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The Effects of Teaching Grammar Explicitly in Students' Writing

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DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2135.5128

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THE EFFECTS OF TEACHING GRAMMAR EXPLICITLY

IN STUDENTS’ WRITING

HAZRI SHAHREEN HASHIM

UNIVERSITI PENDIDIKAN SULTAN IDRIS

2014
 THE EFFECTS OF TEACHING GRAMMAR EXPLICITLY

IN STUDENTS’ WRITING

HAZRI SHAHREEN HASHIM

RESEARCH REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF EDUCATION

(TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE)

FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND COMMUNICATION

UNIVERSITI PENDIDIKAN SULTAN IDRIS

2014
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the work in this research paper is my own except for the
quotations and summaries which I have duly acknowledged.

Signature:

Name: Hazri Shahreen Hashim

Matric No: D20101038248

Date:
 Table of Contents

Page

Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1

1.1: Statement of the Problem ................................................................................. 2

1.2: Background and Justification ........................................................................... 3

1.3: Research Method .............................................................................................. 4

1.4: Purpose of The Study ....................................................................................... 6

Chapter 2: Literature Review .............................................................................................. 7

2.0: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 7

2.1: Journal Writing................................................................................................. 7

2.2: Subject-Verb Agreement .................................................................................. 9

2.3: Simple Past Tense .......................................................................................... 13

2.4: Learning Grammar Explicitly ........................................................................ 13

2.5: Research Questions ........................................................................................ 15

Chapter 3: Methodology.................................................................................................... 16

3.0: Introduction .................................................................................................... 16

3.1: Aim of The Study ........................................................................................... 16

3.2: Participants ..................................................................................................... 17

3.3: Procedure........................................................................................................ 17

3.4: Data Collection Procedure ............................................................................. 19

3.4.1: Pre-test and Post-test ........................................................................... 19

3.4.2: Journal Writing.................................................................................... 20

3.4.3: Questionnaire ...................................................................................... 20

Chapter 4: Data Analysis................................................................................................... 22

4.0: Introduction .................................................................................................... 22

4.1: Pre-test and Post-test ...................................................................................... 22

4.2: Journal Writing............................................................................................... 26

4.3: Questionnaire ................................................................................................. 29

Chapter 5: Discussion........................................................................................................ 32

5.0: Introduction .................................................................................................... 32

5.1: Errors and Mistakes........................................................................................ 32

5.2: Interlanguage .................................................................................................. 36

5.3: Overgeneralization ......................................................................................... 37

5.4: Language Transfer ......................................................................................... 37

Chapter 6: Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 39

References ......................................................................................................................... 40

Appendices

1. Questionnaire .................................................................................................. 44

Tables

1 Table 1 – Pre-test and Post-test Scores .......................................................... 23

2 Table 2 – Subject-verb Agreement and Simple Past Tense Scores on Journal

Writing .......................................................................................... 26
Graphs

1 Graph 1 – Pre-test and Post-test Scores ......................................................... 24

2 Graph 2 – Subject-verb Agreement and Simple Past Tense Scores on Journal

Writing .......................................................................................... 27

3 Graph 3 – Positive and Negative Feedback from The Participants ............... 29

4 Graph 4 – Pre-test and Post-test Scores ......................................................... 33

Figure

Figure 1 – Flow of The Research .......................................................................... 18

Figure 2 – Example of Overgeneralization ........................................................... 37

List of Abbreviations

L1 – First Language

L2 – Second Language
 The Effects of Teaching Grammar Explicitly in Students’ Writing.

Chapter 1: Introduction.

In writing, grammar is one of the the main aspect that a teacher focuses on. This is

because grammar is what strings the words and make it easy to be understood by

readers from different backgrounds. In writing an English essay, an important

grammar item that a teacher will look at is tenses and subject-verb agreement (SVA).

Tenses are a set of forms taken by the verb to indicate time. Subject-verb agreement is

the correspondence of a verb with its subject in person and number. In English, when

we are telling a story, the correct tenses that we should use is the past tense because in

English there are three types of tenses namely present, past, and future tense. These

tenses then have sub tenses namely simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect

continuous. Each one of these tenses has their own unique properties that allow the

user to indicate specific time and also what happen at certain time. In Malaysia, the

local languages may it be Chinese, Tamil, or Malay, even though they have words to

indicate time, the verbs stay the same unlike English, where the verb will change its

form depending on the time that a speaker wants to indicate. Let alone tenses, Chinese,

Malay, and Tamil, do not have subject-verb agreement. In Malaysia, such errors like

these are normal here but this needs to be improved. Errors like these happened

because when the context is regarding the acquisition of second language (L2), its

acquisition is affected by first language (L1). For example, if in Malay language there

is no such thing as tenses, then Malay speakers tend to make errors in tenses. The

same thing is applied to subject-verb agreement. In this research paper, the researcher

will focus on the teaching of grammar explicitly to improve the students’ grammar
proficiency in writing in which the focus items are subject-verb agreement and simple

past tense.

1.1 Statement of The Problem

One of the major problems that was identified was the lack the grammar

knowledge during writing especially in tenses and subject-verb agreement. In the class,

the researcher asked the students to write a journal with 3 entries every week. In the

journal, the researcher found that most of the students did not know which tense to use

when describing a past event. Even when the students were talking about their future

plans, the students used past tense. In addition, the usage of pronouns and the subject-

verb agreement were also a common problem among the students.

