Abstract
The growing demand for the competitive specialists justifies the particular attention and concern to the Malaysian students’ reading comprehension skills from the Malaysian authorities. The introduction of teaching the Malaysian core school subjects in the English language (Yassin et al., 2009) provided the continual attempts and experiments to define the most efficient way to decrease achievement gaps in the reading of Malaysian pupils.
Starting from the 5th grade, students extend their vocabulary through reading (Zubairi & Sarudin, 2009). The following research proposes the method of using “Reading Cues’ as scaffolding answering the closed or WH-questions to improve the performance of students before, during, and after reading. Our findings let us hope that such technique would significantly increase the students’ overall performance in the core school subjects taught in English as well as the level of motivation.
Keywords: reading comprehension, Malaysian, scaffolding, cues, closed questions, WH-questions
ABSTRACT 2
1.0 INTRODUCTION 4
1.1 Background Of The Problem 4-6
1.2 Context Of The Research 6
1.3 Reflection On Teaching And Learning 6-7
2.0 RESEACRH FOCUS 7
2.1 Identifying Of Research Focus 7-8
2.2 Reconnaissance 8-10
2.3 Research Model And Intervention 10-14
3.0 RESEARCH PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 14
3.1 Research Purpose 14
3.2 Research Questions 14
4.0 RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS 15-16
5.0 RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION 16
5.1 Implementation Of Actions 16-17
5.2 Collection Method 18
5.2.1 Document Analysis 18-20
5.2.2 Pre And Post-Tests 20-21
5.3 Data Analysis Methods 20
5.3.1 Data Analysis 21-22
5.3.2 Pre And Post Tests 22
6.0 RESEARCH FINDINGS 22-24
7.0 REFLECTION 24
8.0 FURTHER SUGGESTIONS 24
REFERENCES 28
APPENDIXES 30-37
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background Of Study
The creation of new opportunities to fulfill the potential of the population always linked with the trip to the future of each nation. “The growing demand for highly-professional young specialists with the ability to think critically caused the increasing of the number of classes both general English and for specific purposes” (Moore, 2007). In many Asian countries, the subjects such as Mathematics, Geography, History, Physics, and Biology have been taught in the English language. The educational institutes of these countries have started such innovation to enhance the level of competitiveness of future graduates to allow them attending the universities worldwide and attract international students to attend the local educational institutes. Malaysia was not an exception. Therefore, British Council and Malaysian schools started their cooperation regarding introducing Content and Language Integrated Learning. It was a reasonable step forward towards the integration into the international world. The role of the English language as the language of intercultural communication is difficult to underestimate. The knowledge of this language opens the doors of the most famous and respected universities worldwide. That is why the local languages have been put aside, leaving them the role of the local communication for English to succeed in business and global academic spheres.
Linguists consider Malaysia as one of the best destinations for the teaching of English. English is a second language in this country. The demand for English teachers has increased tremendously over the years here. In 2007, the Malaysian government embarked on a program to have math and science taught in English. However, the increasing number of academic hours allocated to the English language has put pressure on the government to consider introducing English as a core language for the mentioned above school subjects. As a result, the country has opened separate classes for the state program taught in the English language (Yassin et al., 2009). However, the increasing demand for English has come with challenges such as the inability to read and comprehend written texts. Children could learn pretty fluent, but while answering the comprehension questions at the end of the texts, the pupils got stuck and did not understand the general ideas of scientific theories they had just read (Pearson, 2002). Statistically, about 79% of students faced with unprecedented challenges regarding following the principles of Math and Natural Science taught in English as well as 77% of pupils claimed that natural and exact sciences should be taught in the native language (Nor Hashimah Jalaluddin, 2004). In the line of the recent research, 96 % of the teachers noticed the fall of the motivation and interest, as well as 98% of them, stated that the pupils had suffered from the lack of understanding about what they read (Nor Hashima, 2004). Thus, we collected the mentioned data among about one thousand pupils from local urban and agricultural schools of the national type, and more than forty teachers with the different term of their professional experience. In particular, the researchers of the pedagogical university named Sultan Idris (Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 2008) declared that 80% of students were able to listen poorly to the explanations of the teachers in both English and local languages in the Math class or not understanding at all what was going on. Moreover, according to the research held in 2008, 70% of students did not know Math in English at the same time with 70% of students regarding Physics. The majority of students got poor marks, especially the Malaysian children whose results regarding the school performance were worse than ever. Therefore, to increase the children’s English level in Malaysia, our research paper aimed to find sustainable solutions to current problems that might help the children to improve their comprehension skills in reading. The today ‘s tendency states for the well-developed speaking and listening skills, whereas the reading and writing skills, have still been poor. All modern English textbooks focus on speaking rather than other English skills. As a result, younger generations can express their thoughts and opinions in some way as well as understand the ideas of texts based on General English. Nevertheless, it is not enough for dealing with scientific and technical documents.
