has no interest in the lesson. 6%

2 Unable to follow teacher’s instruction. 4%

3 Unable to pay full attention to the lesson. 10%

4 Less attention from parents at home. 11%

5 Unable to differentiate ‘singular’ & ‘plural’. 5%

6 Confused when to put ‘s’ after the ‘verb’. 41%

7 Poor vocabulary (verb). 18%
4.2 Problem Solving Action

 From the data analysis above, issues on personal

background and interest in learning ( Problem No. 1, 2 &
3) are not the major problems
 Motivate to involve and participate more actively in the
class
- award with encouraging words such as ‘good’ and
‘excellent’
- reward with sweets and ‘smiley’ stickers
 Problem No.6 (confused when to put ‘s’ after the ‘verb’) is
the major issue
- treat the pupils through interesting activities & exercises
i.e. 2PIC
4.3 Action & Evaluation
4.3.1 Pre-test Data Analysis
 - The following is the data analysis based on the Pre-test :

SCORE (30 marks) NUMBER OF PUPILS PERCENTAGE

26 – 30 2 5%

21 – 25 7 17%

16 – 20 20 49%

11 -15 12 29%

6 – 10 0 0%

0–5 O 0%

Total 41 100%

Based on the data above, the average score is 16 – 20 marks. Only 2 pupils i.e.
5% managed to score 26 – 30 marks which was rather small. This result should
be improving in the Post Test after 2PIC activities had been carried out.
4.3.2 Execution of Research Activities

 7 English Language periods a week (Tue – Fri)

 Carry out activities for 5 – 7 mins a day before beginning the normal
lesson
 1 activity is followed by another
 2PIC are pupil-oriented activities
 Teaching materials s.a. coloured pencils, magic pens, manila cards,
etc
 Interesting & fun activities namely puzzle, verbal game & paper cutting
 Practical, achievable and beneficial
 Daily drilling & step by step formula
 Compile all exercises & activities in a special book
 Schedule of Research Implementation
No. Activity Duration
Identifying pupils’ problem and difficulty as well as collecting the
1 1 week
raw data
2 Writing up the research proposal paper 1 week

3 Planning the activities and dividing pupils for group activities 1 week

4 Execution of Activity 1 : The 6-piece Puzzle 2 weeks

5 Execution of Activity 2 : Let’s Part and Fix Them 3 weeks
6 Execution of Activity 3 : I Say… You Say… 2 weeks

7 Execution of Activity 4 : My Collection of Authentic Materials 3 weeks

8 Discussion of problems 1 week

9 Post Test 1 week
10 Reflection on research 1 week
11 Writing up report on the research 2 weeks
12 Presentation of research to the panitia or school 1 week
Activity 1 : The 6-piece Puzzle

 A table consists of 6 squares

 Memorise the table, i.e. the arrangement of
squares Subject Verb
 Divide into 7 groups of 5 to 6 members
 Prepare the table on manila cards and cut
into 6 pieces of squares
 7 sets of puzzles, meant for 7 groups Singular Verb + ‘s’
 Each pupil hold one piece of square upside
down. On my count to 3, they turn the card up
and simultaneously arrange the squares to
solve the 6-piece puzzle in 10 seconds Plural Verb
 Make one round to check the arrangement for
each group
 The first 5 minutes of the lesson for 2 weeks
(Tue – Fri)
 Copy the table into the book
Activity 2 : Let’s Part and Fix Them
- Carry out after the first activity (6-piece Puzzle) is over
- First 7 minutes before the daily lesson for 3 weeks (Tue – Fri)
- Prepare 3 strips of simple sentences (3 - 5 words) and paste on the board

Steps:
1. Identify the subject and the verb in each sentence
2. Separate (part) them with dotted lines and label ‘S’ for subject and ‘V’ for verb
3. Correct (fix) the verb, i.e. whether or not to plus ‘s’ or ‘es’ (if required)
- This is how the strip looks :

She eat bread every morning.

S V Part them
She eat bread every morning.

S V Fix them
She eats bread every morning.

- Copy the sentences into the book

- Compile 36 sentence strips by the end of 3 weeks
Activity 3 : I Say … You Say …
 A combination of both verbal and written activity
 Carry out 5 minutes before the lesson (Tue – Fri) for 2
weeks
 Everyday, five pupils participate in this activity in a standing
position. The teacher states one subject and the pupil
states a suitable verb (impromptu)
 An example of conversation between the teacher & Pupil A
Teacher : I say she, you say ……
Pupil A : Sleeps.
 Pupils sit down if they answer correctly
 Next five pupils take turn in the next round i.e. the next day
 Those who fail to answer correctly owe one more round and
have to participate again after finishing the whole rounds
 Every pupil in the class write down the phrase; She sleeps.
By the end of this activity, they have compiled at least 41
phrases in the book.
Activity 4 : My Collection of Authentic Materials
- Require the pupils to collect authentic materials s.a. magazine or
newspaper cutting (news report, story, poem, letter, etc.)
- Carry out for 3 consecutive Fridays for 30 minutes i.e. during the single
period lesson
- Every Friday, each pupil brings and pastes the material in the book.

