Kahoot Games and a Bookmark with Simplified Grammar Note
For Simple Present Tense and Plural Nouns
Kalsum Mohamed, Vilogini Chandra Segaran & Melor Md Yunus
Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
chombie21@yahoo.com
vilo_gini@yahoo.com
melor@ukm.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Writing is an important “tool” and it is central to learning, especially in schools and in everyday
life. Errors and mistakes during writing can lead to misunderstanding. Thus, it is important to
develop skills in writing to achieve a greater level. The aim of this study is to enhance writing
skills among the pupils with the correct use of Simple Present Tense and the correct spelling of
Plural Nouns using the ‘When to Kill Mr Y and Do SHOXZ Treatment’ bookmark with a
simplified grammar note and playing games in Kahoot app. This study is about when to change
the letter ‘y’ in a verb such as ‘cry’ to ‘cries’ and when to add ‘es’ instead of only ‘s’ to the other
verbs to show the Simple Present Tense. It is also about changing the singular nouns which end
with letter ‘y’ such as ‘lady’ to ‘ladies’ and when to use ‘es’ instead of ‘s’ to show plural nouns.
‘When to Kill Mr Y and Do SHOXZ Treatment’ is a self-developed bookmark with a simplified
grammar note and language games in Kahoot App to address the problems based on the game-
based learning theory which associates with Piaget’s meaningful learning theory. Based on a
quasi-experimental design, 20 stratified random samplings were selected from two different rural
schools in Malaysia. The result showed that the pupils began to write confidently and 100% of
them were able to memorize the simplified grammar note in the bookmark ‘When to Kill Mr Y
and do SHOXZ Treatment’. 100% of the respondents showed significant improvement in writing
sentences with the correct use of Simple Present Tense and in changing the Singular Nouns to
Plural Nouns with minimal errors. Simplified notes on grammar rules with an interesting and
appealing way can help pupils to memorize the rules faster and better.
Key Words: Simplified grammar notes, Simple Present Tense, Plural Nouns, Writing, bookmark
1. INTRODUCTION
The English language indisputably plays a crucial role in the field of education as it serves as an
international language for communication around the world. In English, there are four language skills we need
to develop on for a complete communication which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Writing
means putting words in order to form sentences in sequence, and it should be understandable. It is important
to develop skills in writing to achieve a greater level. Proper spelling and grammar knowledge are important
for efficient communication, especially in writing. If we do not use the correct spelling and grammar in
sentences, then the sentences will become unclear and the reader will be unable to follow the text because the
flow of meaning is interrupted. According to Mestari & Malabar (2017), pupils should have good, accurate
and meaningful English grammar so that they can have a good communication in both the spoken language
and written language.
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Apart from listening, speaking and reading, one important English language skill that is taught and
being assessed in Malaysia's education system is writing skill. Graham et al. (2005) indicated that pupils
consider writing as a complex task because it is a difficult art to learn and typically a challenging one to
master. In contrast to the other three skills, pupils consistently scored lower marks in writing tasks or
activities, unwilling to do tasks for writing skills and find writing as a very challenging skill to acquire. This is
because more than one aspect is needed in writing such as the correct use of grammar, punctuation, spelling
and capitalization and to clearly communicate the message in a detailed manner rather than simply putting
words and sentences together. On the other hand, Koross et al. (2015) stated that successful writing is a life-
skill that has a vital role in nearly every school subject. This is because, in many areas of life, successful
written communication is fundamental to success.
Poor writing skills in English will result in low academic performance and disrupt communication. At
an early age, pupils develop good writing skills to provide a strong forum for learning, self-expression and
communication (Yeung, 2019). Therefore, at an early age, pupils need to improve their writing skills and
pupils will develop this ability through productive writing practices. Therefore, in order to build a literacy
balance, writing needs to evolve concurrently with the other three skills.