1.2 Context Of The Research
The learning of language is a process that takes place from birth to adulthood. As young people grow up, they develop language skills that allow them to interact and share their life experiences with one another. Language enables children to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Throughout development, children learn various speech and language skills to allow them to communicate effectively (Duke& Pearson, 2012). Reading comprehension is a central skill in understanding the use of language because the objective of reading a written text is to acquire its meaning and be able to apply it in daily life situations. In this regard, a pupil that merely reads a printed book but fails to gain its inherent meaning can be deemed incapable of reading written books. According to the educational standards, between the age of six and eight, children should be able to read short stories and get to know the characters in the stories, the events in the stories, the feelings of the characters as well as the order of sentences (Zubairi & Sarudin, 2009). This process of acquiring skills extends as the children grow.
1.3 Reflection On Teaching And Learning
After experiencing three phrases of practicum activity in the school, we realized that most pupils encountered some difficulties in identifying the main idea of passage when their teacher made them complete the tasks directed on reading comprehension. During our first phase of practicum, many pupils were not able to read the text when we were reading aloud activity with them. The students needed guidance from the teacher during the reading lesson as well as the explanation of the text’s idea. When answering the comprehension questions, the students only waited for the teacher to give answers to them as they could not have understood the context of the text. Next, for our second and third phases of practicum in a school, most of the pupils were able to read the text fluently, but they could not realize about what they had read. They just read out the text loudly without analyzing the contents of the text. During the third phase of practicum, we had an opportunity to observe the pupils’ reading comprehension skills. The results of such observation illustrated that most of the pupils had been able to read the text fluently, but the major part of them could not have understood its context when answering the closed questions. The main reason why it had happened was the pupils’ insufficiency in understanding the substance of the text. Thus, after having these experiences and challenges in teaching the school subjects in English, we decided to implement ‘Reading Cues’ in the comprehension text to improve the pupils’ ability in answering WH- questions to get the main idea clearer and to be able to summarize the texts in short.
2.0 RESEARCH FOCUS
2.1 Identification Of Research Focus
Children need to acquire prior knowledge about the topic they read to develop comprehension. Comprehension of written materials requires the knowledge of an extensive vocabulary either written or communicated orally (Musa et al., 2012). Recent studies have shown that proper understanding of the working of language helps in improving the ability of pupils to read and comprehend. The use of the ‘Reading Cues’ in improving reading and comprehension is necessary because ‘Reading Cues’ assess various guidelines that can help pupils to understand the contents of the text and lead students to find the correct answer to the closed questions based on the text given. While reading the text the students sort out the information according to the various categories, using the questions like what, who, where, when, why and how. These WH-questions aim to clarify the content of the text and let the students get the main idea faster.
