Introduction

English is the lingua franca among the middle class, especially in the
large towns and cities. Every Malaysians should have the ability to use
English so that they are able to enter the door to greater opportunities in
educational and profession. English is compulsory subject in the Malaysian
school curriculum (Chitravelu, Sithamparam, and Choon, 2005). Since British
colonial came to this country until 1956, English language has been used and
learned by the local people as a medium of communication and also as a
second language. According to Keow (2011), the Malays were given six
years of basic education for the purpose of achieving the objectives such as
arithmetic skills, awareness and moral values and proficiency of the children
in royal family in the English language. Our government prepares their
citizens to face the world through schools by requiring all of them to learn
English language as one of the main subjects. The aim of English language
instruction in Malaysian schools is to enable the learner to communicate
effectively and efficiently in English in social and professional situations
(Chitravelu, Sithamparam and Choon, 2005).
Every teacher needs to prepare their students to reach certain level of
literacy of the language. An improvement had been made by Ministry of
Education to enrich the proficiency level of language among the students.
KSSR introduced in a way to overcome the problems that arose during KBSR
period. Through KSSR, fun, meaningful and purposeful learning has been
introduced. 5 hours a week provided to pupils to acquire all of the four

components of the language, which is speaking, writing, listening and

reading.
Reading is one of the main skills needed to be mastered by the
students so they can be labelled as a competent user of the particular
language. It is crucial for every student to comprehend the text that they read
so that they can use it in daily lives. For example, reading newspaper,
billboard and commercial. As English is being widely used, we need to have
basic knowledge to read, write, listening and speaking so that we will not left
behind.
Reflection of the Teaching and Learning Experience
During two phases of practicum, I had stumbled upon various types of
anticipated problems. All of the inconveniences that happened during my
teaching have its own advantages and disadvantages towards me to improve
my knowledge and skills in this profession. Some of the problems have been
solved while other problems require me more time and research to look for
the best solution.
One major problem that I encountered from the first practicum was
pupils did not know the name of the sea creatures when being probed with
the question such as what kind of sea creature is this?. This problem arose
when I started teaching the topic From the Sea to year 3 pupils at SK (2)
Jalan Batu Tiga.
The pupils seem lost and blurred when I asked them a question about
the sea creatures. They seem not having any experience with the term

of sea creatures. They noticed about the topic when I gave the
example such as dolphin and crab.
(Journal entry No. 1, 7th April 2014)
I found that this problem occurred because of my preparation or the
lack thereof. I could not prepare good stimuli to trigger their past knowledge.
My teaching aids also are not helping much to aid me in explaining the
content of the topic. I had to provide better teaching aids for them in order to
help them to remember and have better grasp of the topic. As a solution, I
chose picture cards and word card as one of my teaching aids. The pupils
need to match the word cards with the correct pictures.
pupils are having fun when they can match the words with the pictures. They
seem attracted to the color pictures, especially the characters in their
favourite movie, Finding Nemo. I can call many volunteer because they are
eager to answer my question
(Journal Entry No. 2, 14th april 2014)
The end result of this approach have been very encouraging, to say
the least. The anticipated problem has been encountered through this
method. The result showed that the students were able to identify and
remember the name of the sea creatures after the usage of pictures and
word cards. Other than that, this teaching aid helped the students to engage
better in the teaching and learning process. I could allow them to discover the
words by themselves and facilitate them in this stage.
I noticed that the usage of pictures and word cards has its own
advantages in helping the students. It could be a good stimulus as it can
attract the students attention and also assists the teacher to explain about
the particular topic. This is because according to Seyed Jalal Abdolmanafi

Rokni and Neda Karimi (2013), the use of visual materials or visual elements
in teaching and learning has a positive result because visual treatment can
help to improve the students learning in several ways. Pupils can benefit
more from vocabulary learning. Picture cards also able to fulfil students
needs and also promotes the core KSSR principles. According to Ministry of
Education (2012) that KSSR principle promotes the pupils to learn English in
fun, meaningful and purposeful ways. Having colourful images on the picture
cards also helps to gain their attention. It is a good stimulus where it can help
the students to remember what being taught better. According to Berk (2013),
started from the childbirth, humans will scan the environment and looking for
the most interesting sights and moving objects. So, when I put the colourful
word cards, the pupils start to attract with it and helps them to remember it.
Moreover, another problem that I need to face during past practicum
was pupils cannot differentiate the words according to the word class. Pupils
of 3 Dedikasi in SK Jalan Air Panas cannot classify the word class, especially
noun and verb. They seem clueless when I probed some questions such as
which one is a noun and which one is a verb? and can you tell me which
word should I put, either noun or verb?. This issue happened when I
teaching writing skill. It was very hard for me to construct a proper sentence
when pupils cannot classify the word class.
3 Dedikasi pupils could not provide me the answers when I asked
them about noun and verb. When I tried to relate them with presious
lesson, they still cant get what I mean.
(Journal entry No. 3, 23rd July 2014)

