USING GO ROSEMARY GO TO ENHANCE THE YEAR 4

PUPILS IN ANSWERING READING COMPREHENSION

QUESTIONS
By:
Nur Hanisah Binti Mohd Azhar, Wan Zainuddin Bin Wan Hassan
Jabatan Bahasa-Bahasa, IPG Kampus Dato Razali Ismail
anisazhar91@gmail.com , zainuddin@ipgmkdri.edu.my

ABSTRACT
Reading skills is one of the important skills that need to be mastered by pupils
in order to learn English. Therefore, a research was done with 3 participants to
enable them to answer reading comprehension questions. The objective of this
research was to find out whether Go Rosemary Go could help Year 4 Ibnu
Sina pupils to answer comprehension questions. Intervention called Go
Rosemary Go was used to enhance participants ability as it was a 10-minute
video that illustrated reading comprehension text. The instruments for data
collection were worksheet, interview and observation. The results showed that
participants were able to overcome problems in answering reading
comprehension questions by doing less mistakes, and they showed interest in
learning vocabulary in the reading comprehension text. This proves that Go
Rosemary Go has enhanced pupils ability in answering reading
comprehension questions and would be a helpful tool in the English Language
classroom.
Keywords: Go Rosemary Go, Reading Comprehension Questions, Reading
Comprehension Text

REFLECTION ON PAST TEACHING EXPERIENCE

My final practicum was conducted in Sekolah Kebangsaan Sultan Sulaiman II. This school
is situated in the urban area, in the town centre of Kuala Terengganu. The school is at good
ranking, and is nominated to become the cluster school. I witnessed the same problems
among the pupils like in the previous practicum sessions. The pupils had problems in
understanding reading texts, and could not identify the main points in them. It shows that
geographical factor do not contribute to pupils acquisition of reading skills as this depends
on how much pupils are exposed to the English language. Similiarly, Chitravelu, Saratha and
Teh (2005) state that pupils often have limited exposure to English in daily lives, and their
motivation to learn English is relatively low.
I found out that my participants could not fulfil the learning standard of the lesson which was
demonstrating understanding on variety of linear and non-linear texts in the form of print and
non- print materials using a range of strategies to construct meaning. In addition, they could
not achieve the learning objectives which were to understand phrases and sentences from
linear texts, and to be able to answer questions from the linear text.
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Based on my document analysis, they left the answer blank on 3 questions out of 6
questions. Generally, they did not answer questions 4 and 5, which were What did the
Rosemary and the gnomes make to turn the monsters into stone? and Why Rosemary and
the gnomes run to the dungeon?. In addition, participant answered, They fierce monsters
attacked the land for the second question, which was What did the fierce monsters do to
Renosia?. This answer was not suitable for the provided hint, which was They.
Participants could answer the sixth question which was multiple choice question, and most
of them chose C as the answer which was brave.
Based on my interview, on the aspect of understanding of the text, most of them claimed that
they did understand the questions. On the contrary, the examples of words that they had
difficulty to digest were stumbled, dungeon, fierce, immediately, triumph, and
successfully. The examples of sentences were believe that good will always triumph over
evil and the gnomes feel sorry for the princess. I found out that most of them seldom read
English materials at home. This would be one of factors which contributed to their lack of
vocabulary skills.

