1.

0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 THE CONTEXT / BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Writing is probably the main language skill that mostly reproduce a pupils
proficiency in the English language. Writing would appear to be more important
because writing is more powerful during conducting assessment to reveal pupils
proficiency. According to Othman (2011), the ability to write well is not a naturally
acquired skill. Usually, pupils learn writing culturally. They transmit writing as a set
of practices in formal instructional settings or other environments. Pupils should
practice and learn writing through their experience. Writing involves composing,
which implies the ability either to tell or retell pieces of information in the form of
narratives. Writing describes and creates a new text. Writing transforms information
into new texts. Writing can be in expository or argumentative form.
The most important part of writing is grammar. Pupil should emphasized on
using accuracy of grammar. Malaysian Education system expects error free writing
from the pupils. It is a very important consideration in writing a composition.
Unfortunately, pupils faces many problems in writing compositions. They want to
produce good, interesting writing. However, they are conscious and fearful of making
grammatical errors. Pupils face problems in creating new ideas.
According to Simpson (1998), formulating new ideas can be difficult because
it requires pupils to think out of the box where they need to elaborate on certain
keywords based on the picture given in their own way. It is because writing involves
transforming or reworking information. Furthermore their writing must be in a
sequence order according to the keywords provided based on the series of pictures
1

given. According to Simpson (1998), academic writing requires conscious effort and
practice in composing, developing and analysing ideas.
This study explores errors in writing in relation to particular aspects that are
made in writing a guided composition and the way to improve it by using words and
sentences sequencing method. According to Othman (2011), writing is only
appropriate for second language learners if they are both able to get sufficient feedback
with regard to their errors in writing.

1.2 A REFLECTION ON PAST TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Teaching is an important and well-regarded profession within our community
and people from all walks of life find it a professionally and personally rewarding
choice. As for me, I have been teaching for almost fourteen years. And all this
while I felt that day by day I am gaining lot of knowledge towards teaching and I
learn many ways to develop a good generation of pupils. Through my teaching
experience for this past fourteen years, I had also developed myself into improving
my teaching more towards pupils learning style. As years goes by, there are
certainly lots of changes in the teaching career due to changes also in curriculum
syllabus.
As we already know, English language requires four main language skills to
be learnt. They are listening and speaking, reading, writing and language arts. As
for me all those skills really played an important role towards a good English
lesson. As for me listening and speaking comes naturally when it is practically
done by teachers with their pupils. Speaking a good English needs lots of
communicating in English with pupils. Reading also could be improved through
frequent practices that are done by using different style of reading methods and
materials.
Along my years of teaching experience, I find out that in writing skill ought to
be the most difficult task to be tackled by pupils and also becomes a challenge for
teachers to look for a method in order to improve pupils performance towards an
excellent writing. As we know, writing is probably the main language skill that
strengthen pupils proficiency in English subject.

Writing would appear to be more important because writing is more powerful while a
teacher conducts assessment to reveal pupils proficiency.

Othmans (2011) study found the following:

The ability to write well is not a naturally acquired skill,
Usually, pupils learn writing culturally. They transmit writing as a set of practices in
formal instructional settings or other environments. Pupils should have practiced and
learn writing through their experience. Writing involves composing, which implies the
ability either to tell or retell pieces of information in the form of narratives. Writing
describes and creates a new text. Writing transforms information into new texts.
Writing can be in expository or argumentative form (p.199).
The most important part of writing is grammar. Pupils should be emphasized on
using an accuracy of grammar in writing. Malaysian Education system expects error
free writing from the pupils. It is a very important consideration in writing a
composition. Unfortunately, pupils faces many problems in writing compositions.
They want to produce good, interesting writing. However, they are conscious and
fearful of making grammatical errors. Pupils face problems while creating new ideas.
According to Simpson (1998), formulating new ideas can be difficult because it
requires pupils to think out of the box where they need to elaborate on certain keywords
based on the picture given in their own way (pg. 56) It is because writing involves
transforming or reworking information. Furthermore their writing must be in a
sequence order according to the keywords provided based on the series of pictures
given. According to Simpson (1998), academic writing requires conscious effort and
practice in composing, developing and analysing ideas (pg. 57).
4

This study explores writing errors in pupils of Year Four and the weaknesses in
writing a guided composition and the way to improve it by using words and sentence
sequencing method. According to Othman (2011), writing is only appropriate for
second language learners if they are both able to get sufficient feedback with regard to
their errors in writing.

2.0 FOCUS OF THE STUDY

2.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
From my observation, I understood that my year 4 Kabilar pupils have
difficulty in writing the guided composition. Pupils faced problems in applying the
correct sentence structure, form sentence with grammatical error and also could not
come out with appropriate ideas according to the key words given to be expanded in
the guided composition section. Pupils wrote their composition in their native
language. Pupils also wrote the composition out of the topic which was not related to
the series of pictures provided.
The first problem that was visible to me during my observation was that my
pupils from the year 4 Kabilar were unable to spell certain words correctly in their
writings. They were very weak in spelling words correctly. Pupils asked me for the
correct spelling of most of the words that they are attempted to write.
Usage of vocabulary is the second problem that I had identified in year 4
Kabilar. Vocabulary is the main tool in writing a guided composition. Pupils were
really weak in using and identifying the appropriate words towards completing each
section of the guided composition.
My third problem was during my lesson, I found that some of my pupils was
really having difficulties while attempting this guided writing section. Even though I
had explained the story line to them, but they were still on the same track which of
what they had understand. Later, I came to a conclusion, that my pupils were making
grammatical errors and also sentence structure mistakes while writing. They also did

not know the way to put words in order to form a good sentence while completing the
composition.
So I had chosen to conduct my study based on sentence structure mistakes
that are done by my pupils while attempting the guided composition section. I did so
it was due to my observation that I did while my teaching sessions. As I taught them,
I found their weaknesses on that particular sentence structure mistakes. So I decided
to plan on an intervention in order to improvise my pupils weaknesses.