One common problem among pupils is that pupils can identify when to add an ‘S’ in the verbs and
plural noun, but unfortunately, they do not know about when to use ‘es’. So, when it comes to writing
sentences, the young pupils were not able to write it out correctly. For example, pupils often write as “He
washs his shoes” instead of “He washes his shoes” for Simple Present Tense. Another example for Plural
Noun is where pupils often make errors as “He took two boxs from the canteen” instead of “He took two
boxes from the canteen.” Apart from that, pupils are uncertain of either adding an ‘s’ or ‘es’ to verbs and
nouns ending with letter ‘y’. Most pupils do not know that they have to change the last letter ‘y’ in some
words to ‘i’ if they have to write in Simple Present Tense and Plural Nouns. For example, “My mother frys
(fry) the fish” and “She killed a few houseflys” instead of “My mother fries the fish” and “She killed a few
houseflies.”
A complete sentence can be formed by using only a noun, a naming word, and a verb or action word.
For instance, in the sentence “Cats walk”, the word ‘Cats’ is the naming noun and ‘walk’ is the action verb.
We use verbs in Simple Present Tense to describe or talk about something that is going on now or that is true
now and at any time. In other word, a real-time event. There are some rules in using Simple Present Tense in
sentences. Meanwhile, a noun is a word used to identify something and plural means more than one. Lacie
(2008) states that plural nouns name more than one person, a place, or an idea. In the English language, the
formation of plurals is quite simpler than many other languages. There are two major forms of plural nouns
which are the regular plural form and irregular plural form. There are rules which can help us in remembering
how to spell plural nouns correctly.
Many previous researches concentrate on writing skill practices in general for pupils and very few
studies on writing and grammar skills activities in rural schools for pupils. Young pupils should learn and
enjoy the teaching and learning process in a fun engaging lesson. Therefore, this paper aims to carry out a
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quasi-experimental research design to enhance writing skills among the pupils with the correct use of Simple
Present Tense and the correct spelling of Plural Nouns using the ‘When to Kill Mr Y and Do SHOXZ
Treatment’ bookmark with a simplified grammar note and playing games in Kahoot app.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Game Based Learning Theory
The correct usage of Simple Present Tense and Plural Nouns among pupils can be addressed by
providing meaningful learning and practices to them. This can be linked to Game Based Learning Theory,
which associates with Piaget’s meaningful learning.
One of the advantages of game-based learning is its recognized capacity to ensure pupils’ full
involvement precisely their engagement and captures the attention of the pupils at ease. This motivating and
engaging approach of these games turns the learning process into something dynamic and interesting which
enable pupils’ progress to achieve learning objectives (Alsawaier, 2017). Pupils can be trained to have control
of their own learning via game-based learning theory rather than the more traditional teaching methods. By
using games in teaching language, pupils can get immediate feedback about their knowledge and everyone is
aware of what they learn and what they must work harder at.
Piaget’s theory also focuses on meaningful learning. According to his theory, an individual has to
relate the new knowledge acquired to the concepts that they already know in order to learn meaningfully. New
knowledge must associate with the learner’s prior knowledge structure. He believed that pupils develop their
new knowledge in learning through active participation. Meaningful learning allows pupils to associate learnt
knowledge with previous knowledge or experiences which serve as a platform when acquiring new knowledge
(Joseph et al., 2012). This will enable the pupils to make connections which allow learning to be more
comprehensive and lasting throughout their life. He believed that pupils should take control in making
decisions which takes consideration of their needs and cognitive state. Pupils build their own knowledge
through active learning and experiences. This experience will help them in building mental models which they
will further develop through assimilation and the accommodation process. He also believed that the pupils
develop their cognitive level through observation and experimentation.
Thus, a teacher plays a crucial role in a classroom: to organize information around big ideas which
caters to the needs and interest of pupils in learning, to assist pupils in developing new knowledge, and to
connect them with their previous learning. Teachers act as a facilitator to support pupils in their learning
process. Teachers should present the platform with materials, situations and occasions for the pupils, which
allow them to discover new and active learning.
