1.

0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the background of the research, the context of the study and

the reflection of teaching and learning during the researcher’s second practicum in

Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Pandan, Batu Pahat.

Background

Since the British colonial era in the 1960s, English language have been taught

as the second language in schools in Malaysia. After several shifts in educational

policy and curriculum reformations, English is now a compulsory subject to be

undertaken by Malaysian children both in the primary and the secondary schools.

Since then, many issues and challenges arise in the teaching of English as second

language in the context of Malaysian classroom.

One of the main challenges is the teaching of grammar in a class of multiracial

pupils with different native language system. According to Debata (2013), “grammar

is the study of words and the ways words work together”. Wang (2010) defines

grammar as “a set of rules for choosing words and putting words together to make

sense”. Grammar plays an important role in language teaching and without it,

language cannot exist (Wang, 2010). Thus, teaching grammar is an essential tool in

any language teaching setting in order to enhance the pupils’ language proficiency.

Pupils often have the problem to determine the correct present verb-to-be to

be used with the corresponding subject in a sentence. This is due to the interference

of the pupils’ native language such as Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil which

have an adverse effect on their acquisition of English literacy (Marlyna Maros, Tan

Kim Hua, and Khazriyati, 2007). According to Ambigapathy (2002) and Nambiar
(2007), learners have a habit of referring to their mother tongue language system

when trying to use and understand the target language. Since the concept of verb-

to-be is non-existent in the pupils’ native language, the pupils find it hard for them to

assimilate the new construct to their schemata. Pupils often get confused as to which

present verb-to-be to be used to a certain subject. A study conducted by Nor

Hashimah Jalaludin, Norsimah Mat Awal and Kesumawati Abu Bakar (2008) on a

large group of secondary school students indicated that grammar is the most evident

weakness in the students’ ability of using English. Based on the study, the differences

in the morphological and syntactical structure of English language and Bahasa

Malaysia causes the students to commit mistakes on the usage of the ‘verb-to-be’

forms.

Besides the linguistic limitation posed by the interference of native language

system, the research conducted by Nor Hashimah Jalaludin et al. (2008) concluded

that English learning environment with not enough facilities for the pupils in using the

language makes the situation much worse. A study conducted by Ambigapathy (2002)

found that the most prevalent teaching technique in an ESL Malaysian classroom is

through drilling by using past-year examination questions, work sheets and exercise

books. This type of grammar teaching method is laborious and monotonous to the

pupils, causing them to lose interest in learning grammar and English as a whole.

Thus, this research was carried out in order to explore ways and means that could

improve Englsih as second language (ESL) Malaysian pupils on their understanding

of present verb-to-be. The action that was implemented this study is a game called

‘Turtle Rescue Game’ which will be discussed further in the later chapters.

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Context of the study

I was the researcher for this study. I am a teacher trainee in IPG Kampus Tun

Hussein Onn and currently undergoing the second semester of my fourth year in

Program Ijazah Sarjana Muda Perguruan (PISMP). My major is English whereas my

minors are Language Arts and History respectively. This research was carried out

during my second practicum which was from 2 July 2017 until 28 September 2017 in

Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Pandan. I was assigned to teach Year 4 pupils who later

became the research participants of this study.

The school I had my training is located in Parit Karjo, Batu Pahat. It is

considered a rural school as it is located in the village area. The school has a total

number of pupils of 160. Malay pupils are the vast majority whereas there is only one

Chinese pupil and two Indian pupils. However, all the pupils in the school are Muslims

as the Chinese and the Indian pupils are converts. There is only one class for each

standard with each class consisting around 20 pupils.

There are about 18 teachers in the school, six of them are male and 12 of

them are females. There are only two English optionists in this school and both of

them are females. Due to the insufficient number of teachers, the teachers have to

teach more than three classes of different subjects. One of the teachers in this school

have to teach English for Year 3 class although she is not major in English.

In terms of facility, the school has a multimedia room which is often be used

by the English teachers to carry out their lesson. The room is equipped with a light

crystal display (LCD) projector and a sound system which the teachers use to show

videos, PowerPoint presentation and play songs. Each desk in the multimedia room

has one set of computer which is readily connected to the internet. The multimedia

room is also where the pupils are able to use Chromebooks – netbooks that are mainly

used to access to the internet. Although the school is located in the rural area, the

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information and communication technologies (ICT) equipment are adequately

provided there with decent internet connection. The school also has other essential

facilities such as library, science laboratory, design and technology workshop and

praying room. All these special rooms are well-managed by the teachers and the

school administrators.

