KAJIAN TINDAKAN TS25 DAN PSA JPN PERAK 2024

Berdasarkan Jadual 3 di atas, menunjukkan bahawa semua item berkaitan penguasaan murid terhadap kemahiran bahasa adalah berada di tahap yang tinggi. Nilai min yang terendah daripada ketiga-tiga item ini adalah item B3 iaitu M=2.93. Hal ini menunjukkan bahawa murid memerlukan sokongan daripada rakan sekumpulan dalam penggunaan inovasi KaGaNDO ini untuk mewujudkan keseronokan sewaktu pembelajaran serta memupuk nilai kerjasama antara satu sama lain. Jadual 4 di bawah menunjukkan keputusan analisis soal selidik bagi aspek sikap murid selepas penggunaan inovasi KaGaNDO. Jadual 4: Keputusan analisis soal selidik bagi aspek sikap Item Perkara STS % TS % S % ST % Min/ Interpretasi S.P C1 Saya membantu rakan sekumpulan yang lemah sewaktu menggunakan inovasi KaGaNDO - 20 45 35 3.15 Tinggi 0.745 C2 Saya berbincang dengan rakan sekumpulan sewaktu menggunakan inovasi KaGaNDO. 5 5 50 40 3.25 Tinggi 0.786 C3 Saya bekerjasama dengan rakan sekumpulan sewaktu menggunakan inovasi KaGaNDO - 5 30 65 3.60 Tinggi 0.598 3.33 Tinggi Berdasarkan keputusan analisis dalam Jadual 4 di atas menunjukkan bahawa semua item berada di tahap yang tinggi. Secara keseluruhannya, penggunaan inovasi KaGaNDO ini memupuk nilai kerjasama, toleransi sesama ahli kumpulan dan membantu rakan-rakan. Nilai min bagi keseluruhan aspek sikap ini adalah M=3.33. Jadual 5 di bawah menunjukkan keputusan analisis soal selidik bagi aspek afektif murid selepas penggunaan inovasi KaGaNDO. Jadual 5: Keputusan analisis soal selidik bagi aspek afektif Item Perkara STS % TS % S % ST % Min/ Interpretasi S.P D1 Saya seronok belajar menggunakan KaGaNDO. - - 25 75 3.75 Tinggi 0.444 D2 Saya mudah belajar menggunakan KaGaNDO. 5 5 40 50 3.35 Tinggi 0.812 D3 Saya minat belajar menggunakan KaGaNDO. 5 5 40 50 3.35 Tinggi 0.812 3.48 Tinggi Berdasarkan keputusan analisis soal selidik bagi aspek afektif yang terdapat dalam Jadual 5 ini menunjukkan nilai min tersebut berada di tahap yang tinggi iaitu M=3.48. Perkara ini membuktikan bahawa murid-murid berasa seronok sewaktu menggunakan KaGaNDO ini. Penggunaannya yang mudah dan sangat praktikal membantu guru untuk menguasai topik kata ganti nama diri orang. Kesan daripada penggunaan KaGaNDO ini turut mendorong minat murid untuk belajar bersama rakan-rakan. 40

7.0 RUMUSAN DAN IMPLIKASI Berdasarkan pengamatan dan pelaksanaan kajian tindakan yang dilakukan ini, guru mendapati bahawa langkah-langkah pelaksanaan kajian yang diikuti melalui model kitaran Kurt Lewin (1946) ini membantu guru untuk menambah baik amalan pembelajaran dan pemudahcaraan (PdPc) bagi topik kata ganti nama diri orang. Selain itu, sebanyak tiga kali kitaran yang dilaksanakan dalam kajian tindakan ini telah memberikan pengalaman yang bermakna kepada guru untuk mengesan kelemahan dan kekuatan PdPc yang dilaksanakan melalui inovasi KaGaNDO. Melalui penggunaan inovasi KaGaNDO ini sememangnya boleh digunakan dalam pelbagai cara PdPc dilaksanakan sama ada melalui bacaan kad perkataan, kad bergambar, bermain sambil belajar sehinggalah ke peringkat aktiviti pengayaan. Pada masa yang sama, nilai kerjasama dalam kalangan ahli kumpulan dapat dipupuk melalui scaffolding. Hal ini kerana, murid yang lemah dalam pelajaran dapat dibimbing oleh rakan sekumpulan yang lebih mahir (Vygotsky, 1978). Di samping itu, melalui kajian tindakan ini juga, perancangan masa dan aktiviti juga perlu diambil kira oleh guru supaya hasil kajian yang diperolehi ini benar-benar tepat dan berkualiti. Bukan itu sahaja, masalah kehadiran murid ke sekolah juga mempengaruhi dapatan kajian ini kerana murid yang kerap hadir ke sekolah akan sentiasa bersedia mengikuti dan lebih baik untuk menguasai pembelajaran pada hari tersebut berbanding murid yang kerap ponteng ke sekolah. Murid yang kerap ponteng ini menyebabkan mereka ketinggalan dalam pembelajaran (Ugek & Badusah, 2018; Nasarudin, Abu Hanifah, Kasim, Mazlan & Hassan, 2022). Seterusnya, inovasi KaGaNDO ini sangat membantu para murid menguasai topik kata ganti nama diri orang melalui visual. Murid-murid akan lebih tertarik terhadap gambar yang dilihat untuk merangsang pemikiran mereka supaya dapat berfikir secara kritis dan kreatif. Secara tidak langsung, Inovasi KaGaNDO mampu memupuk Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi (KBAT) dalam kalangan murid. Oleh itu, penyelesaian masalah dapat dilaksanakan oleh murid dengan menyesuaikan penggunaan kata ganti nama diri orang mengikut konteks yang sesuai berdasarkan gambar yang dilihat. Tambahan lagi, penerapan belajar sambil bermain sememangnya amat diminati oleh murid kerana memberi peluang kepada mereka untuk belajar secara santai bersama rakan-rakan. Di sinilah murid-murid dapat bertukar-tukar idea untuk menjana idea antara satu sama lain bagi menyelesaikan masalah. Perkara ini selari dengan kajian yang dilaksanakan oleh Norok dan Khairuddin (2022), iaitu kaedah belajar sambil bermain dapat menyeronokkan murid kerana mereka dapat merangsang pembelajaran mereka melalui kad bergambar, bunyi-bunyian mahupun perbuatan secara penyebutan dan peniruan maklumat. Sokongan sosial daripada rakan-rakan sekumpulan ini sekurang-kurangnya mampu memudahkan murid yang lemah dalam pembelajaran untuk menguasai topik kata ganti nama diri orang. Scaffolding inilah yang menyokong pembelajaran murid tersebut. Akhir sekali, diharapkan para guru Bahasa Melayu untuk mencuba inovasi KaGaNDO ini dalam pembelajaran dan pemudahcaraan di dalam kelas mahupun di luar kelas. Penggunaannya yang juga tidak mengira masa, tempat, mesra pengguna dan lebih praktikal sangat mewujudkan pembelajaran yang bermakna. Oleh itu, diharapkan inovasi KaGaNDO ini dapat dikomersialkan secara meluas pada masa akan datang. 41

RUJUKAN Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York : Norton Karim, N. S, Onn, F. M, Musa, H., & Mahmood, A. H. (2009). Tatabahasa dewan edisi ketiga. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Lewin, K. (1946). Action Research and Minority Problems. Journal of Social Issues. 2. 34-46.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1946.tb02295.x Nasarudin, A., Abu Hanifah, M. J. S., & Kassim, H. N., Mazlan, A. N. & Hassan, A. A. Pengajaran dan pembelajaran dalam talian: Kajian kes terhadap guru bahasa Arab sekolah rendah. Jurnal Penyelidikan Jelai. 15. 62-71. Norok, N. B. M., & Khairuddin, K. F. (2022). Tahap kesediaan guru terhadap penggunaan kaedah bermain sambil belajar bagi murid berkeperluan khas pembelajaran. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. 7(1). 132-144. Tar, Dayang. J. A., & Mahmud, Muhd. I. (2021). Minat, tingkah laku distruptif dan gaya pembelajaran murid bermasalah pembelajaran di sekolah rendah. Jurnal Dunia Pendidikan. 3(4), 49-64. Ugek, l., & Badusah, J. (2018). Amalan dan masalah pengajaran literasi bahasa guru bahasa Melayu ketika mengajar murid penan. Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Melayu. 8(3). 25-38. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press Yahaya, M., Hanafiah, R., Zakaria, N. S., Osman, R., & Bahrin, K. A. (2020). Amalan pembelajaran abad ke-21 (PAK21) dalam pengajaran dan pemudahcaraan (PdPc) guru-guru sekolah rendah. Jurnal IPDA, 26(1), 13-24. Yusof, M. (2018). Trend ganti nama diri bahasa Melayu dalam konteks media sosial. Jurnal Komunikasi, Malaysian Journal of Communication. 34(2), 36-50. Zainon Hamzah, Z. (2022). Penggunaan kata ganti nama 'dia' dan 'kita' dalam pertuturan kanak-kanak Melayu: satu analisis pragmatik. Jurnal Bahasa. 4(1). 186-204. 42

OVERCOMING THE PROBLEM OF REGULAR PAST TENSE ‘-ed’ FORM IN WRITING via ‘SNAP’ CARD GAME SELVALAZI A/P SUBRAMANIAM1, SRI CHITRA A/P SAIGAR 2 SJKT Ladang Ulu Bernam 2 [email protected] ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of ‘SNAP’ card game technique could be helpful in overcoming the problem of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. The researchers have chosen Kemmis and Mctaggart Action Research Model (1988), in conducting this action research. This action research was carried out in Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Ladang Ulu Bernam 2, Perak. The participants was consisted of two pupils from Year 4 Natramil class who were categorized under low proficiency learners in English language. The data for this research was collected using pre-test and post-test, observation and interview. The results obtained in the post-test showed that there was improvement made by the participants in their performance by using correct regular past tense form of ‘-ed’ in writing through the use of ‘SNAP’ card game, The participants agreed that the ‘SNAP’ card game did help the pupils to overcome the problem of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. The results from the research states that the ‘SNAP’ card game did helped pupils in overcoming the problem of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. The 'SNAP' game card is also seen to be successful in arousing pupils' interest and confidence in learning English in the classroom. Teachers are also more motivated and feel confident in their ability to deliver the content of lessons in class. Based on this finding, it is concluded that the use of interesting teaching aids can not only attract students' interest, but can also improve writing skills by using the correct regular past tense form of ‘-ed. Therefore, I will continue to use that method for the next group of pupils. Keywords: ‘SNAP’ card game, regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. ABSTRAK Tujuan kajian ini dijalankan adalah untuk menentukan sama ada penggunaan kad permainan ‘SNAP’ dapat membantu murid dalam mengatasi masalah penggunaan kata kerja lampau imbuhan ‘-ed’ dalam penulisan. Pengkaji telah menggunakan Modal Kemmis dan McTaggart (1998) dalam kajian tindakan ini. Kajian tindakan ini telah dijalankan di Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Ladang Ulu Bernam 2, Perak. Peserta kajian terdiri daripada 2 orang murid Tahun 4 Natramil yang telah dikategorikan di bawah murid yang berkemahiran rendah dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Data kajian ini dikumpul dengan menggunakan ujian pra dan pos, pemerhatian dan temu bual. Keputusan markah yang diperoleh daripada ujian pos menunjukkan peningkatan peserta kajian dalam mengatasi masalah penggunaan kata kerja lampau imbuhan ‘-ed’ dalam penulisan melalui menggunakan kad permainan ‘SNAP’. Peserta kajian bersetuju bahawa teknik kad permainan ‘SNAP’ mampu menjadi panduan untuk mengatasi masalah penggunaan kata kerja lampau imbuhan ‘-ed’ dalam penulisan. Hasil dapatan kajian ini membuktikan bahawa penggunaan kad 43