The school where the research was conducted is Sekolah Menengah

Kebangsaan Dato Haji Kamaruddin is a school in a suburban area. It is located in the

outskirts of a nearby town which called Kuala Kubu Bharu. It is about 25 kilometres

from campus. Kuala Kubu Bharu is a small town located 30 minutes from Tanjung

Malim on the way to Rawang. The research participant were 16 year olds with English

language intermediate proficiency level. The students were able to converse rather

well in English because when they were talking to the researcher, they could speak

using English with only some minor errors because the students were using simple

sentences and simple tenses. The situation is different when they write. The researcher

identified many errors especially pertaining to subject-verb agreement and the usage

of simple past tense.

 The possible explanations to such context is perhaps due to the kind of

exposure the students had especially in terms of the learning of grammar. The

researcher checked at the students’ grammar book and found that they contained only

grammar exercises. What the researcher expected was notes on certain grammar rules

with examples provided. Furthermore, there were no detailed and thorough

explanations on the grammar notes that they copied for example how and when to use

specific thense forms. The other possible causes related to the problem may originated

their attitude towards learning. The researcher read their journals and most of them

wrote about having too much exercises homework that are hard work and that they felt

lazy to do the exercises.

1.2 Background and Justification

Lack in grammar can really be observed from the students’ writing especially

in terms of subject-verb agreement and tenses. From observations and conversations

with the students, the researcher found out that they have never learnt grammar

explicitly. During class, their speaking skills can be considered satisfactory since they

could reply and answer questions correctly. When speaking, although the way the

students are talking have many pauses, they have minimal errors but when compared

to their writing. How come they could not construct sentences grammatically when

their spoken language is at a satisfactory level.

 Based on conversations with the students, the researcher asked them why they

cannot write an essay with minimal grammatical errors. The students told the

researcher that they do not know grammar rules and that they just wrote an essay

based on their instinct. If they think that the sentence sounds good, they will consider

it as a correct sentence.

1.3 Research Method

For this research, the researcher used three research instruments namely

journal writing, classroom activity, and pre-test and post-test. For journal writing, the

students were free to write anything they wish. The researcher requested them to write

at least three entries per week. This is because the researcher wanted to identify their

development. Other than that, after each lesson on grammar, the researcher gauged

students’ weekly practices. Other than that, the researcher wanted the students to get

used to writing. As mentioned, the researcher wanted to use journal not only to

analyse any changes in their writing ability but also to cultivate their interest in

writing.

For classroom activity, this is where the researcher provided the students

ample of exercises and notes on grammar especially on simple past tense and subject-

verb agreement. During class activity, not only exercises, the researcher will give the

students thorough explanation on each grammar that is being focused on so that their

knowledge in grammar will improve. Each period with the students, the researcher

will focus on grammar so that the students will improve.

 Before starting with the lesson, the researcher revised the daily lesson context

through drilling. Through drilling, the students will not forget easily what has been

taught. By doing this, the researcher was able to analyze students’ understanding

through drilling. For example, the researcher has taught simple past tense to the

students and though the students have learnt it, the students might have problems

regarding the past form of the verbs. The researcher could reinforce their

understanding by giving the students more exercises and explanation on the topic.

The final instrument is pre-test and post-test At the beginning of the class, the

researcher asked the students to write an essay. This was considered as a pre-test for

the students. After the researcher had done with all the treatments, he gave the

students the same essay to write which is the post-test. The pre-test and post-test essay

were compared and then the researcher analyzed their overall performance.

To get the participants feedback, the researcher conducted individual

interviews. An inerview protocol was developed to gain information.

Here are examples of the questions that will be asked:

1. Do you know what past tense is?

2. Do you know what subject-verb agreement is?

3. When writing, is it easy to decide on what tense to use?

4. When writing, do you have problems with subject-verb agreement?

5. Does learning grammar explicitly help you in your writing?

6. What is your opinion on learning grammar explicitly?

1.4 Purpose of The Study

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of teaching grammar

explicitly in students’ writing. When the researcher went into the classroom for the

first time, the researcher asked the students how they learnt English grammar and the

students told me the teacher provided them notes to copy but did not explain on how

specific grammar item works. For this study, the researher focused only on subject-

verb agreement and simple past tense, because they were weak in these areas. Their

former English language teacher also suggested that the researcher focussed on the

improvement of the two grammar items. The participants were the researcher’s

intermediate form 4 students. Out of 28 students, the researcher selected 10 partipants

based on their level suggested by their former teacher. The 10 participants was made

up of of 2 levels; high proficiency and low proficiency in writing skills, regardless of

what races or gender.

 Chapter 2 : Literature Review.

2.0 Introduction

In learning second language, a major factor that needs to be considered is how

the students’ first language affects or it interferes with L2 acquisition and many more.

The researcher also makes connection between interlanguage and universal grammar

in the L2 acquisition.

2.1 Journal Writing

Based on a journal written by Yosh and Vogel (2012) that discussed the

effectiveness of an explicit instruction writing programme for second graders entitled

Writing matters to urban middle level students – The Writers Matter program

motivates urban youth to write about their lives, there are several stages needed to be

completed before the students could write independently. The first stage is instruction

which consisted of discussing the seven element of a story for example who, what,

where, how, and others. Next the students discussed the rationale for each story

element and count the number of the elements included from a story the students

wrote. Thirdly, the instructor modeled the use of the self-regulated strategy

development procedure using a graphic organizer. In self-regulated strategy model,

the students were taught to generate ideas, organize them, and write more about them.

