PROJECT JHONA (JOURNALISM’S HONING ON NEW-NORMAL

ACQUISITION): A BLENDED INSTRUCTION IN IMPROVING THE CAMPUS

JOURNALISTS’ WRITING SKILLS

An Action Research Proposal

Presented to the
District Research Committee
with the Theme: Teaching & Learning

JONALYN J. GUZMAN

BASIAWAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

STA. MARIA EAST DISTRICT
DAVAO OCCIDENTAL DIVISION

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

I. Context and Rationale 3

II. Action Research Questions 5

III. Proposed Innovation, Intervention, and Strategy

IV. Action Research Methods

a. Participants and/or other Sources of Data

and Information 8

b. Data Gathering Methods 8

c. Data Analysis Plan 9

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I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

Down memory lane, when The Basiawan Stream’s Campus Journalists

were at the pinnacle of their powers, everything was practically within their grasp.

Those hands were able to scribble and produce school paper for two years in a

row. Despite the fact that we were all new to writing (this was our first battle in

journalism), we were able to win silver at the District Schools Press Conference

and qualify for the Regional Schools Press Conference. We won four DSPC

competitions and qualified for RSPC after a year of battling the paper and pen.

Managing my journey and mentoring them as their School Paper Adviser

beginning in 2018 was a fantastic gift, and I consider myself fortunate to have a

team of skilled writers.

However, everything went down when the community quarantines were

implemented. Time was scarce for communication since we were not permitted to

leave our various safe havens. Even so, two of my journalists were able to write

two feature stories which was posted on the DepEd XI Facebook page, and another

two feature articles but were written by me, without recognizing it, their writing

skills succumbed to the wear and tear as time roll by.

The strife went on in 2022, draining my inner strength as a school paper

adviser to the point when I almost wanted to give up everything since the team of

writers, I had refined three years and a half earlier was no longer the same as when

we began our journey. As school paper adviser, I completely understand why we

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didn't produce school papers in SY 2020-2021 and even this SY 2021-2022. While

some of them have completed from junior high and transferred to other schools, I

still have writers who have remained at our school but have already lost their

writing skills. Even though I know it's different now because some of them are my

grade 9 advisees, and I could witness the differences in their writing skills before

the pandemic reached us with my bare eyes. Despite my weariness and the

possibility of naked answers, I had communicated with them via video call in

Messenger and informed them that we had a contest to participate in, and hearing

their responses to my query still stirred me, “ Journalists since sila ate and kuya

nitransfer na so possible kamoy mapuli sa slot nila for RSPC” and they responded

me saying “ Ma’am mahadlok man ko/mi ma’am oi, di naman ko/mi kabalo

mosulat,kanang nakalimot na gyud ko/mi ma’am ba dugay naman gud wala ta

kabalik ug sulat sulat ma’am,wala na pa gyud tay practice dili pareha sa una

ma’am ba nga halos every after class nato gyud.”

From then, the SPJs' responses lingered on my mind after that, and I began

to blame myself for neglecting my role as their SPA as well as their classroom

adviser; to motivate them, to have consistent follow-ups and to let them have more

practice. As a result of this reflection, I realized that I was not a defeatist and that I

was more confident in myself than I was that there is something I could do to help

my journalists improve their writing skills.

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Graham Stanley defines “the
process approach treats all
writing as a creative act
which requires
time and positive feedback
to be done well. In process
writing, the teacher moves
away from
being someone who sets
students a writing topic and
receives the finished product
for correction
without any intervention in
the writing process itself”.
A teaching technique that does not conform to learners' learning styles and

cultural backgrounds also contributes to their lack of confidence (Ahmad et

al.,2013). Added to the poor writing abilities are attributed to two factors: the

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teacher and the learner. Teachers lack an adequate pedagogic approach to teaching

writing, including the ability to provide fast and effective feedback to students, as

well as the ability to encourage learners.

Literature has found a number of characteristics that influence learners'

writing abilities. These are linked to the motivation of students who are unsure

about the purpose and significance of their text in their L2 studies. Similarly,

social media, inconsistency in teacher’s feedback, learners' lack of analytical and

evaluative skills, and huge and unmanageable class numbers all have an adverse

effect on the structural and communicative accuracy of students' texts (Pineteh,

2013).