The ‘Reading Cues’ used in the text may assess comprehension answers that demonstrate if pupils can recognize the purpose of learning. Such recognition of the educational mission is important since it allows students following the instruction. However, in our case, we faced an unpredictable challenge of students’ unawareness of the aim of reading the given text. In particular, whenever we conducted reading aloud activity with the students, they tried to read the text as loud as possible to compete with their classmates. However, when we asked them to answer the questions at the end of the text, most of the pupils seemed puzzled about its context. In general, it helped to conclude that the setting of proper reading goal would facilitate the process of understanding the context. Furthermore, the aim of reading a text would enable pupils to follow the material from the beginning to the end. With the aid of the ‘Reading Cues’ which place beside of the text, we hoped that it would guide the pupils to identify the objective of the reading while and after reading the text. The ‘Reading Cues’ could also help the students to improve their reading comprehension skills while answering the WHquestions.
2.2 Reconnaissance
Reading occurs through interaction with print materials such as books, magazines and shop lists. The reading took place both at school and at home. The continuous interaction of pupils with readable literature enhances their ability to comprehend the meaning of the written words. In this regard, reading and comprehension are intertwined skills which depend on each other. The area of our studies focused on the development of reading comprehension skills of students. Therefore, we should define the term ‘reading comprehension’ a bit more precisely. So, ‘Reading Comprehension’ is “the act of understanding what you are reading” (“K12 Reader”). Moreover, ‘Reading Comprehension’ is an interactive process before, during and after reading a portion of the text. While reading, a lot of mental and cognitive processes are happening in the student’s mind. To build the understanding of the general idea and the main purpose of the text as well as to feel the mood of the author, the reader started from recognizing of ‘phonics,’ connecting letters to form words, words to phrases and, finally, the sentences and clauses into the texts. “This last aspect of reading is ‘Reading Comprehension” (K12 Readers). There are two things to do if we want to adjust the process of reading comprehension which is the knowledge of keywords and overall text comprehension. Overall text comprehension is an ability to identify the main idea of the text. In case the separate words do not seem sensible to the reader, an overall understanding of the text will happen under no circumstances. Even if the children know their target vocabulary well enough for their age, they should continuously learn the new words. Therefore, before reading all experienced teachers try to pre-teach new words and expressions to facilitate the process of reading for their students. Finally, if after reading the text, the reader manages to summarize the text on its substance, it means that he fully comprehends it. That is how we can define the reading comprehension.
However, many pupils have poor reading skills due to various reasons such as the lack of target vocabulary, inattention, and others. Because of such limitation, these pupils are not able to read comprehensively. Studies by Asgari and Mustapha (2011) revealed that the causes of poor reading abilities included language problems, limited foundational skills, and inability to decode the written word.
As throughout our observation in the school, many pupils also had poor reading comprehension skills, we focused our study against the backdrop of the challenges of poor reading comprehension abilities among students. Thus, the research focused on improving reading comprehension ability while responding the closed questions using “Reading Cues.” Closed questions are issues that have a short focus answer. The answers to the closed questions can often be either right or wrong. The primary aim of such questions is to help understand the main idea of the text. We felt that the children would struggle hard throughout their primary school life and also the secondary education life without the necessary reading skills. Otherwise, by learning the comprehension strategies and teaching them to the pupils, we hoped to provide the solid foundation required to make the process of successful education.
2.3 Research Model And Intervention
The following picture will give a clear vision of the layers of thinking during the educational process. See Figure 1 below.
Figure 1. Barrett’s Taxonomy of Comprehension Skills (Clymer, 1968).
The first two categories in Barrett Taxonomy, such as literal comprehension and reorganization (Gocer, 2014), refer to the information presented orally or in the texts the students already read, and, therefore, each closed question requires a simple a precise answer based on the text given before. After studying this Barrett Taxonomy, we realized that our students could not reach the first step which was literal comprehension in the reading class. It happened because, during reading class, the whole class of pupils was able to read the text, but many of them were not able to understand the context of the text while answering the direct questions to show their comprehension. Thus, we suggested that the pupils needed to develop some useful and meaningful reading strategies to overcome their problem. It assessed the use of ‘Reading Cues’ to improve reading comprehension skills of the pupils.
