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Grammar teaching has always been one of the most controversial and least
understood aspects of language teaching. Some teachers remain indifferent to grammar
and many teachers become obsessed by it. So, what is grammar actually? Based on
Oxford Dictionaries (2014), grammar is the whole system and structure of a language or
of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology
(including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics. On the other
hand, according to Thornbury (1999), grammar is partly the study of what forms (or
structures) are possible in a language. Thus, grammar is a description of the rules that
govern how sentence structures are formed. Good grammar knowledge is vital for
children to become successful in learning English. To develop childrens grammar
knowledge, a strong foundation and exposure to English language at an early age is
very important.
However, for a teacher, teaching grammar is not as easy as other people think.
There are many obstacles that a teacher needs to face in order to convey the
understanding of grammar to all pupils. Children just beginning to learn a new language
need some time to adapt to the language (Ioannou-Georgiou, 2010). They need
exposure to input of grammar before they can experiment with producing language.
Some children will gladly experiment with production but some will be shy and require
more time. That is why teaching grammar cannot be taught easily to them.
Thus, in order to catalyst the teaching of grammar to pupils, some forms of
intervention are needed to boost the teaching profession. Based on Institute of
Education Sciences (2015), intervention is an educational program, product, practice, or
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interesting because pupils can learn prepositions of location in a more interactive way.
According to Ioannou-Georgiou (2010), children enjoy games and thus participate
without anxiety. Games can motivate children greatly and they are activities which are
usually familiar to children as regards to structure, rules etc.
A) Observation (Checklist)
To collect data for my research, I used observation as one of the methods.
Observation includes the opportunity to record information as it occurs in a setting, to
study actual behaviour, and to study individuals who have difficulties in verbalizing their
ideas like small children (Cresswell, 2014). It aids to collect information to show in what
ways my intervention strategy can help the participants to use the preposition of location
correctly while playing the game during the process of the intervention. By observing
them, I can study their behaviours and performance during lessons as the participants
cannot tell me their feelings and thoughts. Classroom observation can be made based
on a checklist (Goh, 2012). The checklist was used during the observation to record the
respondents behaviour along with the intervention process. From that, I can see their
progress or struggles. The checklist (prepared as in Appendix A) has three aspects
which includes pupils facial expressions, pupils participation and pupils response
during the process of interventions.
B) Pre-Test and Post-Test
Next, I have conducted Test 1 (pre-intervention test) and Test 2 (post-intervention test)
to collect information to see the improvements made by my respondents after the
intervention has been carried out. Test should be utilized to measure the degree of
change occurring as a result of intervention (Shuttleworth, 2014). The Test 1 (as can be
seen in Appendix B) which was the pre-intervention test was done before the
intervention process. The purpose of this this test was to indicate the pupils with
problems of understanding prepositions of location. I intended to choose 5 of them
based on the lowest scores of all pupils in the 4 Bintang class. Test 1 consisted of 10
questions. The marks were taken by using percentage score (%) with the full marks of
100%. This means that every pupil was given 10% scores for every correct question.
After the intervention has been implemented, the same format of test was
administered on the respondents in which will be called as Test 2 (post-intervention
test). Test 2 was prepared as in Appendix C. This test was done to measure the
changes in scores from Test 1 to Test 2 after the implementation of intervention method.
I could measure the change resulting from the intervention by comparing the scores
from both tests. If the marks for the post-intervention increase, this will indicate that the
intervention has helped the pupils to use the preposition of location correctly or vice
versa. Thus, with data collected at the beginning and end of the intervention, the impact
is revealed by calculating the differences between two scores in the form of
percentages.
classroom, pupils have more opportunity to drill and practice using grammatical rules
and other functions in the fun way.
The intervention was implemented to the whole class of 4 Bintang because I do
not want my respondents to feel that they were the worst among their friends. But I was
still focused on them and observed their responses throughout the lesson. Although my
focus was on my respondents, I did not want the other pupils to be left out. So to
overcome this problem, they were also asked to participate in the lesson together with
the respondents. In this action research, there were steps that I have to use throughout
the intervention in order to achieve the goal. In order to implement the intervention,
step-by-step strategies were conducted:
Gender
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Marks (%)
0
10
0
0
10
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These pupils were identified and were given fully attention by me to see their
improvement o in achievements. In order to help them to improve, I have prepared an
intervention method for the next lesson.
iii) Intervention Method Lesson
I conducted Lesson 2 using the OMG method to replace the traditional method. I
conducted this lesson in the computer lab in which every pupil was able to use the
computer for the intervention method. I taught the same topic which was preposition of
location. I began the lesson with a similar activity as the first lesson. This was to ensure
that the lesson was parallel to the first lesson in terms of activities so as to enhance the
validity and reliability of the findings.
