Kajian Tindakan Berasaskan Sekolah

WORDWISE - USING PICTURES AND EXPLICIT VOCAB TEACHING STRATEGIES TO

IMPROVE 5 S1 DESCRIPTIVE COMPOSITIONS

Oleh

RAHMAH BT HJ SAYUTI

SMK CANOSSIAN CONVENT,

KLUANG, JOHOR.

ABSTRACT

This classroom action research was conducted with a view to help Form 5 Science 1 students of
Sekolah Menengah Canossian Convent, Kluang improve their vocabulary in descriptive
compositions. The research was carried out from the 15th February 2008 to the 24 April 2008 on 31
students by the English Language teacher. Assessments of student’s descriptive compositions
revealed a serious lack of vocabulary besides being dull to read. The aim of the research was to
help students expand their vocabulary in order to write descriptive compositions using pictures from
newspapers and explicit vocabulary teaching strategies. A module (WORDWISE: If You Don’t Lose
It, You Lose It) was designed for this purpose and a theme was selected. Four strategies were used
and the results analysed. The findings of the research were discussed and recommendations
offered.

1.0 Teaching and Learning Reflections

Having taught 5 Science 1 students for eight months when they were in Form 4 in 2007, I noticed a
serious lack of vocabulary needed to write good compositions in the class work given, particularly in
descriptive compositions in the majority of the students. The class consisted of 35 students of mixed
ability as there was no streaming of classes for English. The linguistic abilities ranged from good to
poor.

The above observation could be directly related to three factors. Firstly, as a teacher, I tended to focus
on narrative compositions compared to the other genres such as descriptive, factual, argumentative
and open topic compositions, which are more difficult to attempt. Secondly, students L2 background.
The majority of the students did not come from English-speaking homes and Chinese and Tamil were
the main languages used as a medium of communication. The use of the mother tongue is also
predominant even in the English classes. A third factor was the lack of extensive reading culture among
students whether at home or in school, hence resulting in the lack of vocabulary in their writing.

Based on the observations, I believe that there was a need to address the issues. Considering the fact
that vocabulary is one of the important requirements in good writing, I decided to design a vocabulary
module that uses pictures from newspapers and to employ some explicit teaching strategies to
complement the module. Why pictures? A picture is worth a thousand words- students are drawn to
pictures and pictures can act as stimuli to trigger a student’s imagination and to activate his or her
schemata. Since every student brings a schemata or pre-existing knowledge based on his or her
experiences in life, the use of pictures would help activate the schemata. Furthermore, pictures from
newspapers are easily available and are familiar to students.

2.0 Research Focus

This research focused on helping 31 students of Form 5 Science 1 to expand their vocabulary in order
to write descriptive compositions using pictures and explicit vocabulary teaching strategies. The
pictures were taken from the newspapers and were categorised into selected themes such as people,
scenes etc. In class and exam compositions, it was observed that students displayed specific
weaknesses. They were:
i) the lack of descriptive vocabulary (nouns and adjectives) at the word and
phrase levels in compositions
ii) the inappropriate use of words and phrases in students’ compositions
iii) the lack of interest value in compositions as a result of the above
 Kajian Tindakan Berasaskan Sekolah
It was also noted that in the mid-year and end-of –year compositions in 2007 (Form 4), 70% of students
chose descriptive compositions compared to the other four genres namely, narrative, factual,
argumentative and open topic in Paper One. Hence, there was a strong tendency for students to
choose descriptive compositions. In addition, vocabulary is important as it plays a key role in helping
students write better. All languages are made up of words and words convey meaning. If we choose the
wrong words, then the wrong meaning is conveyed. Hence, having a big store of words and knowing
how to use them are very important in writing compositions. In addition, learning vocabulary is an
enormous task. Students may encounter up to 50,000 different words in their textbooks and thousands
of unfamiliar words in the supplementary texts used by their teachers. As Decarrico (2001) states,
“Vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition,
whether the language is first, second or foreign”
Another important consideration for carrying out this research was assessment. The writing component
in Paper One of the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia offers basically five genres: narrative, descriptive, factual,
argumentative and open topic. A descriptive composition will be one of the five composition questions
given to candidates. This section alone carries a weighting of 50 marks from 80 marks in Paper One.
Hence, doing well in this part of the paper is an important factor to doing well in the English paper.
Based on my evaluation of students’ compositions in 2007, there was a lack of vocabulary resulting in
dull compositions to read. To do well in descriptive writing, a student must display a wide and precise
range of vocabulary suited for this genre. Furthermore, since it is more difficult to score in a factual
composition, there is then a logical and practical reason to focus on descriptive compositions.

