MARY KONG 31ST MARCH 2013

ACTION RESEARCH PART 1

EXAMPLES

1.0 Context of research The main purpose of this research is due to reoccurring learning difficulties in the English learning classroom in a suburban school in Sungai Petani. As English is being carried out and taught for a total of 10 periods for the lower level pupils in Year 1 to 3, it is seen that many obscurity is seen throughout. However, some difficulties are only evident among several pupils. As the research is set to be carried out, the research serves many purposes and the most evident purpose would be to look for a technique or choices of techniques that could be used to improvise all these learning difficulties that are taking place. This research is also carried out to function as a guide for future classroom action research. It is to support reflective and systematic improvement of teaching for future educators Through observations in a suburban school in Sungai Petani where a group of 40 mixed ability pupils of Year 2 were observed, many common problems come to pass each day. Among the most common problems that reoccur would be complications with capitalisation of words, inability to spell common sight words as well as mispronunciation of syllables ranging from initial, medial and final phonemes. All these problems repeat and cause the development of pupils to slow down. For instance, a pupil who has problems capitalising finds it difficult to even write their names. This makes them to progress slowly in the lesson.

CONTINUES

Reflections Learning is never an easy process and a teacher is a great determiner in the learning process of a child. In the past 3 phases of practicum, I have used numerous methods to improvise my pupils learning difficulties and at the same time enhance their interest and motivation towards learning English. My experience has given me the chance to teach in school in 3 different areas namely the urban, suburban as well as rural. In all these schools, the learning difficulties differ as I taught pupils of different year that came from different economic and social background. However, some common problems like mispronunciation of words are evident in all three schools. Throughout my student teaching experience, I sought out to design lesson plans based on the individual needs of each of my students. Accommodations for students who were advanced and those who were struggling were always considered and employed within lessons. However, all these did not stop the pupils from having difficulties in learning English. Based on my familiarity and experience with different pupils, I realised that most pupils are good at remodelling behaviours. When a child is given a model that demonstrates a good example, they are indeed able to follow the behaviours shown. Most of the pupils I have come across seem to be able to model behaviours including pronunciation of words when I model it to them. They are also seen to be able to build on past experiences and previous knowledge to process new concepts. In addition, in this current suburban school that I am teaching, I could see a very common problem among my pupils which is retention of attention towards teaching and learning. Some pupils find it difficult to keep their attention towards the lesson and this can sometimes disrupt the progress of the lesson. This is usually caused by the activities that are carried out. At most times where the text book and activity book is used, they are seen to be less interested in the lesson and this will automatically make their attention span lower. Capitalisation of letters is very common in the class that I am currently teaching. Being only 8 years old, most of my pupils could not capitalise correctly and this happens even when they write their name. All the way through my experience as a trainee teacher, I have always tried to uncover ways and techniques to improvise my pupils learning experience to be more meaningful and beneficial for my pupils. With this research, I am indeed hoping that I will be able to uncover an effective teachnique to overcome the problems that my pupils are currently facing .