The next step was the introduction of the Observative Multimedia Game that was
used in the intervention method lesson (Appendix F). This step was implemented due to
several rationales. The first rationale of this step was to let the pupils know and
understand the concept of preposition through the game. They need to be drilled on
how to use the preposition correctly. The pupils were explained on how to play the game
until they complete the entire task. The second rationale of conducting this step was to
help the pupils to have general idea about the preposition of location so that they will
not leave behind in the lesson. They were introduced to new preposition on each stage
of the game.
After the explanation about the OMG, I asked my pupils to try the game by
themselves. This step was the most vital process in this research. I asked my pupils to
play the game and answer the preposition of location on every stage. The pictures and
the clues in the game helped pupils to find the correct preposition. The samples of the
game can be seen in Appendix G. Every pupil was given 3 times to play the game.
During the implementation, I have also explained briefly on how to use the preposition
of location correctly. This action was to add and clarify more about the knowledge and
understanding that the pupils already have in their mind. During this stage, I have also
observed the behaviours of my respondents by using the checklist prepared earlier.
iv) Test 2 (Determining Result)
For the final step, a post-intervention test which was called as Test 2 was
conducted in order to gain the validity of the action research. It was done during the
Production stage. The format of the questions was the same as the Test 1.
Data was collected from the test and being tabulated together with Test 1 in the
data table form as in Appendix H. Test 2 results shown the progress of the respondents
and the marks were compared with the Test 1. From the results based on the data
collected, I can conclude whether I need a second cycle or not.
What Were The Results of My Study?
Test 1
Test 2
One
90
Two
10
100
Three
80
Four
90
Five
10
100
Based on Table 2, I have observed that there was improvement for each
respondent in this research. For the first respondent, there was 90% improvement from
the Test 1 with the Test 2 which was from 0% to 90% scores. For the Respondent 2, he
managed to improve from 10% to 100% scores. For Respondent 3 and Respondents 4,
both of them got zero marks for the Test 1 which were 0%, but after the intervention
were carried out in the classroom, both respondents improved to 80% and 90%
respectively. Last but not least, Respondent 5 has improved as much as 90%. For Test
1, Respondent 5 has gained only 10% while in Test 2 the respondent 5 got 100% in the
test. Table 3 below shows the improvements from Test 1 to Test 2:
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Table 3
Percentage of improvements by the respondents
Respondent names
(pseudonym)
Test 1
Test 2
(%)
(%)
Percentage
of
Improvemen
t
(%)
One
90
90
Two
10
100
90
Three
80
80
Four
90
90
Five
10
100
90
From this table, it clearly shown that there were major improvements with my
respondents after the intervention method took place. 4 of them improved with 90%
marks while one of the improved with the minimum 80% marks. It can also be seen that
most of them got 0% from the Test 1 but managed to get major improvements after
experiencing the OMG method.
So, based on the findings above, this data can be one of the evidence that the
use of OMG can surely help the pupils to have a deep understanding about the
preposition of location.
B) Observation (Checklist)
Apart from Test 1 and Test 2, I have also chosen teachers observation as one of
my instrument to analyse the data. To ensure that the data is more reliable and valid, I
have a checklist to jot down the data obtained during the intervention. There were 3
checklists made by me as there were 3 rounds of intervention done by me. Below is the
summary of the 3 checklists that was done:
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Table 4
Summary of Checklists
Number
of
Respondents
Participation in
Class activities
Observations
Elements
Round
Intervention
of
Number
of
Number
of
Respondents
Respondents
Facial
Response
Expression
During
During
Intervention
Intervention
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Based on the data in the Table 4 above, it was clearly shown that the
respondents participated well in all the class activities carried out. Without the
participation from the respondents, the data could not be obtained thus the research
could not be completed as planned earlier. So, there was no problem at all for pupils
participation in class activities in all interventions conducted by me.
The next aspect that was observed by me during the intervention was the pupils
facial expression during the process of intervention. Based on the Table 4, all of 5
respondents were uninterested at all during the first round of intervention process. This
problem occurred because the pupils were not keen on learning grammar or preposition
of location specifically. But the improvement can be seen during the second round of
intervention. During this period, pupils were very excited and eager to learn through the
OMG. In the third round of intervention, only one respondent did not show interest in the
intervention process. This situation occurred because the respondent felt that he was
already good and did not need any explanation anymore. Thus, he began to lose focus
and interest during the intervention process.