2.2. THE INITIAL SURVEY

Out of these three problems, I realised the inability of four pupils from my year
4 class to form a good sentence structure by organizing their ideas clearly. I decided
that this problem will be appropriate for my research because I felt that it was more
common among those four who are participant A,B,C and D.
Earlier as I were observing my teaching and learning activity, I had noticed some
of my pupils characters towards the lesson. Whenever I gave them the guided
composition writing struggled to explain to them what are they going to do and how
they should be working on it. Later, when they start to write, I could see some
scratching their head, biting their pencils or finger nails and some even will be putting
on their heads on the desk. So all this gave me a signal of my pupils weaknesses on
that particular guided composition section.
While my lesson, I also observed and found that these pupils are very weak in
gathering ideas and writing it in a good structure. I got to know about their
weaknesses through a task Appendix K that I provided them with during my lesson.
They really had difficulties in thinking out of words to be used in the writing and
7

also they did not know to write sentences in a good structure while attempting that
particular task.
Later I had an interview session as in Appendix G with one of the English teacher
who also teaches English for the other classes of year 4. I suggested to carry out an
interview with her in order to get some feedback and ideas from her regarding this
intervention of sequencing method. Since she was also in the same field as with me,
so it was easier to get information from her. I had transcribed the interview data and
also the coding as in the Appendix H.
From the interview, I found out that the teachers opinion are the same as what
was mine. According to the coding in Appendix H, the teacher had expressed her
thought that the words and sentence sequencing method would be an effective way in
order to overcome pupils weaknesses in writing the guided composition part. At first,
she also expressed her opinion that that the sequencing method would be a good
method in order to brush up the weaker pupils towards writing a good composition.
The teacher that I had interviewed also has defined this intervention as a fun and
enjoyable activity where it would be easier for the weaker pupils to attempt. She
believes that learning through fun would improve the weaker pupils performance
towards writing the guided composition. As she were talking about the intervention
method, she also gave a feedback that the sequencing method could really motivate
herself in teaching the guided composition section and helps to keep those weaker
pupils in the right track on guiding towards writing composition.
The teacher whom I interviewed also thought that it would be really an effective
way to overcome problems that arise in the form of vocabularies, grammar items and
also the correct punctuations to be used in writing guided composition. When I asked

about her opinion according to her experience, she said that it would take around one
or two weeks for the weaker pupils to be familiar to the intervention, maybe one or
two pupils might take more time such as a month or two to catch up the intervention.

2.3 LITERATURE REVIEW

Allison Black , Jane & D.Miller (1970) suggests that:
Writing, as written communication,
is more complex and difficult than speaking or oral communication because it must be
more structured and organized without gestures or tone to aid in its comprehension
(p.1).
Yet, like speaking, writing, they gain unique opportunities in understanding what
children know and what they are ready to learn.
Barbara Gross Davis had argued that some pupils seem naturally enthusiastic
about learning, but many need or expect their instructors to inspire, challenge and
stimulate them: Effective learning in the classroom depends on the teachers ability to
maintain the interest that brought pupils to the course in the first place (as cited in
Ericksen, 1978, p. 3).
Pupils composition depends on their talent or ability of writing. Ellis (1994)
argued that research based on direct and indirect trial generally shows that writing
with positive attitudes, motivation and concrete goals will have these attitudes
unbreakable or if they experience success(pg. 46). Some pupils loved to write and
they put effort to produce good work. Although pupils may have negative attitude
towards writing for academic purpose, but many of them are financially and
professionally committed to pass in tests, and as a result, they have strong reason for
learning and improving their skills in writing guided compositions.

10

Mather (1998) suggested that In addition to comprehending and creating stories,

children must be able to convey factual information and opinions through their ability
to think and creating ideas in order to write a clear and good composition(pg.226).
Othman (2011) studies found the following:
There are two important elements that you need to master to write well in
English. First, you must have ideas to write about. You would not know what to write
about if you do not have any idea. Secondly you must have language competency. You
would not able to express your ideas without having language competency.
Alternatively you would not be able any piece of writing without any idea, if you have
only language competency. Hence both elements are the most basic needs that you
must have to be able to write (pg. 12).
Mather (1998), also suggested Children must develop several different types of
expository style to succeed in higher grades. The most common type of expository
paragraphs are described as sequential writing which describes a storyline step by step
(pg. 227). Furthermore; pupils do not have interest in writing. They are more interested
in entertainment and technology. For example, Lambert (1982) argued that pupils
hate writing (p. 33). He proved it by his social model. He said that most of pupils at
the beginning of each of their writing composition classes, even when are asked to fill
out a personal information form to determine their needs and interests when planning
their course.
The answers to questions such as Do you enjoy writing in English? and What
are your strengths and weaknesses in writing? are revealing. Most pupils will answer
that they hate writing in English and in their native language and are only taking the
course for educational and career purposes. In fact, it seems that many of the pupils