LITERATURE REVIEW
a) Concepts of teaching reading
According to Chitravelu, Saratha & Teh (2005), there are four stages in learning to read
which are reading readiness, early reading, developmental reading and mature reading.
Reading readiness involves learners prior knowledge in which entails the aspects like
knowledge on English, motivation to learn English, and ability to discriminate between
shapes. Besides that, reading really involves motivation, developing language and
comprehension skills, learning the print conventions of English, and word recognition skills.
On the other hand, developmental reading involves recognizing structures, words and
predicting outcomes, guessing word meanings using contextual clues, using reading
strategies, making relations within the text, thinking while reading, having an affective
reaction to the text and variation of text suitable with pupils familiarity.
Chall (1983, as cited in Wittrock, 1986) introduces six-stage model of reading acquisition
which are Stage 0; prereading: birth to age 6, Stage 1; initial reading or decoding: ages 6 to
7, Stage 2; fluency: ages 7 to 8, Stage 3; reading to learn: ages more than 8 years old, and the
last stage is Stage 5; reconstruction: college and beyond. He says that this will be affected by
students environment of learning and surrounding.
According to Brown (2007), principles for teaching reading skills make variation in reading
materials for students, capture students attention, consider aspect of authencity and
readability in selection of text, inspire your students with reading strategies, using bottom-up
and top-down techniques, applying Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review (SQ3R)
sequence, arrange your lesson into prereading, while reading and post reading phases, and
assess students reading comprehension and development.

b) Theories of teaching reading comprehension

According to Chitravelu et al. (2005), The humanistic approach places the students at the
centre of learning process. Selection of learning activities, content, and materials must take
into account the students affective domain (p.8).
According to Keefe (1979, as cited in Felder & Rebecca, 2005), learning styles are
characteristic cognitive, affective and psychological behaviours that serve as relatively
stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning
environment (p. 58). This would lead to Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model which
believes that each individual has their own differences in terms of cognitive style and brain
lateralisation. According to Dunn, Dunn and Price (1985, as cited on Dunn, Rita & Kenneth,
2014), the inventory identifies five categories of stimuli sources: environmental, emotional,
sociological, physiological, and psychological, and 21 learning style elements that are
identified across the five distinct categories.
Table 1 Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model

Grave (1984, as cited in Wittrock, 1986) states that knowing a word involves knowledge of
a whole series of networks in which the words functions (p 825). Wittrock (1986)
elaborates the definition by saying, It involves depth of meaning; precise usage; facile
access (think of scrabble and crossword puzzle); the ability to articulate ones understanding;
flexibility in the application of the knowledge of a word; the appreciation of metaphor,
analogy, word play; the ability to recognize a synonym, to define, to use a word
expressively. (p.p. 825-826)
Nuttall (1996, as cited in Brown, 2007) offers three criteria for choosing reading texts for
students: (1) suitability of content: material that students will find interesting, enjoyable,
challenging, and appropriate for their goals in learning English; (2) exploitability; a text that
facilates the achievement of certain language and content goals, that is exploitable for
instructional tasks and techniques, and that is integratable with other skills (listening,
speaking and writing); (3) readibility: a text with lexical and structural difficulty that will
challenge students without overwhelming them (p 374 ).

According to Brown (2007), there are 10 strategies for reading comprehension which are to
identify the purpose in reading, use graphemic rules and patterns, aid in bottom-up decoding,
use efficient silent reading techniques for improving fluency, skim the text for the main
ideas, scan for the specific information, use semantic mapping or clustering, guess when you
are not certain, analyse vocabulary, distinguish between literal and implied meanings, and
capitalise on discourse markers to process relationships. This would be my guide in
constructing the intervention.
c) Definiton of terms
Teaching reading to second language learners
According to Chitravelu et al. (2005), teaching reading, means enabling a person to acquire
the skills, strategies and attitudes required to make sense of text.
Visualisation
Dubois and Vial (2000, as cited in Verhallen & Bus, 2009) mention high correspondence
between visual and auditory information in video storybooks allows for a single mental
image to be activated (p. 4).
McNamara (2007, as cited in Seyyed et al., 2011) defines visualisation as a metacognitive
reading strategy which results in comprehensive gains.
Keene and Zimmermann (1997, as cited in Seyyed Mahdi et al., 2011) say visualisation as
the ability to build mental pictures or images while reading would greatly depend upon our
prior knowledge and engagement with the topics.
Guerreros study (2003) concluded that research proves that students who create visual
images before, during, and/or after reading enhance their comprehension. This shows that
children who have problems in reading comprehension can use visualisation teaching aids to
help them enhancing reading comprehension.