Because my students read in English or speak English minimally, they were very dependent on
classroom lessons. Hence, explicit vocabulary teaching methods were incorporated in building the
WORDWISE module. The data was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively to gauge any progress
before and after the implementation of the strategies.

3.0 Research Objectives

3.1 General objectives:

The aim of this research is to help students’ expand the breadth or store of vocabulary for descriptive
composition using a module called ‘WORDWISE: If You Don’t Use It, You Lose It’ (Appendix A). The
module has the following features:
• uses common pictures from newspapers
• Thematically based following the Fm 5 English syllabus e.g. people, scenes, food, etc.
• contains explicit teaching strategies that activate, engage and apply
students schemata

3.2 Specific objectives:

i) To employ four explicit strategies in teaching vocabulary incorporated in the module
ii) To analyse the use of the 30 target vocabulary in the pre-test and post test and in five selected
descriptive writings of target students (average to poor) quantitatively and qualitatively
iii) To evaluate the effectiveness of using pictures from newspapers as stimuli in vocabulary
teaching
iv) To raise teacher awareness on the effective strategies for teaching vocabulary for descriptive
writing

4.0 Target Group

The target group consisted of 31 students from Form 5Sc1 who had a range of good to poor linguistics
skills. Four students were excluded as they were absent in some lessons due to co-curricular activities
and therefore could not follow all the lessons fully.

5.0 Implementation of the Research

5.1 Observation of the source of the Problem

When evaluating compositions from March to October 2007, it was discovered that students’
compositions lacked vocabulary, particularly descriptive compositions. Such compositions require

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plenty of details especially the use of nouns and adjectives. Although the length of the compositions
was appropriate, the vocabulary used was below adequate and consisted of general words which were
often repeated. Another observation was by way of a short questionnaire on the strategies used by
students to acquire vocabulary in English. It was found that students employed implicit or incidental
strategies in learning vocabulary.

This refers to strategies that are indirect and require frequent exposure which usually happens in the
case of first language learners. Examples are wide reading, listening to the teacher or engaging in oral
conversations in daily life. However in a second language situation (L2), it is virtually impossible to
receive the same amount of exposure on a frequent basis due to mother tongue interference and other
factors. Exposure is less extensive and less varied.

5.2 Analysis of the Problem

5.2.1 Analysis of the questionnaire

The following questionnaire which consisted of 10 items was administered to all 31 students to
find out the strategies the students use in learning new words (Appendix B). The time given
was 30 minutes and the following results were obtained:

TABLE 1
Questionnaire
How do you learn new words? Tick the strategies that you use below:

Strategy # of Students Notes

responses
1. Listen to teacher to explain the word. 7 *
2. Look it up in the dictionary. 4
3. Guess the meaning from context. 3
4. Memorise the word. 3
5. Read story books. 7 *
6. Write the word in a vocabulary book. 0
7. Do mind map. 0
8. Listen to the teacher read aloud. 2
9. Group new words into different areas. 0
10. Talk to family and friends 5 *
Total responses 31

The questionnaire revealed that the top three strategies used by the students (items 1, 5 and
10) were implicit strategies for learning vocabulary. These strategies are also known as
implicit strategies that promote vocabulary learning naturally through wide reading and daily
conversations for example. The important point to note is in using these strategies, plenty of
exposure is needed. If little exposure is received, the rate of vocabulary growth will be slow.
Taking the students’ L2 background into consideration, little English is used at home as the
medium of communication is the mother tongue. Hence, there is little exposure and
opportunity to learn new words using these strategies. This being the case, the strategies
employed by the students were inappropriate to speed up vocabulary learning and expansion
of words.