The next aspect observed by me was the pupils responses during the
intervention process. During the first and the second rounds of intervention, only two of
the respondents could answer the questions which I posed to them. This problem arisen
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because the other respondents were shy to give answers as they lacked the knowledge
about preposition of location. But at the end of the intervention which was the third
round of intervention, all of the respondents were able to response to my questions.
They have already acquired the knowledge and they have the confidence to answer all
questions posed to them.
C) Pupils Work (Analysis of Documents)
Document analysis was used by me to analyse pupils work. At the end of every
lesson was done in the classroom, I gave exercise worksheet to the respondents for the
drilling process at home. So, there were 2 worksheets given to the respondents as there
were 2 lessons done by me. The results after analysis were recorded in the Table 5
below:
Table 5
Respondents exercise marks
Number of
exercises
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
(5 marks)
(5 marks)
Respondent 1
Respondent 2
Respondent 3
Respondent 4
Respondent 5
Respondent names
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For Respondent 3, there were major changes in terms of marks obtained from
the worksheets. The respondent got 1 mark for Exercise 1 worksheet and has improved
as much as 5 marks for next exercise.
For Respondent 4 and Respondents 5, a steady improvement made by both
respondents can be seen from one exercise to another. Both respondent 4 and 5 have
increased from 2 marks in the first exercise to 5 marks in the second exercise. The
pattern of improvement for Respondent 4 and Respondent 5 marks can be seen
through the improvement of 3 marks after both lesson were been carried out. As a
conclusion, the analysis of pupils work has shown that the respondents progress from
one lesson to another was improved.
Discussion
Based on the findings that I have gathered, I can conclude that my research was
a success. This finding showed that the respondents improved in the use of
prepositions of location by using OMG. The results from the Test 1 and Test 2 have
clearly shown that there were improvements made by all of the respondents. Before the
intervention, most of the respondents have very little knowledge on how to use
prepositions of location correctly. They were confused on how to differentiate the usage
of each preposition. Before the intervention, the respondents tend to choose randomly
the answers and did not think critically before answering those questions.
However after the intervention, the respondents have shown improvement by
obtaining higher marks in their Test 2. Based on my observation, the usage of OMG was
instrumental in helping the respondents to improve the use of preposition of location. All
of my respondents were excited and motivated to learn once I introduced the OMG.
They enjoyed the lesson and as a result, the respondents marks increased and there
were improvement made by them.
Apart from that, in the intervention process, I have used pictures that were
provided within the game to help the pupils in their understanding besides playing the
game. While playing the game, the respondents need to search the correct place to be
clicked on each picture to pass each stage. With the help of the pictures during the
intervention process, it was easier for pupils to remember and build deeper
understanding as pupils have different types of learning styles. Some of them were
visual learners and there were also audio-visual learners. So at least, I have been able
to fulfil the needs of the pupils based on their learning style.
On the other hand, I also had managed to build pupils confidence in the usage of
prepositions of location correctly by using OMG. This can be seen in the checklist form
provided by me in the appendix A. In the third round of intervention, all respondents
were very eager to be engaged in the question and answer session. The respondents
were very confident with their answers and they wanted to share their answers with
others pupils in the classroom. If we compared to the first round of intervention, most of
the respondents sat quietly at their own places and they refused to take part in the
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question and answer session. Now, the pupils are able to use preposition of location
correctly with confidence.
Another aspect that I have found throughout this research was the participation
of pupils in the lesson. Initially, during the traditional method lesson, pupils were
uninterested and most of them only managed to give their attention only around 10
minutes. However, during the intervention lesson, pupils were very excited and most of
them gave their full attention towards every explanation given. This was because they
were really to play the game.
From this research, a conclusion can be drawn about the effectiveness of using
OMG to help pupils in using the preposition of location correctly. It was discovered that
using interactive game as the stimulus in this research had enhanced the respondents
ability to use the preposition of location correctly. The most important thing is I have
experienced lots of skills of conducting research. As a trainee teacher, I need to gain
knowledge from all aspects in order to deliver a good quality and meaningful lesson.
Thus, the experience gained could be used so that I can develop the professionalism of
a teacher in me. As a conclusion, action research helps me to create awareness that
every problem regarding the pupils learning can be improved by doing this systematic
act.
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