Video
According to the Oxford Dictionary online (2014), video is defined as a recording of
moving visual images made digitally or on videotape.
According to Cambridge dictionary online (2014), video is to record a programme from
the television, or to use a video camera to film an event. Bored when answering the
comprehension questions.

d) Past researchers
Ratnawati and Ismail (2003), conducted a programme called Guided Extensive Reading
(GER) programme. They conducted the programme with pupils in rural school in Perak.
Most of the pupils had problem in vocabulary, were not interested to read English books, and
used English as second or third language in their home. Although it seemed that pupils gave
poor development at the first time with the programme, it changed when teacher gave
interesting reading session, used illustrated books, and explained the words one-by-one.
Nation and Laufer (1990 , 1992, as cited in Ratnawati & Ismail, 2003) said that students
need a vocabulary of at least 19 out of 20 words, or about 95% of a text before they can
guess the meaning of words from its context. Ratnawati and Ismail (2003) conclude that
there are three questions need to be asked, which are How we are able to motivate the
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students to read; how the program is organized and implemented; and how their reading is
monitored.
Verhallen and Bus (2009) conducted a study on how repetitive story video increased reading
comprehension among second language children. The video was called digitised storybook
that had additional information such as motion, images, sound and music. Verhallen, Bus,
and de Jong (2006, as cited in Verhallen et al., 2009) conducted an experiment, and it
showed that L2 children benefited most from repeated encounters with the same story when
the storybook included additional information sources, such as video.(p.4). They found out
that children who heard the story four times with video learned English language more than
children that heard the story with only pictures.
Seyyed et al. (2011) conducted a research on how visualisation could enhance university
students reading comprehension. Tomlinson (1998, as cited in Seyyed et al, 2011) said that
visualisation would be effective for second language learners since it was being effective for
first language learners. Moreillon (2007, as cited in Seyyed et al., 2011) provides
visualisation as a strategy which relies on the effective use of senses in making meaning. It is
proven that visualisation can enhance reading comprehension (Douville, 1999; Fillmer &
Parkay, 1990; Sadoski & Paivio, 2001, as cited in Seyyed et al., 2011).
Guerrero and Angella (2003) did a study on pupils that mostly did not have problems in
reading words and sentences, but, they did not know on how to express their opinions about
the text given to them. Based on Guerreros (2003) study, research proves that students who
create visual images before, during, and/or after reading enhance their comprehension (p.p.
2-3). Gambrel and Jawitz (1993, as cited in Guerrero, 2003) state that combined image and
illustrations help students in comprehension and recall.
The study concludes that visualisation can arouse second English learners interest in
learning English language, and create conducive environment in the class.

RESEARCH PURPOSE
The purpose of this research is to investigate whether Go Rosemary Go can possibly
enhance the ability of Year 4 pupils to answer reading comprehension questions.
Research Objective
To find out whether Go Rosemary Go help Year 4 Ibnu Sina pupils to answer
comprehension questions.
Research Question
How would Go Rosemary Go help Year 4 Ibnu Sina pupils to answer reading
comprehension questions?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research involved three girls from Year 4 in Sekolah Kebangsaan Sultan Sulaiman II.
All of them were chosen based on their weak performances in completing the worksheet
provided. The data gathering method used were worksheet, interview and observation.
The first instrument was worksheet. This document comprised the pre- and the post-tests.
This test was conducted to identify the problems faced by pupils and to determine the
participants for the research.
Besides that, structured interview was conducted. Questions provided consisted of
understanding of text, problems faced in answering reading comprehension in the
worksheets, and time taken to answer the worksheets.
In addition, an interview session was conducted with the three participants separately.
Structured interview questions were posed. Then, the session was recorded in audio and
video recording to ensure that their conversation could be analysed effectively.
For the observation, the participants progress were being observed while they answered the
pre- and post-tests. There was observation checklist form which focused on interest,
vocabulary, left empty spaces, and located main points for the answer.