Based on these findings, the teacher wanted to investigate whether explicit or direct strategies
in teaching vocabulary can improve students’ store of words. The teacher then decided to
build a module using common pictures in newspapers as stimuli. This is because newspapers
are cheap and provide plenty of pictures that depict current events and products for example.
Pictures are universal stimuli to aid learning and provide a starting point for developing
vocabulary. They provide concrete referents for learning new words and phrases. Four explicit
or direct teaching strategies were chosen to complement the module in subsequent lessons.
The module was divided into five themes namely, People, Scenes, Products, Food and
Miscellaneous.
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5.2.2 Analysis of the pre-test
A pre-test was first administered to the 31 students before any intervention (activities) was
carried out. For this purpose the theme Scenes was selected as describing scenes is part of
the Form 5 syllabus. A total of 30 target vocabulary items (nouns and adjectives) related to
‘flooding’ was listed (Appendix C). The choice of words was carefully selected and balanced.
There were arranged in alphabetical order. Students had to identify words according to three
categories: ‘never seen or heard’, ‘have seen or heard’ and “I know it (Please define it)’. The
following results were obtained:

TABLE 2
Pre-test Results

Pre-test
Student Never seen or Have seen or I know it
heard heard (Please define it)
% % %
1 Student 1 13.3 30.0 56.7
2 Student 2 33.3 26.7 40.0
3 Student 3 30.0 36.7 33.3
4 Student 4 33.3 26.7 40.0
5 Student 5 16.7 23.3 60.0
6 Student 6 30.0 23.3 46.7
7 Student 7 6.7 10.0 83.3
8 Student 8 23.3 26.7 50.0
9 Student 9 18.3 21.7 60.0
10 Student 10 33.3 36.7 30.0
11 Student 11 23.3 33.4 43.3
12 Student 12 36.7 16.7 46.6
13 Student 13 23.3 33.3 43.4
14 Student 14 0 13.3 86.7
15 Student 15 23.3 16.7 60.0
16 Student 16 20.0 10.0 70.0
17 Student 17 43.4 30.0 26.6
18 Student 18 10.0 30.0 60.0
19 Student 19 23.4 13.3 63.3
20 Student 20 26.7 30.0 43.3
21 Student 21 26.7 16.6 56.7
22 Student 22 33.3 33.3 33.4
23 Student 23 16.7 33.3 50.0
24 Student 24 6.7 13.3 80.0
25 Student 25 16.7 16.7 66.6
26 Student 26 33.3 33.3 33.4
27 Student 27 16.7 16.6 66.7
28 Student 28 20.0 10.0 70.0
29 Student 29 43.3 16.7 40.0
30 Student 30 16.7 40.0 43.3
31 Student 31 16.7 6.6 76.7

For the purpose of analysing the above data, the middle percentage of 50% was used to find
out whether there were some patterns or conclusions that could be derived from the data.
Based on the pre-test the following observations were deduced:
i) For column 1 (never seen or heard), the percentage ranged from the lowest score
(6.7%) to the highest score (43.3%). None of the students claimed to have never seen or
heard 50% or more of the target vocabulary the teacher had chosen. For column 2 (have
seen or heard), the percentage ranged from the lowest (6.6%) to the highest (40%). No
student claimed to have seen or heard 50% or more of the target vocabulary. For column 3 (I
know it! Please define it), the lowest score was 26.6% and the highest was 83.3%. 17
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students or 58.1% knew 50 % or more of the target vocabulary. This was a good baseline data
for the teacher to proceed with the research. It would be interesting to find out whether this
figure would have changed after the planned teaching strategies were carried out in the
classroom. Based on the findings, the teacher decided to implement four direct or explicit
vocabulary teaching strategies using the module built and to see whether any changes would
take place after the post-test was given.

5.3 Plan in Action

5.3.1 Activities
There were altogether four cognitive strategies or activities designed and carried out to help expand
the students’ vocabulary in describing scenes. Direct teaching strategies were used in that the
strategies taught vocabulary explicitly, not by accidental means such as wide reading for example.
The four activities were divided into three learning stages namely, activate, engage and apply. They
were:
TABLE 3
Types of Cognitive Activities Designed

Activity Stages of Learning

Activity 1: Semantic Mapping Activate
Activity 2: Categorising Engage
Activity 3: Open Gap-fill Apply
Activity 4: Paragraph-writing Apply

5.3.2 Materials used

i) Task sheets from the WORDWISE module built earlier.

