INTEGRATIVE TASK-BASED LEARNING - USING INSTAGRAM TO

DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILL AND BOOST MOTIVATION

AHMAD SAFWAN BIN SULAIMAN

ACTION RESEARCH

ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

SEKOLAH TINGGI KLUANG

MARCH 2020
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

ABSTRACT iii

1 TEACHING AND LEARNING REFLECTIONS 1

2 RESEARCH FOCUS 2

3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 3

4 TARGET GROUP 3

5 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESEARCH 3

5.1 Problems Observation 4

5.2 Analysis of the Problem Observation 7

5.3 Action Plans 9

5.4 Implementation and Observation 11

5.5 Reflection 17

6 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 20

7 BIBLIOGRAPHY 21

8 APPENDICES 22

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 ABSTRACT

This classroom action research was conducted with the aim to help 21
Form 3SES students of Sekolah Tinggi Kluang (STK) to improve their
confidence and motivation to do presentation in English. The research was
carried out on 21 Form 3SES students of my own class. Two types of data
collection methods used were observation and interview. The early
observation showed that some of the factors that cause the inability to speak
eloquently in English are less exposure and lack of practice of the language,
which then led to low self-confidence and motivation. Henceforth, this action
research aimed to discover the potential use of integrating Instagram features
and task-based learning activities to develop speaking skills and identify the
level of students' motivation The findings indicated that a majority of the
students acknowledged that Instagram boosts their confidence and motivation
to practice English speaking and this leads to improving their speaking skills.
It is concluded that integrating Instagram and task-based learning activities
corroborate the needs of 21st century learning and teaching strategies
together with the potential to engage and motivate students in developing
their speaking skills.

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1.0 TEACHING AND LEARNING REFLECTIONS

One of the five classes that I teach is the 3SES class. The class
consists of 21 students, with mixed English linguistic abilities ranging
from average to good. The students generally understand the basic
grammatical rules related to the production of the language as in the
sentence structure, subject-verb agreement and different tenses.
They also understand basic vocabulary to communicate in common
daily usages like asking and responding to questions, giving ideas
and feedback to the ideas.

I started noticing the problem after I entered the class in the first
few weeks of school. On the first week, I gave them a topic to discuss
in groups and later, they had to draw the graphic organiser on
mahjong papers and present their thoughts in the Gallery Walk
activity. Then, on the second week, I started the class with a
discussion where I invited all students to participate, give and share
their ideas. I also encouraged the students to come to the front of the
class and present their ideas.

I noticed several patterns emerged during the observation. First,

there will only be the same 2-3 students from the groups presenting
and sharing their ideas. Then, even with the assistance of the graphic
organiser, some students were so reluctant to speak to the teacher
and also with their friends. During the Gallery Walk activity, I observed
that students preferred to share and talk in Bahasa Melayu, and they
immediately switched to English when I approached them. I also
encouraged them by telling them that they are not being assessed on
their grammatical and vocabulary accuracy. Still, they refused to talk
in English during the lessons.

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 I decided to conduct a semi-constructed interview with the
students to find out the causes of the problem. Based on their
feedback, few things were outlined pertaining to their reluctance to
speak in English. First, they could not say much during the
presentation because they do not have enough background
knowledge of the topic. They felt the topics were not interesting and
they had no idea what to be talked about. Then, they also said that in
real life, they did not use English in situations like giving opinions,
reasons and ideas. Most of them said that they can put their thoughts
on paper during lessons and examinations, but not orally.

2.0 RESEARCH FOCUS

From these early reflections, I summarise the key findings and

concluded the area that I should focus on in this research. First,
students lack the practice of English language in real life situations.
The students described that they know how to describe their ideas
and they are confident to do that in written activities like writing
essays, reviews and stories. However, they find it difficult to do the
same thing when they have to talk and communicate with other
people.

Then, these lacks of practice, knowledge and exposure towards

using English in real life communication lead to the lack of motivation
and confidence. They could not see the reasons why they have to
speak in English, as they could get by performing daily routine tasks
without talking in English. Thus, students were only able to use
English during lessons in class and also during examinations.
Therefore, this action research focuses on the improving students’
speaking skill and increasing their motivation.