When organizing the ideas, the students were taught to include particular elements of

a story. Next, students wrote collaboratively with the teacher to complete the graphic
organizer and write a story. Finally, it is the time for the students to write a story

independently or the final stage known as independent performance.

In writing, students need to organize our ideas well so that when a reader reads

our writing, they will not spend much time trying to comprehend our words. Apart

from the organizing of ideas, there is an element called grammar in which a story

needs to answer the WH-questions. Researcher intended to highlight the word

organize the ideas well. Basically students need to learn grammar because it helps in

organizing our ideas well. This is because grammar will help us in stringing words

that we have thus helping us in organizing our ideas. When ideas are well organized,

then it is easier for us to be understood.

For writing matters to urban middle level students, it focuses on using journal

in enhancing students’ passion in writing good essay. In this study, the reseacher will

use journal writing in order to see the changes. Based on writing matters to urban

middle level students, the journal is used as a personal approach to writing allows

students to explore their feelings and views, revealing adolescent themes. According

to Yosh and Vogel (2012), writing about personal experiences can also help teens

develop their inner voices and shape their identities. The purpose of journal is to share

what they feel with their teachers and peers. It also encourages them to think critically

about their lives and the challenges they face every day. It also encourages students to

consider broader perspectives on issues that are relevant to them by integrating

literature, field trips, and other authentic experiences.

In this study, the researcher used journal writing. Other than to see the changes,

it is a medium to connect and interact with the students. By doing so, researcher could

build a bridge that connects to his students thus allow him to gain their trust. When the
researcher has gained their trust, teaching and learning process will run smoothly.

Other than that, by using journal writing, the researcher got to know his students better

and he could tackle their problems there and then. According to Krashen (1981),

students learn best when their active filter is low. By doing this, the researcher is

trying to lower their active filter so that they could maximize their learning.

Writing a journal is one way for the researcher to identify the students’

problem regarding grammar especially subject verb agreement and past tense which

are the focus of my study. Journal writing is a tool of the “write to learn” concept in

that it improves learners’ writing skills and simultaneously provides a chance for them

to reflect on their learning. When the students write an entry for the journal writing

and the teacher reads it, the teacher could identify the students’ problem in grammar

and during class, the teacher will provide personal coaching. By “write to learn”

concept, the students are writing and learning at the same time. When writing an entry,

the students are reflecting what they have done and putting it into words and they are

putting all their knowledge about grammar into work so that they could convey what

they want to say. In short, the students are using the grammar knowledge that they

obtained in the classroom to write the entry.

2.2 Subject-Verb Agreement

Siti Hamin Stapa and Mohd Mustafa Izahar (2010) conducted on analysis of

errors in subject-verb agreement among Malaysian ESL learners, researchers like

Surina and Kamarulzaman (2009) as cited by Siti Hamin Stapa and Mohd Mustafa

Izahar claimed that majority in Malaysia students still have problems with their

subject-verb agreement in their writing. In the journal, it is stated that learning

grammar rules are very important and have to be mastered by all ESL learners
especially in the topic of subject-verb agreement. Within the Malaysia context, first

language could be Malay, Chinese, Tamil, Iban, and many more. English in Malaysia

is a second language to most of us. Talking about first and second language, there are

vast differences between these languages.

According to Chomsky as cited in a book by White (2003) Universal Grammar

is a certain mental structure consisting of a system of rules and principles that generat

and relate mental representations of various types. It states that some languages share

the same grammar rules for example in English to say that you love someone is “I

love you” where as in Malay it would be “Saya sayang awak” and “saya” is “I”,

“sayang” is “love”, and “awak” is “you”. The arrangements of the words are the same

thus it is what we called universal grammar but even though it has universal grammar,

this universal grammar cannot be applied in all situation. For example “Saya suka

makan nanas” in English would be “I love to eat pineapple”. The word “love” in

Malay is “cinta” and it is clear that universal grammar cannot be applied in all

situations. To make a connection with the current case regarding subject-verb

agreement, Malay does not have subject-verb agreement and when learning it,

students tend to make mistake. It is said that universal grammar helps in acquiring

second language. It does help when the two languages have the same grammar

structure as the example given above but most of the time it does not help. With

reference to the study, this is due to the fact that Malay language does not have

subject-verb agreement.

Interlanguage also plays its’ role in learning a second language. Siti Hamin

Stapa and Mohd Mustafa Izahar (2010) stated that it is significant to look at

interlanguage to show the interference of mother tongue in the learners’ writing

product. Interlanguage is a language created by second language learner. It interferes

with the acquisition on the second language and in our case it is English. As

mentioned, the Malay language does not have subject-verb agreement thus, when

students make mistakes involving subject verb agreement, it is due to the fact that the

first language is interfering with the acquisition of English.

Dorn (2000) stated that the sentences created by word and phrases are the

essential blocks of meaning that allow us to communicate thoughts and if it is not

constructed carefully, they can make reading difficult. He also states that major basic

usage and grammar slips in written English are those associated with verbs and in

other words it has connection with subject verb agreement. The fact that subject-verb

agreement area is very important to express ideas especially in writing where non-

verbal communication is absent; the students really need to master this rule in order to

write effectively. Messages can be conveyed easily and clearly when the students can

master this rule also it will give good impression to others who read their error-free

writing.

