Chapter 3.

0 Research planning

3.1 Research Implementation

Based on Kurt Lewin Action Research Spiral model, the research

implementation was planned in a Gantt chart (Table 2) that started with
identifying problem and ended with evaluation. The implementation was done
during the 12 weeks of phase 2 practicum.

In week one, I entered the identifying stage where I started to identify

a problem in the Year 5 classroom. I identified that pupils were struggling to
write paragraph because there were insufficiency in their vocabulary
knowledge. Then, I did preliminary investigation which was in week two and
three for the fact finding stage. I did observations of writing lessons, one on
one interview with the English teacher of the Year 5 classroom and diagnostic
test. Besides that, I did my planning in week three and four. The planning
included planning of intervention and budget (Table 3), identifying
participants, giving consent forms as well as how and when to implement my
intervention.

After that, my action stage started with pre-test in week 5 and ended
with post-test in week 10. A pre-test was conducted to collect the results so
that I can compare it to the post-test which was conducted in week ten to
determine if the intervention can improve pupils’ vocabulary for paragraph
writing. Both the pre-test and the post-test were using the same paper
(Appendix H).

After conducting the pre-test, I did the introduction of the cinquain

poem structure with pictures in week 6 by providing them with the structures
of the poem and a few examples. I taught them how to construct the poem.
After teaching, they were given chances to make their own cinquain poem.
When they are familiar enough with the cinquain poem, I taught how to
transfer the words from the poem into a paragraph. Then, my participants
tried writing a paragraph while I facilitated them. I also gave feedback
accordingly.
 Then, in week 7 until week 9, session 1, session 2 and session 3 plus
interview after each session was implemented. In session 1, I used four
pictures of a family going to a Cat Museum (Appendix #). Participants created
four cinquain poem for each pictures and transferred the word in the cinquain
poem into four paragraphs. When participants finished writing, I checked the
paragraph and started interviewing them regarding their work. For example, I
asked how they expanded the words from the cinquain poem into sentences
that fit a paragraph. The participants and I repeated the same process for
session 2 and session 3. However, for session 2, I used four pictures of a king
whose son was kidnapped by a giant (Appendix #) and for session 3, I used
four pictures of two boys that went fishing beside a river (Appendix #).

Lastly, I did an evaluation of my whole research implementation in

week 11 and 12. The evaluation was done in order to determine if there is a
need to amend the research. Any amendment will be noted and
recommended for the second cycle. Other than that, I started to analyse and
tabulate the data collected. A reflection of these analysed and tabulated data
was also done in the evaluation stage.
 Table 2

Gantt chart for research implementation

Week
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Action

1. Identifying problem
2. Preliminary investigation
a) Observation of writing lessons
b) One on one interview with the English
teacher
c) Diagnostic test
3. Planning
a) Planning intervention
b) Identifying participants
c) Giving consent forms
d) How and when to implement intervention
4. Pre-test

5. Introduction of cinquain poem structure

with pictures

6. Session 1

7. Interview 1

8. Session 2

9. Interview 2

10. Session 3

11. Interview 3

12. Post-test

13. Evaluation

Identifying
stage
Fact finding
Planning

Action

Evaluation

Table 3

Estimated Budget

Items Price Quantity Total cost (RM)

(RM)
Diagnostic test 0.20 30 6.00
Pre-test and Post-test question 0.20 10 2.00
papers
Papers for each sessions 0.30 5 1.50
Grand total 9.50

3.2 Data Gathering Methods

3.2.1 Pre-test and post test

A pre-test was conducted before I introduced my intervention.

Then, after introducing cinquain poem structure with pictures and the
three sessions, a post test was conducted. The pre-test and post-test
were in the form of a guided writing paper (Appendix H). So, pupils
produced one written work for pre-test and another for post-test. I
selected this method to gather data because Metler (2014) claims that
pre-test and post-test are used to make decisions better-informed. In
other words, it helps in informing the success rate of a decision. For
example, I decided to use the cinquain poem structure with pictures to
improve Year 5 vocabulary for paragraph writing and to measure the
success rate of this intervention, I used pre-test and post-test. I used
these pre-test and post-test to collect data which allow me to analyse
the data quantitatively. This data answered my first RQ which is does
the cinquain poem structure with pictures help the Year 5 pupils
improve vocabulary for paragraph writing.
3.2.2 Document analysis

I conducted three sessions for my intervention. In all the

sessions, pupils produced written pieces which are poems and
paragraphs. Thus, all their works are data and significant information
that can be collected. I chose document analysis because Glenn
(2009) proposes that Information contained in documents can suggest
some questions that need to be asked as part of the research. For
example, document analysis helped in generating new interview
questions which later allowed me to triangulate this data with another
data gathering method; semi-structured interview. Therefore, I
collected the works and analysed them. Besides that, I also analysed
the document and found emerging themes that could be used to
answer how cinquain poem structure with pictures help in improving
Year 5 pupils’ vocabulary for paragraph writing were discovered and
their works became the evidences as qualitative data.