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3.0 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The general objective of this research is to discover the potential

use of Instagram features with task-based learning activities to
increase students’ motivation to develop speaking skill. Specifically,
the research attempts to fulfill the following objectives:

i. To discover the potential use of Instagram features with

task-based learning activities

ii. To identify students’ level of motivation in developing their

speaking skills

4.0 TARGET GROUP

This research involves 21 students from the 3SES class that I

currently teach this year. They are chosen based on early
observations of my lessons during the first few weeks of school.
Among the 21 students, there were 6 boys and 15 girls that I identified
as the subjects for this research.

5.0 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESEARCH

This research was conducted based on the action research model

(Kemmis and McTaggart, 1982), which operates in two cycle of
research. The first cylce involves 3 weeks of designing, implementing
and evaluating the method of intervention, while during the second
cycle, the revised intervention was applied and implemented, and
later, the outcome was evaluated.

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5.1 PROBLEMS OBSERVATION

Before the strategies were planned and actions were carried out, I
collected data to gain deeper understanding of the problem that I want
to study. Two methods were used to collect the data, which are
through observation in class and semi-constructed interview.

5.1.1 OBSERVATION

The first observation was conducted during an English lesson on

the first week of school. First, I told the students to chat with a partner
on how they spend their time during the school holiday. Then, I asked
them to form groups to discuss and present the ways to spend the
time better as a student and also as a PT3 candidate. In the first
activity, the majority of the students conversed mainly in Bahasa
Melayu, and they only changed to English when I prompted or
approached them. Then, after they had discussed about the given
topic, they wrote their ideas on the mahjong paper in English, but
when I asked them to explain further, they just read aloud their points
without adding their own explanation.

The second observation was similar, as students discussed about

a topic given in groups. This time, I told them to write or draw anything
on a piece of paper that can be used as a visual aid to assist their
presentation. Then, I invited the class to voluntarily come to the front
and present. Like the first observation, students read the points from
the paper they prepared. Plus, the same students came out and
shared their ideas with the class.

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5.1.2 INTERVIEW

To strengthen my findings from the observation, I interviewed the

21 students in a group interview session. I prepared a set of 10
questions to find out about their perceptions towards English speaking
skills and activities. The questions that I asked are as follows:

1. When do you use English in speaking?

2. Why do you use English in those situation?

3. Do you like English speaking activity?

4. What are the reasons you like/dislike English speaking

activity?

5. What hinders you from using English for speaking?

6. What encourages you to speak in English with other

people?

7. Do you have an Instagram account?

8. What do you know about Instagram and its functions?

9. Why do you / most people use Instagram?

10. Do you think Instagram can help you to speak English

better?

TABLE 1 Interview Questions

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 Students’ responses from the interview were recorded as
evidence to support the findings of the research. Generally, majority of
the students speak English during English lesson in the classroom.
Only 2 students indicated that they occasionally use English at home,
at the supermarket and at the restaurant. All students in the study
described that they are not speaking English so much because of
three main reasons; the environment is not supportive and motivating,
lack of background knowledge on the topic discussed in class and
lack of confidence. They further elaborated that the lack of confidence
is due to the lack of vocabulary and grammar knowledge, practice and
also they are afraid of being teased and embarrassed of people
making fun of them when they try speaking in English.

When they were asked about Instagram, many of them only see
Instagram as a social media tool to connect them with their friends
and people from all over the world. Only two students claimed they
are not on the Instagram while others described themselves as avid
users of Instagram. They upload a new post at the average of one
picture per week. They post the pictures on Instagram because they
want to share their beautiful moments with their Instagram friends and
connect with them. As a whole, students are not aware that they can
use the Instagram as a tool to improve their motivation to speak
English well.

Overall, the findings from the interview can be summarised into

three domains; English usage in speaking, reasons for not using
English in speaking, and Instagram usage. All findings from the
interview sessions with the students are then tabulated and presented
in Table 2 below.