From the observation made, this problem occurred due to my teaching

style. I am not well versed on the sentences structure. When they were
probed with the question as stated before, it was very hard for the pupils to
comprehend them.
To encounter this problem, I prepared coloured word cards to show
the difference of the word classes. Every time I put the word card, I drilled
them by asking them which word class the word belongs to. Through
coloured word cards and drilling, they managed to differentiate the words
according to the word classes. After that, I did the action of the verb such as
using gesture to ensure their understanding.
It made me realised that through drilling and gestures, pupils found it
easier to remember the words and its function. It is also an interactive way of
learning because I provided pupils the opportunity to be independent in their
learning. It can attract pupils to follow the instructions and memorise the
words subconsciously. They tend to focus in doing the gestures while
chanting the word.
One of the major problem need to be countered until now is the lack of
volunteers whenever I asked a question. This problem has been puzzling me
until today. They tend to answer in choral, but when I ask for volunteers, they
tend to be more timid, showing lack of confidence in answering the question
provided.
Before I ask for the volunteers, they started to shout the answer to
me. In contrary, when i enforced the rule of raising hand before

provide the answer, I hardly see any hands on the air to answer my
question.
(journal Entry No. 4, 6th August 2014)
Many factors can be associated with this problem. One of the
contributing factors is pupils lack of confidence. Most of them know the
answer but are not brave enough to try to answer. This situation happens
because they are not well exposed to converse in English. Besides, they are
too afraid to make mistakes in the classroom, due to several reasons
The pupils knew the answer, but too afraid to tell it to their friends.
When I asked them individually, they can give me the correct answer.
But if I ask them to tell it to their friends, the pupil remains silent.
(Journal Entry No. 5, 8th August 2014)
I need to solve this problem because it will affect the momentum every
time teaching and learning process takes place. It is a major problem for me
because the pupils tend to be more passive in classroom. Because of it, I
cannot measure students comprehension through probing questions. It also
does not fulfil the KSSR principle.
Research Issue
I faced some issues and problems in my previous practicum. I have
found the solution to encounter this problem. As a result, some of the
problems can be solved but some of the problems beyond my capability as a
teacher trainee.

I was assigned to teach year 5 pupils at SK Jalan Air Panas and year
3 pupils at SK Jalan Batu Tiga. Pupils from different background, age, and
proficiency level of language are having the same problem. For SK Jalan Air
Panas, a handful of students were not able to extract the information from the
text. They can only know the gist of the text, and showed the lack of ability to
understand the text although the text provided appropriate to their level.
Surprisingly, I did not know they were unable to do the
comprehension question. I thought the story of Timmel the Fish is
suitable for them. Although they well noticed about the characters,
they did able to tell me why the fish did the action
(Journal Entry No. 6, 16th April 2014)
I noticed that the problems occurred when I did not prepare my lesson
well. I did not able to provide proper teaching aids and systematic lesson that
be able to ease the problems. My teaching style also did not fit the pupils
learning style. Sometime, the activity that I designed failed to prepare them
the best to use the language.
The pupils need teaching aids so that they can understand the
explanation. Choral reading is not enough for them to comprehend the
text.
(Journal entry No. 7, 20th April 2014)
I did look for a solution by providing the teaching material that
emphasises more on fun, meaningful and purposeful learning atmosphere. It
was because the issue is the students did not show any interest in learning
the component. Reading component should be mastered by all of the

students because it is a major component of the language. In preparing

students to the reality of the world, teachers need to teach the pupils to read
and able to make meaning from it. According to Shin and Crandall (2014),
reading is a receptive skill, processing what others have said or written, but
doing so in an active ways. It is a crucial skill for them to go to the next level
of learning.
Learning to read and write is complex and difficult enough in childrens
native language: doing it in another language is even more difficult (shin and
Crandall, 2014). Looking back in teaching and learning process, I chose
reading as a main issue because after multiple times of observations, most of
the student did not able to make meaning from what they had read.
I am having same problem from past practicum. The pupils not able
to answer the comprehension question although all of the answer can
get from the text. It is same with before, everyone can read well, but
not understand about what they read
(Journal Entry No. 8, 19 August 2014)
The main purpose of reading is to make meaning. According to Shin
and Crandall (2014), when we read, we activate two types of knowledge
which are top down processing and bottom up processing. Most of the
teachers will focussed on helping to see the relationship between sounds and
letters and neglects the part where the students focus on meaning. That is
why the students that were being observed by me can read the text fluently
but did not understand what the text is all about.