According to Nor Arfah (1988), subject-verb agreement is one of the structures

that is introduced very early to the students and still the students have problem with it.

This is normal since it is not their first language and even though it is their first

language, errors are made because they are not aware of the mistakes due to some

explanation like they do not have grammar knowledge. According to Celce-Murcia

and Freeman (1983) as cited by Siti Hamin Stapa and Mohd Mustafa Izahar, “In spite

of the early introduction and superficially simple rules of the subject-verb agreement,

they still pose some problems for ESL learners at all level of proficiency”. This is true

in a sense that English is not the students’ first language and in addition this subject

verb agreement rule in absent in the Malay language which makes it is difficult for the

students despite being introduced at the early stage of the learning session.
 In Malay, all subjects either singular or plural required the same verb. This

statement is supported by Bahiyah and Basil Wijayasuria (1998) as cited by Siti

Hamin Stapa and Mohd Mustafa Izahar. Most of the Malay students face problem in

subject-verb agreement because Malay language does not differentiate between

persons, and therefore it is not necessary for the verbs to agree with the subject. This

is also the reason why the students still face problem in subject verb agreement even

though the students are being introduced to the rule at an early stage. Subject verb

agreement is significant in English especially in present tense and with the verb to be.

As Hasan and Perrett (1994) stated, the L1 creates “the learners’ primary world

of reference for understanding reality”, while a foreign language does not influence

their daily life directly. Indirect learning and process could not make L2 learners

internalize all the intricate grammar rules like L1 learners do naturally. This is because

we learn L1 by mimicking our parents and our surrounding. Differ from L1, L2 must

be learnt in classroom or formally because of our surrounding and English is our L2.

When we learn English grammar formally in class, we are breaking down the rules

into blocks and then we combine them through practicing as Rutherford (1987) as

cited by Xin mentioned, “We break language down in order to build it up” due to the

fact that “If knowledge of language is analyzed, the rules may be generated” Bialystok

(1988) as cited by Xin. In other words, the acquisition of L2 undergoes the induction-

deduction-induction circular process, which is one of the prominent features in the L2

learning.

Talking about L1 and L2, redundancy in language is one reason why a native

speaker learns to use his language at an early age. In other words, for this research, the

researcher will implement this redundancy technique or also known as drilling in his

research.
2.3 Simple Past Tense

According to Klein (1994), in whatever kind of language, time and space are

fundamental to cognition and experience, which rooted are the structural organization

of language. In English, tenses indicate time. When we describe things happening in

the past we will use past tense, we use future tense when we are talking about our

future, and we use present tense when we are describing things that are happening

now. When it describes what has happened, it is not as simplistic as the arranged order

in the assembly lines, one follows anther “before” and “after”, but a flow matters

which may have happened simultaneously, in which some matters may have

continued for quite a long time while some may change instantaneously. In addition,

Meuler (1995) reiterated that, the choice of tense and aspect matters a lot. This is

because, in English, when we write, we have to decide on what tense that we want to

use. The fact that the meaning will change if we use wrong tense thus the message that

we want to convey in not conveyed. Both tense and aspect are concerned with time,

the “temporal relations”. In English, verbs will undergo several changes according to

the tenses that we are using. The changes of the verbs will indicate the time that we

want to highlight.

2.4 Learning Grammar Explicitly

There are two ways on how learning should take place for example explicit

learning and implicit learning. As proposed by Fang (2013) and according to Doughty

and Williams (1998), implicit means implied or understood though not directly

expressed and contained in the nature of something though not readily apparent.

Explicit means fully and clearly expressed, defined, or formulated and readily
observable. In this research, the teaching of English grammar explicitly means that the

researcher will teach English grammar explicitly in a way that the participants are

aware of such grammar for example subject-verb agreement. The participants will

know the reason of why in English nouns such as “George”, “The Kitty”, and many

more, the verb must be in plural form for example “walks”, “eats”, and many more.

Usually, the teaching of grammar would be done implicitly or the grammar item that

will be taught in a particular class is embedded. When it is embedded, the students

would not even know that it is a part of the grammar and more importantly whether

they understand about the embedded grammar item or not. Fang (2013) found out in

his research that explicit rule presentation was more beneficial to EFL learners. This

statement is supported by Ellis’ (1993) study as cited by Fang; it was also found that

explicit rather than implicit instruction led to a greater short-term learning on complex

L2 rules. Teach complex English rules explicitly is better than teaching it implicitly

because the students will know the reason why it is like that and they will have

concrete grammar knowledge. Similar findings were shown by DeKeyser (1995) as

cited by Fang, he claimed that implicit learning did not have advantages over explicit

learners on complex rules, and explicit learners outperformed implicit learners on

simple rulers in short-term learning. Complex rules will become more complex if it is

taught implicitly, but it will be a bit simplified when it is taught explicitly.

Johnson and Gooliaf (2013), proposed many strategies to motivate and teach

such as Stevens (2006) cited by Johnson and Gooliaf (2013) suggested games and

activities that include making puzzles, building with LEGO bricks, and using play

dough. These kind of activities can lower the students’ active filter, the lower the

active filter, the higher the learning process is. In my research, I will teach grammar
explicitly as well as applying these suggested activities to evoke their learning desire

and thus lowering their active filter and increasing their motivation to learn.