permainan ‘SNAP’ dapat membantu murid untuk meningkatkan kemahiran menulis dengan menggunakan kata kerja lampau imbuhan ‘-ed’ yang betul. Kad permainan ‘SNAP’ juga dilihat berjaya meningkatkan minat dan keyakinan murid mempelajari Bahasa Inggeris di dalam kelas. Guru juga lebih bermotivasi dan berasa yakin dengan keupayaan diri dalam menyampaikan isi pengajaran di dalam kelas Berdasarkan dapatan ini, disimpulkan bahawa penggunaan bahan bantu mengajar yang menarik bukan sahaja dapat menarik minat murid, malah dapat meningkatkan kemahiran menulis dengan menggunakan kata kerja lampau imbuhan ‘-ed’ yang betul. Oleh yang demikian, saya akan terus menggunakan kaedah tersebut bagi kumpulan murid yang akan datang. Kata Kunci: Kad Permainan ‘SNAP’, penggunaan kata kerja lampau imbuhan ‘-ed’ dalam penulisan. 1.0 INTRODUCTION According to Thornbury (2018), grammar is defined as a description of the rules in forming sentences including an account of the meaning that these forms convey and said that grammar adds meanings that are not easily inferable from the immediate context. Suryani Awang et al (2015) stated that many pupils make errors in the usage of the tenses although exposure to both the simple present tense and past tense is given at a very early stage in the teaching of English Language at schools in this country. The frequent mistakes and errors that pupils are making in tenses are past tense. Wills (2007) state that when the teachers scrub joy and comfort in the classroom, they distance students from effective information processing and long-term memory storage. Richard-Amato (1996) states that even though games are often associated with fun, teachers should not lose sight of their pedagogical values, particularly in second language teaching. Games are effective because they provide motivation, lower students' stress, and give pupils the opportunity for real communication. Learning through games indirectly motivates the pupils and absorbs their learning better. The names of the researchers are Selvalazi A/P Subramaniam and Sri Chitra A/P Saigar. The researchers are teachers at SJKT Ladang Ulu Bernam 2, Perak. The subject taught by researchers was the English language. Here, the researchers were assigned to teach Year 4 Natramil which consists of 2 pupils. The proficiency level of the pupils was low as their English was influenced by their mother tongue. The teaching and learning activities of the researchers were based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) syllabus in Malaysia. The usage of English language was hard to see even during English lessons in the classroom. Moreover, they have a very low self-confidence and lack of motivation when it comes to the English language. This eventually affects their ability in writing as well. For writing, they hesitated to write because they were very scared as if they would make mistakes. Hence, they felt the English Subject was difficult for them and they showed less desire to learn anything related to English. One of the ways for the researchers to know the pupils’ weaknesses in writing were through worksheets. These pupils tend to misuse the regular past tense ‘-ed’ form while writing. There were some hard times whereby the researchers had to translate some meaning of the words in the mother tongue in helping them to understand the whole process of teaching and learning. As an alternative way, the researchers used simple techniques such as their body gestures, simple language and used their hand phone as well as LCD projector images to make them understand the word. It made the pupils more interested and engaged to the lesson that was taught by the researchers. 44

2.0 RESEARCH FOCUS Knowledge in grammar plays an important role in improving pupils’ writing skill. During the teaching and learning process, the researchers noticed that the pupils have a low proficiency level of English. The usage of grammar does influence the level of proficiency in English. Thus, the focus of study of this research is regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. This research highlighted the alternative way to learn regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing to the two research participants. There are several criteria for the researchers to choose the focus of the study. The first criteria of this focus of the study was manageability where it suits the needs of the participants to engage fully during the intervention as its fun and meaning as well. Moreover, the intervention was environment free where the school environment was suitable for this intervention. The next criteria for the researchers to choose the focus of the study is applicability. The card game that was invented is also applicable as it involves interpersonal skills that have enhanced the multiple intelligence of the respondents which enhance the interest of the participants. Besides, the third criteria for the researchers to select the focus of the study was collaboration where the school administration and other teachers were very supportive towards the researchers to implement the intervention and the process of collecting data from the respondents. Apart from that, relevance also was one of the important criteria as the respondents involved themselves in physical activities during teaching and learning activities in the classroom. Research Objectives This research aims: 1. To find out if ‘SNAP’ card game can develop pupils’ understanding of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. 2. To investigate if ‘SNAP’ card game can help teacher in improving the correct use of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. Research Questions In this research, the researchers have formulated the questions as below: 1. Can the ‘SNAP’ card game develop pupils’ understanding of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing? 2. How does ‘SNAP’ card game help teachers in improving the correct use of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing? 3.0 RESEARCH METHOD (METHODOLOGY) After the difficulties of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing among the pupils were discovered, there were several ways that have been taken in order to get additional information and strong justifications on the issue that was identified. Moreover, the gathering of data proved that the pupils were unable to identify the correct regular past tense ‘-ed’ form verbs in writing. The ways that the researchers used to gather data were document analysis, interview and grammar past form tests. The researchers have chosen Kemmis and Mctaggart Action Research Model (1988), in conducting the action research. 45

Figure 1: Kemmis and Mctaggart Action Research Model The first phase of the action research model proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart is plan. The issue of identifying the correct regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing is identified through their Year End question paper and exercise books. Then, the researchers conduct the preliminary investigation by document analysis, interview and implementing grammar past form test. This has led the researchers to use the information to construct the research questions and research objectives for the issue in hand. The next process of the model that was proposed by Kemmis and McTarggart is the action. In this phase, the research conducted the intervention designed which was the ‘SNAP’ card game to overcome the problem of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. During this practical stage, the researchers had played their role to achieve the goal of the research objectives and find answers to the research questions. The third phase of the cycle is known as an observation stage. In this stage, the observation was done to generate findings regarding the pupils’ performance after implementing the intervention and also the effectiveness of the action taken. The last stage is the reflection phase. In this phase, the researchers reflected on their own study and the effectiveness of the action taken and data analysis were made. The correct flow of research is also evaluated in this phase. As shown in Figure 1, the new cycle will be continuing after the reflection is made. Hence, this reflection phase will help in fixing a clear direction on what has to be done for the new cycle of the research. 4.0 RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS The target group of this research were Year 4 Natramil pupils and there were 2 of them. Both the participants were Indian girls. The researchers carried out a grammar past form test (Refer appendix A) and the two participants who scored the lowest marks selected from the result. Therefore, the researchers have decided to help these two participants in order to establish their knowledge on using card game to learn regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. The researchers adhered to the code of ethics by not revealing the names of the research participants throughout the research. Based on the observation from teaching and learning, the researchers could sense that the participants were struggling to use regular past tense ‘- ed’ form in writing. The researchers translated almost everything to the pupils. 46

Table 1 Research Participants’ Profile No Research Participant Code Gender Race 1 Participant 1 (P1) Girl Indian 2 Participant 2 (P2) Girl Indian 5.0 IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERVENTION First and foremost, a pre-intervention test was carried out with the selected two Year 4 Natramil pupils to collect the data. Then, the researchers applied their intervention during grammar lessons. The selected pupils were given input about the regular past tense ‘-ed’ form. Then, ‘SNAP’ card game was introduced to the pupils. Each pupil was given 14 cards (regular and irregular) respectively. Hence, the two pupils took turns and read aloud the sentence with correct answers. Once the pupils recognised the correct regular past tense form of ‘-ed’, they put the card on the table and said ‘SNAP’. Then, they wrote the sentences on a paper given and their work were assessed. Moreover, a post-intervention test was given to the research participants to see and analyse their improvement and progress. As a final step, the pupils who were involved in the intervention process were interviewed in a group to analyse their progress. The steps of the intervention implemented are shown in the table below. Table 2 The Steps of the Intervention Implemented Number Plan of action Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 1 ⮚ Giving permission letter to the school headmaster. 3 ⮚ Carrying out document analysis method. 4 ⮚ Choosing research participants. 5 ⮚ Conducting pre-intervention test. 6 ⮚ Marking and analysing the preintervention data. 7 ⮚ Introducing the intervention to the participants. 8 ⮚ Implementation of the intervention. 9 ⮚ Conducting post-intervention test 10 ⮚ Conducting interview with the pupils. 11 ⮚ Collection of data based on the three instruments. 12 ⮚ Analysis of pre-intervention and post-intervention test from the interpretation of data. 47

13 ⮚ Analysis of observation checklist 14 ⮚ Analysis of interview 15 ⮚ Writing a report Pre-test and post-test, interview and observation were the data collection methods that were carried out during the research. First and foremost, the type of document analysis that was used by the researchers was pre-test and post-test. The pre-test was done before the implementation of the intervention and it consisted of 10 subjective questions. The questions that were asked in the test were about regular past tense of ‘–ed’ form. Then, the post-test was conducted after the implementation of the intervention. The results of the pre-test and posttest were compared, analysed and recorded using a frequency table. The results of pre-test and post-test were analysed as below: Score = 100% Next, the researchers conducted an interview. It was a group interview. The pupils were able to answer the questions asked by the researchers about the implementation of the intervention as word choice that the researchers choose for their interview question was simple. The pupils were classified as P1 and P2. Then, observation was used to record the behaviour of the participants during the implementation of the intervention. In this case, the researchers used both the direct and indirect observations through the implementation of the intervention. The direct observation was made by watching the pupils’ interaction as well as their behaviour towards the implementation. While, the indirect observations were conducted by observing pupils’ work. Apart from that, the researchers also videotaped their lesson during the implementation of the intervention to make sure that they can recheck their observation reflection. The researchers made an observational checklist in order to collect data from participants’ work and behaviour which were recorded during the implementation of the intervention. In this research, the researchers did a data triangulation method. Pre-tests and posttests, interview and observation were used in order to increase the validity of the research. By cross-checking the data collected from the tests, observations and interviews, the researchers could see the participants’ improvement and progress that made data contain high validity and reliability. 48

Observation Interview Figure 2: Data Triangulation Method 6.0 RESEARCH FINDINGS The use of the ‘SNAP’ card game has proven to be appropriate in this research because it helped the participants to overcome the problem of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. Table 3 The Scores obtained by the Research Participants on ‘SNAP’ card game Past Tense Sentences (‘SNAP’ card game) Participants P1 P2 1. Ak Keong played football with his friends. / / 2. Siti visited her parent in Johor last week. / / 3. Sisi painted a beautiful drawing in the class last week. / / 4. I waited for you yesterday at the bus station. / / 5. Mani watch Spiderman with his family yesterday. / 6. Abdul walked with his son a few minutes ago. / / 7. The train stopped a few minutes ago. / / 8. Amir ate his lunch a few hours ago. / / 9. My parents came to school yesterday. / / Pre-test and Post-test 49

10. Ah Peng sold his motorcycle last year. / / 11. Sofia made a delicious dinner for her family just now. / 12. I just saw Ali with his friends a few minutes ago. / / 13. The rabbit ran across the field just now. / / 14. Jane bought a fancy dress for her birthday party yesterday / / Score 12/14 14/14 Research question 1: Can the ‘SNAP’ card game develop pupils’ understanding of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing? a) Pre-test and post test The score of the participants in the pre-test and the post-test were recorded in a form of table. The score then was presented in the form of percentage (%). The researchers used the following formula to calculate the percentage of the participant score: Percentage of the Score = Scores obtained × 100% Total Score Table 4 Comparison of the Pre-intervention test and Post-intervention Test Results Participants Pre-test (%) Post-test (%) Difference (%) P1 50 100 50 P2 20 100 80 Table 3 shows the score obtained by both the participants in the pre-test and post-test as well as the percentage of improvement shown by the participants. It proved that all the participants have achieved an improved scores in the post-test. 50

120% 100% 100% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Participant 1 Participant 2 Participants Pre-test Post-test Figure 3: Comparison of Pre-test and Post-test Scores Based on the different scores obtained in Figure 3 above, it showed both the participants in this action research had shown improvement in overcoming the problem of regular past tense of ‘-ed’ form in their writing ability. b) Observation Table 5 Results of the Observational Checklist Questions Participant P1 P2 1. Participant pay full attention towards the writing activity in the ‘SNAP’ card game / / 2. Participant actively participate in the ‘SNAP’ card game during the lesson. / / 3. The ‘SNAP’ card game promotes the element of fun in the classroom. / / Based on Table 4, the researchers agreed with the use of the ‘SNAP’ card game in improving participants’ ability to overcome the problem of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. The intervention that has been implemented provided the participants to deal with fun and interest towards learning of English subject as all the participants showed positive responses. Scores 51