11

would prefer to be practicing conversation. Pupils may enjoy writing e-mail messages
to friends around the world, but challenges, such as difficulties getting started, finding
the right words, and developing topics abound series of pictures given just with some
key words to be elaborated. However, if pupils show an overall interest in writing
(integrative motivation), perceive that there is parental and social support , and have a
desire to achieve their professional goals (instrumental motivation), they can become
more proficient in their ability to write in English, despite the initial lack of selfmotivation.
Furthermore, academic writing is believed to be cognitively complex to pupils.
McLaughin (1988) argued that :
Acquisition of academic vocabulary and writing is particularly difficult,
According to cognitive theory, writing is an active process of skill development and
gradual removal of errors as the learner internalize the language. Indeed, acquisition
is a product of the complex interaction of the linguistic environment and the learners
internal mechanisms. There is continual reform as learners shift these internal
representations in order to achieve increasing degrees of mastery in writing English
(p. 60).
Anderson (1985), argued that, writers do not have to plan before writing (p. 24)
He said that most pupils write whatever they think. They did not think about
grammatical errors, words that they use, structure of the sentences and also their ideas.
It makes their composition being out of topic and confusing. They should plan their
writing before they start to write their composition. Andersons model of language
production (1985) applies to both speaking and writing in a second language. It is
divided into three stages: construction, in which the writer plans what he/she is going

12

to write by brainstorming, using a mind-map or keywords provided in which language

rules are applied to transform intended meanings into the form of message when the
writer is composing or revising; and execution, which corresponds to the physical
process of producing the text. The first two stages have been described as setting
goals and searching memory for information, then using production systems to
generate language in phrases or constituents (OMalley and Chamot (1990).
Besides this, OMalley and Chamot (1990) commented that organization at both
the sentence and the text level is also important for effective writing and for the quality
of the written product. For instance, coherence problems may be due to not knowing
how to organize text or how to store the relevant information (p. 15).
Moreover, Odlin (1994), mentioned that language transfers is another important
cognitive factor related to writing error. Transfer is defined as the influence resulting
from similarities and differences between the second language and any other language
that has been previously acquired (p. 24). Pupils tend to translate directly from their
mother tongue language into English words in order to form sentences towards
creating a composition. Here the structure of the sentences will be totally out. Swales
(1990) asserts that, even though the fact that first language transfer is no longer
viewed as the only cause of error at the structural level, but still a writers first language
plays a complex and significant role in writing English (p. 18). In addition, pupils are
often unsure of what they want to express, which would cause them to make mistakes
in any language. McLaughin (1988) suggested that, finally, writers might lack
familiarity with new rhetorical structures and the organisation of ideas. English writing
relates closely to native-language literacy and particular instructional contexts (p. 69).

13

In this study, pupils should be able to generate ideas from pictures and key words
given in order to write a good guided composition. By looking at this series of pictures
pupils will be able to understand the story and come out with lots of ideas to complete
the piece of writing. The intervention method that I chose to be implemented in my
study for this section. This is to make sure that my weaker pupils could understand and
improve themselves in this section of guided writing. This could make them think
about the techniques and processes they use when they write. Nesamalar C. (2005)
suggested that unjumbling words and sentences to write a paragraph is also a good
way towards writing a better guided composition (pg. 166).
Guided writing to my view is an essential tool in a balanced writing curriculum
providing an additional supported step towards independent writing. Through guided
writing, pupils are supported during the different stages of the writing process. The
aim is to provide support that is going to help pupils to improve their writing and to
work with increasing independence. I chose to do guided writing as a part of how I
approach teaching writing to pupils. I find that using smaller groups work really well
for teaching creative writing as so many pupils struggled with formulating ideas and
to choose the right words to be used in their writing.
According to Simpson (1998), pupils should be well guided also through
experience stories. I strongly agree with that part of my reading in a journal which I
myself discovered while conducting my teaching, I need to relate the problem that I
had identified towards this study. For example, if I had choosed to give a guided
composition on the topic My Hobby, I surely relate that story with my students
experience through asking them to explain their hobby. By this, I would relate the
storyline with pupils personal experiences.

14

According to Brown (2000) there are several ways to talk about errors as well in
writing in light of what they know about second language acquisition and what pupils
know about that particular topic. How texts, context and the writing interact with one
another. As mentioned, pupils writing in second language generally produce texts that
contain varying degrees of grammatical errors (pg. 42). Also depending on
proficiency level, the more content-rich and creative the text, the greater the
possibilities there are for errors at the structure level. This kind of errors are especially
common among second language pupils. Pupils will have lot of ideas, but do not
enough ideas to express what they want to say in a comprehensible way.
Next, discussing on feedback towards pupils guided compositions. Feedback
plays an important role in developing students writing proficiency. According to
several studies, pupils actually do want their teachers feedback on their assessments.
However pupils have expectations to the kind of feedback they wish to receive.
According to Cohen (1987), pupils want to participate in a process approach to
writing that allows for multiply rewrite as well as conferencing of some sort (pg. 33).
Brown (2000), asserts that pupils want to take part in conferencing and find it more
effective than written comments (pg. 24). Leki (1993) points out that pupils prefer
error correction methods that label mistakes and let them make correction on their
own(pg. 351).
Finally, Cohen (1987) mentioned that pupils want to have some kind of feedback
pertaining to the content of their writing (pg. 27). However according to Brown
(2000), the types of feedback they receive depends on the teachers mechanism on
providing feedback such as content, language or grammar orientated comments as
well. Characteristic of good writing are when the written work is able to be a guidance
for the people who read it. Rodby,J.(1992) suggested that writing should contain
15