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 ENGLISH REASONS FOR
INSTAGRAM
STUDENTS USAGE IN NOT USING
USAGE
SPEAKING ENGLISH

Shy, not
Student A Only at school 2-3 times a week
confident

Don’t know what

Student B Only at school Not a user
and how to say

Do not have
Student C Only at school motivation to 4-5 times a week
speak

Don’t know what

Student D Only at school 2-3 times a week
and how to say

Do not have
Student E Only at school motivation to 2-3 times a week
speak
Sometimes at No one to talk
home with with; friends and
Student F Once a week
family, at family not
restaurant supportive

Don’t know what

Student G Only at school 2-3 times a week
and how to say

Don’t know what

Student H Only at school Once a week
and how to say

Don’t know what

Student I Only at school 2-3 times a week
and how to say

Do not have
Student J Only at school motivation to 2-3 times a week
speak

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 Shy, not
Student K Only at school 2-3 times a week
confident

Student L Only at school Not confident 4-5 times a week

No one to talk
with; friends and
Student M Only at school 4-5 times a week
family not
supportive

Don’t know what

Student N Only at school Once a week
and how to say

Shy, not
Sometimes at
confident,
home with
Student O friends and Not a user
family, at
family not
restaurant
supportive
No one to talk
with; friends and
Student P Only at school 2-3 times a week
family not
supportive

Don’t know what

Student Q Only at school 2-3 times a week
and how to say

Don’t know what

Student R Only at school Once a week
and how to say

Do not have
Student S Only at school motivation to 4-5 times a week
speak
No one to talk
with; friends and
Student T Only at school 2-3 times a week
family not
supportive

Don’t know what

Student U Only at school 2-3 times a week
and how to say

TABLE 2 Findings From Interview

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5.2 ACTION PLANS

Based on problems observation above, the main issue the

students are facing to speak in English is the lack of motivation and
confidence. Therefore, the intervention that I plan is to deal with
improving students’ motivation to develop speaking skills and the plan
is through task-based learning activity using Instagram.

The first three weeks of the intervention began with the planning
and constructing the actions to be taken. First, I had to find the area of
speaking that I want to focus and how it can help other processes of
learning English in the classroom. In the PT3 examination, students
have to write different types of essays like article, story, review and
giving opinions. Then, I thoroughly scrutinise the type of speaking
activities that can be used to for the intervention. For example, for
writing a review about a product, I asked my students to record their
video giving a review about a product of their own choice. So, in the
second week, I started the intervention by giving them samples of
different essays and texts which they can use as an example.

This process allows them to develop several skills and

understanding of the process and format of the writing. For example,
using the review sample as the example, I told them to follow the
same ways how the review is presented through different paragraphs.
Then, they also learn the language forms they need to use in their
review. They also will be able to identify the key phrases and contents
that they can replicate and use in their own review. Finally, when they
have become comfortable with the format, layout and language of the
text, then I asked them to choose one product they like and write a

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 review of that product following the sample they have learned.

The second cycle of three weeks of intervention continues with

the students practising giving the review individually and with their
classmates. Sometimes, I acted as a facilitator helping them when
they need help like checking their sentence structure, grammar and
vocabulary. When they have become confident and comfortable, I
instructed the students to record the video of them giving the review
and post it on their Instagram account. The two students who did not
have Instagram account created their account and posted the video
too.

Figure 1 The Traffic Light Method

ACTIONS EXPLANATION
 Collect data from Item Analysis, Interview and Pretest
Problem  Inform to the 19 students who scored 6 marks and lower
Observation that they will be taught the Traffic Light method
Analysis  The other 9 students will be given remedial exercises in
class

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 STEP 1: RED MEANS STOP AND RECOGNISE
 Introduce the two main types of verbs errors tested in the
Error Correction questions (tenses and singular/plural)
 Use sample questions and test students understanding
 Repeat until students manage to identify the types of
error of all 10 errors in the sample correctly
STEP 2: YELLOW MEANS LOOK LEFT AND RIGHT
 Tell students to circle three words on the left and right
from the underlined errors. Tell them that those words
can be used as clues to correct the errors
Traffic Light
 Use the sample questions and ask students to identify
Method
and tell the words that give them clues
 Repeat until all students manage to identify the clues
STEP 3: GREEN MEANS SAFE AND GO
 Teach students that using the clues on the left and right,
they can now identify the type of error tested and correct
the error
 Use the sample questions as the continuation from the
previous steps
 Repeat until all students manage to correct all the errors
correctly
 The same set of questions administered during the
Pretest is used
Posttest
 After 20 minutes, answers are checked and compare the
marks

TABLE 3 Traffic Light Methods

5.4 IMPLEMENTATION AND OBSERVATION

After the problem observation was thoroughly analysed, I

introduced the Traffic Light method to help the targeted students to

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improve their error correction skills. The method was taught in three
separate parts based on the colours of the traffic light and after the
method was taught, the same set of questions from pretest was
distributed as posttest.