Research question 2: How does ‘SNAP’ card game help teachers in improving the correct use of regular past tense of ‘-ed’ form in writing? a) Interview Table 6 Interview Questions that were asked by the Researchers No Interview questions 1. Why do you like to play ‘SNAP’ card game? 2. How did the ‘SNAP’ card game helped you to overcome regular past tense form of ‘- ed’? 3. Would you like to choose ‘SNAP’ card game in writing lesson in the future? 4. Are you interested in learning English subject now? 5. Which part of the lesson did you enjoy the most? The table shows the questions asked by the researchers to the research participants. The first open-ended question that was asked to the participants was “Why do you like to play ‘SNAP’ card game?” All the participants gave their respective opinion for this question The responses were recorded as follow: Table 7 Participants’ responses for Question 1 Participant Responses given P1 “It was fun.” P2 “The game was good to play.” Besides, “How did the ‘SNAP’ card game helped you to overcome regular past tense ‘-ed’ form problem?” was another open-ended question when the interview was carried out. For this question, all the participants gave their responses as follow: 52

Table 8 Participants’ Responses for Question 2 Participant Responses given P1 “It was easy to identify the past tense ‘-ed’ verb.” P2 “I can write the correct regular past tense sentences.” Moreover, the next question that was asked by the researchers was “Would you like to Choose ‘SNAP’ card game in writing lesson in the future?”. For this question, the pupils were overwhelmed when answering the questions. Both the participants answered “yes” to this question in interview. Table 9 Participants’ Responses for Question 3 Participant Responses given P1 “Yes” P2 “Yes” Apart from that, “Are you interested in learning English subject now?” was also another closed ended questions when the interview was carried out. All the participants answered “yes” to this question. Table 10 Participants’ Responses for Question 4 Participant Responses given P1 “Yes” P2 “Yes” Last but not least, an open-ended question was asked to the participants. The question was “Which part of the lesson did you enjoy the most?” The responses revealed that the participants were able to construct a correct sentence after the intervention was carried out. The responses are recorded as follow: Table 11 Participant’s Responses for Question 5 Participant Responses given P1 “When we played ‘SNAP’ card game” P2 “When we played the card game” Based on the participants’ justification for this question, it can be concluded that the ‘SNAP’ card game was helpful in overcoming the problem of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form especially in writing. Since they have to copy and write the sentences from the card given, the participants recognized and understood the sentence structure for past tense. 53

b) Observation Table 12 Data Analysis of Observational Checklist Participant Questions 1 2 1. Participant was able to identify the correct regular past tense ‘-ed’ form through ‘SNAP’ card game. / / 2. Participant was able to write simple sentences using the correct regular past tense ‘-ed’ form. / / 3. Participant was able to understand the correct use of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form using ‘SNAP’ card game. / / Based on the observational checklist analysis, it proved that the participants were able to understand the correct use of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing using the ‘SNAP’ card game as they shown positive responses. Both the participants were able to identify the correct regular past tense ‘-ed’ form and write it correctly even though there were some distractor cards. 7.0 REFLECTION The first learning point that the researchers have gained from this research was that the researchers has learnt to give simple instructions for the pupils to use the intervention designed for better usage. During the implementation of the intervention, weaknesses of delivering instructions to pupils were identified. In addition, the researchers came to the positive conclusion that this intervention can increase pupils’ understanding and improvement of the usage of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form through observation. The results of this observation were further strengthened by the results of the interviews. Through the results of the interviews, it was found that the participants were able to remember the usage of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form using the ‘SNAP’ card game in writing. Furthermore, the researchers learnt to be organized in implementing their intervention. Each and every action that had been done in the intervention made the researchers to encourage themself and have the spirit to find a better solution to solve the issues faced during teaching practice. From this research, the researchers were able to identify their strengths and weaknesses by reflecting the issues discovered during implementation of the intervention. 54

8.0 PLAN FOR FUTURE RESEARCH Appropriate time and duration should be considered by the future researchers in order to get a better result. The future researchers could lengthen the intervention period on using the ‘SNAP’ card game to ensure of this game to improve the pupils’ ability to overcome the problem of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. Moreover, it is also recommended that the teacher should test pupils’ understanding with more questions a bit higher than their level so they pupils tend to be more focus during the intervention. Next, the teachers can use this intervention to teach other grammar rules as well. These suggestions can help the primary ESL pupils to overcome the problem of regular past tense ‘-ed’ form in writing. Such recommendations are set sights for the improvement of a teacher’s teaching and learning practice. Moreover, it is also a teaching aid which can really complement a teacher’s role in the classroom for the betterment of his or her teaching and learning practice. As a whole, teachers are the key for successful learning. By inventing intervention for teaching and learning practice, it helps to less the burden of teachers in preparing for the lesson. 9.0 CONCLUSION Based on this action research, learning English from the grammar aspect will be more meaningful if we as teachers succeed in attracting students' interest and confidence in learning English in a fun learning environment. Teachers need to be more creative in making PdPC a success according to the needs of students and always look for solutions to make them interested in learning English to meet the aspirations of students in the PPPM 2013-2025 which are thinking skills and knowledge. I will continue to find methods that are appropriate to the topics being taught and increase my level of professionalism by finding materials that can create a fun learning atmosphere in the classroom. 55

REFERENCES Brown, H. Douglas. (2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. USA: San Francisco State University. Ernawati, P., Raharjo, T. J., & Sugiyo, S. (2019). Effect of Word Card Games and Picture Cards on the Introduction of The Concept of Beginning Reading and Writing in Early Childhood. Journal of Primary Education, 8(7), 11-17. Kemmis, S. and McTaggart, R. (1988). The Action Research Planner. (3rd ed) Waurn Ponds: Deakin University Press. Puspitasari, I., & Kurniawan, A. B. (2017). Quartet card game: changing students’ grammar mastery in writing descriptive text. In ISOLEC (InternationalSeminar on Language, Education, and Culture) Proceedings (pp. 83-87). Richard-Amato, P., A. (1996). Making it happen. New York: Addison Wesley Publishing Group. Pp 192-199. Awang, S., Maros, M., & Ibrahim, N. (2015). Language Idiosyncrasies in Second Language Learners' Use of Communication Strategies. Asian Social Science, 11(18), 55. Thornbury, S. (2018). Learning grammar. The Cambridge guide to learning a second language, 183-192. Willis, J. (2007). The neuroscience of joyful education. Educational leadership, 64(9), 1-5. 56

MENINGKATKAN PENGUASAAN KEMAHIRAN HURUF VOKAL BAGI MURID ORANG ASLI TAHUN 1 MENGGUNAKAN TEKNIK GAYA PEMBELAJARAN VAK MUHAMMAD NUR ASNAWI BIN ROMLY,1 ITAERDAYU BINTI SHAHIDAN,2 AZMAN BIN ISMON3 ¹Sekolah Kebangsaan Pos Musoh (LZ), Tapah, Perak ²Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Batang Padang, Tapah, Perak [email protected] ABSTRAK Kajian ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal dalam kalangan murid Orang Asli (OA) Tahun 1 Perdana. Kajian ini melibatkan seramai 10 orang murid Orang Asli suku kaum Semai yang dipilih secara pensampelan bertujuan di salah sebuah sekolah rendah Orang Asli di Daerah Batang Padang. Model yang digunakan adalah model kajian tindakan Kemmis & McTaggart (1988). Tinjauan awal telah dilaksanakan melalui aktiviti semakan buku latihan murid dan hasil ujian pra, didapati murid masih lemah dalam menguasai kemahiran huruf vokal yang merupakan kemahiran asas bagi murid dalam mata pelajaran Bahasa Melayu. Bagi mengatasi masalah ini, teknik gaya pembelajaran Visual, Auditori dan Kinestetik (VAK) telah digunakan untuk membantu meningkatkan penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal dalam kalangan murid Orang Asli. Instrumen yang digunakan ialah ujian pra dan pasca yang diberikan kepada murid, pemerhatian semasa sesi PdP dan soal selidik yang telah dijalankan kepada murid. Dapatan kajian telah menunjukkan peningkatan ketara dalam penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal dalam kalangan murid Orang Asli, di samping mewujudkan sesi pembelajaran yang aktif dan bermakna serta dapat menarik minat murid tersebut. Justeru, kajian ini mencadangkan agar teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK ini diaplikasikan dalam sesi pengajaran dan pembelajaran untuk semua kemahiran literasi Bahasa Melayu bagi murid Tahun 1. Kata kunci: kemahiran huruf vokal, gaya pembelajaran, Orang Asli 1.0 PENDAHULUAN Bahasa Melayu merupakan satu mata pelajaran teras dan kemahiran huruf vokal pula merupakan kemahiran asas permulaan yang perlu dikuasai oleh semua murid. Kemahiran huruf vokal ini perlu dikuasai oleh murid mulai di Tahun 1 lagi. 1.1 Refleksi Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran Yang Lalu Pengkaji telah mempunyai pengalaman mengajar di Sekolah Murid Orang Asli (SMOA) selama hampir lapan tahun. Murid-murid bagi kelas Tahun 1 Perdana ini terdiri daripada 10 orang murid Orang Asli (OA) suku kaum Semai. Semasa menjalankan proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran, pengkaji mendapati beberapa orang murid masih tidak dapat menguasai kemahiran asas literasi Bahasa Melayu iaitu kemahiran huruf vokal (a, e, i, o dan u). Justeru itu, pengkaji telah mengambil keputusan untuk membuat pemerhatian terhadap murid tersebut sebelum, semasa dan selepas mereka melakukan aktiviti yang diberikan oleh pengkaji semasa sesi pengajaran dan pembelajaran berlangsung. Berdasarkan pemerhatian yang telah dilihat dan ujian pra, pengkaji mendapati bahawa mereka sukar mengenal huruf vokal yang ditunjukkan oleh pengkaji. 57

Pada permulaannya, pengkaji memerhatikan prestasi murid dengan mengenalkan huruf vokal berdasarkan gambar yang terdapat pada buku “Bacalah Sayang”. Rajah 1: Gambar huruf vokal yang terdapat pada buku “Bacalah Sayang” Hasil pemerhatian mendapati murid tersebut masih sukar mengenal dan mengecam huruf vokal dengan baik. Hal ini kerana mereka banyak melakukan kesilapan ketika membulatkan huruf vokal berdasarkan gambar tersebut. Murid diberikan lembaran kerja berserta gambar yang mempunyai huruf vokal dan diminta untuk membulatkan huruf vokal yang sesuai berdasarkan gambar dalam lembaran kerja tersebut. Keadaan ini menyebabkan mereka kurang berminat dengan aktiviti tersebut kerana kurang memahami dengan penerangan yang diberikan oleh pengkaji. Murid juga didapati kurang berminat dengan sesi pengajaran dan pembelajaran yang hanya berpandukan gambar semata-mata. Situasi ini menyebabkan pengkaji berasa sangat kecewa dan sedih. Oleh itu, pengkaji telah mengambil keputusan untuk menggunakan satu teknik yang sesuai bagi meningkatkan penguasaan mereka dalam kemahiran huruf vokal dengan lebih baik. Pengkaji meneruskan pemerhatian ke atas murid yang bermasalah dalam mengenal huruf vokal serta menarik minat mereka untuk mengenal huruf vokal. Pengkaji tidak lagi mengajar hanya bergantung kepada gambar sahaja tetapi mengambil insiatif untuk menjalankan kajian tindakan terhadap masalah yang dihadapi agar masalah tersebut dapat diatasi. Oleh itu, pengkaji menjalankan kajian tindakan dengan menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK. 2.0 FOKUS KAJIAN/ISU KEPERIHATINAN Fokus kajian ini adalah bertumpu kepada teknik yang lebih menarik bagi meningkatkan penguasaan kemahiran dalam menguasai kemahiran huruf vokal menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK yang sesuai dengan fitrah kanak-kanak Orang Asli. Hampir kesemua kanakkanak yang menghadapi kesulitan dalam menguasai kemahiran membaca di mana punca masalahnya adalah pada peringkat asas iaitu kegagalan mengenal bunyi sebutan huruf vokal awalan a, e, i, o dan u. Antara kesilapan yang sering dilakukan oleh murid ialah: i. Murid tidak dapat mengecam dan mengenal huruf vokal dengan betul; ii. Murid tidak mampu membuat perkaitan antara gambar dengan huruf vokal yang ditunjukkan oleh guru, dan iii. Murid tidak berminat untuk belajar menggunakan teknik gambar semata-mata. 58