For our intervention, we focused on the first level in Barrett’s Taxonomy of Comprehension Skill with the students. It was because the pupils could not recognize the ideas and information in the reading text. Thus, to help them to solve this problem of comprehension, the research used the KSSR Lesson plan design which contained the pre, while and post stages.
Figure 2. The diagram of action research designed by Kurt Lewin in 1948(Smith, 2001).
According to Kurt Lewin’s approach (see Figure 2), the first steps involved identifying a general or initial idea. To find out the issue for our research, we carried out a discussion with the school English teachers. From the review, we discovered that the biggest part of the pupils in the Year 5E class had been weak regarding their reading comprehension skills. They could not have answered the closed questions from the reading comprehension text given by the teachers. Most of them did not understand the context of the text after finishing to read it.
The following step was reconnaissance or fact findings in which we needed to seek for the information regarding the identified issue and relevant literature. We tried an observation method which helped to determine the reasons why the pupils had been weak in reading comprehension skills during a reading lesson. After identifying the reasons, we searched for a strategy which could help the students to improve their reading literacy. To be aware of different strategies, we reviewed books and surfed the internet to get the ideas what to use in the classroom.
After that, there came the planning stage. After finding all the information related to the issue, we had to plan an action research which involved the recommended intervention for the problem, data collection methods used and the data analysis method. We planned the date of implementing the first contribution in the class after checking the weekly scheme of work for the conducted lesson. Then we required fulfilling the pre-test first before applying the first input in the lesson to get a valid result from the research. We also planned to use feedbacks from the participates, peer reflective journal and also pre-test and post-test as the data collection methods for this research.
3.0 RESEARCH PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
3.1 Research Purpose
The goal of our study is to examine the effectiveness of using ‘Reading Cues’ as scaffolding during the reading lesson to improve the pupils’ reading comprehension skills. From the background of the study, it was clear that poor reading literacy was a major problem affecting learners in the reading lesson. A noticed group of pupils could not answer the WH-questions in the comprehension text given.
3.2 Research question
The research question is always crucial because it guides the researcher. This issue ensured that the person carrying the research did not veer off the scope of the research problem. From such perspective, our study will try to respond the following question ‘Can ‘Reading Cues’ help the pupils to improve their reading comprehension ability?’
The raised in the research issue responded to the problem of the study. As our study examined the role of ‘Reading Cues’ in the improvement of the pupils’ ability to answer the final WH-questions based on the text, then our research issue would give the rationale regarding the use of ‘Reading Cues.’
4.0 RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
This study relied on the particular research participants. Since the scope of the survey has been within the educational context, most participants were drawn mainly from the pupils and the school staff. The school involved in the research was a cluster school, located in a suburban area in Penang. The school streamed classes according to the pupils’ academic performance. The research carried out by the 32 students of eleven years old of age, from mixed ability groups. The diagnostic test revealed a solid evidence for the participants chosen by the researcher. Moreover, the diagnostic test clearly showed that those pupils had had poor comprehensive reading skills because they could not have answered some closed questions in the diagnostic test given. In that case, the researcher could not ensure that the chosen pupils would represent the whole year five’s pupils’ population in the school. However, they could still provide some portion of useful information to answer the research question, which could be helpful in the further studies about the effect of using ‘Reading Cues’ in improving the reading comprehension when answering the closed questions. From the result and the confirmation of the homeroom teacher, we had to define if the target group had involved both average and below average level learners. As mentioned above, all participants in the study could read the text fluently, but they did not understand its main idea. Therefore, we took one hour per session to provide the interventions of ‘Reading Cues’ while reading. In total, we supposed to hold maximum two sessions.
