ACTION RESEARCH: USING WH-QUESTIONS TO TEACH ESSAY

Kwaileh (2011) mentioned that WH-Questions technique do help the students to improve their
writing as the students need help in how to write in addition to what they should write.

This method is important as it can help the students to generate their own ideas in preparation for
the English paper for the coming Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3(PT3).

There are three parts where the students need to write essay that are Question 3 (j), Question 6 & 7.

During the first meeting, participants were required to write a short passage about the person that
they like and come up with WH-Question mind map to show their ideas.

The pre-test were conducted without providing any guide to the participants.

The treatments were conducted for 30 minutes in every session and took three weeks to complete
it.

For the first two treatments, teacher guided and taught the students on how to construct and
answer the WH-Questions.

The post-test were conducted on the final meeting with the participants.

The topic of the post-test is the same as the pre-test.

The students need to brainstorm their ideas using the WH-Questions that they have learned.

There was no guide provided for the students and they were required to answer it individually.

FINDINGS

The result of the post-test shows that the students are able to generate ideas in writing process
using the WH-Questions technique.

WH-Questions act as a guide for low proficiency students to search for ideas in writing essay.

For further recommendation, for next study, teacher can use this technique by adding other criteria
such as vocabulary and grammar.

References

Khwaileh, M. F., (2011). The effect of WH-Questions on the quantity and quality of low-level
achieving students’ paragraph writing at the university level.

DirasatJournal of Educational Sciences 38(1).

Retrieved from https://journals.ju.edu.jo/DirasatEdu/article/viewFile/3099/2684

Mogahed, M.M (2013). Planning out pre-writing activities.

International Journal of English and Literature, 4(3), 60-68

Pre-test

Treatment (5 times)

Post test

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH

WHY WH-QUESTIONS ?

WH-Questions consist of the 5W’s and the H technique. This includes WHERE, WHAT, WHY, WHO,
WHEN and HOW. It helps the students to generate their ideas for essays writing by answering the
questions (Mogahed, 2013).

METHOD USED

PARTICIPANTS

Thinking Map

Question : Write about the person that you like/admire.

RUBRICS

Find suitable method that :

simple

easy to be used

The participants of this study are:

a) 15 low proficiency students from form 1

b) In one of the secondary school in Sandakan, Sabah

Marking rubrics for essay question: 3(j)

For the last three treatments, teacher simply wrote the topic on the whiteboard and asked the
students to construct their own WH-Questions.

Students that are very weak were guided by the teacher.

All the treatments consisted of different topic and followed the students’ curriculum specification for
form 1 English subject.

Example of students' answer for post-test

Marking rubrics for question 6

Conclusion

HOW TO HELP THESE STUDENTS?

Example of students' answer for pre-test

OBSERVATION

1 WH-Questions used in the mind map (Q) = 2 marks

1 sentences produce from the WH-Questions (S) = 1 mark

Total Marks = 20 marks

METHODOLOGY

WH-Questions Technique

Students (low proficiency)

Tended to give excuses whenever they were given written task

Cannot generate ideas to expand their sentences.