5.3.3 Classroom management

i) Individual work
ii) Group work
iii) Gallery Walk method

5.4 Implementation and Observation/Evaluation

5.4.1 Implementation of Activity 1: Semantic Mapping (Activate)

Students were given two pictures of scenes of a flood taken from the New Straits Times. The
pictures were placed in the centre of a semantic map (Appendix D). In groups of four (eight
groups altogether), they brainstormed and filled the clouds in the task sheet with 20
words/phrases they knew and were related to the scenes. The groups were a mixture of one
‘good’ proficiency student, two averages and one ‘weak’. Using the gallery walks method,
students moved from one table to another to copy new words, which were not in their list. The
groups were then asked to list all the words on the board based on their list. The same words
were not repeated.

i) Observation
Some interesting observations were recorded. First, the picture of flood scenes in Malaysia
played it role as stimuli to activate or trigger students’ memory and schemata. The recent
floods was everyday news in the local papers hence the familiarity of topic too. The semantic
map allowed them to brainstorm the relevant words. Second, students were excited as they
shared their knowledge of the recent floods and the words/phrases related to it. Anxiety level
was low as it involved group work. Third, each group collated approximately 40 new words
while doing this activity. In total, 320 words/phrases were generated through the sharing of
words based on the students own schemata. Clearly, this carefully planned activity expanded
the students’ quantity of words/phrases.

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ii) Reflection
The teacher was pleased to note that the choice of pictures was suitable and something the
students could relate to. The pictures provided the context for the activity. In addition the group
work allowed them to be more relaxed and spontaneous. The task was interesting to them as
they could recall personal or other experiences related to floods. Students were surprised and
delighted at the number of words they had produced through this activity. I personally found
that students needed the right activity to activate their vocabulary. Furthermore, I discovered
that with a mixed ability class, the better students could help the poorer students provided
activities were well-planned. Interestingly, teacher instruction was minimal as students played
the active role in the discussion.
Based on the above observations, the teacher felt there was a need to use the words
generated in a meaningful way. Thus the second activity was carried out in the next lesson with
this intention in mind.

5.4.2 Implementation of Activity 2: Categorising (Engage)

In this part of the lesson, students were required to categorise the words they collated in the
previous activity into meaningful categories. A graphic organiser was designed for this purpose
(Appendix E). The task required students to engage themselves in the activity. The teacher led
the discussion on which categories were relevant by looking at the list of vocabulary generated.
The class agreed upon six categories namely, feelings, causes, effects, property, people and
help. They then filled the graphic organiser with the relevant words that fit the category.

i) Observation
In this lesson students had to apply some deep thinking processes in order to see the
relationship or connection between words and the categories or word families. They had to sort
out which words/phrases were suitable for which category. The groups then wrote the relevant
words/phrases into each category depending on their understanding of the meaning of the
words/phrases. Some students were slightly confused earlier but teacher led discussion was
helpful to clarify matters. Any overlapping words/phrases were discussed and the best or
dominant category selected for the words/phrases. There were adequate opportunities for
exploration.

ii) Reflection
It was interesting to note the different categories suggested by students initially. Finally a list of
six categories was chosen. The second observation was the use of a visual aid such as a
graphic organiser helped students see the connections between words/phrases and their
categories clearly. For instance, the word ‘trauma’ would be placed under the category ‘effect’
and not the others. This showed that students understood the meaning of the word enough to
place it in the right category. The activity promoted active processing of information. Students
also applied higher order thinking skills in making the connections between words/phrases and
the categories. When asked what they thought about the activity, some responded in the
following way: ‘interesting’ ‘different’ ‘not that easy teacher’.

5.4.3 Implementation of Activity 3: Open Gap-fill (Apply)

In this stage of the lesson, students were required to apply their understanding of the
words/phrases learnt in the previous lessons. An open gap –fill using a newspaper report on
floods was given to individual students. Individually, they had to fill in twelve gaps with suitable
words they had learned according to the context of the report (Appendix F). Discussion of
student responses was carried out after thirty minutes.

i) Observation
The students found this activity to be the most challenging as they had to recall the
words/phrases and decide whether they were appropriate. No discussion was allowed while
they were filling in the gaps. Because this was an open gap-fill, there might be more than one

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correct answer as in items 2. abandoned/left and 3. Victims/evacuees. Other answers were
accepted as long as they applied the words they had learned in the previous lessons. The
teacher was pleased to note that 28 out 31 students or 90.3% were able to complete all the
twelve gaps with words learnt in the previous lessons after their responses were checked by
the teacher.

ii) Reflection
Although the students found the newspaper report to be slightly difficult, it was an appropriate
choice as the teacher could control the vocabulary items to be supplied by the students. The
vocabulary items were similar to the target vocabulary used in the pre-test. The reason for
finding the report slightly difficult could be due to the fact the students seldom read reports in
English newspapers preferring the entertainment sections. Since this was an open gap-fill, it
demanded the students to remember the vocabulary they had learned in the two previous
activities as the options were not given. Given the thirty minutes time frame, students were able
to apply the words they had learned to fill in the gaps. The activity achieved its purpose.