During the preparatory stage, we observed the pupils’ responses and made some notes regarding their behavior and attitude towards English lesson. We also analyzed the student’s written tasks such as a workbook, exercises, and exam papers. Based on the observation, we noticed that the pupils had been weak in reading comprehension, especially when answering the closed questions given after reading the text. They tended to be receptive all the time. Therefore, we needed to find a solution by proposing the ‘Reading Cues’ in the text given to see the effectiveness of educating the pupils how to understand better the comprehension text and improve the ability in answering closed questions.
5.0 RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION
5.1 Implementation Of Action
We used three following stages to implement his research.
Stage 1
We taught a reading skill from the text Malaysia Legend of Unit 4.
We gave a pre-test to the students regarding their reading comprehension skills. Pupils had to answer five closed questions based on the text provided. (Refer to Appendix 6)
Most of the participants were not able to get a good result from the pre-test as evidence from the previously conducted diagnostic test.
Stage 2
We conducted the intervention.
Pre-reading
We composed six different WH-questions, such as what, who, when, where, why and how and distributed them among the pupils.
The answers to six questions mentioned above aimed to ensure that the pupils had been aware of the function of using these WH-questions.
While-reading
We distributed the reading text with ‘Reading Cues’ at the side sentences among the students. (Refer to Appendix 6)
Pupils read through the text and answered the ‘Reading Cues’ during the reading.
It might help the pupils to recognize the general ideas of the story.
Then, we gave students the comprehension questions to answer.
The pupils could refer to the ‘Reading Cues’ from the reading text.
The use of ‘Reading Cues’ was supposed to help the students to get the answers to the comprehension questions easily.
Pupils were able to do some of the comprehension questions, but they did not get used to the ‘Reading Cues’ since it was the first time of using such technique.
Post-reading
We discussed the answers to the closed questions with the pupils at the end of the intervention aimed to use ‘Reading Cues’ in the text offered to the class.
Stage 3
We held a second interference proceeding all the steps again with a similar text and comprehension questions. We decided not use the same text as before because the pupils might have just memorized the answers to the closed questions and, therefore, it would have led to the invalid data.
After carrying out the second time intervention, most of the participants could have recognized the key ideas in the text and answered the WH-questions based on the text correctly.
Stage 4
We gave the post-test to the students (refer to Appendix 7).
5.2 Data Collection Methods
For this study, we chose two data collection methods to gather relevant data to answer the research questions.
5.2.1 Document Analysis
Document analysis is a valuable research tool, on the one hand, and an invaluable part of the most forms of triangulation. It relates to the particular material investigation and picking up the relevant for the specific study data, then being analyzed and interpreted. The instruments we used for text analysis had been a feedback checklist and peer reflective journal.
Feedback involved asking questions and getting answers from the participants of a study. It was usually recorded in some way so that they became available for subsequent reflection and analysis. By using the feedback method, we collected data directly about the pupils’ opinions and experiences regarding their ability in answering closed questions in a reading comprehension text during a reading lesson. In our research, we used feedback checklist (Appendix 1) to collect the data needed. The feedback checklist only contained several key questions on the research because it was to suit the students’ level and prevent any misunderstanding and confusion happened while answering the feedback list.
We carried out this feedback session with some of the research’s participates who did not improve their score on the pre-test and the post-test. We implemented such activity because she wanted to find out the reasons of no show improvements in the score of post-test. Before conducting the feedback session, we had designed a protocol (Appendix 2) adapted from Cresswell (2014). The participants for the instruments had been selected based on purposive sampling. We prepared a consent form (Appendix 3) to get the permission from the students to give feedback before the session started. We used the Malay language to explain the content of the consent form to the student and get their signature in the consent form before answering the questions. It could ensure that the students had a clear picture of what was going on, and the researcher had the evidence of the agreement from the students. Next, during the feedback session, we distributed the feedback checklist among the students. We also used the Malay language to read and explain the questions in the feedback list to the students before they started answering the questions. It could ensure that the students understood all the issues asked us during the feedback session. We let the students speak in the Malay Language when they preferred to provide the oral feedback about the intervention.