Berdasarkan daripada masalah itu, pengkaji sedar bahawa masalah ini tidak boleh dibiarkan berlarutan memandangkan kemahiran huruf vokal ini merupakan kemahiran asas yang perlu dikuasai sepenuhnya oleh murid Tahun 1. Pengkaji akan cuba membantu murid bagi mengatasi masalah di atas dengan cara mengubah kebiasaan ketika mengajar. Pengkaji bercadang untuk menambahbaik cara mengajar selama ini iaitu daripada hanya menunjukkan gambar huruf vokal kepada perkaitan gambar huruf vokal dengan keadaan sekeliling murid, nyanyian dan gerakan serta aktiviti praktikal yang menyeronokkan. Bagi membantu murid-murid menguasai kemahiran huruf vokal, pengkaji telah merancang teknik yang sesuai dan berkesan. Pengkaji menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK iaitu integrasi gaya pembelajaran visual, auditori dan kinestetik. Melalui gaya pembelajaran visual, pengkaji menggunakan teknik lukisan huruf yang telah diinovasikan oleh Puan Itaerdayu binti Shahidan (Pegawai Unit Pemulihan Khas PPD Batang Padang), manakala bagi gaya pembelajaran auditori pula pengkaji menggunakan lagu AEIOU yang digunakan oleh Tadika PASTI. Bagi gaya pembelajaran kinestetik pula pengkaji menggunakan beras warna-warni bagi memberi peluang kepada murid untuk terlibat secara aktif menggunakan deria sentuhan mereka. Rajah 2: Lukisan huruf 59

Rajah 3: Lirik lagu AEIOU dan beras warna-warni Aktiviti melalui teknik gaya pembelajaran ini mudah dilakukan dan mampu merangsang kecerdasan pelbagai yang terdapat pada setiap murid. Pengkaji percaya bahawa kemahiran membaca adalah penting untuk kanak-kanak terutamanya pada peringkat awal persekolahan kerana kemahiran membaca mempunyai hubungan dengan penguasaan bahasa. Menurut Mohd Mahzan Awang et. al., (2013), pengajaran yang berkesan memerlukan pengetahuan mengenai perkara dan pengajaran kemahiran. Maka dengan adanya pengetahuan maka saya dapat melaksanakan aktiviti pengajaran dengan lebih baik. 2.1 Objektif Kajian 2.1.1 Objektif Umum Meningkatkan penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK dalam kalangan murid OA Tahun 1. 2.1.2 Objektif Khusus i. Murid dapat meningkatkan penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal dengan betul, ii. Murid dapat membuat perkaitan antara gambar dengan huruf vokal’ dan iii. Murid dapat melibatkan diri secara aktif dan praktikal dalam sesi PdP. 2.2 Persoalan Kajian i. Adakah terdapat peningkatan penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal murid dengan menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK? ii. Adakah murid dapat meningkatkan tahap perkaitan antara gambar dengan huruf vokal dengan menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK? iii. Adakah murid dapat melibatkan diri secara aktif dan praktikal dalam sesi PdP dengan menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK? 60

2.3 Kumpulan Sasaran Kajian ini difokuskan kepada 10 orang murid OA Semai di mana 4 orang murid lelaki dan 6 orang murid perempuan Tahun 1. Pemilihan murid tersebut kerana mereka masih baharu di alam persekolahan dan masih belum menguasai kemahiran huruf vokal. 3.0 PERANCANGAN PELAKSANAAN KAJIAN (REKA BENTUK KAJIAN) 3.1 Langkah-Langkah Tindakan Kajian ini telah menggunakan Model Kemmis & McTaggart (1988) iaitu merefleks, merancang, bertindak, dan memerhati (Cresswell 2008; Merriam 2009; Cohen et. al., 2007). Model ini dipilih untuk kajian ini kerana ia sesuai dengan cara perancangan pengajaran dan pembelajaran pengkaji. Rajah 4: Model Kajian Tindakan Kemmis & McTaggart (1988) Fasa 1: Merefleks Ujian pra telah dijalankan untuk menguji tahap penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal dalam kalangan murid Tahun 1. Sebanyak 5 soalan ujian pra huruf vokal diberikan kepada 10 orang murid. Ujian pra diberikan terlebih dahulu kepada murid bagi mengetahui tahap kefahaman mereka terhadap isi pelajaran yang baharu. Hasil skor markah ujian pra seperti terdapat dalam Jadual 1. Jadual 1: Penskoran Markah Ujian Pra Murid Markah Ujian Pra (Huruf Vokal) 1 2 2 1 3 1 4 2 5 1 6 1 61

Jadual 1a: Penskoran Markah Ujian Pra Murid Markah Ujian Pra (Huruf Vokal) 7 1 8 2 9 2 10 2 Hasil analisis ujian pra telah menunjukkan rata-rata murid hanya mampu mengenal hanya 1 atau 2 huruf vokal sahaja berpandukan gambar. Kebanyakan murid hanya mengenali huruf ‘a’ dan huruf ‘o’. Pengkaji juga telah membuat analisis terhadap pemerhatian tingkah laku murid di dalam kelas. Murid dilihat agak kurang motivasi dan tidak berminat dengan sesi PdP yang dilaksanakan oleh saya. Saya percaya bahawa gaya pengajaran yang tidak melibatkan murid secara aktif menyebabkan murid kelihatan bosan, tidak berminat dan mengantuk. Secara fitrahnya murid tahun 1 memerlukan aktiviti yang praktikal dan melibatkan mereka secara aktif serta menyeronokkan bagi menarik minat dan perhatian mereka. Fasa 2: Merancang Pengenalan Teknik Gaya Pembelajaran VAK. Hasil pemerhatian dan analisis ujian pra, pengkaji telah merancang satu tindakan sebagai rawatan kepada masalah yang menjadi fokus utama iaitu dengan menjalankan aktiviti yang melibatkan gaya pembelajaran VAK untuk mengatasi masalah yang telah dihadapi oleh murid. Pengkaji telah merancang dan melaksanakan penggunaan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK untuk mengatasi masalah sukar mengenal huruf vokal. Menurut Rashidah Elias et. al., (2013) mereka menyatakan bahawa kanakkanak pada umur tiga tahun ke atas telah mempunyai kesediaan untuk membaca kerana mereka secara semula jadi mempunyai kemahiran literasi awal sejak lahir. Pengkaji telah memilih integrasi gaya pembelajaran visual menggunakan teknik lukisan huruf di mana murid diberi peluang untuk mengenal dan mengecam huruf vokal berdasarkan gambar huruf vokal yang terdapat. Huruf ‘a’ diwakili gambar ayam, ‘e’ diwakili gambar ekor, ‘i’ diwakili gambar ikan, ‘o’ diwakili gambar oren dan ‘u’ diwakili gambar ular. Hal ini memudahkan untuk murid-murid Orang Asli mengenal huruf tersebut kerana mereka mampu membuat hubungkait di antara gambar dan huruf vokal tersebut. Murid kemudiannya diminta melukis huruf vokal berdasarkan gambar yang telah ditunjukkan oleh guru. Lukisan tersebut tidak perlu cantik dan kemas, hanya memadai sekadar dapat menunjukkan murid dapat mengenal dan mengecam huruf tersebut. Rajah 5: Gaya pembelajaran visual 62

Integrasi gaya pembelajaran auditori melibatkan nyanyian dan gerakan badan lagu AEIOU yang diperkenalkan oleh tadika PASTI. Murid diminta menyanyikan lagu tersebut dan membuat gerakan badan bagi mengajuk perkataan huruf vokal tersebut. Contonya, ‘a’ bunyi ayam kok, kok, kok dimana murid perlu membuat gaya seperti ayam. Rajah 6: Gaya pembelajaran auditori Manakala integrasi gaya pembelajaran kinestetik pula murid dibekalkan dengan beras warna-warni dimana murid diminta untuk menyurih huruf vokal menggunakan beras warna-warni tersebut. Objektif pembelajaran yang ditetapkan perlu diukur dan bersifat secara eksplisit iaitu dengan tepat dan jelas. Kemahiran berfikir sesuai dimasukkan unsur aktiviti secara praktikal ke dalam rancangan pembelajaran ini agar memudahkan pengkaji untuk menyampaikan isi pembelajaran kepada murid di dalam kelas dengan lebih teratur dan berkesan. Objektif yang ditetapkan akan dijadikan sebagai panduan kepada pengkaji untuk menjalankan kajian ini. Justifikasi pemilihan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK dibuat adalak kerana: i. Berpusatkan murid. Murid diberikan peluang untuk melibatkan diri secara aktif dalam aktiviti praktikal dan mampu membuat hubungkait gambar yang pastinya lebih dekat dengan diri murid Orang Asli Semai, ii. Sesuai digunakan bagi tahap perkembangan fizikal dan mental murid Orang Asli Semai, iii. Menyeronokkan. Elemen nyanyian dan gerakan badan melibatkan pergerakan psikomotor pastinya menyeronokkan dan melibatkan semua murid, dan iv. Mesra dengan guru dan mampu menarik minat murid untuk belajar. Teknik ini mesra dengan guru kerana teknik ini sebenarnya sudah lama wujud cuma melalui teknik berasingan dan tidak secara integrasi dalam PdP. Fasa 3: Bertindak Setelah merefleks dan merancang, pengkaji telah menyusun langkah tindakan seperti berikut: Langkah 1 Gaya pembelajaran visual menggunakan teknik lukisan huruf. Guru akan menyebut huruf vokal tersebut berdasakan gambar yang terdapat pada kad lukisan huruf tersebut. Seperti huruf ‘a’ akan disebut huruf ayam, huruf ‘e’ disebut huruf ekor, huruf ‘i’ disebut huruf ikan, huruf ‘o’ disebut huruf oren, dan huruf ‘u’ disebut sebagai huruf ular. Hal ini bagi mewujudkan perlambangan bagi setiap huruf vokal tersebut dan memudahkan murid mengenal dan mengecam huruf tersebut. Imej yang mudah dihubungkait oleh murid akan membantu mempercepatkan proses ini. 63

Langkah 2 Gaya pembelajaran auditori menggunakan lagu A, E, I, O, dan U. Guru akan memainkan lagu AEIOU dan murid dikehendaki untuk menyanyikan lagu tersebut bersama-sama. Kemudian, murid diminta untuk menyanyikan lagu tersebut dengan membuat gerakan badan berdasarkan lirik lagu tersebut. Langkah 3 Gaya pembelajaran kinestetik menggunakan beras warna-warni. Guru akan memberikan murid sepaket kecil beras warna-warni setiap seorang. Murid dikehendaki membuat huruf vokal yang disebut oleh guru menggunakan beras warna-warni tersebut. Langkah 4 Ujian pasca. Ujian pasca akan dijalankan kepada murid bagi menilai tahap penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal masing-masing. Fasa 4: Pemerhatian Ujian pasca Setelah aktiviti PdP menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK dilaksanakan, pengkaji telah memberi murid ujian pasca. Hasil dapatan itu membolehkan pengkaji untuk menilai keberkesanan teknik ini. Jadual 2 menunjukkan perbandingan markah ujian pra dan ujian pasca yang telah dianalisis. Jadual 2: Perbandingan Markah Ujian Pra dan Ujian Pasca Murid Markah Ujian Pra (Markah Penuh 5) Markah Ujian Pasca (Markah Penuh 5) Peningkatan / Pengurangan 1 2 5 3 2 1 4 3 3 1 4 3 4 2 5 3 5 1 2 1 6 1 1 - 7 1 1 - 8 2 5 3 9 2 5 3 10 2 5 3 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 2 1 0 Murid 1 Murid 2 Murid 3 Murid 4 Murid 5 Murid 6 Murid 7 Murid 8 Murid 9 Murid 10 Pra Pasca Rajah 7 : Graf Analisis Perbandingan Ujian Pra dan Ujian Pasca 2 4 4 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 64