encouragement (p. 11). Looking at the encouraging writing, it is a necessity for

writers and readers to provide positive comments. The writers responsibility lies not
only in providing information and evaluation but also lies in motivating students to
learn. Radecki & Swales (1988) supports this by arguing that, by using positive
writing methods writers have the possibilities to reward and correct without
uncomforting as well as to encourage the pupils to develop themselves and get more
involved in study activities Raimes (1987) also suggested that writing should be
specific, clear and unambiguous and writers need to be sure that readers understand
their comments clearly. Any positive or negative comments should be explained well.
When writing is corrective in nature, it explains where and why pupils have made
errors-significant increases in pupils learning occur (p. 19).
Writing is a main skill of language learning. Pupils should avoid making errors in
forming sentences. They should be aware of their mistakes in writing sentences and
try to avoid it. Pupils should give improvements to teachers comments in their writing.
It is because based on teachers comment called feedback provides many kinds of
information to pupils. Feedback helps pupils to improve their guided composition
writing proficiency. This study explores pupils common errors in their composition.
Some of the studies mentioned that correction towards a meaningful content does help
pupils to improve their writing ability through sequencing of words and sentences
according to the keywords and series of pictures given. Nesamalar C.(2007)

16

3.0 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main aim of this study is to to describe the writing strategies of standard four
pupils of year 2016 at this primary school. Six pupils from the class 4 Kabilar
participated in this study. They are of the same age. Mainly the objective that this
study is done is to identify the grammatical and structure errors that made by pupils in
writing a guided composition. The study will help the pupils to know their weaknesses.
This research aims to:
i) to improve the guided composition writing skill among year four pupils through
words and sentence sequencing methods

4.0 RESEARCH QUESTION

The research question is:
How are words and sentence sequencing methods able to improve the guided
composition writing skill among year four pupils?

17

5.0 TARGET GROUP / PARTICIPANTS

This study involved participant A,B,C and D of year 4 at Sekolah Jenis
Kebangsaan Tamil Barathi (pseudonym). Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Barathi is located
in the urban area surrounded by other schools. The pupils in the school area are 100
percent Indian pupils. Based on the pupils record and an interview with the
headmaster, most of the pupils parents are working in the town areas and are from
different backgrounds.
I purposely selected the pupils in my class as my subject since I was assigned to
teach them. It would be easier for me to see the progress of the pupils as I am entering
the class twice a week. Their level of English proficiency is average and they prefer
talking in their mother tongue which is the Tamil language even during an English
class. The pupils barely rely on language translation from English language to Tamil
and also gestures in order to understand English during the lesson. They have limited
exposure towards the English language. The only exposure to the English language
that they get is only during the English lesson in the school.
Looking for the appropriate word to write the guided composition is one of pupils
of four Kabilar of SJKT Barathis major problem that I detected. I noticed this problem
when I was going through their exercise books. I decided to conduct an observation
when I noticed that they keep on repeating the same problem in each of their English
exercises. The intervention that I used purposed to serve the purpose of improving the
pupils guided composition writing skill.

18

6.0 ACTION PLAN

6.1 IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION

This action research will be conducted by using the Spiral Steps of an

Action Research Model by Kurt Lewin (1988). The model consist of four
stages; Planning, Acting, Observing and Reflecting to complete an action
research. Figure 1 shows the Model of the Spiral Steps of an Action Research
Model by Kurt Lewin.

19

Figure 1: Kurt Lewins Action Research Model

Every stage were described by Kurt Lewin as follows:

During the planning stage, I as the researcher had to identify a problem in my
pupils own practice. Writing a statement of this problem. I as researcher should clarify
what changes pupils could make to overcome the problem. Pupils write up the
anticipated design of practice such as what were hoped for outcomes? Besides, I as
researcher should also ensure that the research were question driven and the I as
researcher should consider that the scale of my research project is realistic (starting
small is usually best). Designing data collection items such as feedback forms,
questionnaire, interview questions and intervention is also essential during this stage
since it was used for the act stage later on. Pre-intervention was conducted during this
stage.
The steps of implementation of the pre-intervention is shown in Table 2.
During the Planning Stage, I identified my pupils problem in writing through their
exercise book and I had noticed that one of their major problem in writing guided
composition, was looking for the right word to express their ideas. I had an observation
while teaching and learning session, to identify how bad the problem was. After going
through the observation which was during the act stage, I designed the pre-intervention
as in Appendix B and intervention as in Appendix C(i) and C(ii) as well as the data
collection and also a feedback questionnaire as in Appendix D.
While the observing stage, I observed each of the pre-intervention and
intervention steps which I felt important. During the first stage of my intervention, I
20