2.5 Research Questions

There are many questions yet to be answered. How does the teaching of

grammar explicitly can enhance the students’ grammar proficiency. Also, even if the

teaching of grammar explicitly can enhance the students’ grammar proficiency, what

do the students think about it. For this research, the following questions will be

answered.

1. How does teaching grammar explicitly affect the students’ grammar

proficiency in writing?

2. What do students think about the learning of grammar explicitly?

 Chapter 3 : Methodology.

3.0 Introduction

In this research, the researcher used journal writing, pre-test and post-test, and

interview to obtain the data needed to answer the research questions posted in the

previous chapter. In this chapter, how the researcher conducted the research is

clarified and detailed. The data were obtained from the 10 chosen participants that

were selected based on their English proficiency in writing and they were classed

according to their level of proficiency in writing.

3.1 Aim of The Study

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of teaching grammar

explicitly on the participants’ grammar proficiency in writing. Other than to improve

the participants’ grammar proficiency in writing, the researcher also wanted to know

what the participants opinion of the teaching of grammar explicitly.

1. To improve the participants’ grammar proficiency.

2. To know the participants’ thoughts on the teaching of grammar explicitly.

3.2 Participants

There were 10 participants chosen from 28 students according to their English

proficiency in writing. The researcher randomized the selection of the gender and the

focus was only on their English proficiency. The same goes to the ethnicity whereby

there were Malays, Chinese, and Indians chosen based on their English proficiency in

writing. The researcher grouped them according to their English proficiency level in

writing which was high proficiency, and low proficiency. The researcher allocated

five students in each category.

3.3 Procedure

Before the start of the study, the researcher gave the participants a pre-test. The

question for the pre-test is as shown below.

Write a composition that ends with “I will never forget that moment”. Write at least
more than 350 words.

After the pre-test, the researcher continued the treatments session. The

treatments consisted of classroom activity and journal writing. For classroom activity,

the researcher taught the participants grammar explicitly especially the subject-verb

agreement and simple past tense. There were 4 sessions all together. As for journal

writing, the researcher instructed the participants to write 3 entries per week until

week 13. The participants were free to write anything they feel to write. The aim of

the journal writing was for the researcher to monitor the participants’ improvement as

the treatments were ongoing.

 After all of the treatments were completed, the researcher gave the participants

a post-test. The question for the post-test was the same as the pre-test so that it would

valid for the researcher to mark and assess their essay as well as to compare their

marks.

When the participants have completed with the pre-test, post-test, and the

treatments, the researcher gave the participants a questionnaire for them to answer.

The feedback from the participants were then analyzed.

• Write a composition that ends with “I will never

Pre-test forget that moment”. Write at least more than 350
words.

• Classroom activity (3 sessions)

Treatments • Journal writing

• Write a composition that ends with “I will never

Post-test forget that moment”. Write at least more than 350
words.

• 1. Do you know what past tense is?

• 2. Do you know what subject-verb agreement is?
• 3. When writing, is it easy to decide on what tense
Questionnaire to use?
• 4. When writing, do you have problems with
subject-verb agreement?
• 5. Does learning grammar explicitly help you in
your writing?
• 6. What is your opinion on learning grammar
explicitly?

Figure 1. Flow of the research.

3.4 Data Collection Procedure

There were 3 methods that the researcher used to obtain data; pre-test and post-

test, journal writing, and questionnaire.

3.4.1 Pre-test and Post-test

The data for the pre-test and post-test were gathered in the form of percentage.

As mentioned, the researcher focussed at subject-verb agreement and simple past

tense. For that reason, to get the percentage, the researcher used the following

formula;

Sum of Correct (SVA/Past Simple)

X 100%
Sum of Overall (SVA/Past Simple)

The researcher marked the essays by using the formula in which the researcher

counted all subject-verb agreements in one particular essay as the denominator and the

sum of errors for subject-verb agreements in that particular essay will be the

numerator. And the result of the division then is multiplied by 100% to get the

percentage. The percentages then were tabulated and also presented in the form of bar

graphs for comparison.

3.4.2 Journal Writing

For journal writing, the researcher randomlyselected 3 entries from each

participant; the first entry, middle entry, and final entry. By doing so, the researcher

could see the participants’ achievement clearly. Each entry was graded in percentage

just like the pre-test and post-test. The researcher looked at subject-verb agreement

and simple past tense. The calculation for journal writing was the sum of errors

divided by the sum of item usage. For example, in a particular entry, the participant

used 10 subject-verb agreements and out of 10, there are 5 errors, thus 5 is divided by

10 and times by 100% to get the percentage. The same thing applied to get the

percentage for simple past tense.

3.4.3 Questionnaire

Questionnaires were given to the participants right after the treatments session

ended. There were 6 questions that the participants had to answer. The questions are

as shown below.

1. Do you know what past tense is?

2. Do you know what subject-verb agreement is?

3. When writing, is it easy to decide on what tense to use?

4. When writing, do you have problems with subject-verb agreement?

5. Does learning grammar explicitly help you in your writing?

6. What is your opinion on learning grammar explicitly?

 The researcher classified the participants’ feedback into positive and negative

feedback. The feedback were then presented in a graph. For example for question

number 1 which asked whether the participants know what past tense is. If the

participants can provide the correct definition of the past tense with at least keywords

regarding past tense is considered as a positive feedback. On the other hand, if the

participants provide a feedback that is not related to the definiton of the past tense, the

feedback is considered as a negative response.