What Had I Learnt About My Research Issue

There were few possible causes can be related to my research issue.
The typical ways that I had used were not suitable for the particular risen
problem. It can be found in my journal entry.
Ive tried another technique to help them to understand the text, but
the result still same. Only handful of them able to fill the information
according to the pictures provided. Although the pictures arranged
according to the consequences, only handful of them can answer it
correctly.
(Journal Entry No.9, 25th August 2014)
This problem occurred when the students were faced with
comprehension questions. Only a handful of students were able to answer
the question while other students found it difficult to accomplish the
objectives. One of the main causes was because of the students language
proficiency level. They showed a lack of understanding when the questions
were provided to them. It happened due to their limited vocabulary. Although
the vocabulary was chosen according to their level, they still have problems
to get the gist of the text. Another explanation related to this problem was the
teaching aids. With minimal teaching aids, they showed little to no
improvement in reading comprehension. They need a well-organized
teaching aid that is able to guide them to manage the information that they
gather from the text.
Today, my reading comprehension lesson is a success. I listed all of
the information on the whiteboard so that they can refer when they

start to answer the comprehension question. The function of list the

information is like a word card, helping them to remember
(Journal Entry No. 10, 28th August 2014)
There are many possible risk factors involved in this problem.
According to Murcia, Brinton and Snow (2014), every engaged readers have
a specific goals that are read for pleasure, for information and learn
something new. Based on my case, most of the pupils are not being engaged
reader. It was because they did not show any signs of having any specific
goals. They also did not show any awareness of the goal for the reading task.
Grabe (as cited in Murcia, Brinton and Snow, 2014) stated that sometimes
students do not fully understand the goals for a given reading text and
perform poorly not because of inability to comprehend but unaware with the
goals.
Besides that, the possible cause of the risen problems was because
most of the students learnt reading through drilling and repetition. It is related
to the Audi-Lingual Method. According to Freeman and Anderson (2011), the
characteristic of Audio Lingual Method is the language is learned through
imitation and repetition. Cultural information is contextualized in the dialogues
or presented by the teacher (Freeman and Anderson, 2011). This part was
not well emphasized by the teachers when they are teaching reading. They
tend to focus more on fluency rather than make meaning. Many people,
including several professional teachers, think that reading merely involves
the ability to sound the words printed on a page (Chitravelu, Sithaparam and

Choon, 2005). It is the reason why most of the teachers focus on fluency as
the main objective in reading, not making meaning.
On the other hand, when the observation focuses on the students that
able to answer the comprehension questions at minimum level, we can see
that they are reading for pleasure, not looking for the information as the main
focus. That was the reason why they did not able to answer the higher order
thinking question.
Pupils of 5 Maju showed an improvement in reading comprehension,
but they still not able to answer the higher level question. They seem
like skimming the text, really focussed. That is the reason why they
cannot answer question number nine and 10.
(Journal Entry No. 11, 3rd September 2014)
According to Ediger (as cited in Murcia, Brinton and Snow, 2014),
reading purpose is different when compared to the real life reading,
generally ones start out with a goal and purpose for which one is going to
read, a reason for taking up a text in the first place and then one uses various
strategies to determine how to proceed with reading in order to get the
information necessary for accomplishing the main purpose. That was the
difference that can be detected in pupils where we cannot clearly see their
main purpose. Noji, Silva and Ford (As cited in Murcia, Brinton and Snow,
2014), stated that when students have a purpose when they are reading,
they are more able to read and understand material in much easier way.
During the observation, pupils were not able find the message that needs

deeper understanding. That is the reason why the pupils show inability to
answer the higher order thinking questions.
Motivation plays a central role in the development of positive reading
habits and attitudes (Murcia, Brinton and Snow, 2014). The task sheet and
the reading text given to the pupils maybe too boring for them and did not
able to motivate them to be an active reader. It would be next to impossible to
teach a child to read when he himself is not interested (Chitravelu,
Sithaparam and Choon, 2005). It was one of the possible causes that my
pupils are not able to comprehend the text because of lack of motivation
during reading session occurred. I was unable to create the positive
environment of learning to them, and did not provide them with enough
motivation to learn other language. According to Shin and Crandall (2014), in
order to introduce other language to the children, they must be provided with
learning environment that is similar to their first language acquisition. The use
of illustration together with the reading text is something new and unfamiliar
concept by the pupils. The situation also made them feel different with the
environment when they acquire the first language.
Here, I want to discuss the possible solution to the problem based on
my personal experience, theories, expert opinions and findings from past
studies. I had found a solution that able to help the students to manage the
information that they can gather from the text. I did look for a solution that is
in line with KSSR principles that are fun, meaningful and purposeful.
According to Cox (2008), meaning is created during reading and writing in a
two way transaction between readers or writers and the text they read and

