CONTOH LAPORAN KAJIAN TINDAKAN(DI HANTAR KE PPD – MENGIKUT FORMAT EPRD)

ENHANCING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLSIN STATING AND JUSTIFYING POINTS OF VIEW

BY GENRE ANALYSIS APPROACH.

ByHjh Hafiza Aini Bte Hj Hassan

Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar Johor Bahru

Abstract

This research was carried out to assist the students in enhancing their speaking skills in responding to Task A in their MUET Speaking Test by using the Genre Analysis approach. There were 8 students who were involved. Early observations had been carried out through speaking exercises in classrooms. Through the observations, it was seen that the students were having difficulty in fulfilling the two tasks- Task A (Individual Presentation) and Task B (Group Discussion). Thus, this research focuses on enhancing the students’ speaking skills in Task A, that is the Individual Presentation. In this task, the students need to be able to have the skills of stating and justifying their points of view. 5 lessons were carried out by using the Genre Analysis approach. Students show their understanding and positive attitude towards participating in all the activities carried out in the lessons. Lessons via Genre Analysis approach should be carried out more often as it gives a clearer guideline to the students in mastering English Language as their second language in speaking and writing.

1. Reflection on Previous Teaching and Learning

I observed that the students were having difficulties in giving their opinions and giving reasons to support their opinions. As part of MUET examination, the students are required to be able to present and justify their points of view formally. However, my students demonstrated their inability to perform the tasks well. They showed lack of confidence during speaking lessons. They showed difficulty even to come up with one justification to the topics given and could not reason out their answers. Basically, less than 5% of the students would go beyond stating the first justification to the tasks given despite frequent reminders and prompts during the activities. Their passive responses were also lack of explanations to the justification that they produced.

Due to the predicament of giving even just one justification with no explanation, the students were unable to go beyond the first minute in presenting their responses. 62% of them responded below 40 seconds. Not only that, they paused a lot during their responses. Half of the class even paused too frequently when they responded. Although it is a natural phenomenon to pause while verbally responding due to the thinking process indulged by the brain, the students paused too long. Some of them even paused as long as 30 seconds during their responses. This is a clear indication that the students were facing a serious problem in giving, what more justifying their points of view. The time factor is crucial as in the actual MUET Speaking Test, students are only given 2 minutes to perform Task A and the students need to be able to state and justify sufficient points of view within the time limit.

The students’ limited experience to the patterns of similar responses in the target language worsen the scenario. This caused them not to know the best way to present their responses to the tasks given. That was why they resorted to just state one justification.

2.Research Focus

The research focused on the speaking skills which are crucial for the students to perform Task A in MUET Speaking Test. This research was essential as it would assist the students to be

more confident in performing the task given. Their responses would be clearer and thus help the students to be more focused in delivering their points of view.

With the anxiety that accompanies them throughout the MUET Speaking Test session, the students would experience intimidation in preparing and responding to the task. This situation did not help the students in their performance at all. So, equipping the students with speaking skills via Genre Analysis approach would help to minimize their nervousness as it prepares the students with the common structures used in their response.

3. Research Objectives

a. General ObjectiveTo tailor a more effective lesson for oral communication by applying the Genre

Analysis approach in instilling the oral skills of the genre of stating and justifying points of view in the learners’ response to the tasks similar to Task A in MUET Speaking Test.

b. Specific ObjectivesThis study was carried out to meet the following specific objectives:i. To guide the students on exploring and identifying the structure of the genre

of stating and justifying points of view with the guidance of the teacher,ii. To assist the students in producing three justifications for the opinion given,iii. To make the students aware of the time limit of their responses – 2 minutes

only,iv. To highlight and assist the learners in acquiring the salient linguistic features

involved in presenting their responses to the tasks similar to Task A in MUET Speaking Test.

4. Target Group

For this action research, the subjects were purposive, personally hand-picked, abiding the criteria set. They were currently the students of Upper Six Form (2005) who would be sitting for MUET examination in July 2005. Since the students in the class were mostly of those who had achieved 7D – 9G, and only a small number with 3B – 6C in their 1119 English Paper in SPM 2003, I carried out the observation and treatment on the students who were of the two criteria. 8 students were chosen and grouped into two different groups. The first group, the mediocre, consisted of those who achieved 3B – 6C in their 1119 English Paper in SPM 2003. The second group involved those with Low English Proficiency (LEP) who only managed to achieve 7D – 9G in their 1119 English Paper in SPM 2003.

5. Action Implementation

In order to overcome the problems faced by the students in responding to Task A, certain actions were taken. The actions were as below:

c. Problem IdentificationIn collecting the data, I used 2 approaches:i. Observation

The students seemed to shrink in anxiety when they heard from me that they would have to perform speaking presentations. It would be impossible to see any one of them to volunteer to be their group’s spokesman, what more to go first during presentations.