Beside feedback checklist, we also used the peer reflective journal as one of the instruments of the data collection in document analysis. Reflective journals could provide additional data about affective variables in language learning. One of the practicum partners entered the class to provide a peer-observation of the lesson with the usage of the ‘Reading Cues’ in the training of the reading skills. She jotted down any issues that happened in the class while we were holding the intervention during the reading lesson. It provided the vital information related to the tested pupils’ reaction to using the ‘Reading Cues’ in reading comprehension skill at the lesson. It helped to identify the effectiveness of the lesson after the intervention.
An example format of the peer reflective journal is possible to see in Appendix 4.
5.2.2 Pre-test and Post-test
Pre-test
The pre-test was carried out before implementation of any strategy at the lesson. The aim of the pre-test was to know the pupils’ basic ability regarding their reading comprehension skills (Appendix 6). We gave it to all 32 students in Year 5E class. Before taking the test, pupils were not exposed to any strategy. The students answered the closed questions based on the text given without any prior training of using any strategy. The learners were asked to answer five closed questions in 30 minutes. The score of the test was collected from the answer sheets and scored by the teacher.
Post-test
The post-test was carried out after implementation of the techniques of ‘Reading Cues’ during the reading lesson. We gave the similar set of questions (Appendix 7) to the pupils to answer. This step was to measure the valid and reliable scores in answering the closed questions while reading the text. The process of implementing the post-test was similar to pre-test. Then, we analyzed the data collected (Appendix 5). The results of pre-test and post-test revealed the differences in scores of the same students. It also illustrated the effectiveness of using the ‘Reading Cues’ in answering the closed question while reading the text.
5.3 Data Analysis Methods
According to Wisker (1989), data analysis was a process where we had drawn some relative generalizations from the whole range of the data collected. In an action research, data analysis was an important process because we got to know the effectiveness of our intervention by drawing inferences.
5.3.1 Document Analysis
We analyzed the feedback checklist withdrawn from the data collection regarding the pupils’ reaction and responses to the ‘Reading Cues’ which they used in the reading lesson. We coded the students’ responses and analyzed whether they liked using the method of ‘Reading Cues’ during at the lesson. The results revealed that most of the slow learners in the class loved using the method of ‘Reading Cues’ while reading as well as answering to the closed questions based on the reading text. However, some pupils did not fancy such approach as they considered it as a double work. They claimed that they could have answered to the closed questions based on the text without any extra help. Furthermore, the feedback form indicated that some of the slow learners could have clarified the ideas of the reading text after using ‘Reading Cues’ in the reading lesson. Such method helped them to answer the closed questions in the text quickly after they understood the key ideas. Also, the idea of usage of feedback could assist in establishing a good relationship with the students. The comments allowed understanding the students’ strengths and weaknesses as well as getting them to know better.
Next, for the peer reflective journal, we analyzed the issues regarding the pupils’ progress and responses when using ‘Reading Cues’ method in the reading lesson. We coded the part of the analysis of the issue into positive and negative responses of pupils.
5.3.2 Pre-test and post-test
We recorded the pupils’ scores in pre-test and post-test in a table and compared these results to have a clearer picture regarding the difference of the reading comprehension before and after interventions.
6.0 RESEARCH FINDINGS
The chart above shows the scores of the pre-test and post-test obtained by the Year 5 pupils. As we mentioned already, there were thirty-two pupils chosen to participate in the research, but we could only collect the scores of twenty-six students. Another four students took part in their sports practices, and two other learners were absent during the post-test. Thus, we could not get the scores from those six pupils because it was invalid data for the research.
7.0 REFLECTION
Based on the findings, the use of ‘Reading Cues’ during the reading lesson helped the students improve their reading comprehension skills while answering WH-questions. So, having analyzed the idea and implementation of the research, we came to the conclusion that our research was the only first small step regarding the contribution into our educational sphere of life. Malaysia strides to the integration with the global community where all habitats understand themselves and could find their place in this contemporary world. Our work should be developed further because the usage of ‘Reading Cues’ in reading comprehension was the only tiny aspect that we could apply to the real life dictating the steadily growing demand for the highly-competitive specialists. So, starting with the first level of the Barrett Taxonomy of Comprehension Skill, we could prepare the pupils to participate in the research to gain the high confidence in reading, understanding, analyzing and evaluating the information.