 Chapter 4 : Data Analysis.

4.0 Introduction.

There are 3 types of data that the researcher collected. The data were collected from

the pre-test and post-test, the journal writings, and the questionnaires. In this chapter,

the analysis of those data will be presented and discussed thoroughly.

4.1 Pre-test and Post-Test

As mentioned in the previous chapterThe pre-test was conductd at the beginning of

the reearch while the post-test was conducted at the end of the treatments. The

question given was the same as follow;

Write a composition that ends with “I will never forget that moment”. Write at least
more than 350 words.

The formula to get the percentages for pre-test, post-test, and journal writing

Sum of Correct (SVA/Past Simple)

X 100%
Sum of Overall (SVA/Past Simple
Participant Subject-verb Agreement Simple Past

Pre-test Post-test Pre-test Post-test

A 98 94 82 89

B 99 100 86 78

C 97 98 89 93

D 81 94 55 39

E 82 88 47 62

F 89 97 54 61

G 70 54 21 14

H 63 82 27 57

I 86 90 50 65

J 72 78 42 52

Table 1. Pre-test and post-test scores.

 120

100

80

60 Pre-SVA
Post-SVA
40 Pre-Simple Past
Post-Simple Past
20

Graph 1. Pre-test and post-test scores.

As shown in graph 1, the majority participants showed an improvement. Based

on the graph, there are 2 patterns can be seen; increment and decrement. For subject-

verb agreement, though most of the participants showed an improvement, some of the

participants’ achievement decreased slightly. For example, participant A and

participant G, though the decrement is not that high, but the fact that it decreased is to

be discussed in the next chapter. Participants B, C, D, E, F, H, I, and J showed

increments in their performances. Participant H’s marks increased 19% for subject-

verb agreement which is the highest achievement.

 For simple past, all the participants showed an increment in their cores except

for participants B, D, and G whereby their marks slightly decreased. Participant A, C,

E, F, H, I, and J showed an increments. Participant H shows a vast increment when

compared to the other participants which is 30%. Participant D showed the highest

decrement among the other participant which is 16%.

In conclusion, for pre-test and post-test, the data analysis showed that the

majority of the participants have improved. For subject-verb agreement, 8 out of 10

participants or 80% have improved whereas for simple past tense, 7 out of 10 or 70%

have improved.
4.2 Journal Writing

Participant SVA 1 SVA 2 SVA 3 Simple Simple Simple

Past 1 Past 2 Past 3

A 100 100 100 0 100 50

B 100 100 100 15 33 86

C 100 100 100 86 80 87

D 50 100 100 33 60 25

E 88 94 76 24 71 57

F 83 60 100 17 0 100

G 67 100 100 50 0 63

H 100 100 82 0 13 0

I 62 44 82 42 44 36

J 100 80 100 43 25 75

Table 2. Subject-verb agreement and simple past tense scores on journal writing.

The entries that were selected were the first entry of the participant and the

middle entry and lastly the final entry. The data were obtained through the same

calculation procedure wiith the pre-test and post-test whereby the researcher counted

all the subject-verb agreement used and identified the number of errors made.
 120

100

80
SVA 1

60 SVA 2
SVA 3
40
Simple Past 1

20 Simple Past 2
Simple Past 3
0

Graph 2. Subject-verb agreement and simple past tense scores on journal writing.

The journal writing scores by percentages is shown in Graph 2. The graph is

divided into 2 sections; subject-verb agreement and simple past tense. For each

participant, the first 3 bars are for subject-verb agreement for entry 1 followed by

entry 2 and entry 3. The second 3 bars are for simple past tense which also for entry 1

followed by entry 2 and entry 3.

For subject-verb agreement, most of the participants showed a remarkable

achievement because most of them scored 100% for all entries. Based on the graph,

there are 3 patterns; stagnant, increment, decrement, and inconsistent. Participant A, B,

and C shows a constant achievement of 100%. All of the participants have showed

that they do not have any problems in subject-verb agreement. Participant D and G

shows and increment. Between these 2 participants, participant D shows a high

improvement whereby participant D only obtained 50% for entry 1 and then it raised

to 100% and stayed constant for entry 3. Participant H showed a decrement. For entry

1, participant H scored 100% as well as for entry 2. For entry 3, participant H has a

decrement, 18%. Participant E, F, I, and J shows and inconsistent achievement. There

are 2 patterns of inconsistency; decrease then increase and increase then decrease.

Participant E showed an increment as much as 6% for entry 1 which is 88%.

Participant E showed a decrement as much as 18%. For participant F, I, and J also

showed an inconsistent achievement pattern. Their achievements’ decreased and then

increased. For example, participant F scored 83% for entry 1 and then it decreased

to23%. However it then increased to 100% for entry 3.

Simple past tense could be a bit difficult for the participants, but base on the

results, the participants also showed a good progress. Based on the graph for simple

past tense, there are 2 patterns; increment and inconsistent. For increment, participant

B showed an increament. Participant B scored 15% for entry 1 and then it increased to

33% and then to 86% which is an increase of 71%. For inconsistent achievement,

there are 2 patterns; increment then decrement and decrement then increment.