3.2.3 Semi-structured interview

I chose semi structured interview as my type of interview. I

prepared questions based on the analysed document. For example, I
analysed one of the story written by pupil and found out that there were
sentences that was not expanded from the words in the poem. In fact,
the word was absent in the poem but the pupil was able to elongate her
paragraph. So, from this analysis, I prepared a few question to be
asked. Besides, according to William (2018), “semi structured interview
is a blend of prepared closed and open-ended questions, often
accompanied by follow-up why or how questions”. In other words, I was
not restricted to only my prepared questions. I could asked questions
that appeared during the interview itself. With that, the data became
sufficient to answer the second RQ which is how cinquain poem
 structure with pictures help in improving Year 5 pupils’ vocabulary for
paragraph writing.

3.3 Data Analysis

Data that was gathered will be triangulated to ensure high validity and
reliability. Johnson (2017) defined triangulation as a powerful technique that
facilitates validation of data through cross verification from two or more
sources. In this research, there are three data gathering method; pre-test and
post-test, document analysis and semi-structured interview. These three
sources of data were triangulated and used to answer the RQs. Besides that,
the analysis of the data will also use constant comparative method. The
benefit of using this method is that the research begins with raw data; through
constant comparisons, reliable findings will emerge (Sharon, 2012).
Therefore, in this action research, triangulation of data and constant
comparative method are utilised to reach maximum validity and reliability.

In addition, there are two RQ that need to be answered in this

research. The first RQ is, does the cinquain poem structure with pictures help
the year 5 pupils to improve vocabulary for paragraph writing? This RQ will be
answered using the comparison between number of words used by the pupils
to write paragraphs for the pre-test and post-test.

The second RQ is, how does the cinquain poem structure with pictures
help year 5 pupils to improve vocabulary for paragraph writing? This RQ will
be answered using document analysis which is the written poems along with
written paragraphs from the three sessions produced by the participants and
the analysis of the semi-structured interview. Detailed explanation on how the
data will be analysed is further discussed below.

3.3.1 Pre-test and post test

I analysed pupils’ written paragraphs in the pre-test and post

test using Table 3. I counted the words that pupils used in their
paragraphs and categorised the words into four word classes; Nouns,
Adjectives, Verbs and Adverbs. These four word classes are known as
content words. Content words carry semantic content, and these words
name objects of reality and their qualities (Richard, 2019) Therefore,
the words are the most important vocabulary as they bring meaning to
sentences. Whereas, the conjunctions, prepositions or any other word
classes are function words which were not counted because they are
used to make sure the sentences are grammatically correct. After
categorising, I can detect progression or regression when comparing
the number of words in the pre-test and post-test. The progression or
regression will be used to answer RQ1.

Table 3

Results of pre-test and post test

PRE-TEST POST TEST

Content words Content words
DIFFERENCES
PUPIL

ADJECTIVES

ADJECTIVES
ADVERBS

ADVERBS
NOUNS

NOUNS
VERBS

VERBS
TOTAL

TOTAL

A
B
C
D
E

3.3.2 Document analysis

In this research, document analysis is a qualitative data that was

analysed by hand. The hand analysis of qualitative data means that
researchers read the data and mark it by hand (Creswell, 2014). By
doing so, the raw data can be exploited to the fullest as all pupils’
 documents which are their written works in every sessions, was read
and marked by myself. Marking means analysing the document by
looking for emerging themes. So, I can understand the emerging
themes better. Emerging themes were marked using different colours
by underlining the sentences or words and were noted down in the first
column. These findings will be used to answer RQ2.

Table 4

Document analysis

Document/Pupils’ written work

Emerging themes
Cinquain Poems Paragraphs

3.3.3 Semi structured interview

The analysis of the semi structured interview started from

transcribing the interview. The transcription is tabulated in the second
column while the emerging themes was noted down in the first column.
Table 5

Semi structured interview analysis

Emerging themes Transcription of interview