Berdasarkan Jadual 2 dan Rajah 7 menunjukkan data yang diperolehi oleh murid kumpulan sasaran. Rajah 7 menunjukkan perbezaan yang amat jelas dan ini menunjukkan peningkatan kepada 7 orang murid manakala seorang murid menunjukkan peningkatan satu markah dan 2 orang murid tidak menunjukkan peningkatan dalam penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal. 2 orang murid yang tidak menunjukkan peningkatan berkemungkinan memerlukan intervensi lanjut kerana murid lambat menerima isi pelajaran atau bercirikan Murid Berkepeluan Pendidikan Khas (MBPK). Walau bagaimanapun, hasil ujian pasca secara keseluruhannya jelas menunjukkan satu unjuran yang baik. 3.2 Pemerhatian Berdasarkan hasil kajian daripada senarai semak pemerhatian yang telah disediakan untuk tujuan pemerhatian, pengkaji mendapati terdapat perubahan yang berlaku secara drastik dalam kalangan murid selepas melaksanakan sesi PdP menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK. Selepas didedahkan dengan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK, murid menjadi lebih berminat untuk menjawab setiap soalan yang diajukan oleh guru, mereka jua menunjukkan sikap yang proaktif apabila disoal oleh guru. Setelah murid didedahkan dengan aktiviti yang melibatkan praktikal, mereka menjadi lebih tertumpu dengan apa yang diterangkan oleh guru semasa isi pembelajaran disampaikan oleh guru terutamanya mengenal huruf vokal. Selain itu, pengkaji juga mendapati bahawa sifat murid menjadi lebih aktif semasa melakukan aktiviti nyanyian dan gerakan kerana mereka menunjukkan rasa teruja mereka. Jadual 3 menunjukkan senarai semak pemerhatian. Jadual 3: Senarai Semak Pemerhatian Aspek yang dinilai Tahap pencapaian Catatan SM M KM Minat murid awal bacaan. terhadap konsep / Murid berminat awal bacaan. untuk mempelajari Penglibatan pembelajaran murid dalam / Murid aktif dan sudi melibatkan diri dalam aktiviti praktikal yang dijalankan. Kefahaman murid terhadap topik literasi. / Tahap kefahaman murid telah meningkat dan menunjuk kemajuan pada responden tersebut. Tingkah laku yang dipamerkan oleh murid sepanjang pembelajaran huruf vokal. / Murid ceria sepanjang proses pembelajaran dan rajin bertanya jika terdapat sebarang soalan dan apabila murid tidak faham dengan cara pelaksanaan aktiviti praktikal. Sifat murid kepada topik huruf vokal. / Murid boleh fokus dan memberi perhatian yang sepenuhnya semasa menjalankan aktiviti praktikal tersebut. 3.3 Soal Selidik Selain itu, item berbentuk soal selidik juga disediakan untuk mengetahui tanggapan mereka dan kesan pendekatan ini terhadap penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal mereka. Borang soal selidik ringkas telah diedarkan dan murid dibimbing oleh guru untuk menjawab soal selidik bagi mendapatkan maklum balas murid berhubung teknik pembelajaran yang dilaksanakan sedia ada. Soal selidik ini membolehkan pengkaji mendapat maklumat tambahan berkenaan tanggapan murid berkenaan pembelajaran menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK. Hasil soal selidik boleh dilihat dalam Jadual 4. 65

Jadual 4: Analisis soal selidik Soalan Bilangan Murid Menanda Ya Bilangan Murid Menanda Tidak 1. Saya berasa seronok dengan kelas hari ini 10 0 2. Saya boleh terlibat aktif dengan aktiviti hari ini. 10 0 3. Saya semakin berminat untuk belajar. 10 0 4. Saya faham apa yang dipelajari. 8 2 Melalui borang soal selidik yang telah diisi oleh murid, sebahagian besar murid menyatakan bahawa penggunaan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK memberikan kesan yang positif ke atas strategi pengajaran dan pembelajaran mereka terutama suasana belajar menjadi seronok dan mereka dapat terlibat aktif dalam aktiviti tersebut. Murid juga menyatakan bahawa teknik ini mampu merangsang minat untuk belajar dan meningkatkan penguasaan kemahiran huruf vokal mereka. 4.0 REFLEKSI KAJIAN Keberkesanan teknik ini dapat dilihat daripada dapatan ujian pasca yang telah dijalankan oleh pengkaji. Perbandingan dapatan markah daripada ujian pra dan ujian pasca boleh dijadikan sebagai kayu ukur keberkesanannya. Melalui dapatan markah ujian pasca didapati 7 orang murid mencatatkan peningkatan markah daripada markah ujian pra yang dijalankan. Peningkatan ini dapat dilihat dalam julat yang agak membanggakan sehingga peningkatan 3 markah. Melalui pemerhatian ini, pengkaji dapat menyimpulkan bahawa peningkatan ini berlaku kerana penglibatan murid ini dalam aktiviti PdP dan pengaplikasikan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK dalam pembelajarannya. Selain peningkatan, terdapat juga murid yang setara dapatan markahnya iaitu seramai dua orang murid yang hanya mencatatkan satu markah bagi ujian pra dan ujian pasca. Hasil perbincangan bersama guru mata pelajaran yang lain mendapati dua orang murid tersebut menghadapi masalah pembelajaran. Oleh itu, pengkaji beranggapan bahawa murid ini memerlukan intervensi berbeza yang lebih berkaitan disiplin dan motivasi diri untuk belajar. Rajah 8 : Murid kelihatan seronok dan teruja Menurut Suppiah Nachiappan et. al., (2017), pembelajaran melalui kaedah bermain merupakan satu pendekatan pengajaran dan pembelajaran yang berkesan kepada kanak-kanak. Kaedah ini akan mewujudkan keseronokan dan kepuasan kepada mereka dalam sesuatu pengajaran. Kanak-kanak akan menguasai pelbagai perkembangan seperti perkembangan dari 66

aspek fizikal, emosi, bahasa dan sosial melalui kaedah ini. Kanak-kanak akan memperoleh pembelajaran yang paling berkesan sekiranya mereka mempelajari sesuatu dengan sesuai dan menarik di mata mereka. Oleh itu, melalui aktiviti praktikal juga dikategorikan sebagai salah satu permainan malah dapat membantu murid untuk menimbulkan rasa minat terhadap topik pengajaran yang disampaikan dengan menggunakan kaedah bermain. Selain itu, aktiviti yang melibatkan kanak-kanak melakukan aktiviti adalah lebih berkesan berbanding dengan pembelajaran yang hanya bergantung kepada buku sahaja. Penggunaan bahan bantu belajar, murid dapat melihat dan secara tidak langsung murid boleh memahami dengan lebih mudah dan jelas. Berdasarkan analisis yang telah dibuat, pengkaji begitu gembira apabila mendapati teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK yang diperkenalkan kepada kumpulan sasaran ini dapat membantu mereka menguasai kemahiran huruf vokal dengan mudah dan cepat. Murid juga berasa seronok dalam setiap aktiviti yang mereka lakukan. Mereka lebih fokus dan gembira melaksanakan aktiviti dengan pelbagai bahan menarik yang disediakan. Selain itu, teknik ini dapat menambah amalan pengajaran guru untuk menjadikan pembelajaran lebih bermakna kepada murid masing-masing. 5.0 CADANGAN SETERUSNYA Setelah mengaplikasikan teknik ini, pengkaji mendapat teknik ini sememangnya mendatangkan kesan positif kepada murid. Walaupun hasilnya memberangsangkan, namun jika dilihat aplikasi teknik ini pada kumpulan sasaran masih banyak mempunyai kekangan. Oleh itu, pengkaji akan meneruskan teknik ini tetapi akan menambahkan lagi beberapa aktiviti permainan bahasa. Sebagai contoh, aktiviti ‘Bingo Huruf Vokal’ dimana murid bermain bingo berpandukan gambar awalan huruf vokal. Permainan ini pastinya menggamatkan dan menaikkan semangat murid untuk belajar. Pengkaji juga menyarankan kajian lanjut dilaksanakan menggunakan teknik yang sama tetapi untuk mata pelajaran yang berbeza sebagai contoh Bahasa Inggeris dan Sains. Kajian ke atas mata pelajaran berbeza ini akan dapat membuktikan sejauh mana teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK ini boleh membantu mata pelajaran yang berkisarkan penguasaan sesuatu kemahiran. Akhirnya, pengkaji berharap semoga hasil kajian tindakan ini dapat dimanfaatkan dan mampu menjadikan sesi PdP lebih menarik, berkesan dan mampu mengubah tanggapan negatif terhadap kemahiran huruf vokal murid Orang Asli bagi mata pelajaran Bahasa Melayu. Secara keseluruhannya, pembelajaran menggunakan teknik gaya pembelajaran VAK ini amat membantu murid bagi menguasai dengan lebih baik malah ia juga merupakan satu teknik PdP yang sangat berkesan serta patut diamalkan oleh semua pendidik. Teknik ini melibatkan pengalaman seseorang murid dalam melakukan aktiviti secara individu. 67

RUJUKAN Abdul Halim, Anthony, N. E., & Zainudin, N. A. S. (2019). Pengetahuan Pengajaran Dalam Kalangan Guru Prasekolah. Jurnal Pendidikan Awal Kanak-Kanak. Bacotang, J., Mohamed Isa, Z., Che Mustafa, M., Arshad, M., & Omar, A. (2019). Addie Model Application In The Early Literature Module (LitA Modul) Development For Early Childhood (1-10). Jurnal Pendidikan Bitara UPSI, 9(2), 1-10. Chew, F.P & Fikri Ismail. (2020). Pelaksanaan Pendekatan Bermain Dalam Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran Bahasa Melayu Murid Prasekolah. Jurnal Pendidikan Awal Kanak-Kanak Kebangsaan, 9(1), 14-25. Elias, R., & Razali, M. (2013). Keperluan Memulakan Bacaan Awal Melalui Penggunaan Kit Bacaan Awal Untuk Kanak-Kanak Taska. Jurnal Pendidikan Awal Kanak-Kanak Kebangsaan, 2, 42-57. Mohd Awang, Abdul Ahmad, Jamalul Lail Wahab, & Nordin Mamat. (2013). Effective Teaching Strategies To Encourage Learning Behaviour. Jurnal Of Humanities and Social Science, 8(2), 35-40. Nordin Mamat, Loy Chee Luen, Nor Mashitah Mohd Radzi, Nurul Hasyimah Mat Rani Mazlina Che Mustafa, Syahida Iryani Mohd Yusoff, Mohd Mahzan Awang. (2020). Teacher-Child Interactions In Learning Activities. PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 17(9), 812-817. Sharifah Puteh & Aliza Ali. (2011). Pendekatan Bermain Dalam Pengajaran Bahasa Dan Literasi Bagi Pendidikan Prasekolah. Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Melayu, 1(2),1-15. Suppiah Nachiappan, Rachel Munovah, Norazilawati Abdullah, & Sandra Suffian.(2017). Perkembangan Kognisi Dalam Kanak-Kanak Prasekolah Melalui Teknik Bermain. Jurnal Pendidikan Awal Kanak-Kanak Kebangsaan, 6, 34-44. Wan Nurzuliana Wan Ahmad (2019). Amalan Guru Dalam Melaksanakan Literasi Bahasa Melayu Bagi Program LINUS Di Sekolah Rendah. Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa MelayuJPBM, 9(1), 1-11. 68