5.4.1 STEP 1: RED MEANS STOP AND RECOGNISE

Students were first introduced to the first colour of the traffic light,
which is red and explained that red means stop and recognise. I told
the students that verb errors are generally either about tenses or
about the subject-verb agreement. Students were then informed on
how to correct the verb based on the type of error.

For practice, students completed exercise where they had to

identify the type of errors for the verbs underlined in the exercise. This
exercise was repeated until they could identify all types of errors from
the 10 underlined verbs correctly. The number of correct answers
after each attempt and the number of attempts they took were
recorded in a table. The summary of the number of attempts
completed by each student is presented in Table 4 below:

NUMBER OF NUMBER OF
STUDENTS STUDENTS
ATTEMPTS ATTEMPTS

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 Student A 3 Student K 3
Student B 3 Student L 2
Student C 2 Student M 2
Student D 2 Student N 2
Student E 2 Student O 3
Student F 2 Student P 2
Student G 3 Student Q 3
Student H 3 Student R 2
Student I 2 Student S 2
Student J 3

TABLE 4 Number of Step 1 Attempts by Students

Table 4 shows the number of attempts completed by 19 students

to identify the type of errors underlined in the sentences. 11 students
attempted twice, while the other 8 students tried three times before
they can identify all 10 types of errors correctly. I strongly believe that
this supports the findings from the problem observation, where the 19
students have good grammatical knowledge, particularly on verb
forms and functions. Therefore, they did not really have much trouble
to identify the types of errors for the verbs underlined in the text
provided in this first step.

5.4.2 STEP 2: YELLOW MEANS LOOK LEFT AND RIGHT

After the students mastered the first step, I moved on to the next
step which was introducing them the second colour, yellow which

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means look left and right. First, I explained to them that the three
words on the left and right would generally provide them the clues to
the correct answers to the errors.

When the concept was established, students then completed the

exercise locating the three words on the left and right and identified
the words that could give them the clues. Students practice for several
times until they could identify the correct words for the clues correctly
for all 10 errors in the question. The number of exercises they
completed to identify all 10 errors was summarised in the table below:

NUMBER OF NUMBER OF
STUDENTS STUDENTS
ATTEMPTS ATTEMPTS

Student A 2 Student K 2
Student B 3 Student L 2
Student C 2 Student M 2
Student D 2 Student N 2
Student E 2 Student O 3
Student F 2 Student P 2
Student G 3 Student Q 3
Student H 2 Student R 2
Student I 2 Student S 2
Student J 2

TABLE 5 Number of Step 2 Attempts by Students

Table 5 shows the number of attempts done by the students to

complete Step 2 successfully. Out of 19 students, only 4 students
attempted 3 times while the majority of them managed to successfully
identify the clues using Step 2 after they attempted twice. This shows

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that students actually understand the singular and plural subject-verb
agreement. After the students are ready with the Red and Yellow
Light steps, I strongly believe that students can identify and correct
the errors in the Error Correction questions effectively.

5.4.3 STEP 3: GREEN MEANS GO & POSTTEST

After students had understood the methods in Step 1 and 2 using

the Red and Yellow colour, I then moved them on to the next colour
which is green. Green means go, which in the method means
students should be able to correct the errors after they have identified
the type of error and the clue that leads to the error correction.

The same question sets used while introducing Step 1 and 2 to

the students were then used in this step, where students correct the
errors. Then, to test students’ understandings of the Traffic Light
method, the question set used in the pretest was then used in the
posttest. The number of correct answers scored by the students after
the method was introduced was recorded and tabulated with the
scores from the pretest. The comparison of the pretest and posttest
scores are displayed in Table 6 below.