Participant A, D, E, H, and I showed an increment then decrement achievement. For

example participant A scored 0% for entry 1 and then participant A scored 100% for

entry 2 and then it decreases to 50%. Participant A showed an inconsistent

achievement. For participant C, F, G, and J, these participants also showed an

inconsistent pattern which is decrement then increment. For example participant F

scored 17% for entry 1 and then it remained for entry 2, 17% which makes it 0% then

it increased to 100%.
4.3 Questionnaire

12

10

6 Positive
Negative

0
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6

Graph 3. Positive and negative feedback from the participants.

The questions asked were open ended questions. For the data, the researcher

classified the answer into positive or negative answer. The questions asked were,

1. Do you know what past tense is?

2. Do you know what subject-verb agreement is?

3. When writing, is it easy to decide on what tense to use?

4. When writing, do you have problems with subject-verb agreement?

5. Does learning grammar explicitly help you in your writing?

6. What is your opinion on learning grammar explicitly?

Graph 3 shows the number of positive or negative answer for each question.

How are the responsesclassified? For example question 1, if the participants could

answer what past tense is, it is categorized as a positive answer. For question 6, it is

more of an opinion. An example of a positive opinion is the participants agreed that

the learning of English grammar should be taught explicitly.

Based on the graph, there are 8 positive answers and the other 2 are negative

answers. There are 8 participants know what past tense is and the other 2 participants

do not know what past tense is.

For question 2, it is the same as question 1 where there are 8 positive answers

and 2 negative answers. The question is asking whether the participants know what

subject-verb agreement is. 8 out of 10 participants said they knew what subject-verb

agreement was. The other 2 participants do not know what subject-verb agreement

was.

The positive answer for question 3 is lower than the rest of the other questions.

7 out of 10 gave positive answers. The question is to know whether the participants

know to use what tenses during writing. 7 of the participants gave positive answers

and the other 3 gave negative answers which is that they do not know which tense to

use when writing.

 Question 4 is to know whether the participants faced any problems in the usage

subject-verb agreement. 8 out of 10 participants gave positive answers and the other 2

gave negative answers. The results showed that 2 of the participants still have problem

with subject-verb agreement based on the graph.

The next question wanted to know whether the teaching of grammar explicitly

helps the participants in writing. All the participants gave positive answers. All of

them agreed that the learning of English grammar explicitly helped them in their

writing.

The last question is enuired about participants’ opinion on the learning of

English grammar explicitly. All participants gave positive answers whereby all of the

participants agreed on the learning of English grammar explicitly.

 Chapter 5 : Discussion.

5.0 Introduction

In this chapter, the researcher will discuss the data analysis in relation to the possible

sources of factors that affects the correct grammar usage in writing among English as

second language within the research context.

5.1 Errors and Mistakes

The pre-test was given to the participants right before the treatments began.

The question for pre-test and post-test was the same question so that it is valid to be

compared with. Graph 4 shows the pre-test and post-test data.

 120

100

80

60 Pre-SVA
Post-SVA
40 Pre-Simple Past
Post-Simple Past
20

Graph 4. Pre-test and post-test scores.

There are several aspect that are needed to be concerned with for example

what the marks improved and most importantly, why some of the participants’ marks

decreased when most of the participants’ marks increased.

The patterns of the graphs is the effect of the participants have become more

aware of the focussed items. The participants have improved because they were able

to think clearly of which form to use when the participants are using simple past.

According to Krashen (1981), he has defined these two terms; error and mistake

possess different definitions.

Errors reflect gaps in knowledge and mistakes reflect occasional lapses. Before

I began with the treatments, based on the graph shown above, the blue and green bars

show the participants’ existed knowledge. To begin with, let’s focus on subject-verb

agreement first. Most of the participants they already have a high knowledge on
subject-verb agreement based on the graph. It can be seen through the participants’

achievement for the pre-test whereby most of the participants; 7 out of 10, scored

more than 80%. The other 3 participants are also did a great job because these

participants scored more than 60%. The matter that is to be concern here is the

patterns, increment and decrement. Why in the pre-test the score is high and then it

decreased in the post-test? For example for participant A and G. Participant A scored

quite high for subject-verb agreement in the pre-test but it decreased 4% from 98%.

The same thing also applied to participant G where the participant scored 70% in the

pre-test and it decreased to 54% which is a very big gap. This issue can be refered to

how Krashen has defined errors and mistakes. During the pre-test, the participants did

not score 100% because of the errors the participants have made which reflects the

gaps in knowledge. The participants did not know the correct way to use subject-verb

agreement. After the participants had gone through the treatments; learnt grammar

explicitly, they had to undergone the post-test. As mentioned before, 7 out of 10

participants have improved. It means that the participants are aware of such forms in

subject-verb agreement and they did not get full marks because the participants did

mistakes which reflect the occasional lapses. For participant A and G, their marks

decreased does not mean that these participants are getting worse in subject-verb

agreement, instead they are so are that they made many of mistakes in subject-verb

agreement. In other words, these participants were still confused and being confused is

better than not knowing anything at all which an achievement that can be proud of.
 The same explanation can also be applied for the simple past tense. 7 out of 10

participants marks increased. The other 3 participants marks decreased. Participant H

has improved a lot in simple past from 27% to 57%; 30% of increment which is the

highest achievement of all. The teaching of grammar explicitly made participant H

improved a lot in subject-verb agreement and simple past. For participant D, the

marks dropped quite a lot, 55% to 39%. As mentioned earlier, having a decreased

marks does not mean that the participants are getting worst, instead the participants

have the grammar in their head but they still confused on which one to use and being

confused is better than not knowing anything. Other than that, in language learning,

errors and mistakes are necessary because students are bound to make errors and

mistakes. It is necessary in a sense that it helps learner in language learning.