INTERVENTION SPECIFICATION
The intervention was Go Rosemary Go which was a 10-minute video that illustrated the
reading comprehension in the Year 4 English textbook entitled Rosemary and the Four
Gutsy Gnomes.
Names
Adaptation
Focus
Learning Standard
for Year 4 in
document standard
Learning Objective
for Year 4 in
document standard
Objective
Software
Format
Time
Materials(Quantity)

Table 2 Specification on intervention

Go Rosemary Go
Year 4 English Text Book
Reading Skills
2.2 By the end of the 6 year primary schooling, pupils will be able
to demonstrate understanding of variety of linear and non-linear
texts in the form of print and non- print materials using a range of
strategies to construct meaning.
2.2.2 Able to understand phrases and sentences from:
(a) linear texts
By the end of this lesson, pupils should be able to:
(1) answer questions from the linear text.
Movie Maker
W.M.V
10 minutes
CD & Script Board

This video has features like still images, music, moving object, meaning of difficult words:
for example, stumbled. Its duration of time is approximately 10 minutes, where teacher
can play it using video format like W.M.V.
This video consists of six important aspects, such as the introduction of characters in the
story, the introduction of places in the story, the introduction of the story, the climax of the
story and the ending of the story

Figure 5. 1 The introduction of characters in the story

Figure 1 Sample of the video

The procedure of an action started with the briefing steps explained by the teachers. Then, a
participant was given the reading comprehension text, worksheet, and a headphone. Then,
he/she would watch the full video for 10 minutes in front of the computer. After 10 minutes,
the participant answered the worksheet.

FINDINGS
Participant A was given six questions in the worksheet which were based from the reading
comprehension text. Based on the document analysis, she did not answer four questions. But,
she answered two questions correctly. Based on the interview, she said, it feels like
weird when I asked her opinion about the reading comprehension text. Plus, she said that
she could not understand the text. She could not understand words like stumbled,
dungeon and fierce. She also had difficulty in understanding sentences like the gnomes
feel sorry for the princess and they were resting after a tiring day of plucking wild berries
in the forest.
During the intervention session, she seemed interested with the intervention video and
sometimes, she nodded her head to follow the song rhythm in the video. She took less time
to answer the questions given compared with the session before. She was also confident
when submitted the questions.
Based on the interview, she said Before I watch the video, I could not understand After I
watch the video I can understand, when I asked her the difference between before and after
watching the video. Her performance in answering the questions given during intervention
was excellent, and increased with the previous performance. She answered the questions
correctly, without leaving any empty answers.
In summary, based on the findings analysis, the three participants showed improvements in
answering reading comprehension questions using Go Rosemary Go video. Most of them
answered more questions during intervention session and did less mistakes. The response
towards intervention was good and positive.

CONCLUSION
It is shown that this intervention has proven effective to enhance pupils ability in answering
reading comprehension questions. With the use of still images, music, moving object and
translation from English to Malay language, it is able to attract pupils interest in learning
English and comprehend their understanding towards reading text. According to Tomlinson
(1998, as cited in Seyyed et al., 2011), Visualisation would be effective for second language
learners since it is being effective for first language learners. This is supported by Gambrel
and Jawitz (1993, as cited in Guerrero, 2003) who said, Stated combined, image and
illustrations helps students in comprehension and recall.
This research is limited to vocabulary used in the reading comprehension text as there are a
lot of vocabulary found in the dictionary. This would be the weakness for this research as the
intervention vocabulary meaning would suit the reading comprehension context only. On the
positive part, this research has increased pupils interest in understanding reading text with
an interesting features in the intervention as it gives visualisation effect to pupils.

Hoyle (1980, as cited in Noriati et al., 2010) states professionalism means attitude and
actions that are related to aspects of works, such as works conditions, salary, time table, and
others related with it. It means that it involves on how much an individual is being expert
with his own areas of work, and being able to become a professional worker. This would be
suitable to my action research purpose, which is to train me to be more expert in my teaching
as an English teacher as it involves reflective thought on the past teaching experience.

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