5.4.4 Implementation of Activity 4: ‘Paragraph-writing’ (Apply)

The final activity required the students to write a descriptive essay on ‘Floods in my Housing
Area’ in a single paragraph, using approximately 120 words. The students were given forty-
minutes to write and use all the words/phrases they had learned. The paragraphs were
collected and five samples from good to weak marked by the teacher (Appendix G).

i) Observation
This activity was a summary of all the previous three activities where students were not only
required to use the words/phrases they had acquired but also to use them correctly in a
descriptive writing. Attention was given to grammatical appropriateness and meaning conveyed.
Students were given forty minutes to write on a test pad and the teacher marked a sampling of
students’ work. The target vocabulary found in the description was circled. The following table
summarises the students’ performance:

TABLE 4
Analysis of Target Vocabulary Used

Students Level No. of words from Appropriateness

target vocabulary (grammar and
used meaning)
A Good 20/30 Excellent
B Average 15/30 Good
C Average 15/30 Good
D Weak 13/30 Satisfactory
E Weak 14/30 Satisfactory

ii) Reflection
It was found that the students made real attempts to use the target vocabulary in the essays. For
those with better proficiency, the words/phrases were higher in terms of quantity and used
correctly compared to the weaker students. The time of forty minutes was sufficient for students
to write an eighty- word essay and the title given was appropriate.

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5.4.5 Post-test
As a final step to gauge whether there was any improvement in terms of the breadth (quantity)
of vocabulary learnt, a post-test was conducted using the same items in the pre-test. The
results of the post-test are shown below in comparison to the pre-test:
TABLE 5
Comparison of Pre-Test and Post-Test Results

Student Pre-test Post-test

Never Have seen I know it Never seen Have I know it
seen or or heard (Please define or heard seen or (Please
heard % % it) % % heard % define it) %
1 Student 1 13.3 30.0 56.7 0 10.0 90.0
2 Student 2 33.3 26.7 40.0 16.7 33.3 50.0
3 Student 3 30.0 36.7 33.3 16.7 40.0 43.3
4 Student 4 33.3 26.7 40.0 6.7 33.3 60.0
5 Student 5 16.7 23.3 60.0 0 23.3 76.7
6 Student 6 30.0 23.3 46.7 3.3 30.0 66.7
7 Student 7 6.7 10.0 83.3 6.7 13.3 80.0*
8 Student 8 23.3 26.7 50.0 13.4 13.3 73.3
9 Student 9 18.3 21.7 60.0 10.0 30.0 60.0
10 Student 10 33.3 36.7 30.0 16.6 30.0 53.4
11 Student 11 23.3 33.4 43.3 0 20.0 80.0 *
12 Student 12 36.7 16.7 46.6 3.33 30.0 66.7
13 Student 13 23.3 33.3 43.4 3.33 23.3 73.4
14 Student 14 0 13.3 86.7 0 100 100
15 Student 15 23.3 16.7 60.0 6.7 26.7 66.6
16 Student 16 20.0 10.0 70.0 0 13.3 86.7
17 Student 17 43.4 30.0 26.6 30.0 13.3 56.7
18 Student 18 10.0 30.0 60.0 10.0 10.0 80.0
19 Student 19 23.4 13.3 63.3 0 23.3 76.7
20 Student 20 26.7 30.0 43.3 10.0 20.0 70.0
21 Student 21 26.7 16.6 56.7 0 20.0 80.0
22 Student 22 33.3 33.3 33.4 23.3 26.7 50.0
23 Student 23 16.7 33.3 50.0 10.0 23.3 66.7
24 Student 24 6.7 13.3 80.0 6.7 0 93.3
25 Student 25 16.7 16.7 66.6 0 16.7 83.3
26 Student 26 33.3 33.3 33.4 16.7 33.3 50.0
27 Student 27 16.7 16.6 66.7 3.3 6.7 90.0
28 Student 28 20.0 10.0 70.0 6.7 10.0 83.3
29 Student 29 43.3 16.7 40.0 0 36.7 63.3
30 Student 30 16.7 40.0 43.3 20.0 10.0 70.0
31 Student 31 16.7 6.6 76.7 0 13.3 86.7

i) Observation
Looking at the post-test scores, it can be deduced that 30 out of 31 students showed
improvements in the quantity of words learnt after the four strategies were implemented. This
can be seen from all the three columns in the above table. Column 1 (never seen or heard)
displayed a significant reduction while Column 3 (I know it! Please define it) showed significant
increase. The most important indicator is Column 3 where students understood a word and was
able to give a definition. The highest increase or improvement as shown in the third column is
36.7% (student 11). Although student number 7 dropped by 3.3%, it is not significant enough.