The results of the experiment can be recognized as positive because most of the pupils significantly improved their skills in reading comprehension while answering closed questions. They also managed to ask the proper questions, even if there were the direct WH-questions’ such as what, who, where, what, when and how. The pupils started feeling their success, and it caused the increasing of their interest and the level of motivation towards the integrated learning. Despite the Malaysian intention to refuse from the teaching school subjects in the English language, this research revealed a chance to continue and succeed in it.
8.0 FURTHER SUGGESTIONS
There is no research paper without any further suggestions. Our study has not become an exception. First of all, speaking about Barrett’s Taxonomy, we worked with the only first level responsible for the overall understanding. In short, we set the goal to help children to develop the initial level of understanding of English texts. Therefore, our work can be more complex in the future, if we involve other layers of the pyramid in our investigation. Moreover, Barrett’s Taxonomy would help to continue developing the pupils’ higher order thinking skills such as analyzing, evaluating and synthesizing. The variety of questions (Fisher, 2016) after each text can be more numerous and diversified. The students can take part in making not only ‘thin’ questions (Young) but also the ‘thick’(Young) ones. They also could ask their classmates to imagine another resolution or find several possible solutions and then choose the only one justifying the choice during the pair or group work during the lessons. In particular, not only it can help students make satisfactory progress and performance in the future, but also to build their awareness regarding collaboration and cooperation successfully with other students.
Secondly, as to the amount of students whose results we collected and analyzed, it would probably be more interesting and useful to look through the dynamic process of both weak and strong students to get more precise data by the end of the research.
Thirdly, only three reading lessons are not enough to teach the students to avoid misunderstanding while reading. We would better work with the same students for minimum half a year. It would allow practicing with various scientific texts from Social Studies, Science textbooks.
Next, it would also be more useful and more precise regarding the overall vision to have two classes: one control group of students with the traditional the English lessons, and an experimental group taught with the usage of the mentioned above methodologies. When comparing, it would always be easier to reflect on the work done to define a better plan for the future.
Moreover, we can recommend being flexible in identifying the ways of explaining the material to the students either in their mother tongue or not. The full immersion is always better for the maintenance of the level of students’ motivation to learn more to understand. So as the alternative for the strongest 5th-grade students, we could teach all school subjects only in the English language, whereas the education of the weak learners with the usage of mother tongue can be reasonable.
Speaking about some additional recommendations for our investigation, as for the interventions, it might be working on regarding making the students preparing the questions themselves. For the weakest learners, perhaps, it would be possible to provide more than two interventions until they got the main idea of the test provided.
We also recommend taking into account that, starting attending the 5th grade, the child encounters completely different conditions, unfamiliar to him. New subjects, as well as new teachers, enter the student’s life. Children of that age group feel stressed. Therefore, they might meet introduction of new rules and methods without pleasure. The level of alertness increases and the process of adaptation becomes harder. So, probably at the beginning of the introduction new standards and strategies, it might happen that children will reject all innovations the teacher would try to implement in the class. Therefore, we advise being careful introducing the new approaches and methods to the 5th-grade pupils. For instance, if students used to read and translate the text, then why they will work with it in another way?
With the regard to fifth-grade learners’ age problems, we need to understand that the teacher for specific purposes and the curator of the group can be two different people. It is of vital importance to agree with each other regarding help and assistance while introducing new ways of teaching and doing any experiments. Moreover, the role of a psychologist is hard to underestimate. The issue of age specialties is a matter. These professionals will help to find the proper way to bring new strategies and innovations to the pupils.