write. Referring to the statement, the solution that I was looking for should be
related to writing.
I have come out with a solution that is able to fulfil the criteria to
subdue the problems listed before. I proposed a solution using a mind map to
help the pupils. It is basically a graphic organizer. Generally, a graphic
organizer is a visual and graphic representation of relationships among ideas
and concepts (Longhi, 2006). It was because mind map can fulfil the learning
style of the pupils. According to Guastello (As cited in Longhi, 2006), typical
graphic organizer is always visually appealing and accessible to both
struggling and advanced students, and it help students to connect prior
knowledge to new information. It was a perfect solution for my issue because
it is very practical. Mind map can be drawn, coloured and combined with the
illustration. It was a good way to help the pupil. It is because, according to
Cox (2008), drawing painting and other graphic arts are used to
communicate throughout their early stage of learning. For instance, young
learners usually able to draw first before they can write. In addition, arts are
always integrated in the curriculum. We can see a lot of illustration and
various colours that being used in the text books provided by the government
itself.
My past experience of using mind map helps me a lot to save time in
managing the information and also provides me with a clear view of the
information related to one and another. It helps me to comprehend a text in
depth after I used the graphic organizer. Moreover, according to Cox (2008),
a graphic organizer can be added to over time, as a child comes up with new

ideas and words. According to Shin and Crandall (2014), we need to consider
about kind of skill and strategies that the child has developed in making
meaning from and with text. According to the statement, most of the students
are always being exposed with illustrations, colours and sketch, which are
tally with the characteristic of the mind map which may help them to learn
better and improve their comprehension level.
What was my Research Objective?
My research objective was about the effectiveness of using mind map
in improving reading comprehension among year 5 remedial pupils.
Who Were My Research Participants?
My research participants were 10 year three pupils from a school in
Shah Alam. The pupils proficiency is intermediate and I chose the middle
class from all year five classes in the school.
The selection of the students was based on their performance. The
performance

was

based

on

their

recommendation from the teachers.

examination

results

and

also

The participants were also filtered

based on their background, such as their parents social status. This is

because to ensure about the exposure of the language to the targeted group
before I proceed to the intervention. I need to know about their background
was to reduce the scope of the students. The school is situated near to the
industrial area where most of the people did not work in higher class
occupation. The exposure of the language outside school is limited. The

parents solely rely to the school. According to the teachers, most of the pupils
did not attend any other English class outside the school.
From informal classroom questioning, most of the answer I got was
they did not learn English much from other medium such as television and
radio. Their parents also not encouraged the pupils to learn English and not
stressed on their academic achievement. Only handful of the pupils received
sufficient academic support outside from school.
As stated before, the targeted group was from intermediate level of
proficiency. The pupils were able to understand the instruction given but
could not converse well in English. Most of them were able to understand
simple English and only handful of the students were encouraged enough to
converse with me in English. The main skill focussed in this research was
reading skill. The pupils skill in reading can be praised because most of the
students can read fluently. The problems arose when they not able to make
meaning from what they read. Other than that, their vocabulary was very
limited. Thus, it makes them hard to understand what they read. Because of
their level, they able to comprehend simple reading sentences but when it
comes to complex sentences, they will have difficulty in understanding.
Focussed scope of the pupils was the pupils from 3 Gemilang. Sum of
3 Gemilang pupils was 35 pupils. 13 of them were females and other 22 were
males. The scope of this research was about 10 pupils from this class. They
were chosen based on the test result. Pupils who were underachiever being
chosen as a participant for this research.

According to the discipline teacher of SK Seksyen 18, the pupils do

not have any major discipline problems. However, based on my observation,
the respondents could not pay attention in the teaching and learning process.
In todays lesson, some of the pupils were frequently asked to go
to the toilet. Their behaviour disturbed the others. This problem
interrupts my teaching and learning process where I stopped the
lesson and asked the pupils to take turns when they want to go to the
toilet.
(Journal Entry No. 7, 23rd February 2015)
10 pupils were selected as respondents. They consist of five males and five
females.
Table 2
Respondents of this action research
NO

RESPONDENT

GENDER

RACE

.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J

Male
Male
Male
Female
Female
Female
Female
Female
Male
Male

Malay
Malay
Malay
Malay
Malay
Malay
Malay
Malay
Malay
Malay

How Did I collect My Data?