2.2 Gamification in learning: Kahoot App
Gamification is a platform which provides recurrent challenges to utilize the zone of the proximal
development among pupils. Games allow active learning among the pupils where pupils can still think
critically and experience the thrills that let them want to learn more. A game is a challenge in itself and the
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pupils will be more likely to repeat levels again and again (practice) because it offers extrinsic motivation and
intrinsic motivations like scores and grades (Yang & Benazir, 2018). This will increase attentiveness and the
motivation level among pupils and games itself can become a facilitator of self-directed learning and some
researchers show that pupils become more inclined to search for games online and read more about it when
they started to enjoy a specific area in a game. In this 21st century teaching and learning, using technology
and games will provide more fun and less pressure in their learning rather than hard copy assignments because
games are comprised of a variety of auditory, tactile and visual learning styles since games immerse pupils in
sound, touch, and visuals. Moreover, the immediate feedback of games will also allow them to learn more
efficiently and quickly which increase their self-confidence and morale. Games also provide the pleasant kind
of frustration, even if they fail.
Implementation of gamification in learning is to help the pupils in achieving their targeted goals in
acquiring language and make the teaching learning process easier for the teachers (Fetylyana et al., 2019).
Kahoot app is an example of a game-based learning platform which can be created by anyone, including
teachers, pupils, and social users. It is widely used in teaching and learning session to an unlimited number of
“players”. Kahoot can be used to observe and check the progress of each learner’s knowledge and to identify
areas where the pupils would benefit more rather than one-to-one teaching compared to traditional classroom
activities. According to Mohd Iskandar et al. (2020), gamification platform such as Kahoot app is a good
choice as it is effective in teaching grammar for the pupils and it helps to enhance the teaching and learning
process.
Based on a research conducted by Susanti (2018), Kahoot games bring a lot of benefits to the
language learning. The findings showed that the majority of the pupils enjoy the competitive nature of the
game and stated that it helped them to retain concepts at ease and enjoy the learning. This can be used to
monitor pupils’ knowledge and their performances in learning English language. It was admitted that Kahoot
as an enjoyable, free and fun way to learn English. Game-based learning brought new colour to the classroom.
In this research, the Kahoot game was played for three different topics. Many agreed that learning English
language via Kahoot app would be a good idea and they would choose to join in English classes than in other
classes. Moreover, they really enjoyed learning English using games such as Kahoot and happy to be engaged
in this kind of game activities. Based on the results of the Kahoot game, it showed that most of the
participants were able to master the full target language. It also indicated that playing Kahoot games in an
English language classroom could help in cultivating positive behaviour, increase motivation level of the
pupils, a healthy competition, fun and enjoyable learning environment which help the young pupils to master
the target language at ease. In other word, Kahoot game-based learning platform is able to bring in positive
insights and good perception among the pupils in learning the English language.
In a research related to Kahoot apps, Melor et al. (2019) found out that playing Kahoot helps in
capturing the focus and interest of pupils in a relaxing way. They agreed that pupils are motivated to be more
engaged in the classroom because of the Kahoot game. Based on other research conducted by Melor &
Azmanuddin (2019), the findings stated that all the pupils showed a good improvement in their scores in the
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quiz for irregular verbs before and after the use of Kahoot. Some even showed a great improvement in the
score. The results from this research showed that Kahoot games have a significant impact in helping the
young pupils to maintain their memory on English irregular verbs. Moreover, the findings from this research
also stated that gamification is among the current teaching tool which is very effective in enhancing the
teaching and learning session. This research has done justice in proving that Kahoot game helps in increasing
the learning process among pupils.
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research design
The study has employed a quasi-experimental design as the researchers observed in the real-life
classroom setting. The researchers do not employ a control group for the study. In the study, the researchers
have identified the issue to be studied, which is the spelling errors and writing sentences errors in Simple
Present Tense and Plural Nouns.
3.2 Samplings
This study was conducted in two primary schools situated in the rural area of Johor and Selangor,
Malaysia. A total of 20 stratified random samplings among the Year 5 pupils was selected from the two
different rural schools.
3.3 Research Instruments
The instruments used for data collection in this study were Pre and post tests.
