KOLEJ TINGKATAN ENAM KULIM

09400 PADANG SERAI, KEDAH DARUL AMAN

ACTION RESEARCH
YEAR 2018

TITLE

WRITE IT RIGHT: THE USE OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZER IN

ORGANIZING IDEAS AND WRITING BETTER ARGUMENTATIVE
ESSAY AMONG THE SSA7 STUDENTS

(MUET PANEL)

PREPARED BY:

ROHANI BINTI ARBAA

0
 Contents

Abstract

1.0 Problem Statement / Reflection 2

2.0 Focus of the Study 3

3.0 Purpose of the Study 3

4.0 Focus Group 4

5.0 Implementation 4

5.1 Pre-Test 4

5.2 Familiarising Students with the Format 5

5.3 Organizing Ideas and Writing the Essay 5

5.4 Post-Test 6

5.5 Overall Reflection 8

6.0 Future Research 8

References 9

Appendix 10

1
 Write it Right: The Use of Graphic Organizer in Organizing Ideas and
Writing Better Argumentative Essay Among the SSA7 Students

Rohani binti Arbaa

Kolej Tingkatan Enam Kulim

09400 Padang Serai, Kedah Darul Aman
Email: aniarbaa@yahoo.com

Abstract

Writing has been widely regarded as a crucially essential skill in the teaching and learning of English
as a Second Language (ESL). This study focuses on the writing skill of the pre-u students of SSA7
class, particularly in argumentative essay as it is the most popular genre being tested in Question 2 of
the Writing Test of MUET. Ten students that achieved Band 1 and Band 2 in the overall MUET results
in the first test were the focus group of this study. A graphic organiser was introduced to these
students to help them generate and organize ideas and thus could improve their ability to produce a
better essay that shows some coherence. The activities were conducted deductively and inductively
with the organizer as the tool in helping students to understand the format or structure of a good
argumentative essay. The post-test results showed that 7 students achieved higher marks in question
2, 1 student with the same marks in both tests while the other two showed a slight decrease in the
post-test marks. The results imply that the use of graphic organizer managed to help weak students to
write a more structured essay.

1.0 Problem Statement / Reflection

Malaysian University English Test (MUET) was introduced by the Ministry of Education in
late 1999 and fully implemented in 2000. MUET is used to measure students’ English
proficiency level and all Pre-U students are compulsory to take MUET as it is a prerequisite
for applying for admissions to all public universities and colleges in Malaysia.The MUET
assesses candidates’ ability in four language skills: listening (code 800/1), speaking (code
800/2), reading (code 800/3) and writing (code 800/4). The Writing Test of MUET constitutes
90 marks or 30 percent of the overall 300 marks and consists of two questions. In Question
1, candidates are to write a report of about 200 words based on stimulus given. This question
forms 40 percent of the overall marks for the Writing component. In Question 2, candidates
write an essay of not less than 350 words based on a general academic topic. The essay is
60 percent of the overall marks for this component. The time allocated for the Writing
Component is 90 minutes of which candidates are advised to spend 40 minutes on the report
and 50 minutes for the essay.

This study focuses on the writing skill of the pre-u students of SSA7, particularly in
argumentative essay as it is the most popular genre being tested in Question 2 of the Writing
Test. Moreover, writing has been widely regarded as a crucially essential skill in the teaching
and learning of English as a Second Language (ESL). It is a comprehensive skill that helps

2
reinforce vocabulary, grammar, thinking, planning, editing, revising, and other elements
(Yunus, M. M., & Chien, C. H., 2016). Based on the exercises carried out in the classroom,
they showed that the SSA7 students find composing in English difficult because the writing
process demands them to employ many cognitive and linguistic strategies of which they are
uncertain. They may have some ideas for writing, but they are usually unable to convey and
transform them into writing using proper language, diction, and cohesion. According to
Firmansyah (2015), one of the major problems faced by students in writing is that the
students had difficulty in making the paragraphs with the topic. Also, the students had
difficulty in choosing the word due to lack of vocabulary.

Based on the results of the first test, there were 10 students from this class that only
achieved Band 1 and Band 2 for the overall results and their marks for Question 2 of Writing
Test were in the range of 7 to 26 which also fall under Band 1 and Band 2 of band descriptor
for Question 2. These students showed limited response to the task given and their ideas, if
any, are poorly linked. Although some of them managed to write three or four paragraphs,
their paragraphs lack of planning or unity. Hence, a special tool is needed to help these
students to write a better essay and achieve better marks for their overall results.