I collected my data through the usage of 4 instruments. It was the way
to assess whether the intervention is successful in fixing the problem or not.
According to Abeywickrama and Brown (2010), assessment is an ongoing
process that encompasses a wide range of methodological techniques.

There should be various ways to assess the target group to ensure the
intervention is effective. The instruments that I suggested for this study are
journal entry, questionnaires, interview and test.

Data Triangulation is a

process of verification that increases validity by incorporating several

viewpoints and methods in gathering data (Denzin & Lincoln, 2013).
Tests
One of the instruments that I used was tests. Test is a subset of
assessment, a genre of assessment techniques. It is a method of measuring
a persons ability, knowledge or performance, in a given domain.
(Abeywickrama and Brown, 2010). Test is an appropriate tool to measure a
pupils understanding of a topic. Tests are among the most useful tools of
educational research, for they provide the data for most experimental and
descriptive studies in education. Tests can further enhance pupils language
development and encourage pupils to learn more.
In my research, I used two types of short tests which were Test 1 and
Test 2. Both of the tests were under different types of assessment. For the
Pre-test, I ran a formative test to identify in their competencies and skills in
the language. According Abeywickrama and Brown (2010), formative
assessment has their own primary focus the ongoing development of the
learners language. The pre-test was given to the pupils before intervention
action to know their comprehension, mastery of reading skills, and ability to
taking notes. On the other hand, post-test was under summative test.
Summative test aims to measure, or summarize what a student has grasped

and typically occurs at the end of a course or unit instruction (Abeywickrama

and Brown, 2010). Post test were given after two weeks of the application
of mind map among the targeted groups. The purpose of the post test is to
measure the effectiveness of the intervention to the targeted group. The data
collected and measured through the result of the post test.
It is important to determine the test format and types to get the result
for assessment. The types of the test I chose for the pre test was
diagnostic test. The purpose of the test is to diagnose aspects of a language
that a student needs to develop or that a course should include
(Abeywickrama and Brown, 2010). Through this, I able to elicit the
information on what students need to work on in the future. I used this
information to have better, more detailed, subcategorized information of the
learner. According to Abeywickrama and Brown (2010), tests offer a checklist
of features for the administrator to use in pinpointing difficulties. Because of
this, I prepared subjective questions for Year 3 intermediate class, which
required them to write their answers in spaces provided according to the
checklist formed by me. This test was not unfriendly to the pupils. It
motivated the pupils to learn and achieve more in the future.
Creating a good and quality test items, there are few steps that I
followed in the construction of a test. Since the Year 3 pupils proficiency level
is intermediate, I provided five questions for Test 1 and 6 questions for Test 2.
The questions constructed according to the Blooms Taxonomy. The very first
step in the development of a test and prior to the construction of any items is
the specification of the test domain. I did a test specification before doing any

test item. I included one difficult item to test pupils understanding. The test
items have been constructed with the guidance of the teacher and some
findings through my researches (sample refer to the appendix).
Interviews
Interviews have long been used in research as a way of obtaining
detailed information about a topic or subject. According to Goh (2012),
interview is a to person conversation initiated by the interviewer for the
specific purpose of obtaining research relevant information, and focused by
him on content specified by research. Interview is believed to provide a
deeper understanding of public phenomena than would be obtained from
purely quantitative methods. According to Goh (2012), with good questioning
techniques, researchers will be more able to facilitate the subjects accounts
and to obtain quality data from them. Through an interview, I can evaluate my
target groups attitude and the personal quality which I cannot measure using
a test. Other instruments are focussing on the surface elements of
quantifiable but interviews is a handy to measure what pupils think about the
meaning and significance of what is happening. When we interview a person,
we can extract immeasurable, useful information about the research topic.
According to Robson (as cited in Goh, 2012), there are three basic types of
research interviews which are structured, semi structured, and unstructured.
For my research, I will use the semi structured interview. According to Goh
(2012), semi-structured interview is very useful because it allows the
interviewer to elicit information with probes to get in-depth responses.
According to Buns (1999), a semi structured interview is openended and

thus provides much greater flexibility. So, it is a suitable instrument for me to

collect data that gives another perspective of information to help me to
measure the effectiveness of the intervention.
Those who can provide the best insights, who represent the full range
of understanding and views, can be chosen for interviews purposes. I chose
only three pupils for my interview session because other pupils are not fluent
in speaking and affected my data collection. The interview sessions
conducted after both teaching and learning process. One of the interviews
carried out after the intervention action. This instrument supported my
findings of my research. I transcribed the interviews and used excerpts to
support my findings (sample refer to the appendix).
Journal Entries
A reflective approach to the research process is now widely accepted
in many qualitative researches. Journal entries were interpreted sequential
record or a log of experiences and events. According to Wallace (1999),
reflective journal is shared accounts of a persons actions, thoughts and
feeling written by the person himself, usually on a daily basis. Journal entries
make us to develop the thoughts into written content, which simultaneously
forces to think deeper into the topic that is important. In the journal entries, I
included all the incidents that happened in the class to be used as data
collection. The journal entries also can improve ones teaching because
when we reflect on what has happened, we can resolve and avoid making