3.4 Research Procedure
To address both problems in writing sentences among primary school pupils, first a pre-test was
conducted and scores were recorded. Then, a bookmark ‘When to Kill Mr Y and Do SHOXZ Treatment’
with a simplified grammar note was created and used. It was made as a bookmark using recycled materials
like the back of recyled A4 paper to print out the simplified grammar note and then pasted on Manila card.
Pupils were taught how to use the bookmark and they practiced using it until they can memorised the concepts
and gradually write sentences without glancing at the bookmark.
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Figure 1 A self-developed bookmark with a simplified grammar note.
Then, a few language games were created in the Kahoot app with the same title of the bookmark.
Pupils were encouraged to use the bookmark when they were playing language games in Kahoot. Tricky
words such as ‘stomach’ and ‘radio’ were added to familiarize the pupils with the correct spelling so that they
could spell and write correctly in written form. After playing games in Kahoot App, the researchers conducted
a post-test and scores were recorded.
3.5 Data Collection and Analysis
The data were collected from the scores of the pre-test and post-test. The data were analysed using the Paired
Samples t Test. Comparisons were made based on the data collected from both the tests.
4. Results and Discussion
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Table 1: Comparison of the Scores for Pre-test and Post-Test
The table above shows the comparisons of the Scores for Pre-test and Post-test. From the table, it
clearly showed that 100% of the respondents were able to improve their skill in writing sentences with the
correct use and the correct spelling in Simple Present Tense and Plural Nouns using the self-developed
bookmark and Kahoot games ‘When to Kill Mr Y and do SHOXz Treatment’. Overall, the respondents have
shown impressive improvement to write sentences with the correct spelling in Simple Present Tense and
Plural Nouns and they were able to score well in their test.
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Pupils have shown less errors in writing assessment and they have shown impressive improvement in
writing and grammar with the correct use of Simple Present Tense and Plural Nouns. Harwati et al. (2019)
indicated that pupils get better results by learning grammar using online games. Apart from that, the lesson
became more effective and enjoyable, especially during the Kahoot Game. Pupils were able to memorize the
grammar note easily which helped them to answer all the questions on simple present tense and plural nouns
correctly. Attractive materials and simple note on grammar rules will help the pupils to acquire English
language faster and better. Mestari & Malabar (2017) found out that teachers prefer to use authentic materials
in teaching grammar as it provides a unique feeling for both teachers and pupils. It also prevents boredom
among the young pupils in learning grammar. This is because authentic materials can increase motivation
level.
Teachers can enhance active participation among young pupils during the writing and grammar
lessons by using online gamification as one of the activities. This intervention of a self-developed bookmark
with simplified grammar notes and Kahoot games did enhance the pupils’ skill in writing sentences with the
correct Simple Present Tense and Plural Nouns. Pupils can spell correctly and minimize the common errors in
Simple Present Tense and Plural Nouns. Children learn best by playing; thus, Kahoot Apps help to motivate
the young pupils to learn while enjoying the game. Overall, the respondents have shown significant
improvement in writing sentences with the correct spelling in Simple Present Tense and Plural Nouns and
they were able to score well in their test.
5. Conclusion
Writing is one of the core skills in developing language acquisition among the pupils that promotes
the overall language learning rather than just focusing on preparing them for examinations. Therefore, all
stakeholders such as educational policies, school programs and teachers’ classroom activities should cater the
young pupils towards mastering the skill for future development. It is crucial to vary the activities or method
in order to generate young pupils’ thinking skills which can foster them to produce a great piece of writing.
Thus, it is the teachers’ role in choosing and implementing appropriate materials and writing activities which
can motivate the young pupils to learn the skill in a conducive environment. Simplified notes on grammar
rules with an interesting and appealing way can help pupils to memorize the rules faster and better.
Researchers would like to recommend all English teachers to use this self-developed bookmark
‘When to Kill Mr Y and do SHOXz Treatment’ to improve writing skill among the pupils for both SK and
SJK schools. In this study, it is hoped that this study and the materials used in the study would help in
providing new insight and act as a guideline for school teachers to implement engaging activities for young
pupils with the correct usage of grammar in classrooms.
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