Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research design used, the sampling procedures, and development of instruments, data gathering procedure and the statistical treatment.

Research Design This study used the method of experimental design. In more detail, it belongs to the experimental two-groups Design. According to William M.K.Trochin (2006), in the simplest type of experiment, two groups are created and are treated as equivalent to each other. One group (the program or treatment group) gets the program and the other group (the comparison or control group) does not. In all other aspects, the groups receive the same treatment. They have similar respondents, having similar background, and so on. If they observe differences in outcomes between these two groups, then the differences must be due to the only thing that differs between them which one got the program and the other did not. The approach used in experimental design is to assign people randomly from a common pool of people into two groups. The experimental research relies on this idea of random assignment to groups as basic for obtaining two groups that are similar. Then the researchers give one the program or treatment and they do not give it to the other. They observe the same outcomes in both groups. The

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key to success of the experimental design is in the random assignment. In fact, even with random assignment they never expect that the groups created will have a high degree of similarity. Furthermore, Calmorin (1994) says that, in experimental method, the study focuses on the future condition. It is a problem solving approach in which the study described in the future on what will be when certain variables are carefully controlled. It is the most prestigious method for advancing science and technology because it is production-oriented. It is conducted to find new facts and to verify the results of previous experiments. This study attempted to show that the use of pictures in students writing activities can bring out significant improvements in the performance of the students.

Population and Sampling Techniques The participants of this study were fifty (50) high school students sheltered by the Thai Nguyen Specialized Upper-Secondary School, Thai Nguyen city. They were purposively selected to answer the questionnaire checklist and to take part in the class with traditional method and experimental method. Table 1 shows the distribution of the respondents as to their age, gender and years of learning English language.

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Table 1 The Distribution of the Thai Nguyen Specialized Upper-Secondary School Students Years of learning Age Range Gender English language 4 years and Under 16 2 Male 22 below 16 years old 36 Female 28 5-6 years 7 years and > 16 years old 12 above Total 50 50 50 6 12 32

Research Procedure This study was conducted in the first semester of the academic year 2008 2009 of Thai Nguyen Specialized Upper-Secondary School. The first step taken was that the researcher defended the first three (3) chapters of the study. Then the research instrument - a researcher - made pre-test - was prepared and submitted for content validation of the teaching procedure was admitted, the researcher handed out the tests to the students. In the orientation phase, the researcher gave students a clear explanation as well as instructions of what to do in the pre-test. The first class (25 students) with the experimental method and the other class (25 students) with the

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traditional method. After one period of 45 minutes for each class, examination sheets for pre-test were collected. The researcher had seen to it that questionnaire was retrieved on the same day simultaneous with the conduct of pretest. In the usual practice in the Upper-secondary school, 3 periods for English subject are followed per week. Here, with the introduction of the new method, the researcher taught each class the total of 10 periods in the duration of the research process happened. The knowledge gained (post-test score minus pre-test score) was carefully obtained to find out the effectiveness between the group taught using the picture showing method (the experimental method) and the traditional method. To avoid bias or threat in the study, the following schedule and room assignments were provided: Date Monday Tuesday Time 8.00 9.00 9.00 10.00 Group Experimental group Control group Experimental group Control group Place Room No. 1 Room No. 1 Room No. 1 Room No. 1

Wednesday 9.00 10.00 Thursday 8.00 9.00

The last phase of the research activity was the collation of the result in preparation for the application of appropriate statistical-test.

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Research Instrument In order to be effective in using pictures in developing writing skills of grade ten students in teaching and learning the English language of Thai Nguyen Specialized Upper-Secondary School, a survey had been conducted with the researcher directly taught the class. Using the new method aimed to investigate not only the facts of language teaching but also to find out the effectiveness of using pictures in writing lessons at Thai Nguyen Specialized Upper-Secondary School. From this method, the effectiveness of using pictures in enhancing writing lessons at the school had been determined and the researcher had exactly seen the existing problems in teaching and learning writing and as a result, the researcher suggested recommendations and possible solutions for teachers and students during the learning and teaching methodologies in general. A researcher - made questionnaire, validated by five reputable experts in the field of study, was be used. The questionnaire was intended to get the students' profile in terms of age, gender, and years of learning English language. The respondents rated the attitude based on a five- point rating scale as follow: Rating 5 4 3 2 1 Range 4.21 5.00 3.41 4.20 2.61 3.40 1.81 2.60 1.00 1.80 Description (VI) Very Much/ Always Much/ Often Moderate/ Sometimes Little/ Seldom Not at All/ Never