Steps
1.Identify 3 sentences or more with S-V
agreement (using SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE)
from the text

2. Underline the sentences with three different

coloured pencils and copy the phrase below or
next to the pasted material

3. Repeat Activity 2 (Let’s Part & Fix Them)

- By the end of this activity, the pupils should

have compiled 3 materials in the book.
 5. Outcome of Research
 Carry out the Post Test after all the activities have been executed
 Answered a set of 30 questions in 45 minutes time during an English Language period
 The questions were exactly the same questions as the Pre-test (30 fill-in-the-blanks questions)
 Below is the pupils’ test marks for both Pre-test & Post Test.

PRE-TEST POST TEST

NO. NAMES
(30 marks) (30 marks)
1 Adam Danial 17 23
2 Akmal Ameer 15 22
3 Ammarul Eddrie 13 16
4 Ananraj 16 24
5 Arief Hielman 16 23
6 Arief Iskandar 18 23
7 Asyraf 17 24
8 Dinie Arman 25 28
9 Emir Ezzrane 14 17
10 Herman Aditya Chandra 23 26
11 Mohamad Amirul Azmin 15 23
12 Mohamad Arief Hud 17 24
13 Mohammad Ali Zuhdi 22 26
14 Muadz 16 22
15 Muhammad Fathi Yaqin Shah 13 16
16 Muhammad Hasif Nabil 16 23
17 Muhammad Isa 23 26
18 Muhammad Najmi 16 22
19 Muhammad Shafiq 18 22
20 Nabil Hizami 18 23
21 Syed Muhammad Azzam 12 15
22 Aniessa Sofia Iman 18 24
13 Anis Sufina 14 21
24 Emylea Sabreena 22 25
25 Hana Sofea 17 24
26 Marsya Syazweena 15 23
27 Noorazzalina 18 25
28 Nur Ain Fitrah 24 27
29 Nur Maisarah 13 17
30 Nur Maisurah 14 18
31 Nur Mellina Nisha 17 24
32 Nur Naily Eiman 18 25
33 Nurul Ariana 19 23
34 Nurul Nazurah 18 24
35 Puteri Wani Adrianne 14 19
36 Qistina Al-Auni 24 28
37 Rania 20 24
 38 Raudatul Asyikin 24 28

39 Sarah ‘Uzma 25 29

40 Wan Zara Annati 17 23

41 Yogataarsini 15 23

This test reflected how well they understand the SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE. The
following is the result analysis for both Pre-test and Post Test :

SCORE PRE-TEST POST TEST

(30marks)
Number of Pupils Percentage Number of Pupils Percentage

26 – 30 2 5% 11 27%
21 – 25 7 17% 23 56%
16 – 20 20 49% 7 17%
11 – 15 12 29% 0 0%
6 – 10 0 0% 0 0%
0-5 0 0% 0 0%

Total 41 100% 41 100%

 6. Reflection
 6.1 Evaluation on Pupils’ Achievement
- The data shows tremendous increase in the percentage of Post Test.
- The average score range has moved to one level higher; i.e. 21 – 25
marks at 56%. The Pre-test average score range was 16 – 20 marks at
49%.
- All four 2PIC activities designed ran as planned. The drilling process
during each lesson had successfully helped the children to understand
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE better.
- The weaker pupils are now able to tackle the questions well. They
follow the formula step by step as drilled during the four activities
throughout the research.
- It indicates that my treatment through the activities worked out well on
the pupils.
- They made it through answering the same set of 30 questions in the
Post Test by applying these steps (especially Activity 2; Let’s Part and
Fix Them). All pupils had improved their individual score compared to
the Pre-test result.
6.2 Conclusion
 From my observation, I could see that the Year 4 Alfa pupils now have
an idea on how to tackle questions on SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE.

 They are able to apply the steps which I have taught them every time
they answer such question during the lesson.

 I have also observed that they are more confident and there is less
confusion among the pupils on when to put an ‘s’ or ‘es’.

 They manage to identify most of the keywords the way I drilled them in
each research activities.

 What makes it more than satisfactory is that the pupils are able to write
better usage of this particular grammar item in Section A (Paper 2
question) during exercises in the classroom. The samples of sentences
that they wrote on the blackboard indicate their great improvement and
the research had benefited them a lot.
 7. Suggestion

 The research activities were executed well during the lesson

and highly contributed towards the success of this action
research.