This poor writing skills among campus journalists is extremely concerning

and requires quick attention before the issue worsens. As a school paper adviser, I

am the only person authorized to assist campus journalists.

II. Action Research Question

The main aim of this research is to improve the writing skills of The

Basiawan Stream’s Campus Journalists. Furthermore, this research will also help

the school to publish school paper yearly. Thus, this research seeks to answer the

question:

How can Project JHONA: A Blended Instruction improve the writing

skills of the campus jurnalists?

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III. Proposed Innovation, Intervention and Strategy

Finding effective strategies to help the campus journalists with their poor

writing abilities is a necessary. Once we realize the profundity of the difficulty

we're dealing with, we immediately explore many options to spot on resolving this

unexpected problem. The situation we've been in for over two years has made the

problem even more difficult to deal with. It was then that I realized the only way to

solve this situation is for me to act more quickly and efficiently through my

initiated Project JHONA (Journalism’s Honing on New-normal Acquisition: A

Blended Instruction in Improving the Writing Skills of Campus Journalists.

The table below shows the overview of the program under

Table 1.
Target/ Purpose Core Content Activities/ Persons Venue
Schedule Evaluation Involved
1.Ask To introduce an  Principal Principal’s
permission overview of the  Researcher Office
from the program
principal.
2. Coordinate  Researcher School
with PTA Campus
 PTA
officials.
Officials
3. Permission
 To ask for their
from the
consent
parents
4. Permission
from the brgy.  To ask  Brgy. Brgy. Hall
chairman permission Captain &
5.Introduction Researcher
Orientation 1.What is  Virtual
(week 1) To gain knowledge journalism?  HomeVisitation
about journalism, 2.Types of
type of journalism, journalism
types of articles for 3.Types of articles
school news paper for School News
Paper

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 Target/ Purpose Core Content Activities/ Persons Venue
Schedule Evaluation Involved
1. Writing an To determine the Writing an Article Creating an Participants Virtual/
article from level of writing skills article with Researcher At their
the given of the journalist. current respective
factsheets To identify the problem by home
(Week2) specialization of giving
each writer factsheets
Target/ Purpose Core Content Activities/ Persons Venue
Schedule Evaluation Involved
1. Home To home visit the Unstructured Home Particpants At their
Visitation of participants/ to Interview visitation/Via Researcher respective
the follow up them. Messenger for homes/ Via
participants/ the conduct of messenger
Follow ups on unstructured
participant’s’ interviews
progress
(week3)
Target/ Purpose Core Content Activities/ Persons Venue
Schedule Evaluation Involved
1. Writing an To determine the Writing an Article Creating an Participants Virtual/
article from level of writing skills article from their Researcher At their
their chosen of the journalist. chosen topic and respective
topic. To determine the type of school home
(Week4) progress of news paper.
participant’s writing
skills.

IV. METHODS

a. Participants and/or other Sources of Data

The participants of this study are the Basiawan Stream’s Campus

Journalists enrolled at Basiawan/National High School. These students are in

different grade levels as shown in table 2:

Table 2. Number of participants per grade level

Grade Level Number of Participants
7 1

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 8 4
9 5
10 15
b. Data Gathering Methods

To examine the effectiveness of the intervention program, the following

data must be gathered: (1) Performance Based – An article made by the participant

from the given factsheet/their chosen topic; (2) Unstructured Interview through

Home visitation/via Messenger/Phone Calls; and (3) Feedback from Researcher’s

Colleagues on the output of the participants.

The research instruments that will be used in gathering the data from this

study will be administered by the following instruments are:

Rubrics. This contains descriptions of performance for each level, and

scores are granted based on the specified criteria in writing an article.

Progress Chart. This instrument will monitor the progress of student’s

output based on the feedback from the researcher’s colleagues

Unstructured Interview. This instrument will yield a detailed description

of the journalists’ motive, which is beneficial from gaining a deeper

understanding.

c. Data Analysis Plan

The following statistical tools will be used in addressing the qualitative

data:

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 Frequency. This will be used to count the range of scores based on the

specified criteria in writing an article.

Mean. This will be used to describe the following: (1) Performance scores

of the participants from the specified rubrics; and (2) the level of participants’

progress towards their outputs based on the feedback from the researcher’s

colleagues.

The feedback from colleagues in the reflective journal will be

thoroughly examined. To give the quantitative data coherence, all significant

assertions will be noted.

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