2.0 Focus of the Study

Due to the students inability to compose a good essay, a graphic organizer was introduced to
them with the hope that it will help them to generate and organize their ideas, hence could
produce a better essay that shows some coherence. Graphic organizers are defined by
Bishop (2013) as visual displays of key content information designed to guide learners and to
enhance their comprehension. They are sometimes referred to as concept maps, cognitive
maps, or content maps, but they are all used to serve one purpose; to help students clearly
see how ideas are organized within a text or surrounding a concept. By using the graphic
organizer students are guided in how to write the intoductory paragraph by having three
elements; the lead-in, stand and thesis statement. They are also able to differentiate
between thesis statement and topic sentence besides few simple linking words that are given
to them to be used in elaborating ideas and giving examples. Finally they are also showed
the easiest way to write a conclusion.

3.0 Purpose of the Study

In general, this study is to improve the students ability in generating and organizing ideas in
order to produce a comprehensible academic essay.

3
Specifically, this study aims to:
3.1 familiarize students with the format of an argumentative essay.
3.2 help students to organize their ideas and write them using appropriate linking
words.

4.0 Focus Group

This study was carried out for three weeks with the ten students of SSA7 that achieved Band
1 and Band 2 for the overall MUET results during the first test.

5.0 Implementation
This study uses the pre-test and post-test data in order to determine the effectiveness of the
intervention carried out. In this study the graphic organizer was used deductively and
inductively.

5.1 Pre-Test
(a) The pre-test was carried out during the first test of the second term. The students
were asked to answer a question that was tested in one of the real MUET writing test. The
results of the ten students are as follow.

Table 1: Pre-Test Marks of an Argumentative Essay of SSA7 Students

Marks
No Student’s Name
(Question 2)
1 Hassan 22

2 Mus 7

3 Izhar 21

4 Aini 22

5 Athirah 18

6 Hidayah 22

7 Shahiera 23

8 Syafirah 9

9 Nurin 26

10 Atikah 26

4
(b) Reflection
Based on the students essays, few weaknesses related to the structure of the essay have
been identified:
 very limited response to the task
 no development of ideas and points are poorly linked
 lack of planning in the paragraphing
Due to these weaknesses, a graphic organizer was introduced to the students.

5.2 Familiarising Students with the Format

(a) First, the students were given a sample essay to read and understand. Then the
students were given the graphic organizer with the sub topic printed on it. The students had
to identify the correct parts from the sample essay given and transfer the parts in the space
provided in the graphic organizer. Students were also asked to give extra attention on linking
words used in the beginning of every sentence in the body paragraph. This is to help them
think of suitable ideas that they need to write in their own essay later. This exercise was
repeated with three other sample essays.

(b) Reflection
Students needed plenty of time to understand the sample essays given. Students are
encouraged to find the meaning of difficult words that they encountered by using the
application of dictionary.com or google translate via their smart phones. The exercise for the
first essay took more than one lesson to complete as more explanation needed especially in
differentiating between issue, stand and thesis statement. Students showed improvements
after the third essay.

5.3 Organizing Ideas and Writing the Essay

(a) After students mastered the first activity, they were asked to work inductively. In this
activity, students were given a topic and they are asked to fill in the graphic organizer with
their own ideas. For the first and second essay, students were asked to work in goups of
three. Each group will brainstorm for ideas and later they put their points under the suitable
sub-topic of the organizer. Students used the graphic organizer that they completed in the
first activity as guidance in how they can organize their ideas. Each group will seek advice
and comments from the teacher first, before they write their essay based on the points listed
in the organizer. For the third essay, the students worked in pairs and for the final essay they
did the exercise individually.

5
(b) Reflection
The success of this activity relied mostly on the students’s understanding of the issue being
discussed. When students worked in groups they have better understanding and more
mature treatment of the issue could be seen. The explanation and example given were more
likely appropriate compared to the final exercise when they had to do the work individually.
However, the organization of the essay is more evident. Students could produce a better
essay compared to the essay in the pre-test. Students really used the linking words
appropriately and it shows that these linking words did help the students in elaborating their
ideas.

5.4 Post-Test
(a) After three weeks of intervention, students sat for another test. They were given
another question that was also tested in one of the real MUET writing test. The time allocated
for the test are the same as in pre-test. Below are the marks from the post test as well as the
pre-test:

Table 2: Pre-test and Post-test Marks of an Argumentative Essay of SSA7 Students

Marks Marks
No Student’s Name
(Pre-test) (Post-test)
1 Hassan 22 25

2 Mus 7 14

3 Izhar 21 16

4 Aini 22 26

5 Athirah 18 23

6 Hidayah 22 22

7 Shahiera 23 22

8 Syafirah 9 10

9 Nurin 26 28

10 Atikah 26 28

6
(b) Reflection
Based on the results of the pre-test and post-test, a bar chart is formed in Figure 1 below.