conducted a pre-intervention task as in Appendix B for the pupils and recorded the
results in a Table form as in Table 4 and analysed as in the bar graph of Figures 2 and
3. Before the implementation of the intervention, I explained utilising Appendix F
about the storyline of the series of pictures shown and also how should my pupils
arrange words in sequence. While they were using the pre-intervention task as in
Appendix B, I monitored the pupils in order to see what were the mistakes done by
them commonly and also could recognise their weaknesses.
On the second stage, which is the intervention stage, I conducted the postintervention utilising Appendix C(i) and also C(ii) to see the effectiveness of the
intervention which was about sequencing methods of words and sentence in order to
write a guided composition when the pupils used it. At first I utilised series of pictures
as in Appendix F to explain about the storyline to my participants and also how they
should write for each pictures. It could help them in their daily practice in making use
of English words if they apply the intervention. The results of the pre and postintervention were recorded in the table 4 and analysed as in the bar graph of figure 2
and figure 3.
During the final stage, which is reflection, I compared the result of preintervention and post-intervention and reflected on the effectiveness of the
intervention. The limitations of the intervention were also identified through the
feedback questions that I gave to the pupils.

Table 1 and 2 below show the steps that I carried out, the participants actions, and
rationale for the activity that I planned.
TABLE 1 : PRE-INTERVENTION OF WORDS AND
SENTENCE SEQUENCING METHOD.

21

Date

: 1st February 2016

Time

: 8.15 8.45 a.m.

Duration

: 30 minutes

Activity steps

Teacher action

Pupil action

Rationale for activity steps

based on research focus

I provided a I

provided

task with series composition

by

guided Pupils

read

those key To make pupils understand the

utilising words related to the series pictures according to the key

of pictures and (Appendix B) including key of

pictures

given

keywords to be words related to the pictures utilising (Appendix

elaborated

to given.

B )

and tried to understand it

write

by

composition

respective pictures.

by

by words given.

looking

at

the

utilising

Appendix B

Activity steps

Teacher action

Pupil action

Rationale for activity steps

based on research focus

22

I explained a I explained the story line of Pupils

followed

my To

diagnose

pupils

task with series the given series of pictures explanation on the story understanding about the task
of pictures and utilising Appendix E to my line
keywords to be pupils.
elaborated

explained

utilising given utilising Appendix E.

Appendix E.

to

write
composition
by

utilising

Appendix E.

I guided my I guided pupils to expand Pupils

pupils

using each key word given.

followed

instructions.

my To identify the understanding

of pupils in using keywords as

task as stated in

provided

Appendix B.

utilising Appendix B.

I observed my I gave half an hour time for Pupils

pupils.

attempted

in

the

task

by

the I will identify my participants

my participants to complete composition in about 50 weaknesses

through

my

the composition.

while

they

minutes.

observation

attempting the task.

Activity steps

Teacher action

Pupil action

Rationale for activity steps

based on research focus

23

I guided pupils I guided the participants to Participants tried their best I will get to know the
to complete the form
task

better

sentences to complete the guided weaknesses of my participants

by through explanation.

composition by

utilising

Appendix B

Appendix B.

guidance.

utilising more

clearly

in

forming

with my sentences in completing the

composition.

24

TABLE 2 : INTERVENTION OF WORDS AND

SENTENCE SEQUENCING METHOD.

Date

: 4th February 2016

Time

: 8.15 8.45 a.m.

Duration

: 30 minutes

Activity steps

Teacher action

Pupil action

Rationale for activity steps

based on research focus

I provided task I provided pictures of a story Participants

which was my composition

by

those To

make

C(ii)

and utilising

there were words to be arranged them correctly.

Appendix

methods given

and C(ii).

Appendix C(ii).

to be sequenced according to

by
C(i)

according to the sequencing

Appendix C(i) arranged into sentences and

the storyline

participants

utilising words given by utilising understand the pictures

intervention by Appendix C (i) and also Appendix

utilising

read

by utilising

by utilising

Appendix C(ii).

I explained the I explained the story line of Participants listened to my To diagnose

intervention
task

participants

the series of pictures in my explanation about the story understanding of the story line
by intervention task by utilising line utilising Appendix F.

utilising

using Appendix F.

Appendix F.

pictures as in
Appendix F.

25

Activity steps

Teacher action

Pupil action

Rationale for activity steps

based on research focus

I guided my I guided

participants

to Participants followed the To identify the understanding

participants to arrange given words to form intervention tasks guide of

arrange words a correct sentence
in the task by utilising

Appendix

utilising

which was to be my

Appendix C(ii)

intervention about.

by by arranging words

participants to those

sentences

by words

C(ii) utilising Appendix C(ii).