IMPROVING PUPILS’ SPELLING ABILITY USING “SAVE FLOWER” GAME FOR YEAR 5 INTAN AQEELA BINTI AZHAR SK Simpang, Perak Darul Ridzuan. [email protected] ABSTRACT This action research is on using Save Flower Game to improve pupils’ spelling ability. The research was implemented for 2 months in a primary school in Simpang, Perak after the discovery of problems in dictation and inaccurate word usage and spelling in a Year 5 class, specifically Year 5 Intan involving 6 pupils. A qualitative approach is used to seek the answers for the research questions. Researchers have adopted McNiff‟s Action Research Model (2017) which undergoes the process of action-reflection. This research comprises one cycle and three different instruments were used to collect data namely observational checklist, interview and analysis of the pupils’ worksheets for the purpose of triangulation. All the data are analysed descriptively. The findings show that the pupils’ performance has increased by more than 50% after the intervention. Thus, the Save Flower Game helps to improve Year 5 Intan pupils’ English spelling significantly. Besides, learning by guessing has helped to enhance spelling accuracy among the pupils and the infusion of competitiveness boosted up pupils’ motivation. Further research on this issue can be looked into the use of Save the Flower Game as an alternative to the existing Hangman Game to instil the love of nature as well as improving harder spellings. Keywords: spelling ability, Save Flower Game, improving, accuracy, motivation ABSTRAK Kajian tindakan ini adalah menggunakan Permainan Selamatkan Bunga untuk meningkatkan keupayaan mengeja murid. Penyelidikan ini dilaksanakan selama 2 bulan di sebuah sekolah rendah di Simpang, Perak selepas penemuan masalah dan penggunaan perkataan dan ejaan yang tidak tepat di dalam kelas Tahun 5, khususnya Tahun 5 Intan yang melibatkan 6 orang murid. Pendekatan kualitatif digunakan untuk mencari jawapan bagi persoalan kajian. Pengkaji telah menggunakan Model Kajian Tindakan McNiff (2017) yang menjalani proses refleksi tindakan. Penyelidikan ini terdiri daripada satu kitaran dan tiga instrumen berbeza digunakan untuk mengumpul data iaitu senarai semak pemerhatian, temu bual dan analisis lembaran kerja murid bagi tujuan triangulasi. Semua data dianalisis secara deskriptif. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa prestasi murid telah meningkat lebih daripada 50% selepas intervensi. Oleh itu, Permainan Selamatkan Bunga membantu meningkatkan ejaan Bahasa Inggeris murid Tahun 5 Intan dengan ketara. Selain itu, pembelajaran dengan meneka telah membantu meningkatkan ketepatan ejaan di kalangan murid dan penyerapan daya saing meningkatkan motivasi murid. Kajian lanjut mengenai isu ini boleh dilihat dalam penggunaan Save the Flower Game sebagai alternatif kepada Permainan Hangman sedia ada untuk menyemai cinta alam serta menambah baik ejaan yang lebih sukar. Kata kunci: keupayaan ejaan, Permainan Selamatkan Bunga, peningkatan, ketepatan, motivasi 69

1.0 INTRODUCTION The use of game in helping pupils’ spelling has been proven effective through some research made. Al-Azawi et al., (2016) stated that game-based learning enables to retain the focus of pupils and widen knowledge. The fact that spelling has been made possible into game indicates the importance of spelling for pupils as part of English language learning. 1.1 Reflection Researchers discover several problems regarding words spelling from pupils’ work which is dictation and from how they responded during English lesson. The pupils identified are six pupils who are pupils of moderate level of English proficiency. They are able to listen to the pronunciation of the words given with guidance, but they are not able to think of any words or guess the words accurately by spelling them out for the given meaning. Researcher also observed that pupils’ inaccurate spellings in every word dictation. As they progress from one unit to another, they find it hard to recall long or advanced words that they have learned previously. If researcher do not find any suitable intervention to solve these problems, pupils would continue to face challenges in mastering words as well as repetitively making spelling errors that can completely change the meaning of any sentences for any misspelled words in the sentences therefore contributing to deterioration of pupils’ proficiency. 2.0 RESEARCH FOCUS Researcher focuses mainly on the intervention for spelling. These are based on the emerging problems discovered as follows: • Pupils are not able to think of any words for the given meaning. • Pupils’ inaccurate spellings in every word dictation. • Pupils find it hard to recall long words learned. Researchers believe that the invention used which is Save the Flower game is suitable and can work as a mechanism that allow pupils to play with letters in order to understand the structure of the word spelling. Thus, the use of Save Flower Game is to find out how it would continue to retain their interest in the playing with words and encourage them to have the belief that they can spell and eventually write simple sentences using their own ideas that would eventually improve their English proficiency gradually. 70

2.1 Research Objectives 2.1.1 General Objective This research is carried out to see an increase in the pupils’ achievement for English subject. 2.1.2 Specific Objective 1. To improve student interest that can be used to increase pupils’ ability in mastering spelling. 2. To improve pupils’ spelling ability using Save Flower game. 2.3 Research participants Participants of this study involve 6 pupils who are identified to have problem in spelling that is also affecting their writing skill. There are 3 boys and 3 girls. These pupils are chosen because they do not perform well during dictation in their independent work although their English proficiency is at moderate level. 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Researcher adopted McNiff Action Research model (2017) in my research using the qualitative approach. The research is conducted according to the systematic steps in this model; observe, reflect, act, evaluate and modify which is illustrated in Figure 1. The details of how each step being followed is shown in Table 1. Figure 1: McNiff Action Research Model (2017) 71

Table 1: Description of the research model according to stages Observe I observed the problems faced by the pupils. This is to identify which students face the similar problems that contribute to the spelling problem when asked orally and during dictation. Data from the observation checklist and also from the pupils’ work is collected. Reflect I compared the problems faced by the pupils with the issues faced by other educators in ESL classroom as in referring to other articles. I reflected on the problems faced in spelling by deciding on the approach, technique and materials to solve the problems. Act I gave pupils some time to go through words from two specific units from their English textbook. I conducted the implementation of Save Flower Game as an intervention with the targeted pupils. Every round of game lasted for 15 minutes. For each word, pupils are given more than one clue: theme, meaningful phrases, usage in sentence. Evaluate Before conducting the game, pupils are given pre-test. Pupils are given post-test after playing the game. Additional worksheets are given for reinforcement. Modify I modified the level of difficulty of the game by providing longer words or advanced words and only one clue; meaningful phrase. Games are modified by having competition between two teams. (e.g. Boys vs Girls). It is to note that the words given are beyond what they have learned in their textbook. The reason is that I wanted the pupils to focus on the pronunciation of the words before spelling and guess the words based on their prior knowledge. I also modified the worksheets by increasing its difficulty. 3.1 Observe Pupils are observed from their response when conducted spelling activity in the class. Their performance in spelling is also observed during dictation which is when they are asked to listen to pronunciation of words and write them down in their book. Both of these are recorded in an observation checklist for researcher to compare and contrast by finding out the real problems faced by pupils in spelling. 72

Figure 2: Pupils’ work and their scores during dictati 3.2 Reflect Researcher reflects upon the pupils’ interest and behaviour during spelling activity and dictation by comparing to findings that other researcher come across during the lesson that involve spelling. Pupils are less motivated and have lack of interest during the lesson. They find it difficult to associate what they lesson and interpret that in the form of writing letter by letter. 3.3 Act Pupils are given a pre-test. Researcher implemented Save Flower Game for each round of game lasted for 15 minutes. Pupils are guided during the first and second round of game. Pupils listen to the clue given and try to guess the word by filling the gaps with letters that they can think of. For every wrong letter, one part that makes up a flower would be erased. Pupils stick to the rule of the game until the end. Figure 3: Samples of pre-test 73

Figure 4: During implementation of Save Flower Game 3.4 Evaluate Evaluation takes place when pupils are administered with the similar questions from the pretest. This is for researcher to see comparisons between pre-test and post-test. 3.5 Modify Modification is made by the researcher in terms of changing the difficulty of the words and clues, as well as conducting the game in group instead of individual to encourage competition and cooperation. 74

4.0 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS METHOD There are different types of instruments used to collect the data in the beginning of the research namely the observational checklist and pupils’ work which are the dictation activity and short quiz. During the implementation of the Save Flower Game, researcher has used the observational checklist to monitor the pupils’ progress in terms of behaviour and thinking. The checklist consists of five items and the data gained from the checklist was tabulated for further analysed. Semi-structured interviews are used to interview pupils after they have been intervened with the Save Flower Game as Goh (2010) states that semi-structured interviews give the researcher opportunities to elicit information with probes to get in-depth responses on the topic of interest. The responses from the interview are transcribed and then interpreted further to look for broad patterns that seems to answer the research questions. Other than that, the total marks of the pupils for pre intervention (pre-test) and post intervention (post-test) allow me to see development of pupils in spelling. Researcher had analysed the marks of pupils by using a graph. This allows to organise data in a systematic way thus supporting the findings of the study. Figure 2: Result of Pre-test and Post-test The average score for the pupils before intervention took place is 56%. 56% is considered as the satisfactory score. However, after intervention the average score of the pupils increased to 77% which considered as the good score. From the graph, there is clearly an increase in the marks scored by all pupils which means that they have managed to show improvement in their spelling. Table 2: Comparison of pupils’ participation in the lesson for three interventions Pupils Before intervention During intervention After intervention Yes No Yes No Yes No Pupil 1 √ √ √ Pupil 2 √ √ √ Pupil 3 √ √ √ Pupil 4 √ √ √ Pupil 5 √ √ √ Pupil 6 √ √ √ 75

Based on the observation, researcher have recorded the comparison of pupils’ participation in the English lesson during the three phases of interventions which are before intervention, during intervention and after intervention. Pupils participated actively during the intervention that is when they are playing the Save Flower Game. Pupils were eager to give a letter at each time and to complete the empty spaces with right letters in order to save their dying flower. This is because for every wrong letter given, researcher would erase one part of the flower. This means the intervention has produced positive result on boosting pupils’ confidence in answering and increase motivation level. The additional worksheets given in between the rounds of game enable the pupils to get familiar with words while staying concentrated and focus in spelling. Table 3: Pupils’ responses in the interview Question: How do you feel after playing the Save Flower Game? Pupil 1 I feel very happy! Pupil 2 Yay! I always save my flower! Pupil 3 I think I want play again. Next time, I win. Pupil 4 Fun. Very, very fun. Pupil 5 Teacher... I got wrong. Sad... flower die. Pupil 6 Tomorrow play again? Can? Based on Table 3, the pupils felt that playing Save Flower Game is fun and they are motivated to play again to do better. When they became motivated, their urge to get the correct spelling became higher and thus they seldom wrote wrong spelling. They are also able to retain the spellings of words bonded to their pronunciations and meanings in memory. 5.0 RESEARCH FINDINGS This action research found out that the intervention was effective to help the pupils improve their ability in mastering spelling. The findings are supported by the incredible increase of marks in the post test as compared to the pre-test. This increment of the graph bar shows that pupils have improved their ability to concentrate on the contextual clues before thinking to spell the words. The use of Save Flower Game helped the pupils to get familiarised with the spellings and their meaning in context by listening to the clues each time they answer the empty spaces by filling in the letters one by one. Researcher believes that practice makes perfect. As they practice lots of time in the additional worksheets after each round of the game, pupils eventually achieve the accuracy of spelling, and this resulted in their achievement in the post test as well as their behaviour throughout the intervention. This would instil the willingness to write all letters without missing out any in writing activity. In addition, pupils are able to foster love for nature. By referring to the Table 3, positive outlook on loving nature can be indicated by their responses on the flower. One pupil (Pupil 2) expressed his relieve and happiness for being able to save his flower all the time meanwhile one pupil (Pupil 5) expressed sadness for being unable to save the flower. This Save Flower Game can be an alternative to replace the Hangman Game which can be offensive and inappropriate to kids. 76