5.2 Interlanguage

There are many reasons why there are so many patterns involved and one of it

is the influence of interlanguage. According to Selinker (1972), interlanguage means

some errors produced by second language learners are not attributable to linguistic

transfer from the native language, nor to confusion of target language properties of

grammar, rather, they are consistent with every single level of interlanguage. In

learning L2, the learners are bound to experience interlanguage whereby the

acquisition of L2 is affected by L1. Participant H’s subject-verb agreement

achievement which the achievement stays constant for the first entry and the middle

entry. Then for the third entry, it plunged. It shows that participant H’s L2 acquisition

was interrupted and interlanguage might be one of the many causes. Participant H

might be confused when the participant wanted to use the correct subject-verb

agreement rule, being confused is better than not knowing at all because when the

participant is confused. That means that the subject-verb agreement rule is there inside

the participant’s schemata which is the sole purpose of the teaching grammar

explicitly so that the participants can judge which is which the correct rule to use

when writing. Other than that, this is strongly can be supported by Ellis (1986) who

stated that “errors are not “unwanted forms” but evidence of the learner’s active

contribution to L2 acquisition”. That means that, an error made by the participants

mean that the participants are acquiring L2.

5.3 Overgeneralization

Other than the interlanguage, one of the participants might have

overgeneralized the subject-verb agreement rules as shown in figure 2 below;

Figure 2. Example of overgeneralization.

Based on the example in figure 1, it is clearly that the participant

overgeneralized the simple past tense rule. The correct form is “buy” because the

word preceding the verb is infinitive-to which after it, the verb must be in the root

form which is “buy”. This participant overgeneralize that when using simple past

tense, all of the verbs must be in past form which the participant neglected that there

are some exception when infinitive-to and modal verbs are involved. But still, it is a

part of their learning session whereby committing mistakes showing that the

participants are learning and it show that the participants are using the knowledge that

the participants have obtain explicitly.

5.4 Language Transfer

Based on both of the graphs, there are many patterns can be seen such as

increment, decrement, and inconsistent. All of these are the effect of the language

transfer where there is positive transfer and there is negative transfer. Positive transfer

is when the participants’ marks are increased and negative transfer is when the
participants’ marks are decreased. Positive transfer happens because the participants

manage to absorb the grammar knowledge without any interference.

Positive language transfer. There are many factors that contributing to this

positive transfer and one of it that I want to focus on is a theory from Krashen (1981)

which is the affective filter. In active filter theory, it is said that when the active filter

is low, the students’ learning will increase. There are several requirements that are

needed to be fulfilled to lower the students’ active filter. The teacher needs to create

an environment that is suitable for the students to study. The environment must be

able to make the students feel at ease because when the students are anxious,

uncomfortable, and uneasy, their active filter is high. When the active filter is high,

the students’ learning will decrease. Other than creating conducive environment for

the students, the materials used must be at the students’ level so that the students could

fathom all of the information needed. When the materials used is at the same par of

the students’ level, the students’ active filter will decrease, thus will increase the

students’ learning.

For negative transfer, it is the effect of the interference that occurs during the

teaching and learning process. One of the interference has been discussed earlier is

overgeneralization.
 Conclusion.

Based on the results of ths smal scale research, it can be concluded that the

participants’ achievement in grammar knowledge has improved through the explicit

teaching of grammar. This is because the teaching of grammar explicitly makes the

participants aware of such rules and the grammatical structure. When the participants

are aware of such rules, they would try to use it correctly.

Learning grammar explicitly helps participants in learning English grammar

rules. This is due to the reason that the participants think that it is easy to understand a

clear idea about hw to use specific items in context.. It is easy to understand because it

is clear. It is clear because the participants learnt grammar explicitly. As proposed by

Fang (2013) and according to Doughty and Williams (1998), implicit means implied

or understood though not directly expresed and contained in the nature of something

though not readily apparent whereas explicit means fully and clearly expressed,

defined, or forulated and readily observable. When they learnt it explicitly with

adequate information and exercises, it helps them in the usage of identified.

The four factors related to the usage of grammar are errors and mistakes,

interlanguage, overgeneralization, and language transfer.

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Appendices.

Questionnaire.

1. Do you think you have any ideas on what past tense and subject verb agreement

are?

Adakah anda rasa anda tahu perkara yang berkaitan dengan Past Tense dan Subject

Verb Agreement?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

2. When writing, could you decide on what tense to use?

Semasa menulis, bolehkah anda menentukan Tense yang mana perlu digunakan?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

3. When writing, could you use subject verb agreement correctly?

Semasa menulis, bolehkah anda mengenalpasti cara penggunaan Subject Verb

Agreement dengan betul?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________
 4. Does learning grammar explicitly help you in your English language study?

Adakah belajar Grammar secara terang-terangan membantu dalam pembelajaran

Bahasa Inggeris anda?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

5. What do you think of yourself after my class?

Apakah yang anda rasa(perbezaan) selepas mengikuti kelas saya?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

6. Will you keep on learning English to improve yourself after this?

Adakah anda akan terus mempelajari Bahasa Inggeris untuk memperbaiki diri anda

selepas ini?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

7. What is your opinion on learning grammar explicitly?

Apakah pendapat anda dalam mempelajari Grammar secara terang-terangan

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

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