I guided my I also guided to sequence Participants

sentences

given by utilising Appendix according to the pictures

the

storyline

in

order sentences.

by utilising

chronological
the

task

by

the

sequencing

Appendix C(ii).

order of

to

sequence of the sentences.

orderly sentences in the correct participants

according to the pictures chronological

to C(i).

according

sequenced To observe the performance of

sequence

according

participants in arranging

utilising
Appendix C(ii)

26

Activity steps

Teacher action

Pupil action

Rationale for activity steps

based on research focus

I instructed my I asked participants to copy Participants copied those To

observe

participants

participants to those sequenced sentences sequenced sentences as in improvement in utilising the

copy

down utilising Appendix C(ii) to Appendix C(ii) according intervention.

those sentences its respective pictures in to the series of pictures

accordingly to Appendix C(i).

given in Appendix C(i).

the series of
pictures given
in the task by
utilising
Appendix C(i)
and C(ii).
I gave another I

silently

observed

my Participants attempted the To observe participants

activity as in participants attempting the task as in Appendix L

improvement in utilising the

Appendix

intervention.

L task as in Appendix L.

applied with my

which consists

intervention which was

of

words

my

intervention

and

sentence

sequencing methods.

method.
I administered I read the questionnaires one Participants coloured the

To know participants

a questionnaire by one to my participants.

similes that they feel

opinions towards my

as in Appendix

correct.

intervention.

D.

27

I had an

I interviewed participants Participants A,B,C, and D To know participants views

interview

A,B,C and D.

session

with

gave

their

answers and

opinions

about

according to my questions. intervention method.

my participants
regarding

the

intervention.

28

the

7.0 DATA GATHERING METHODS

Before I gathered data according to my research, I met with SJKT Barathis
headmaster in order to get permission from him as in Appendix J to conduct my
research data collections. I also explained about the intervention and the importance
of it to the participants from year 4 Kabilar in order to get their permission to be my
participants. My intervention improves the way of writing a guided composition with
guided methods.
Firstly during the pre-intervention as in Appendix B, I gave the year 4 Kabilar
pupils an activity of composition with pictures and key words were given to be
expanded. It measures the amount and the quality of content in the pupils work. Later
I gave a task as in Appendix C(i) & C(ii) which was my intervention had took place
whereby pupils arranged words in a sentence as well as sequenced it orderly according
to the story line of pictures given and also pupils copied those sequenced sentences to
the respective pictures. After all those steps, I provided those pupils with a
questionnaire as in Appendix D in order for them to attempt it.
Secondly I interviewed my four participants as in Appendix A. in the interview I
had asked them regarding their opinion about the intervention applied and the reason
for their answers in the questionnaire. They had shared their views and experiences
and how the intervention had helped them in writing guided composition.
Thirdly of course pupils work also played its role as an evidence of my research
and as a main tool in my data collection work. I conducted a pre-intervention session
utilising Appendix B for my pupils of year 4 Kabilar to get to know their weaknesses
in writing the guided composition and followed by also an intervention task utilising
Appendix C(i) & C(ii) which was my intervention to be in order to seek how far my

29

pupils improved by using the words and sentence sequencing method to attempt guided
composition successfully.

8.0 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

8.1 Pre-intervention and intervention analysis.
I had administered the pre-intervention and intervention task. I had
conducted the pre-intervention and intervention task in order to test the condition and
improvement of writing guided composition of the pupils in the class being taught.
The marks and data of the four pupils were recorded and tabulated as shown in the
table 4 and also being put into graphs as in figure 2 and 3.
Table 3 : Pre-intervention and Intervention scores in applying words and
sentence sequencing methods.

Grade

Pre-intervention

Intervention

75

25

75

25

30

Number of Pupils

PUPILS ACHIEVEMENT GRAPH

REGARDING THE INTERVENTION
75

80

75

60
40

25

25

20
0
GRADE A

GRADE B

GRADE C

Pre- intervention

GRADE D

GRADE E

Intervention

Figure 2 : The Participants Achievement In words and sentence sequencing methods.

PUPILS ACHIEVEMENT DIFFERENCES IN APPLYING
WORDS AND SENTENCE SEQUENCING METHODS
DURING PRE-INTERVENTION AND
INTERVENTION IN GRAPH
100

MARKS

80
60
40
20
0

Participa
nt A
Pre-Intervention
43
Intervention
68

Participa
nt B
38
93

Participa
nt C
50
86

Participa
nt D
40
92

PARTICIPANT

Figure 3 : The Participants Achievement In words and sentence sequencing

methods. During Pre-intervention and Intervention.

31

During the data analysis of the pre intervention and intervention done to my
participants , grading are given as shown in table 4. Grading are given as it purposely
done to see the improvement in their grade score before and after the intervention. In
the pre-intervention, before the implementation of the intervention, a pupil had
failed. It shows 25% of participants had failed in the pre-intervention. There were
75% of the participants who scored grade D.
After the intervention took place, according to the Graph in Figure 3, the
percentage had increased up to 25 % of the participants whom got grade B and 75%
of the participants got grade A. Altogether 100% of the participants had passed the
intervention. Based on table 4, the implementation of the intervention had shown
positive results in helping pupils improving their writing in the guided composition
section.

32

8.2 Pupils feedback based on given questionnaire.

I distributed a set of questionnaire to pupils by the end of the intervention. The
items and data are shown and tabulated as below, Table 5.

Table 4 : Pupils Feedback On Questionnaire.

Question item

Strongly Percentages Strongly

Agree

Percentages

Disagree

1. Guided
composition of

100

100

words and
sentence
sequencing
methods
encourages good
writing.
2. Guided
composition of
words and
sentence
sequencing
methods is an

33

easier way for

me write
composition.
3. Guided
composition of

75

25

75

25

words and
sentence
sequencing
methods had
built my
confidence in
writing
sentences.
4. Guided
composition of
words and
sentence
sequencing
methods
encouraged me
to write
sentences
without grammar
mistakes.