6.0 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH One of the suggestions to improve the intervention is that the researcher can digitalize the game by using the integration of Information and Technology. For instance, teacher can turn the game in the form of interactive power point slide with coloured image of flower or the disappear effect of any parts of the flower for any wrong letters. This effort would definitely save time for teacher as teacher would not need to manage how the flower appears to be based on the pupils’ spelling. Besides, teacher can also create a mobile application that can be modified to suit to the theme or sub-theme of learning as well as the syllabus that can be easily downloaded on the Google Play Store. The limitation is that more time is needed to create application that has a stable game systems and teacher may not have the knowledge of implementing the game on the site of the Google Play Store. Although this effort can reach more pupils but not all pupils have suitable devices to play the game and this educational playtime only available when they are at home with internet connections. Apart from that, teacher can use the intervention in differentiated approach that allows participation of all pupils if the duration of implementing is longer. This means that teacher can prepare activities that can enhance pupils’ spelling ability at their level. For example, pupils with high level of proficiency will be given activity that needs them to look for the meaning of long words independently at discourse level which then can be expanded into speaking and writing skills. Instead of providing pupils with the understanding of contextual clues, teacher is providing opportunity for other pupils to explore vocabulary at their own pace. This is further supported by Agustina, D., & Fajar, D. A. (2019) that through independent learning one has the willingness to work on his or her own because he or she has a particular goal to achieve. Ehri, L. C., & Rosenthal, J. (2007) has highlighted the role of teacher as a guider who needs to show the spellings of new vocabulary words when they discuss their meanings. Thus, students should be guided by their teacher to stop whenever they encounter unfamiliar words then pronounce the unfamiliar words that by encouraging them to never skip unfamiliar words during independent reading. Furthermore, the researcher can always encourage pupils to use the words that they could spell after using the intervention. Instead of having the spelling activity on its own, teacher can guide pupils to do short creative writing with the word choices that they discover from the intervention. Let them get to understand the terminology of the words for example the word ‘antisocial’ can be broken down into ‘anti’ that means against and ‘social’. Teacher can always elicit their prior knowledge of the words by giving them the opportunity to try to say contextual clues in their own words. Van Riesen et al. (2019) stated that prior knowledge when activated would contribute to better learning engagement in the sense that reduce cognitive load. With prior knowledge, pupils can make comparison and associate the meaning of words with something they have seen or encounter in real life situation. Other than that, extrinsic motivation like praises can be offered when carrying out the intervention to motivate high quality continuous work. Playing the game of the same structure for a long time can be bored therefore the researcher can introduce the “reward system” in the game so that to keep their interest and make the game more exciting. CONCLUSION Overall, the findings of the study have provided vital insights that highlights the objectives outlined as well as answers the questions of the research. Hence, the Save Flower Game is an intervention that is more likely to have potential in helping to teach to improve spelling ability among pupils. The flexibility of the game enable teacher to teach pupils with many techniques that significantly improve their ability to spell thus pique their interest to learn other English language skills. 77

REFERENCES Agustina, D., & Fajar, D. A. (2019). The importance and the meanings of independent learning: university students’ perceptions. Vidya Karya, 33(2), 104. Al-Azawi, R., Al-Faliti, F., & Al-Blushi, M. 2016. Educational gamification vs. game-based learning: comparative study. International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology 7(4). Bartolotti, J., & Marian, V. (2017). Orthographic knowledge and lexical form influence vocabulary learning. Applied psycholinguistics, 38(2), 427-456. Dong, A., Jong, M. S. Y., & King, R. B. (2020). How does prior knowledge influence learning engagement? The mediating roles of cognitive load and help-seeking. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 591203. Ehri, L. and Rosenthal, J. (2007). Spellings of words: A neglected facilitator of vocabulary learning. Journal of Literacy Research, 39(4), 389–409. Goh, L. H. (2010). A practical guide to writing your action research. Puchong, Selangor: Penerbitan Multimedia. McNiff, J. (2017). Action research: All you need to know. Action Research, 1-288. Nurhayati, D. A. W. (2012). Improving students’ English spelling ability through concentration game and tell a story game. In Proceedings of The 2nd National Conference on Teaching English for Young Learners (pp. 205-217). Van Riesen, S. A., Gijlers, H., Anjewierden, A. A., and de Jong, T. (2019). The influence of prior knowledge on the effectiveness of guided experiment design. Interact. Learn. Environ. 2019, 1–17. doi: 10.1080/10494820.2019.1631193 Zweibohmer, K. (2009). Spelling Instruction in the Classroom. 78

Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk meningkatkan kemahiran menulis pelajar menggunakan alatan web 2.0 dalam memudahkan aktiviti penulisan kolaboratif semasa sesi pembelajaran dalam talian. Penyelidikan ini tertumpu kepada 24 orang pelajar tingkatan empat yang berkemahiran rendah. Mereka menjalani tiga kitaran intervensi yang berkaitan mengenal pasti cabaran dalam kaedah pengajaran guru. Intervensi telah direka selaras dengan pendekatan proses penulisan. Sebelum memulakan tugasan penulisan kolaboratif, pelajar dilatih dalam kemahiran asas menulis, merangkumi tatabahasa, kosa kata dan struktur ayat. Penilaian kemajuan pelajar adalah berdasarkan perbandingan antara karangan ujian pra dan ujian pasca, temu bual pelajar, dan catatan jurnal refleksi guru. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahawa menggunakan alat dalam talian untuk meningkatkan kemahiran menulis melalui aktiviti kolaboratif amat berkesan. Kata kunci : Alat dalam talian, kemahiran menulis, aktiviti kolaboratif, Penilaian THE INTEGRATION OF WEB 2.0 TOOLS IN THE FORM 4 ENGLISH LANGUAGE COLLABORATIVE WRITING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS AMONG LOW PROFICIENCY LEARNERS MOHANA RAM A/L MURUGIAH SMK Perempuan Methodist, Ipoh [email protected] Abstract The purpose of this study was to improve students writing skills using web 2.0 tools in facilitating collaborative writing activities during online learning sessions. This research focused on 24 low-proficiency form four students. They underwent three cycles of intervention following the identification of challenges in the teacher's instructional method. The interventions were designed in line with the process writing approach. Before embarking on collaborative writing tasks, students were trained in foundational writing skills, encompassing grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure. Assessment of student progress was based on comparisons between pretest and post-test essays, student interviews, and the teacher’s reflective journal entries. The results revealed that using online tools to bolster writing skills through collaborative activities was notably effective. Keywords : Online tools, writing skills, collaborative activities, Assessment Abstrak 79

1.0 INTRODUCTION Being the lingua franca of the 21st century, the English language has found a permanent place in the globe as a language for trade, education and social standing (Dewi, 2015). It has become a language that connects individuals, organizations and countries alike, that mastering the language has become a necessity in the 21st century. Though mastering the language has become important especially at school levels, the acquisition of the language is not something that of a natural process like a first language, instead scholars and practitioners have experimented various approaches that can be implemented in the classroom to ease the process of mastering the language as a second or other language. Besides, there have been various studies in the area of psychology, linguistics and psycholinguistics that have also contributed in finding ways to enable learners to master the English language. Although mastering the English language can be put into four categories of skills namely reading, writing, listening and speaking, the writing language has always been a skill that learners’ struggle to acquire. The writing skill has always been a struggle among low proficiency learners who are struggling to cope with writing skills. As such, this action research study is looking at how low proficiency learners’ interest in writing was roused using the web 2.0 tools to improve their writing skills. Hence this action research study wishes to find answer to the following questions : a) To what extend does the web 2.0 tools help in improving students’ writing skills when it is integrated with the English language writing module? b) To what extend does the web 2.0 tools help in developing students’ motivation towards writing skills? 1.1 Reflection Of Past Practices The COVID19 pandemic has altered the face of education and the way knowledge had been imparted for centuries. The pandemic has pushed students and teachers alike to continue the teaching and learning process in the online platform, which was not a bed of roses to many. Reflecting on my own practices in the beginning of the year, it was found that pupils had started losing interest in the writing lesson that was conducted in the online platform known as Google Meet. The lesson was mostly a one – way communication without students’ interaction and when questions were asked students do not respond despite a longer wait – time is given. It was also noticed that students’ submission on the written work was not up to the expectations. Grammatical errors, lack of vocabulary as well as structural errors were found in students’ essay. Despite having lessons online with all the elements combined and thought for writing, it could be seen that students are unable to grasp the knowledge imparted. It is evident that there is a problem in the writing lesson here as students are unable to follow the writing lessons online. Teacher reflection on classroom practice was required to understand what may have gone wrong during the lessons. The lessons were often conducted complying to textbook content and teaching support materials using Canva, PowerPoint or Google Slides. The reason teacher support materials were combined with the textbook lesson was to enable pupils to understand the lesson better so that the learning outcome could be achieved. However, despite the effort and preparation made from the teacher’s part, students seem to not be able to grasp the content and frequently make the errors despite already being explained. It could be seen that students are unable to understand the content being taught. Looking at the problems the students are facing in mastering writing skills, the teacher tried to change his classroom approach to enable students to write better. As writing skill is one of the most important components in the higher secondary writing language class, he felt there was an urgency to build my students writing skills. Taking into consideration all the issues that was being faced in the language particularly writing lessons, there was a need for the teacher to identify what the problem was with the 80

students and to plan further actions that need to be taken so that students will not be left behind in developing their writing skills. 1.2 Problem Identification The main goal of an action research is to identify the problem in classroom and act accordingly to find solution to the problem (Mertler, 2009). In order, to identify the problem and to make sure there was a problem the teacher carried out a classroom questionnaire survey, analysis of students essays, online classroom observation and a diagnostic test. 1.2.1 Questionnaire Survey Fielding (2004) has stated that a students’ voice was relevant as they are the main source of a classroom action research. Therefore, a questionnaire survey was carried out to identify students’ problem and what they think of the English language lesson, particularly the writing lesson. According to British Council, (2015) a questionnaire survey would be the simplest way possible to identify a problem in classroom. A ten question survey was administered to the students and their responses are shown in the table below: Table 1: The table below shows the result of the questionnaire survey done by the teacher to identify problem in the class. Statement Yes No 1 I like this years’ English Language lesson. 15 10 2 I like to develop my writing skills. 17 8 3 I like to attend online class. 13 12 4 I can develop writing skills in the online class. 5 20 5 I have learnt new writing techniques since the beginning of the year. 6 19 6 My teacher is teaching us writing in an interesting way. 4 21 7 I find writing to be very interesting. 2 23 8 I want to write more. 2 23 9 I always complete my writing tasks. 3 22 10 I like to attend the writing lessons. 3 22 Based on the table above it could be seen from the survey that was carried out with the 25 students. The survey result shows that their writing lessons to be too daunting and lack of interest in developing their writing skills. However, most of the students in the table have indicated that they have interest in learning English which is a positive attitude. However, from the responses in statement 6 till 10, it could be summarized that students find that English language writing lessons are less interesting, and they have also indicated that they did not learn anything from the writing lessons. 1.2.2 Analysis of Students’ Work The next course of action that was carried out was to analyze students’ work that was carried out (Cindrić & Kolobarić ,2020). The pictures shown below are examples of work of students who had submitted their work: 81

Figure 1: shows students essays before the intervention was done From the analysis of students’ works it could be seen errors are rampant in students essays in term of grammar, vocabulary as well as the structure of the sentences (Cindrić & Kolobarić ,2020). Besides, the essays are too short, and they are unable to develop and elaborate their ideas longer which is an evident that the current classroom practice does not make an impact in improving students’ writing skills. 1.2.3 Teacher Reflection On Classroom Practices As the teacher reflects his own classroom practices, and think what went wrong, he tried to understand what was first done in the classroom. Teacher reflection his own practices help in identifying the issues in the classroom that can be sorted (Kaymakamoglu,2018). The following are the activities that the teacher has always done during his writing lesson which is deduced based on his reflection and his lesson plan prepared for his writing lessons. The highlighted phrases below are examples from the teachers lesson plans which shows his classroom practices for writing lesson : a) ‘online presentation tools, and used sample essays to explain to the students on how to write well’ b) the teacher also makes it a point to ‘explain in detail on every aspect of the writing part by showing how to elaborate the ideas’. c) Teacher ‘introduces specific vocabulary required for writing’ d) Teacher ‘talks about the conclusion of the essay and how it should be’ e) Teacher ‘explains about the tenses required for the essay’ f) Teacher ‘gives examples of different structure of sentences for students to create a variety of structures for their essays’ When teacher reflects and analyzed his own planning and how his writing lessons have been carried out, he realized that his classroom practices has always been too teacher-centered without giving opportunity for students to practice what is being taught. The teacher found the missing essence in his teaching when he analyzed his own lesson plans. 1.2.4 Students Writing Random Reflection On Writing Lessons In order to identify the issue in his classroom, the teacher requested the students to write a random reflection on how they felt about the teacher’s lesson. Students’ reflection can be a data for teachers to improve their own classroom practices (Hammond et al., 2017). Below are some examples of excerpts from their reflections for teacher to understand how the students perceive the lesson. 82