STUDENTS PRETEST POST TEST DIFFERENCE

Student A 5 9 +4
Student B 6 8 +2

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 Student C 5 7 +2
Student D 5 8 +3
Student E 4 7 +3
Student F 5 8 +3
Student G 4 7 +3
Student H 4 8 +4
Student I 5 9 +4
Student J 3 6 +3
Student K 4 9 +5
Student L 5 8 +3
Student M 5 8 +3
Student N 6 7 +1
Student O 4 6 +2
Student P 5 7 +2
Student Q 2 6 +4
Student R 4 6 +2
Student S 6 8 +2

TABLE 6 Pretest and Post Test Comparison

The comparison of the Pretest and Post Test results indicate that
students’ abilities to answer the Error Correction questions have
become better using the Traffic Light technique. Using the proper
method, students were able to detect what was wrong with the errors
underlined in the text and make the correction.

5.4.4 INTERVIEW

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 After the posttest, I interviewed the students with the same set of
questions before the research began. The main focus of the interview
questions is Question 9 and 10, where students were asked whether
is it hard for them to find and identify the verb errors in a sentence,
and do they have any strategy to find and identify the verb errors in a
sentence. The success of the method will be supported by their
responses to the questions.

During the interview, students claimed that after they learned the
method, they find it is easier for them to identify what was the error for
the verb underlined in the sentence. One student claimed that he did
not know that detecting and correcting the verb errors can be that
easy. Another student also concurred by saying that after he learned
the method, he feels more confident to identify and correct the errors.
Table 6 below presents some of the feedback recorded from the
interview.

Q9: Is it hard for you to find and identify the verb errors in a sentence?

STUDENTS RESPONSE

I was so surprised! It is so easy. Before this, I think it was

Student A
very difficult.

I feel more confident now because it was not that difficult. I

Student B
can do it faster now.

TABLE 6 Posttest Interview Responses

5.5 REFLECTION

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5.5.1 REFLECTION ON STUDENTS

In the pretest and posttest results, I found out that students have
shown improvement in terms of their abilities to identify and correct
errors, and their overall strategy to answer the Error Correction
question. The results in the pretest showed that students were
struggling to answer the questions correctly, as there were some of
them only managed to answer 2 out of 10 questions correctly.
Progressively, after the Traffic Light method was introduced, students
became more aware of the verb forms and functions in sentences and
they can identify and correct the verb errors in the sentences easily.

I found out that students’ background knowledge is the helping

factor contributing towards the success of this method. Based on the
pretest interview, all 19 students involved in this research confirmed
that they know and understand the grammar forms and functions,
particularly on verb forms and functions. They were just not having
enough exposure to the strategy on how to identify and correct the
error in sentences.

When students were introduced the first Red and Yellow colours,
students were able to complete the tasks after three attempts. This
shows that students already have the knowledge and they just need
to focus on specific strategy to identify the errors. After they have
become aware of the errors in the sentences, it has become easier for
them to correct the verb errors in the sentences and it is proven by the
posttest results. In other words, the Traffic Light method helped the
students to correct the verb errors in the sentences effectively.

5.5.2 REFLECTION ON TEACHER

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 The research has given me the opportunity to reflect and take
actions on my teaching practices in the class. As an English teacher, I
strongly believe the importance of giving grammar exercises to the
students so they will know the rules on how to use, say the past tense
verbs, in sentences. However, after the research was conducted, I
found out that students also need to be aware of the grammar forms
and functions so that they can identify and correct the errors
themselves. Annable (2015) suggested that students should be
equipped with strategies to become more successful at correcting
their own grammatical errors. Therefore, this research has given me
the opportunity to develop new strategy for me to teach my students
grammar forms and functions.

Other than that, this research has also shown to me that

understanding and applying rules are two totally different skills.
According to the Bloom’s Taxonomy, humans’ thinking skills are
developed in two phases, starting from the low order to the high order
thinking skills. During the interview in this research, students clarified
that they understand the forms and functions of present and past
tense verbs. They know the rules and how to use them in sentences.
This can be categorised as the low order thinking skills. However,
when it comes to applying their understandings in context such as
identifying and correcting errors, they faced some difficulties.
Therefore, I strongly believe that students need to be taught on how to
apply what they have learned so that they can learn more effectively
and independently.