the mistakes. According to Goh (2012), reflective journal adds a valuable

dimension to the research report.
Journal entries also help me observed the pupils participation in a
particular lesson and reflect on the process of teaching. In addition, journal
entries help me recalled what happened during the event, and as a record to
look back on. Journal entries were very helpful for me to reflect on the
effectiveness of mind map in improving comprehension among the remedial
students
Questionnaire
I used questionnaire as one of my instruments to authenticate my
data. Questionnaire provides a very efficient way of creating a variable by
case matrix for large sample (de Vaus as cited in Goh, 2012). The rationale
of having questionnaire as my instrument is I collected a large amount of
information from the pupils in a short period of time. Questionnaire was easy
to standardise as every pupils will be asked to answer the same questions, in
which making this a very reliable method. According to Nardi (2006), this
method constitutes interactions between the researcher and the respondents
in which standard instructions are given to all the participants. Therefore,
questionnaire used to strengthen the reliability of my data as I only involved
three pupils in my interview session. Questionnaire will be distributed to 10
participants after every lesson. The constructing process of my questionnaire
was mainly focused on the types of questions and organisation.
Questionnaire was short and able to yield answers that are useful for data

analysis later on. My questionnaire only incorporated questions related to my

objectives. The responses from the pupils helped me to determine the
effectiveness of mind map. Moreover, the language used in the questionnaire
was simple. This was to ensure that all pupils will be able to understand the
questions.
I used closed-ended questions for my questionnaire to ensure the
pupils are able to answer the questions. Scales used to help the pupils to
answer the questions as they only needed to choose from the scales given.
The five-point scales in which 1 represents strongly disagree, 2 represents
disagree, 3 represents do not know, 4 represents agree, and 5 represent
strongly agree will be used to allow the pupils to express how much they
agree or disagree with the statements. The five-point format used in my
questionnaire, aided the pupils to think first before they answered the
statements. From here, the reliability of the questionnaire increased. (sample
refer to the appendix).
What was My Recommended Intervention?
My recommended intervention conducted a week after I had
conducted the lesson using traditional teaching method. I conducted the
lesson using the mind map after I selected the most suitable pupils. The
selection of the students was based on the results from the Test 1. The
students tested before the intervention takes place. I was not separated the
selected pupils from their classmate because I need to create the most
encouraging atmosphere for them. I wanted my research participants to be in
their most natural states and for them to feel at ease.

For the first week of teaching, I used traditional method of reading

comprehension. My intention is to ensure the students are able to understand
the content of the text. It was used as a comparison before and after the
intervention being implemented to them. My intervention focused on linear
text. Fictional text will be easy for me to exploit to ensure it is suit with the
students interest. The number of information was the same for both of the
lesson and should also be same to ensure the validity and the reliability of
the research. Both of the lessons were not contradicted and coherent with
each other in terms of environment, and situations. I prepared the students to
be active participants in reading activity, such as reading readiness. I
excluded or minimize the external factors that influenced the result of the
data such as the state of the targeted group. I created the environment that
helped the student felt more comfortable and safe, such as conducive
classroom, no disturbing background noise that affected their condition and
discouraged their abilities and capabilities.
As with other lessons, this lesson I accomplished the objectives stated
in the plan. There are two different objectives targeted from the lesson. The
first objective was pupils able to transfer 6 out of 8 information from provided
text to the mind map template. The second objective was pupils should be
able to answer 4 out 6 subjective question based the mind map written by
them. In this particular lesson, I planned for the intervention; there were 5
different stages I had constructed, similar with my other lesson plan.
In the first stage, the set induction, I provided a picture puzzle based
on the fiction that they going to read after this stage. It is based on the past