Figure 2: Students’ reflection on writing lesson before intervention The teacher required students to write a random reflection so that students could write honest reflection without worried of being reprimanded by the teacher. When students’ reflections were analyzed, words such as ‘boring’, ‘not interested’ and ‘cannot understand’ was identified. Besides, the students also stated that they learn better with friends when they discuss and write together just like how they used to do it in their face – to – face classrooms. This made the teacher realized that lack of collaboration among students may have an effect in their writing tasks. 1.2.5 Diagnostic Test A diagnostic test, testing students’ writing skills was carried out using the writing task from the textbook. Students’ score average score in the writing test was below average. The table below shows the results of the diagnostic test. Table 2: Students’ Diagnostic Scores Student Test Score Student Test Score Student 1 12 Student 13 13 Student 2 13 Student 14 12 Student 3 11 Student 15 9 Student 4 14 Student 16 11 Student 5 13 Student 17 13 Student 6 8 Student 18 12 Student 7 12 Student 19 9 Student 8 13 Student 20 14 Student 9 14 Student 21 10 Student 10 7 Student 22 13 83

Table 2a: Students’ Diagnostic Scores Student Test Score Student Test Score Student 11 13 Student 23 10 Student 12 11 Student 24 14 The problem in teacher’s classroom practice was identified through the survey, students’ reflections, analysis of teachers’ lesson plan as well as the diagnostic. From the survey it was found that students like learning the English language. However, they dislike the way the teacher has been carrying on with the lesson. Secondly, the analysis done on the students’ work proves that students’ work was not up to the level of expectation and it was found that the length of their essays were not a the acceptable level. There were errors in terms of grammar, vocabulary as well as the sentence structure which needs urgent attention. Thirdly, analysis of teacher’s lesson plan and reflections found that teacher’s lesson were too teacher-centered without opportunity for students to try the new concepts introduced with teacher presence before actually writing their essays. Most of the time teacher talked and there was less communication between the teacher and students. Finally, a textbook based diagnostic test was done and it was found that the average class score of the test was below average. All the four elements of problem identification shows that students are unable to perform in their writing skills due to unattractive online learning environment which led them to unable to improve their writing skills. Besides, the textbook content was proven to be too difficult for them that their writing scores was below average. The result of the problem identification showed that there is a need for intervention to improve the writing skills of these group of students by improving teachers’ practices in classroom (Maghsoudi, 2013; Ghabool et al., 2012; Nor Mazidah et al.,2012; Akhan and Hassan, 2010). In order to improve students’ performance in writing, an interactive writing module embedded with the Web 2.0 tools was developed by the teacher and the module was used as a part of this study with the aim to : a) solve the problem faced by the students in developing writing skills using web 2.0 tools. b) enable students to write better in English as required in the 2013 – 2025 Malaysian Education Roadmap. In order to achieve the aim, this study wishes to answer the following research questions: a) To what extend does the web 2.0 tools help in improving students’ writing skills when it is integrated with the English language lesson? b) To what extend does the web 2.0 tools help in developing students’ motivation towards writing skills? 2.0 METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research Design This study employs the action research model by Mcniff (2013). According to Mcniff (2016), action research is a way for researcher to understand his own actions and reflecting upon them to improve the actions for betterment. If a person feel that his practice is not up to the mark than the person can actually improvise it and explain what was improved and how it changed his practices and if it is the other way round it also needs to be explained why one feels that the 84

practice is just a good and does not need improvement (Mcniff, 2016). Besides, action research is also a practical design which helps to find solution to a practical problem (Creswell, 2014). Based on the definition of the action research given by Mcniff(2016), this study looks at the way how the teacher concerned in this study has been teaching writing skills and what was the improvement or changes made in his classroom practices. It also would look at what impact the changes had on the students’ writing skills. The Diagram below shows the action research model by McNiff (1988). Figure 3: Jean McNiff’s (1988) Action Research Model The model of spiral of steps shown in the diagram above was first developed by Lewin (1946). The model then went through several innovation steps over the years and also became the fundamental process in Mcniff’s (1988) action research studies. The spiral steps above are simple steps of repeated action research cycles of planning, acting, observing changes, reflecting on changes or improvisation and repeating the same cycle once again several times until the desirable improvement is obtained (Mcniff, 2016). The repeated cycles in the study helped the teacher to observe what was happening in his classroom and reflect his own actions and plan and act with further action for the next cycle. 2.2 Participants The participants involved in this study are 24 Secondary four pupils from a secondary school in Ipoh. The study was conducted in a girls’ secondary school. Hence all the participants involved in this study are girls. The students did not have a prior public examination results as the PT3 2020 were cancelled due to the spread of the COVID19 pandemic. However, the diagnostic test and analysis of pupils’ online work serves as a baseline data to categorize the pupils as low – proficiency 2.3 The Study This study explores the development of writing skills of low – proficiency learners during the COVID19 pandemic using the Web 2.0 tools for the development of vocabulary, grammar and sentence structures required for the writing as well as collaborative writing activities online for essay writing tasks. A diagnostic test was carried out to conform the problems students had in their writing classes after analyzing students’ work, teacher’s lesson plan and students’ reflection writing activities. The diagnostic test is also taken as the pre – test for this study. 85

Throughout the study, pupils had several activities associated to writing tasks before they carry out the collaborative writing activities as shown in the table below : Table 3: Activities Planned for the Interventions Activities Planned for all the cycles Online Applications Students' role Teacher's role Pre – writing activities Grammar for writing Vocabulary for writing Quizizz Google forms Google Document for collaborative writing Wakelet Jamboard, Padlet Edpuzzle Individual learner ● Obser students progress Sentence Constructing activities Develop ideas in sentence with proper structure Individual learner ● Observe stud ents ' progress provide feedback to the task Paragraph writing Develop paragraph writing Pair - work ● Observe students progress ● Provide feedback to the task Essay Writing Task Complete a whole essay Collaborate in a group of 3 ● Observe students ' progress Provide feedback to the task Reflection Writing reflection of the whole writing process Individual ● Observe students responses for futher action The table above shows classroom activities planned for every cycle. These activities will be same throughout all the three cycles that had been planned. However, modification will be made in terms of complexity of the tasks and length of the writing task accordingly after observing and reflecting on classroom activities in every cycle. During the intervention period, teacher introduces the Web 2.0 tools and explained the tasks that they were required. The way teacher approaches the students remains the same but what changes is the inclusion of web 2.0 tools for the task to check students understanding after every task was given. After every explanation and discussion in the class students were required to complete the online tasks given and these tasks focused on the grammatical elements as well as sentence structures and vocabulary which was found to be a problem among students during the problem identification stage. Upon completing the preliminary tasks, students are assigned sentence and paragraph constructing activities where these activities are observed by teacher when the students were completing them online. The most desired web tool used for in – class writing activities were the Jamboard.application. When all the preliminary tasks were completed, pupils were then instructed to work collaboratively to produce a complete essay using the google documents. The collaborative tasks consisted of three pupils in a group who worked on one google document to complete the writing 86

task. Pupils were to discuss the content based on the preliminary activities that they had done prior this task. Upon completion of each cycle pupils were required to write a reflection on the lessons that were carried out throughout the learning period and how they felt about it. 2.4 The Cycles In The Study The table below shows the number of cycles involved in the studies and the activities related throughout the cycles Table 4: The Intervention Cycles Cycle Number of lesson Number of hours Activities Task Cycle 1 (week1) 3 lessons 6 hours Pre writing task via online application focussing on grammar and vocabulary elements Collaborative writing in a group of three at google.doc Writing Narrative Cycle 2 (week2) 3 lessons 6 hours Pre- writing task on online applications focussing on grammar and vocabulary for article writing Collaborative writing in group of three at google.doc Writing Narrative Cycle 3 (week3) 3 lessons 6 hours Pre- writing task on online applications focussing on grammar and vocabulary for Opinion based essays Collaborative writing in group of three at google.doc Writing Narrative Based on the table above, the entire intervention period took about three weeks involving three cycles. In all the cycles, the activities were designed an executed as shown in the table 4 with modification based on students’ work outcome, reflection and teacher observations and reflections. 2.5 Instruments For Data Collection The instruments used to collect data for this study were the pretest, post-test, student interview after the post – test and teacher’s reflective journal throughout the time the study was conducted. The pretest and post – test was aim to test pupils development and improvement in writing skills before and after the intervention. The interview was carried out with pupils to find out how the intervention or activities carried out during the intervention helped them in developing their writing skills. Teacher’s reflective journal is analyzed to find out what did the teacher feel about the differences in students’ performance when the intervention was carried out and how he sees a difference in his own classroom practices along the way. 87

2.5.1 Instruments to measure writing skills The students writing skills was measured from the linguistics aspects. The assessment for writing skills was measured based on the following assessment table. The writing skills assessment criteria shown in the table below are adapted from Thompkins and Hoskisson (1995). Table 5: Writing Skills Assessment Rubric (WSR) Linguistic Aspects Score Content 5 Grammar 5 Structure 5 Organisation 5 Punctuation 5 Spelling 5 Total Score 30 The rubric adapted from Thompkins and Hoskisson (1995) was not piloted as it has been used widely for several similar research studies measuring development of writing skills among students (Istiqfaroh & Mustadi, 2020; Schneider, 1997; Zarif & Ahmed,2013). This instrument was used to measure the quality of students’ writing in terms of language for the pre – test and post – test to get a clear picture of how students have developed right after the pre – test till the completion of the post – test. 2.6 Procedure All the 24 students who were involved in the study has given their consent by getting parental approve to participate in this study. The study was conducted four about five weeks including the time taken for the intervention. To identify the outcome of the intervention three research instruments were used namely, the pre – test and post – test, teacher’s reflective journal and interview with students. For the pre – test and post – test, participants were given similar essay questions. 88

2.6.1 Intervention Stages i. Stage 1: Word Level Activities At this stage pupils were assigned task on Web 2.0 tools (Edpuzzle or Quizzizz) where students are given exposure to the vocabulary and grammar elements needed in the writing task. The task at this level requires students to understand the words that can be used to develop sentences when writing narrative. Creative expression, dramatic phrases and apt vocabulary are explained and developed at this stage. Teacher combines the lesson with explanation, activities and explanations again based on students’ performance on the online tasks. Students’ performance is recorded and at the end of this task, pupils are asked to reflect on the new ideas to learn and fill in the reflection forms ii. Stage 2: Sentence And Paragraph Writing At this stage pupils were engaged with sentence and paragraph level activities. The lesson was conducted with teacher explaining the tenses and words they learnt in the previous lessons and how to use them in building sentences. Students build their sentences and paragraphs on the Jamboard application and the teacher uses the same application to provide corrective feedback to help the pupils to understand the lesson better. After the completion of the task pupils were required to write reflection on their lessons in the google form. iii. Stage 3: Collaborative Writing Activity At this stage, pupils were put in groups of three and required to complete an essay using the words, phrases and ideas learnt from the activities in stage 1 and 2. Pupils were to use the google chat and google document applications to complete the writing task. After the completion of the task students work are assessed by the teacher and their scores are given as a group score. This activity marks the end of the cycle and they are required to write a reflection on what is gained from the cycle of activities and comments on the lesson. The activities stated above were carried out in three stages to develop pupils writing skills. All the three stages focused on pupils narrative writing skills and at the end of all the three cycles a post – test was carried out followed by interview with students and analyzing teacher’s reflection throughout the whole cycle. 89