ii) Reflection
The post-test showed that all students ranging from good to poor linguistics ability showed
positive improvements in terms of improving the breadth of their vocabulary which was the
general objective of this research. It can be deduced that the materials in the module and
teaching strategies chosen were suitable to achieve the aims of this research.
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5.5 Reflections on the Research

To begin with, this action research was carried out with the intention to help the students expand
their vocabulary in terms of breadth or quantity. As the post-test results indicated, this was
successfully achieved through the use of WORDWISE module which incorporated explicit
vocabulary teaching strategies.
The post-test results showed a steady increase in the knowledge of the target vocabulary. This
was very encouraging to the teacher. This would not have happened if there was no careful
planning in the choice of activities and approach in the classroom. In other words, the teacher
must consider the lesson objectives and prepare the necessary activities. He or she can also
control the target vocabulary most needed by way of a frequency wordlist appropriate for the SPM.
The wordlist can also be obtained from the syllabus.

The four activities designed were meant to teach vocabulary directly in a second language (L2)
classroom. They were intentional and generally achieved what they intended to do. In carrying out
the activities, students were given plenty of opportunity for learning via the principles of activate,
engage and apply. The use of pictures or visual images successfully triggered the discussion and
collaboration Activity 1. This was followed by three other activities which were carefully designed
to maximise the use of words/phrases related to the chosen theme which was ‘floods’. The
research shows that through careful planning and selection of teaching materials, one can achieve
the desired results although it could be time-consuming.

With regards to vocabulary development, I realise that connecting word form and meaning was
best learned explicitly, especially with my students who had limited resources for acquiring English
outside the classroom. Hence, explicit teaching of selected target words was an efficient way to
expand their vocabulary knowledge. I would also like to point out one of the reasons for the limited
vocabulary knowledge of the students could be the little attention given to vocabulary teaching by
teachers, thus more focused in-class vocabulary teaching would bring about positive outcomes.

I also believe that vocabulary teaching is more effective if it is theme-related. In this research, one
example of such theme is ‘describing scenes’. Students can relate easier if there is a theme that
connects the words/phrases together. Also vocabulary teaching has to be made enjoyable and
allow students to explore the language on their own. There is also the question of frequency which
should be looked into. Should vocabulary be taught one a week or more than that?

There are other ways I have benefited from this research. It has helped raised my awareness on
the effective strategies, namely explicit and direct teaching of vocabulary in more ways than one.
This action research has convinced me that for L2 learners, explicit teaching of vocabulary is
appropriate although incidental learning like gaining vocabulary through reading should also be
encouraged. It is indeed rewarding to see the improvements my students had made judging from
all the activities implemented.

On a more personal note, I have become more motivated to teach vocabulary and I am more
aware of the various strategies that can be employed in the ESL classroom.

5.6 Suggestions for Future Research

After having analysed, reflected and observed the strategies and findings of the action research,
there are several recommendations that can be offered.

i) A study on the comparisons between explicit and implicit strategies for teaching vocabulary in a
second-language situation their impact on second language learners.
ii) Using everyday pictures to enhance vocabulary in narrative and factual compositions.
iii) The effectiveness of using various graphic organisers in vocabulary teaching.

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6.0 Bibliography
1. Elliot, J. 1991. Action Research for Educational Change. Open University Press: Milton Keynes
& Philadelphia, UK.
2. Kemmis, S & Mc Taggart, R. 1981. The Action Research Planner. Victoria: Deakin University.
3. Lomax, P. 1990. Managing Staff Development in School: an Action Research Approach.
England: Multilingual Matters LTD.
4. Biemiller, A. (2001, Spring). Teaching Vocabulary, early, direct and sequential in
http://www.aft.org/american_educator/spring2001/vocab.html
5. Curtis, M.E., & Longo, A.M. (2001). Teaching vocabulary to adolescents to improve
comprehension. Reading Online. 5 in
http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=curtis/index.html

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