34

5. Guided
composition of

100

100

50

50

words and
sentence
sequencing
methods
motivated me to
use appropriate
vocabulary.
6. Guided
composition of
words and
sentence
sequencing
methods does
not enriched my
vocabularies.
7. Guided
composition of
words and
sentence
sequencing
methods gives
me ideas to write
compositions.

35

8. Guided
composition of

75

25

words and
sentence
sequencing
methods was
very useful to
me.

When conducting this questionnaire as in Appendix D , I applied one strategy to

prevent the pupils to just colour at their will. I distributed the questionnaire to each
pupil and asked them to read first, and then I went through the question one by one
with me reading each question before asking them to answer it. By doing this, pupils
were not rushing to do each question.
Table 4 shows the frequency in positive response on the result of the intervention
in helping pupils towards improving their guided composition writing. Nevertheless,
according to Table 5, half of the class did not really liked the technique but all of them
agreed that this technique helped them in their writing of guided composition.
Looking at the Table 4, there were more pupils who enjoyed using this technique
compared to those who disliked. I may say that because this technique is more on
sequencing words and sentences which could be done easily in a fun way. Pupils were
no need to crack their heads to look for an appropriate words to form the guided
composition. Some of them prefer to continue using this technique again in the future.
My interpretation is that because this technique helps them in their writing of guided

36

composition correctly. They really felt happy about it and much more relieved to
sequence words and sentences which was the intervention.

8.3.1 Transcribing the interview data.

I had an interview session as in Appendix A with all of my four participants. I
had transcribed the interview data and also the coding as in the Appendix I. According
to them the words and sentence sequencing method was really an easier way for them
to write the guided composition method. They find it so because, it gives them ideas
on what word should be described and the correct way to put in a good sentence
structure. They also expressed their feelings by saying that it was really an encouraging
method in order to make them write the guided composition clearly. Since they did not
really know what was the correct word to be used to express their ideas, this
sequencing method had really provide them a big relief.
A participant also had expressed his opinion that through this words and sentence
sequencing methods, he could easily understand the storyline by reading the words
and sentence to be jumbled up. Also according to them that by my explanation of the
storyline by using a chart consists of series of pictures, they could be able to draw their
ideas towards writing a good guided composition.

37

9.0 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Results obtained from instruments used have shown that this intervention has
helped to improve the writing of guided composition in my classroom to a level
whereby my participants who did not had any idea about attempting this kind of
guided composition section had improved towards gaining ideas and knew the
correct way to attempt the guided writing section. The intervention used are helping
the pupils in their search of some correct and appropriate vocabularies since it
provides pupils more opportunity of continuous practice of using different types of
words. The aim of the technique is to familiarise the participants with the usage of
correct vocabularies and it helps them in writing their composition.
However, the limitation of using this technique is that it has to be contextual.
During my observation while teaching and learning, the pupils were really out of
ideas and did not know how to write the guided composition at all. Later during the
intervention as in Appendix C(i) and C (ii), they were really relieved because at least
there was something they understood and knew how to write. They need not to look
for the correct vocabularies or ideas or even spelling correctness. The only matter
was, even though they had all the ideas on the paper, but still there were some
spelling mistakes in their writing work.
Finding the strengths and weaknesses of this technique, I distributed a feedback
questionnaires as in Appendix D to the pupils. I noticed that the pupils were so weak
in their writing even though they are in year four. So, this technique has helped them
to increase their accuracy in writing a good guided composition. Based on the
questionnaire given, over half of them liked this technique. I assumed that they liked

38

it may be because it was so easy to be used and it really helped them to increase their
accuracy in writing sentences towards completing the guided composition. They
gained ideas from that they knew on how to use certain words and according to
grammatical rules.
Besides, pupils who only learn through drills may get distracted and bored with
practicing drills., especially if they had already mastered the skills. After every pupil
demonstrated knowledge concerning the subject, the drills and practice exercises
should be used occasionally to maintain proficiency.
During the intervention, my pupils had however managed to come out with a
good piece of work. Since, I had also guided them quite well, so they managed to
attempt it successfully. But still there were mistakes did by them like spelling
mistakes, wrong vocabulary used, wrong sentence structure and certainly
grammatical errors.

39

10.0 CONCLUSION AND REFLECTION

This study set out to identify problems faced by Year Four pupils in attempting
the guided composition section and also towards improving it through words and
sentence sequencing method. Writing is a challenging academic environment. The
only way to improve pupils writing is by keeping on giving them more new strategies
towards developing a good writing skill. The findings of this study answer the research
objectives posed at the beginning of the study. It was established on problems faced
by pupils when creating a guided composition. Pupils should be doing more practice
and revise the previous writing essays and compositions. Pupils should acquire the
fundamentals or the standards that are required in writing parts such as the
vocabularies, grammar items and punctuations.
Furthermore, pupils have to put more interest in writing. Even though writing is
a skill that are difficult, but they must put effort to approach it. Due to all this, feedback
also plays an important role in pupils writing. Pupils cannot improve their writing
without sufficient feedback on errors made. Teachers should help pupils to develop
their strategies of writing. Teachers can give their feedback in the structure of writing,
content, language and grammar section. Teachers should give their feedback and
comments specifically in using the appropriate grammar and vocabularies that best
suits the story line of the guided composition. So that pupils can improve and avoid
making mistakes in using the correct words in the sentences that they form to write a
complete composition.
Furthermore, I found that pupils make errors in many aspects of grammar also.
They repeatedly make mistakes in articles, prepositions, verb tenses, conjunctions and