 The treatment i.e. the activities helped the pupils a lot in tackling
questions on SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE and committed fewer
mistakes in their exercises.

 Therefore, I strongly suggest to execute these activities among

pupils from other classes where I would share my ideas with the
rest of my colleagues in the school.

 In the future, I would also like to suggest on improving the

pupils’ understanding on the grammar item; SIMPLE
CONTINUOUS TENSE.
 8. Closing
 The pupils are our future. I sometimes sigh with
their minimal achievement in the test and
examination result after all of my effort and hard
work teaching them in the class. Still, it is my
responsibility that as a teacher, I cannot afford
giving up in imparting knowledge no matter how
challenging and difficult it can be. Day in, day out,
time constraint and increasing workload are
unavoidable factors. Thus, I believe with the spirit
and effort that I have, I should provide the pupils
quality education for their better future.
Attachment
 Pre-Test
Name : ______________________
Year : 4 Alfa

Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
1. That boy _______ (talk) a lot in the class.
2. The pupils ________ (read) books in the library.
3. The kitten ________ (crawl) through the hole to enter the room.
4. Suzie ________ (drink) very little water.
5. We _______ (play) netball every evening.
6. The puppies _______ (hide) in the box.
7. Yee Kong _______ (sweep) the floor in the classroom.
8. Jamie _______ (live) in Petaling Jaya.
9. Martin and his brother ________ (do) their homework in the room.
10. My father ________ (work) in Singapore.
11. The house _______ (look) beautiful.
12. My family ______ (want) to go for a picnic.
13. The children _______ (go) to school early.
14. The two sisters _______ (sleep) late.
15. A group of boys _______ (cycle) to school.
16. He _______ (ride) motorcycle to work.
17. Maria _______ (wear) her uniform neatly.
18. A few dogs _______ (bark) at the thief.
19. The teacher _______ (speak) clearly.
20. The pair of earrings ________ (look) shining.
21. The man ________ (drive) his car slowly.
22. The apples ________ (taste) sweet.
23. The old lady ________ (close) the door.
24. The ship ________ (sail) in the sea.
25. It ________ (eat) some fish.
26. I ________ (swim) in the swimming pool.
27. My brother ________ (drink) milk every morning.
28. They ________ (cut) the watermelon.
29. The dog and the cat ________ (fight) on the road.
30. The girls _______ (put) their bags there.
 Post Test
Name : ______________________
Year : 4 Alfa

Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
31. That boy _______ (talk) a lot in the class.
32. The pupils ________ (read) books in the library.
33. The kitten ________ (crawl) through the hole to enter the room.
34. Suzie ________ (drink) very little water.
35. We _______ (play) netball every evening.
36. The puppies _______ (hide) in the box.
37. Yee Kong _______ (sweep) the floor in the classroom.
38. Jamie _______ (live) in Petaling Jaya.
39. Martin and his brother ________ (do) their homework in the room.
40. My father ________ (work) in Singapore.
41. The house _______ (look) beautiful.
42. My family ______ (want) to go for a picnic.
43. The children _______ (go) to school early.
44. The two sisters _______ (sleep) late.
45. A group of boys _______ (cycle) to school.
46. He _______ (ride) motorcycle to work.
47. Maria _______ (wear) her uniform neatly.
48. A few dogs _______ (bark) at the thief.
49. The teacher _______ (speak) clearly.
50. The pair of earrings ________ (look) shining.
51. The man ________ (drive) his car slowly.
52. The apples ________ (taste) sweet.
53. The old lady ________ (close) the door.
54. The ship ________ (sail) in the sea.
55. It ________ (eat) some fish.
56. I ________ (swim) in the swimming pool.
57. My brother ________ (drink) milk every morning.
58. They ________ (cut) the watermelon.
59. The dog and the cat ________ (fight) on the road.
60. The girls _______ (put) their bags there.
 Cost of the Research

Total cost
No. Material Quantity X per unit cost
(RM)

1 70gsm A4 paper 1 rim X RM 9.00 9.00

2 Manila card 10 pcs X RM 0.70 7.00

3 Marker pen 1 set X RM 14.00 14.00

4 Black ink cartridge 1 pc X RM 10.00 10.00

5 Note book 1 pc X RM 2.00 2.00

6 Photocopy of materials and report NIL 30.00

Grand Total 72.00

 The pupils of Year 4 Alfa
are sitting for the Pre-test.

The 6-piece Puzzle activity

 One of the groups
who successfully
arranged the card
correctly within
the given time
frame.

The Post Test