lesson and also their prior knowledge. I will call the pupils in front to complete
the picture puzzle so that others can guess what the picture puzzle is all
about. This activity will help me to gain pupils interest towards the lesson in
the latter stages.
After the set induction, I entered the presentation stage where I
introduced the new vocabularies to them. The introduction and explanation of
the vocabularies was to help and aided the pupils to read the text and
comprehend it. It was crucial to the pupils so that the new vocabularies were
not affected them in comprehension later when they start to read the text all
the way through. The teaching aids that I used were pictures and word cards
to ensure that they will get a clearer description of the words. At the same
time, I prepared the students for the reading activity. I introduced the text and
talked about the background of the text so that they related it with their
previous knowledge.
The next stage was the most crucial stage where I was implemented
the suggested intervention. During the practice stage, the pupils need to do
choral reading. The rationale of this activity is to help the students to improve
their understanding. This was because they improved the comprehension by
restoring the features of speech while they are reading. After pupils went
through this activity, the pupils filled the information that they obtained
through the reading session into mind map. Every branches of the mind map
labelled before, used as guidance for them to manage the information. Every
sub branches labelled according to the information that they need to extract
from each paragraph. During this stage, I helped the students by aiding them

to fill in the mind map so that the information is well managed. I guided the
students that face difficulties in completing the task. After that, I gathered all
of the answers from the pupils. I called some volunteers to fill the information
on the board so that everyone will be able to verify their answers. Through
this, every pupil completed and correct mind map as a reference for the next
stage. After they finished transferring the information into a mind map, I
probed the pupils with open - ended questions so that the pupils got the
chance to share their interpretations about the text. The questions helped
them to develop their personal understanding towards the text. The open
ended questions that asked to them such as:

What do you like about this text?

Have you ever experienced about this text is all about?
Which part of the text do you like most?
Do you agree with the writers opinion on the ....?

The production stage was where the pupils need to answer the subjective
questions related to the text. The subjective questions constructed according
to the Blooms Taxonomy. It helped the students to feel comfortable when
they are answering the questions. The mind map was the main medium that
they can use while they are answering the questions. The questions that they
answered were the test that I used as an instrument to measure whether the
intervention is successful or not. All of the questions were comprehension
questions and I provided 2 higher order thinking questions to test whether
they able to see beyond the text. After the class has finished with the test, I
administered the questionnaires to all of the pupils in the classroom. I called

out pupils in that particular classroom to come for the interview. I finished
interviewed the target group in two days
Table 2 summarises the steps that taken in the implementation of the
action of the research.
No
.
1.

2.
3.

Week
10th
January
2015
rd

3 April
2015

4.
5.
First Week
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Second
Week

Steps
Select the title of the proposal and the instrument.

Discussion with lecturer regarding the research topic

Prepare the first draft on action research proposal and
submission.
Inform the school teacher about the action research
Discussion with the school teacher and selection of the
participants.
Look through the time table to decide the time to do the
research.
Prepare the lesson plan (traditional method)
Implement the lesson plan in the class (traditional
method)
Implement the Pre- short assessment
Do the structured interview
Prepare the lesson plan (New method)
Implement the lesson plan in the class. (New method)

Third Week
14.
Post-short assessment
15.
Do the structured interview
16.
Data analysis
17. Continued
Do the report
18. week
Editing the report
19.
Send the report
Table 2: Steps in implementing the action
What Were the Result of My Study?

The main focus of this section is the result of analysed the research
data. When all of the data have been gathered, an analysis can declare
whether the intervention is a success or not. Burns (1999) stated that, data
analysis in action research engross forward the action components of the
cycle, which the main focus are planning and acting, to the research
aspects, where the focus turns to be more systematic observing and
reflecting. Based on the result, we can come up with a conclusion and create
a hypothesis. A conclusion can be drawn regarding the tenability of the
hypotheses, and you have made some progress toward answering your
research question (Lehman, ORourke, Hatcher & Stepanski, 2005). To be
exact, data analysis is the main process to give meaning to the numbers
collected and obtained from the data collecting instruments. It has to be
analysed differently because of the method of collecting data is different.
Consequently, I will discuss in depth about data collection for each and every
data instrument that I used in this research.
Test
For my first instrument, which is the test, I tabulated the data into a
table. The data collected after I finished marking the test paper. The test
marked according to the marking scheme devised by me. Then, I arranged
the results that I have obtained in order by tabulating the results in the form
of a table. The table will be created to show comparison between test 1 and
test 2. Table below shows a blank example of the table I intended to use.
Table 5
Comparison of Test 1 and Test 2 scores

Pupils
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
Total score
Mean

Test 1

Test 2

(Traditional)
1
2
1
3
2
4
4
3
3
3
26
2.6

(Mind Map)
5
4
4
5
5
2
4
4
5
4
41
4.1

Difference
4
2
3
2
3
-2
0
1
2
1
16
1.6

Table above shows that the total marks for test 1 was 26 over 50. The
mean for test 1 was 2.6. The differences in total and mean scores were 16
and 1.6 respectively. The result shows the improvement of the pupils in
comprehension comparing between test 1 and test 2. The result is consistent
with the
Table 5 also shows that the total and the mean scores for Test 1 was
209 and 9.1 respectively. For Test 2, the total score was 338 and the mean
score was 14.7. The differences in total and mean scores were129 and 5.6
respectively. The results show that the total and mean scores were 61.5%
higher for Test 2 as compared to Test 1. The results indicate that the
performance of the pupils were better in Test 2 as compared to Test 1. This
finding is consistent with my journal jotting.