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Moreover, the teaching method was utilized to evaluate the result of students' performance in writing. In Vietnam's education, marks from 1 to 10 are often given to evaluate students' results. Here comes a specific table: Marks 9-10 7-8 5-6 1-4 Description (VI) Excellent Good Fair Poor

In writing, the highest mark that students can get is 10 which divided into five areas: coherence, unity, grammar, vocabulary as well as format. Table 2 Criteria for the level of students result Marks 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 and below Grammar excellent good fair Poor Vocabulary excellent good fair poor Coherence excellent good fair poor Unity format

excellent Excellent good fair poor Good Fair Poor

The following table shows rubric for writing skills

Table 3 Rubric for writing skills

0.5 and below (poor) There are too many mistakes and the structures are too simple. 1. Grammar Student has a poor vocabulary and they make numerous mistakes. 2. Vocabulary Student seems to have made effort to prepare proper vocabulary but he/she mostly uses routine words. - Purpose and main ideas are - Identifiable main idea and unclear. purpose may be unfocused. Limited organizational - Organizational structure is structure is confusing. occasionally unclear. Conclusion extremely underdeveloped or missing. - Do not use any punctuation and capital letter Student shows a wide range of vocabulary but there are still very few minor mistakes. 1.0 (Fair) There are still some grammatical mistakes. 1.5 (Good) His/her grammar is correct and structures are various. 2.0 (Excellent) Student makes no grammatical mistake, and he/she uses various and stunning structures. Student shows a wide range of vocabulary.

3. Format

- Purpose and main ideas are clear. Clear organizational structure is relatively easy to follow. - Conclusion underdeveloped - Planned conclusion may or fails to match content and lack subtly but still matches purpose of speech. content and purpose of - Do not use comma speech. - The paragraph may lack full stop.

- Purpose and main ideas are clear and focused. Clear organizational structure enhances reader understanding of message. - A well-designed conclusion matches content and purpose of speech. - A well-done paragraph including comma, full stop, semicolon.and capital letter after full stop. - One main idea in each paragraph. - The movement from one sentence to the next must be logical and smooth.

4. Unity

- The supporting ideas are off the topic. - The paragraph is not in logical order.

- The supporting sentences do not directly explain or prove the main idea. - Only repeating key words and using pronouns.

- It is possible to discuss two or even three aspects of the same idea in one paragraph. - Each sentence should flow smoothly into the next one.

5. Coherence

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Furthermore, the researcher designed a test with the topic your daily routine and gave it to 50 students at two classes. Through this means, the researcher evaluated the writing ability of the students about grammar, vocabulary, coherence, unity as well as format of writing. For the students, they tried their best to write on the topic. Teachers ability applied pictures to enhance writing activities that would be determined and the teacher realized that is an effective method for Upper-Secondary School students in general and for grade 10 students (the students in the first grade of the Upper-Secondary School/high school) in particular. Finally, the teacher administered a post-test to check the students' ability in writing. In the post-test, the teacher asked students to write a paragraph based on the pictures.

Statistical Treatment With the use of the research instrument and evaluative test as the primary source of data, the researcher carefully sorted out, tabulated, counted and organized through the aid of tables all data that were correspondingly produced through this study. Suitable descriptive statistics was used and appropriate statistical tool followed it for meaningful and relevant analysis and interpretation. The responses of the students were completed using descriptive statistics. The weighted mean has the following formula:

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fx X=
N
Where:

: is the summation;

X: is the score; f: is the number of responses; N: is the total number of responses. To determine the profile of students and performance of the students is the pre and post test by using picture showing method, the standard deviation was computed. The formula:

SD =
Where:

(x x )
N 1

SD is the symbol for standard deviation of the scores obtained for profile of students in term of students attitude towards English language learning activities.

: is the summation; : is the value of the;

N: is the total member of students; 1: is the degrees of freedom.

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To determine the effectiveness of using picture showing method ii enhancing performance skills of the students, the T-test for correlated samples was used. The formula: t= D

n n(n 1)

( D) 2

Where:

D = the mean difference between the pretest and the posttest.

= the sum of the squares of the difference between the

pre-test and the post-test.

D = the summation of the difference between the pre-test

and the post-test n = the sample size.

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Statistical treatment applied based on the sequence presented in the statement of the problem was given below:

Analysis 1. Profile of the students. 1.

Statistical tools Frequency, count,

percentage. 2. The students attitude in learning performance skills. 3. The mean level of experimental method 4. The mean scores of the students taught with the picture showing method in pre-test and post-test 4. Mean 3. Mean 2. Mean, standard deviation.

5. Significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores 6. The effectiveness of using picture showing method in enhancing the performance skills of the students. .

5. Mean

6. t-test for correlated samples

The null hypotheses were tested at the threshold P-value of 0.05