In a case of the feedbacks, the level of respect of the students can be so high that they will be scared of recommending something to improve and claiming that they were crazy about everything. So, we recommend to speak with the children and convince them to write an adequate feedback letter to the teacher.
Finally, this research work would provide many opportunities for the further scientific investigations. It might lead to the development of the methodological textbook, writing articles on the research topic because the thesis is topical and up-to-date correlating with the strategically planned further development of the whole educational system of Malaysia. With the research like this, it would be possible to win the grant or find investors to continue the experiment covering larger areas and involving more people.
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APPENDIXES
Appendix 1 (Feedback Checklist)
Please, mark the section depended on where you agree with the statements based on the following key. Please tick one box only. Response options:
Appendix 2
Data Collection Protocol for Feedback Session (Adapted from Figure 7.7) (Creswell, 2014, p 248)
Project:
Place:
Process of the interview:
Describe the purpose of the feedback session, confidentiality of the participators and the duration of the process.
Guide the participates in reading and signing the consent form.
Appendix 3
Consent form
I have agreed to take part in this feedback session. I understand that all data collected will be used for the research. I also agree that my name will not be mentioned or revealed throughout the whole process of the research. My confidentiality will be protected.
_________________________ _____________________
Appendix 4
Peer Reflective Journal for Data Collection
Issue
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Analysis of the issue
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Appendix 5
Appendix 6:
Questions for pre-test
Reading Text: Legend of Mashuri
The legend originated from Langkawi. There was a maiden named Mashuri. She was married to a soldier. At that time, the neighboring kingdom Siam declared war on Kedah. The Mashuri’s husband had no choice but to join the fight for their land. Mashuri was somber and prayed for the safe return of her husband.
Mashuri was a beautiful woman. Wan Mahura, the head of the village’s wife became jealous of her. One day, she saw Mashuri talking to a cloth merchant. Wan Mahura wanted to hurt Mashuri. She spread lies about Mashuri not being faithful to her husband. The villagers believed the lies. The village head was angry when he heard of what Mashuri had done. He did not investigate the matter and sentenced Mashuri to death.
Mashuri was taken to Padang Mat Sirat and tied to a tree. Mahsuri pleaded, “Do not kill me. I have done nothing wrong! If I die, there will be a curse on this land. Nothing will grow on it.” No one listened to her, and she was stabbed to death. White blood was said to have poured out from her body, signifying her innocence.
Who is the main character in this legend?
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Where did the legend take place?
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What did Wan Mahura do to Mashuri?
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What happened to Mashuri after talking to a cloth merchant?
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What did the white blood signify?
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Appendix 7
Post-test
Legend of Mashuri
Long ago, on the island of Langkawi stayed a woman called Mahsuri. She was charming and kind-hearted. She married to a soldier. At that time, the neighboring kingdom Siam declared war on Kedah . The Mashuri’s husband had no choice but to join the fight for their land. Mashuri was somber.
Mashuri was a beautiful woman. Wan Mahura, the head of the village’s wife became jealous of her. One day, she saw Mashuri talking to a cloth merchant. Wan Mahura wanted to hurt Mashuri. She spread lies about Mashuri has a relationship with the cloth merchant.
The villagers believed the lies. The village head was angry when he heard of what Mashuri had done . He did not investigate the matter and sentenced Mashuri to death.
Mashuri was taken to Padang Mat Sirat and tied to a tree. Mahsuri pleaded “Do not kill me! I had done nothing wrong! If I die, there will be a curse on this land . Nothing will grow on it.” No one listened to her, and she was stabbed to death.
White blood was said to have poured out from her body, signifying her innocence .
Where did Mahsuri stay?
__________________________________________________________________
Where did the Mahsuri’s husband go?
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What did Wan Mahura do to Mashuri?
________________________________________________________________
What happened to Mashuri after talking to a cloth merchant?
__________________________________________________________________
What signified the Mahsuri’s innocence?
__________________________________________________________________