5.5.3 OVERALL REFLECTION

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 Overall, this research provides me with greater insights on how
the grammar should be taught in class. Firstly, students should be
taught on how to apply what they have learned in different context.
Normally, language teachers would give students drills and exercises
like fill in the blanks, true or false, and multiple-choice questions, with
the thought that more drillings mean more effective; students learn
when they are repeatedly exposed to the information. However, for
the case of my students, they already have that enough input on the
forms and functions of the language, and they need the strategies to
put the knowledge into practice.

Secondly, provided with proper teaching aids, students can

actually become more independent and can learn more effectively.
Alijanian (2012) suggested that teaching aids such as objects and
pictures are essential in helping students to learn grammar better. In
the research, all students agreed that they are able to tell the forms
and functions of the verbs in different rules like present and past
tense. However, they do not know the steps to identify and correct if
there are errors in sentences. After I introduced the Traffic Light
method to them, the students showed that they can actually identify
and correct the errors, with the help of the colour stickers. It was
further concurred by the students who said that the colour stickers
helped them to become more confident and felt that they can now
answer the Error Corrections faster and better than before.

6.0 SUGGESTION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

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 Based on the analysis, reflections and observations of the
research’s findings, there are several recommendations that can be
offered:

i. The research was conducted on a small scale, so the results

might not be conclusive for all Form Three students.
Therefore, similar research could be done on a bigger number of
students or to all students in the school so that the
effectiveness could be seen as a whole.

ii. The research was conducted among students of different

cultural and educational background. Results may vary if it is
conducted to students from different types of schools. Further
research may be conducted to study the impact of this method
towards students from different types of school, such boarding
school, science school or rural schools.

iii. This research also focused solely on correcting verb errors in

Error Correction questions. As mentioned in the research,
other than verb forms and functions, other grammatical
features such as conjunctions, prepositions and articles can
also be tested. Therefore, the next research can be done to
test the effectiveness of the method when correcting
conjunctions, prepositions or article errors in the sentences.

All in all, the results indicate that this technique could help
students to improve their abilities to answer the Error Correction
questions correctly and improve their grammatical awareness. With
further deepened research, this technique might actually help other
students and other aspects of the English language learning might
also be positively affected.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Alijanian, E. (2012). An investigation of Iranian EFL teachers’ beliefs about
grammar. Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research, 2,
335.

Annable, J. (2012). Becoming self-editors: Using metacognition to improve

students' grammar knowledge. English Journal, 101(3), 89.

Gnoinska, A. (1998). Teaching Vocabulary in Colour. In Forum (Vol. 36, No.

3, p. n3). Web site:..

Olurinola, O., & Tayo, O. (2015). Colour in Learning: Its Effect on the
Retention Rate of Graduate Students. Journal of Education and
Practice, 6(14), 1-5.

Vann, R. J., & Abraham, R. G. (1990). Strategies of unsuccessful language

learners. TESOL quarterly, 24(2), 177-198.

Wilkins, D. A. (1972). Linguistics in Language Teaching. Cambridge: MFT

Press.

APPENDIX A

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 PRETEST AND POST TEST QUESTIONS

I shall be coming to your house on Saturday in the afternoon after my

co-curricular activities. I will took the train from Kajang and should reach e.g. take

Kuala Lumpur by 3 o’clock if there is no delay. Please waiting for me. (a) __________

You know I does not like to come to Kuala Lumpur at my own and you (b) __________

know how nervous I get when I has to travel alone. Please be punctual (c) __________

and try not to keep me waiting. If you is not there by 4.30 pm, I will get (d) __________

on the first bus back to Kajang. Anyway, as I mention in my earlier e- (e) __________

mail, I planning to stay with you for two days only. I hope we will be able (f) __________

to doing many interesting things together during my stay. My science (g) __________

teacher has ask me to write about the National Planetarium in Kuala (h) __________

Lumpur and so I would like to going there. Can you please take me? I (i) __________

hope it is not too out of the way. I also hoping to spend some time with (j) __________

your siblings and parents too. I have not seen them for a long time. I am

really looking forward to this trip. See you soon.

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