40

pronouns. Most of the pupils omit the articles because it confuses the meaning.
Therefore, they always leave out the, a and an. Another reason is most of them
do not use articles in their mother tongue and they do not know the correct way to
place it in their sentences. Furthermore, most of them did not know how to use correct
tenses. They simply put any tenses at wrong places. Many of them did not write proper
and complete sentences. Pupils lack information on the series of pictures given and
really need more improvement in finding out the correct words and sentence to be used
in order to complete the guided composition in future.
I suggested on the action research on words and sentence sequencing method
activity with few aims. Firstly, I wanted to improve my pupils writing skill towards
writing guided composition. When I identified the weakness of my pupils in that
particular section was countless and was getting worse day by day, then I suggested to
really think and work on it. Secondly, I always wanted to create and work on an
intervention which could work on pupils work somehow during a period of time. I
would also like to see how far does my intervention had worked and the improvement
of pupils work and success. As I carried out the intervention, I had gone through lot
of trials and tribulations. I had to look for my appropriate time to carry out the preintervention and intervention. I also need to look into my school work also at that time.
Another problem that I faced during this intervention was, the four pupils that
I chose to carry on my research were from a different background and had different
understanding and writing ability of themselves such as some knows to read certain
difficult words and understand it whereby some do not know. Luckily the participants
had really cooperated with me and showed an excellent improvement towards writing
the guided composition with less mistakes. I was really satisfied looking at their

41

gradual improvement in writing the composition quite clearly compared to their

previous writing which I had noticed from day one of my intervention.
I also always wanted to make improvements on pupils knowledge of
vocabularies. It also plays an important role towards writing guided composition,
because pupils need to look into appropriate vocabularies to form sentences using
keywords towards writing guided composition. By implementing this kind of
intervention, vocabularies could be enriched and also pupils will know the way to use
those vocabularies correctly.

42

11.0 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Though the intervention has proved a positive results, however I found some
limitations towards the intervention. Since the intervention was only a simple task,
more varied activities should be added in.
I should add more fun in the intervention such as fun drilling. During the process
of sequencing words and sentences in the intervention, I should ask my pupils to do
more exercises on sequencing words and sentences and also change the methods of
classroom activities from time to time. This also will be one of the solutions to regain
memory in absorbing lot of intimation. Just like music, rhythm and beat, actions play
an important role in the ESL classrooms. Role plays, action songs, drama and
techniques involving bodily kinaesthetic learning style had always been used to teach
English to both native speakers and second language learners, particularly when it
involves action verbs. This kind of activities will add more fun and the pupils will
enjoy using the intervention. I say so because, anything regarding learning that are
done physically such as hands-on activities, will easily enhance pupils understanding
and also will help them to easily remember what they had learnt through the particular
lesson.
Other than that, I also should put more effort towards enriching pupils vocabulary
knowledge in a different method so that they will enjoy it and would be able to
remember it forever. As we know, some activities enhance pupils memory towards
storing it long term. When they tend to learn it in a fun and interesting way, definitely
they are going to remember it and they will master lot of vocabularies. Other than that,
I also need to plan lot of hands-on activities such as listing out vocabularies that pupils

43

learn each day, finding meaning in the dictionary and many more for pupils so that
they will involve in learning hundred percent. It would also make them understand
better about learning and become efficient in that particular section of the lesson
taught. They will start to understand better of what they are doing and remember it for
long term.

44

12.0 LIST OF REFERENCES

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Brown, H. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. White Plains: NY:Longman.
Chitravelu, N. (2007). ELT Methodology principles and practice. Shah Alam, Selangor: Oxford
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Cohen, A. (1987). Student processing of feedback on their compositions. United KIngdom:
Prentice Hall International.
Ericksen, L. (1978). Effective learning in the classroom. New York: Starist Publication.
Lambert. (1982). Students' achievement in writing. New York: Starist Publication.
Leki, I. (1993). Twenty five years of contrastive rheotric. Virginia: S.Silberstein Ed.
Lewin, K. (1988). Action Research Model. Kurt Lewin's Action Research Model, 6.
Mather, D. G. (1998). An action guide to helping your child succeed in school. United
Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons, INC.
McLaughin. (1988). Theories of second language. Baltimore: Edward Armold.
O.Malley & Chamot, A. (1990). Learning strategies in second language. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Odlin, T. (1994). Perceptive in pedagogical grammar. New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Othman, N. b. (2011). Basic direct writing skills. Kuantan. Pahang: Universiti Malaysia
Pahang.
Radecki, P. (1988). ESL Students reaction to written comments on their written work. Rowly:
MA: Newbury House.
Simpson, C. (1998). What kinds of writings can I guide? Daily Guided Writing, para.4.
Swales, J. (1990). English in academic and research settings. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.

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