During the presentations, it was not their concern whether the listeners could either hear or understand them. They would just state what they had to quickly and be satisfied with that.

ii. TestsAs it is only through tests that we are possible to see students’ real ability,

two tests were carried out. The first one was a speech presentation where the students were given two weeks to prepare a speech on a title of their own choice and present their piece within two minutes.

The second test was a mock of MUET Speaking Test which was carried out exactly as how it would be carried out during the real test. The students came into the room and were seated in fours. Each group was called into the room at different time and they were not able to hear other groups’ performance.

d. Analysis of the Problem

i. ObservationThe reason for the observation was to see how keen the students were with

speaking presentations. Speaking presentations were done twice a month and the students’ response were not encouraging. They always answered the announcements of speaking assignments with groans.

For group presentations, although they knew that they should not have the same speaker as their spokesmen, they did try to trick me in asking the same persons to represent their groups. Usually they were the ones identified as having the best speaking skills compared to the others in the group.

In individual presentations, they were very reluctant to volunteer to perform first. Even with two weeks preparation time given, some even said that they were not ready to perform their speech with the title of their own choice.

ii. TestsIn the individual speech, the students did not present clearly. They mumbled

their words and were not interested to ensure that their listeners could understand them.

They also did not use up the whole two minutes provided and this shows that they had bad time management. This could also be seen in their mock MUET Speaking Test. A few exceeded the two minutes while the rest did not even touch the first minute.

In their mock test, the students just tend to go straight to the main issue being stated without dealing with the introduction and topic introduction. Instead of giving three reasons to justify their views or opinions, they just gave one and were satisfied with it. Their responses were also lack of the use of salient linguistic features thus decreased the impact of formality.

e. Research Methodology

Based on the observations and tests done, it was clear to me that the students were oblivious of the structure that they need to follow in order to present their responses. They were also unable to use the transitional signals correctly and with variety in their responses. Thus, I used the Genre Analysis approach in order assist the students to respond to the task given better. Genre Analysis approach was used in assisting the students:

a. to be aware of the required structure,b. to understand the variety and correct usage of the transitional verbs.

The stages of the action research taken are as below: i. A pre-test was carried out in order to identify students’ initial level of competency

and ability in responding to Task A.

ii. Five lessons were carried out and they werea. Activity 1 – Investigating and identifying the structures of responding to Task

A.b. Activity 2 – Practicing brainstorming for 3 justifications on various topics

within 2 minutes for each.c. Activity 3 – Going through various transitional signals and the correct usage.d. Activity 4 – Practicing on using correct transitional signals for the

justifications on various topics.e. Activity 5 – Practicing responding to Task A in groups of fours within the time

limit of 2 minutes for the preparation, and two minutes of individual presentation.

iii. A post test was carried out to identify the effectiveness of the activities carried out in helping to enhance the students’ speaking skills in responding to Task A.

iv. Instruments used:a. Pre and post tests - A digital audio recorder.

A mock MUET Speaking Test.Real Audio PlayerA computer

b. Activity 1 – An audio CD of a recorded sample answer for Task A.A sample answer. Frequency Checklist

c. Activity 2 – An Audio CD of 3 recorded sample answers for Task A.The transcriptions for the sample answers. An exercise for brainstorming of the justifications on various topics.

d. Activity 3 – Power Point presentation of a sample dialogue.A list of transitional signals and a task sheet for categorising the signals based on their proper usage.

e. Activity 4 - An exercise for practising the use of transitional signals.f. Activity 5 – A copy of a mock MUET Speaking Test.

All instruments used were prepared by me and I personally graded the students myself.

f. Implementation of Action and Observation

i. Implementation of Pre Test1. The students were put into 2 groups of fours. They were categorised into

three different categories (the mediocre and the ones with low English proficiency). Each group was asked to enter the room in their respective groups without the presence of the other group. This was to prevent the other group from preparing their responses beforehand.

2. The students were seated with pairs facing each other. They were given a set of test which allowed me to have a sampling of their spoken discourse.

3. Once the students were seated, I distributed the task. The students were given 2 minutes to prepare their responses.

4. Each student was given two minutes to present their responses. I took the place as one of the assessors. I recorded their responses and evaluated them by using the six-band assessment criteria set by the Malaysian Examinations Council.

5. Once the first group had finished with the task, another group was called in. They were given the same task and followed the same procedure. They were also recorded and evaluated.

i. ObservationThe students’ evaluation can be seen in the table below:

Studen

t

A B C D E F G H

PT 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1

With reference to the Six-Band Assessment Criteria set by the Malaysian Examinations Council, all except one of them were in Band 1, that is the lowest. Only one managed to be in the 2nd band. Looking at the moves carried out, the record of their responses can be seen below:

Table 1: The bands achieved by the students.