I will compare the results in two different ways. First, I will calculate
the differences of mark for each individual in test 1 and test 2. I will group the
results according to grades, A as the highest and E as the lowest grade. The
figure below shows the grading scale that is prepared in accordance to the
School Examination Analysis System (SAPS):
Figure 3: Grading Scale based on SAPS

Grade A (80% - 100%)

Grade B (60% - 79%)
Grade C (40% - 59%)
Grade D (20% - 39%)
Grade E (0 % - 19 %)
The frequency of the grades presented in test 1 and test 2 will be
analysed. If the scores proven to be in line with my research objective, where
scores of test 2 are higher than the one in test 1, I can conclude that my
intervention method leads to better usage of preposition of place. However,
the result from the test here is not the only one used in concluding the
research. Only after triangulation of results from this instrument and the other
three, I will be able to conclude on the effectiveness of my intervention.
The second way is that I will calculate the mean of scores for both test
1 and test 2. Then, I will convert them to percentage to see if there are any
significant changes in their performance. If any differences exist, I need to
calculate the difference between test 1 and test 2. The reason for this action
is because I need to have set to indicate a significant change is around 10%.

If the mean from test 2 shows an increment of 10% or more, I can conclude
that the intervention method is triumphant in its objective and vice versa.
Interview
I will have an interview session with the targeted group. During the
interview, i will provide them with sets of open ended question. All of the
answer given by the pupils will be collected as a data. I will jot down all of the
information and transcribe it into written form. Then, from the transcription, I
will look and search for information that supports my findings in other
instruments. For example, if my research participants ability improved in test
2, I will look for responses that are consistent with that statement. An
example of interview response that I will be looking for in said situation is
provided below:
1. Can you understand what you have learnt today?
Answer: Yes, I learnt about mind map and how to use it.
2. Do you think that todays lesson helped you to understand how to use
mind map?
Answer: Yes, I can understand it better with the use of pictures and
interacting with it in front of the class.
Questions: Example of interview responses that supports positive findings.
Questionnaire
After I have collected the data from my questionnaire, I will list the
result in the form of a table. As I use a rating scale in my questionnaire, I will
calculate the mean for each item and compare them after each method. The
table below shows how I would tabulate my data.

No

Item

Mean

The Traditional
Method

I
am
able
to
understand the text
with less guidance
from the teacher.

I
can
confidently
answer the questions
in the worksheet.

I able to extract the

information from the
text.

Difference of
the Mean
The
Intervention
Method

Table 2: Example of the table for analysing questionnaire data.

The example I provided is only for the positively-stemmed questions.
For this type of questions, I will compare the mean of the data for traditional
method and intervention method. If the mean of an item in the intervention
method is higher than that of the traditional method, it is safe to say that the
intervention method is effective in increasing the research participants ability
to use mind map correctly. However, for the negatively stemmed questions
which are not included in the example above, If the mean of an item in the
intervention method is higher than that of the traditional method, it bring a
negative implication about the research. It means that the intervention only
degenerate the pupils ability of comprehending the text that they read.
Journal

Journal is the final instrument to measure the effectiveness of the

intervention. The main purpose of reflective journal is top record the
observations during the intervention are happen. The journal should be in
detail, critical and covers all aspect in classroom that may change the
variable of the research. I will record the conventional method of teaching
reading

comprehension

and

the

intervention

of

teaching

reading

comprehension. Alternatively, through journal writing, I can reflect on the

behaviour of the participant and my own actions. Through this, I can improve
parts that have weaknesses.
I can quote my journal to any relevant excerpts that will help me in my
findings. For instance, when I conducted the intervention and results shows
me positive sign regarding of the research, I need to jot down the detail of the
class so that I can quote as a support for my statement. The example of the
quotation is should be as,

Less of pupils raised their hand when I ask if they have any problems
to do the task. Most of them occupied with the task that I provided to
them.
(Journal Entry X, Date X)

What can I relate about this study is, the pupils have different styles of
learning that need a teacher to fulfil. The multiple intelligences can be
induced in teaching and learning session to cater pupils need. Some of the
pupils might be suit with the previous teaching styles, but for lower
proficiency level of pupils, the teacher need to search for different styles of
teaching to ease and also boost their confidence in learning new things.