The Year 4 class I was assigned to teach consisted of 22 pupils, 12 females

and ten males with mixed level of English proficiency. The pupils’ performance on

their previous English examination showed a huge achievement gap as their results

ranges from A to E for both English Paper 1 and Paper 2. Pupils who managed to

score A and B were the minority whilst pupils who scored C, D and E were in the vast

majority. In average, pupils scored slightly better in Paper 1 compared to Paper 2

suggesting that writing was their main weakness in English. The pupils in this class

were mostly shy and timid but seven of them are more outspoken and active during

the teaching and learning process. They mainly use their mother tongue in the class

either while talking to the teacher or among their friends despite the encouragement

given by the teacher to speak in English. According to their English teacher, the pupils

were very weak in grammar particularly subject verb agreement. For the purpose of

this study, 10 pupils from this Year 4 class were chosen as the research participants

of this study.

Reflection of teaching and learning

Throughout the first month that I had been teaching the Year 4 class, I have

noticed that pupils have the least interest in learning grammar as compared to other

components in English such as writing, listening and speaking and language arts.

Normally, the pupils were quite active and responsive when I was teaching English.

They were engaged in the classroom activities and showed great interest in

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completing their task. However, when it comes to grammar class which was usually

on Thursday, the pupils seemed reluctant to learn and overall unenthusiastic. They

were nonresponsive when they were asked questions regarding grammatical items.

During presentation stage in which I explicitly explained the rules and examples of a

particular grammatical item to the class, the pupils seemed bored and uninterested. I

tried to combat this problem by making the Powerpoint slides that I used to explain

the grammar rules more colourful and lively by incorporating pictures and animations

but they were ineffective.

The pupils’ lack of enthusiasm in learning grammar was the most prevalent in

present verb-to-be lesson. In the lesson, I had explained the rules of present verb-to-

be by using Powerpoint slides. While I was explaining the grammar rules, I had

noticed several pupils at the back of the class had lost their interest and started to talk

among each other by whispering and passing notes. Some were less disruptive such

as pretending to write notes and playing with their stationeries. Pupils in the front of

the class on the other hand stared at the screen blankly and one of them was caught

daydreaming when I called out his name. After I had explained the rules of present

verb-to-be, I reviewed the lesson by asking them several questions regarding the

grammatical items. The pupils did not manage to answer the questions correctly.

Despite having explained the rules in great detail, the pupils were unable to determine

the correct present verb-to-be to be used after a certain subject in a sentence. Pupils

often did mistake on the usage between ‘is’ and ‘are’. They used ‘are’ to singular

subjects such as ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, Aminah and Ali. Whereas for subjects such as ‘you’,

‘we’, ‘they’, or ‘the cats’, the pupils used the verb-to-be of ‘is’. The subject ‘I’ on the

other hand, the pupils usually use ‘is’ instead of ‘am’.

Therefore, I found it imperative to do something in order to improve their

understanding of the usage of present verb-to-be ‘am’, ‘is’ and ‘are’. According to

Nayan and Jusoff (2009), students need to master the rule of subject-verb agreement

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such as the agreement between a subject and its verb-to-be as it is an important area

in expressing ideas either through writing or orally. After reflecting on the lesson, I had

identified the reason why they could not focus in class and understand the present

verb-to-be rules. It was because I had used the traditional rule-explanation method in

teaching the grammatical items. Although the teaching aids that I had prepared which

was Powerpoint slides were colourful and animated, it did not save the lesson from

the monotonicity that a traditional explanation teaching would cause. I was the sole

active member throughout the teaching and learning process and the pupils were only

the passive recipient of the information, thus making the lesson dull and monotonous.

The pupils lost interest halfway through the explanation as they were not being

involved in the process. Thus, in order to improve their understanding on the topic of

present verb-to-be, I needed to find a way to make the lesson more engaging, fun,

interesting and meaningful for them.

Previously, I had tried teaching reading using games. The pupils’ interest and

engagement level in the lesson were astounding. They were very focused in the task

and were highly competitive as they wanted to beat other groups in that game.

Therefore, I decided to incorporate games in present verb-to-be grammar lesson to

see if I could replicate the result. Luong (2009) had conducted an experimental

research on the application of games in a grammar review lesson. When the

grammatical items are taught using games, Luong found that there is a significant

improvement on the pupils’ ability to use the grammatical knowledge as evidently

reported in their written and oral tests. I have tried teaching using games and found

that when games are used to teach grammar lessons, the pupils were exhilarated and

paid more attention to the class instead of the traditional teaching method that I used.

Furthermore, they were also actively involved in the class, even the shy pupils. The

class became livelier, fun and enjoyable as they competed with each other to gain the

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highest score for their group. I have also found that the pupils performed significantly

better in the grammar worksheets that I gave them after the class.

Thus from my observation, reflection of my own teaching practice and findings

from various studies, I have decided to use games to enhance the pupils’

understanding of present verb-to-be and also to improve my teaching practice to

overcome the pupils’ lack of enthusiasm in learning grammar.