30

25

20

15
Pre-test
Post-test
10

Figure 1: Results of the Pre-test and Post-Test of SSA7 Students

Figure 1 illustrates that 7 out of 10 students showed an increase in their marks in the post-
test, one student gained the same amount of marks while two students showed a slight
decrease in their marks in the post test. The increase in most of these students marks show
that they are able to produce better essay after they were introduced to this graphic
organizer.

From the post-test carried out, 7 students were able to produce an organized essay consists
of a lead-in, stand and a thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. It was then followed
by two or three body paragraphs but only 5 of them managed to write the conclusion of the
essay while the other three did not have the conclusion due to lack of time. Another three
students however did not follow the format being taught, instead they began the essay with a
stand and followed by explaining their points. Figure 2 showed the distribution of the
presentation of the essay. The figure shows that more students are aware of the structure
but more exercises are needed so that the students can manage their ideas well with the
allocated time given.

7
 Inappropriate
Introduction, 2

Complete
format, 5
Nearly
complete
format (No
Conclusion), 3

Figure 2: Number of Essays Presented in an Organized Structure

Although there is no certain marks for the format, presenting an essay in a structured form
helps reader to better understand the point of view put forward. Apart from the format, the
use of appropriate linking words are also checked and it can be seen that almost all students
used appropriate words to link their ideas or paragraph.

5.5 Overall Reflection

The use of graphic organizer is to help weak students to present their writing in a more
structured way with proper use of linking words. This is also to help them to organize ideas
so that the reader can understand their points easily. Although this graphic organizer is not
used during the writing test, through many drilling and exercises, students may indirectly
know how they should present their points in the essay.

The activity was carried out in a short period of time (three weeks) but a slight increase can
be seen in most of the students’ marks (7 students). The use of this organizer will be carried
out in other writing lessons in order to help these students to further improve their writing
skills.

6.0 Future Research

Based on the post-test results, although there is an increase, the marks are still within Band
1 and Band 2 of the band descriptor. The marks for Question 2 of Writing test consists of two
parts, task fulfilment and language. The activity carried out in this study mainly cater for the
task fulfilment part. So in order to get higher marks for this question, these students need to
improve their language too. Thus, a study on ways to improve the weak students proficiency
in the language is highly recommended.

8
References

Bahagian Perancangan dan Penyelidikan Dasar Pendidikan. (2008). Buku Manual Kajian
Tindakan Edisi Ketiga. Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia

Bishop, A. (2013). The Effects of a Graphic Organizer Training Package on the Persuasive
Writing of Middle School Students with Autism. Master thesis. The Ohio State
University.

Firmansyah, A. (2015). The Influence of Mind Mapping Technique and Students’ Attitude
toward Students’ Ability in Writing a Recount Text of the Eighth Grade Students of
State Junior High School 45 Palembang. Ripteksi Kependidikan Pgri.

Tayib, A-M. (2015). The Effect Of Using Graphic Organizers On Writing (A Case Study Of
Preparatory College Students At Umm-Al-Qura University ). International Journal of
English Language and Linguistics Research Vol.3, No.1, pp.15-36

Yunus, M. M., & Chien, C. H. (2016). The Use of Mind Mapping Strategy in Malaysian
University English Test (MUET) Writing. Creative Education, 7, 619-626.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2016.74064

9
 Appendix 1

SODI : Systematic Organisation and Development of Ideas

Paragraph 1 Some 1 ............................................................................................................................
ideas for ............................................................................................................................
introduction 2 ............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
3 ............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................

Stand ...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................

Thesis ...............................................................................................................................
Statement ...............................................................................................................................

Paragraph 2 Topic ...............................................................................................................................

Sentence 1 ...............................................................................................................................

Supporting 1 ............................................................................................................................
Sentences ............................................................................................................................
2 ............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
3 ............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................

Concluding
sentence ...............................................................................................................................
Paragraph 3 Topic ...............................................................................................................................
Sentence 2 ...............................................................................................................................

Supporting 1 ............................................................................................................................
Sentences ............................................................................................................................
2 ............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
3 ............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................

Concluding
sentence ...............................................................................................................................
Paragraph 4 Topic ...............................................................................................................................
Sentence 3 ...............................................................................................................................

Supporting 1 ............................................................................................................................
Sentences ............................................................................................................................
1 ............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
1 ............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................

Concluding
sentence ...............................................................................................................................
Paragraph 5 Conclusion

10