1.

3 PRELIMINARY DATA

During my teaching practice III at SK Sikamat, Seremban, I gathered some data to

prove the existence of my issue that the pupils have difficulties in using prepositions of place
in, on and at to complete sentences. From this, I sort out the pupils who have the problems
with preposition of place in, on and at. From my observation and data gathered, I found out
that some of the pupils had the same problems. I did a diagnostic test to know whether my
pupils had difficulties in using prepositions of place in, on and at. Based on the diagnostic
tests result, there were pupils who have problems in the issue that I am addressing. The
pictures below are some of the examples of the test.
Picture 4
Picture 5
 Based on the data, it is clearly seen that the pupils have difficulties in prepositions
of place in, on and at. This is because they were confused when to use the prepositions
of place in, on and at. In addition, they also translated the sentences and the preposition
of place in, on and at in order to complete the sentences. This problem was similar to my
pupils when I was in SK Taman Tuanku Jaafar, Seremban during my teaching practice II.

As example, for question number 4, both of the pupils answered:

1. The boys are playing on the field.

instead of

2. The boys are playing at the field

Based on the question number 4, the correct answer is at. This is because we use
preposition of place at for a point. Thus, it means at the field shows the point where the
boys are playing.

While for question number 16, both of the pupils answered:

3. I read the story on the newspaper

instead of

4. I read the story in the newspaper.

Both of the pupils need to answer in because we generally use preposition of place in
for an enclosed space. It means that we read the story in the newspaper because the
newspaper is an enclosed space. So, the answer should be in.

These problems happened because pupils already confused and tend to translate to
their first language. Therefore, I believed that I should address this issue because pupils
need to be able to master the use of preposition of place in, on and at before learning
other prepositions. It is also to have a good communication with other people by using the
correct prepositions of place in, on and at.
2.0 WHAT IS MY FOCUS OF INVESTIGATION?

My focus of investigation is on grammar skills for my Year 4 pupils in my English

language class at SK Sikamat, Seremban. The pupils proficiency level is low to
intermediate.

2.0 WHAT IS MY RESEARCH ISSUE AND WHAT HAVE I LEARNT ABOUT MY

RESEARCH ISSUE?

2.1.1 WHAT IS MY RESEARCH ISSUE?

Effective grammar instruction begins with what students already know about
grammar and it helps them use this knowledge as they write (Ann, 2000). This is because
grammar is a complex and challenging skill for many pupils because not everyone master in
grammar like it is not just for prepositions of place in, on and at. From this, it is crucial for me
to focus on preposition of place in, on and at because my pupils had difficulty in constructing
prepositions of place in, on and at. My research issue is pupils were not able to
understand and use preposition of place in, on and at. A preposition is defined as a word
that governs nouns or pronouns usually in front of, expressing a relation to another word or
element (Norhazian & Yong, L.C. (2011). While the definition of preposition of place is a
preposition which is used to refer to a place where something or someone is located (Ginger
Software, 2016).

From my observation the pupils were not able to differentiate and use preposition of
place in, on and at. This can be clearly seen when I gave them exercises on prepositions. It
is very confusing for the pupils because they did not use English language as their medium
of communication at home. They speak in Malay language at home and also in English
classes. As a result, the pupils have lack of knowledge in grammar and vocabulary skills. For
example, the pupils will communicate with their friends and respond to teachers question in
Malay language during English lesson.

Besides, the pupils have less exposure of materials in English language as they do
not like to learn English language because they feel that English is difficult to understand.
The pupils were not exposed to common words in English language and this makes the
pupils have lack of vocabulary and difficulty to speak in English language. In addition, the
pupils also have no habit in reading English reading materials. Thus, they tend to lose
interest in reading English language books because they cannot understand English
language.
 Furthermore, I use root cause analysis (RCA) in order to get further understanding
about my problem. According to Willson (2015), RCA is a methodology for finding and
correcting the most important reasons for performance problems. Therefore, below is my
RCA to identify my issue.

Issue:
Pupils have difficulty in completing sentences using preposition of place in, on and at.

Question 1: Why do pupils have difficulty in completing sentences using preposition of

place in,on, at.

Answer: Pupils have difficulty in completing sentences using prepositions of place

in,on, at because they cannot remember when to use the prepositions of place in, on
and at.

Question 2: Why do pupils cannot remember when to use the preposition of place in, on,
at?

Answer: Pupils cannot remember when to use the prepositions of place in, on, at
because they were confused with the prepositions of place in, on, at.

Question 3: Why do pupils were confused with the preposition of place in, on, at?

Answer: Pupils were confused with the prepositions of place in, on, at because they did
not pay attention during grammar class.

Question 4: Why didn't pupils pay attention during grammar class?

Answer: Pupils did not pay attention during grammar class because they cannot
understand prepositions of place in, on, at.

Question 5: Why can't pupils understand preposition of place in, on and at?

Pupils cannot understand prepositions of in, on and at because they lack of exercises
and activity in using prepositions of place in, on, at.

Through this RCA, I can conclude that my pupils were not able to make and complete
sentences using preposition of in, on and at because they lack of activities and exercises.
Therefore, I need to address this issue as my research issue because it is very important for
pupils to understand and know when to use preposition of place in, on and at as they are
already in Year 4 which is about 2 years before UPSR.
 As a conclusion, teaching pupils prepositions is a must because it is also addressed
in Dokumen Standard Kurikulum Pembelajaran (2012) stated in 5.1 By the end of the 6-
year primary schooling, pupils will be able to use different word classes correctly and
appropriately and pupils must be 5.1.5 Able to use prepositions correctly and appropriately:
(a) in (b) on (g) at. Thus, it is important for me to address this issue as my research. This is
because I want to improve my teaching in grammar skill especially in prepositions of place
in, on and at so that I can deliver the lesson to my pupils clearly. Also, to make sure my
pupils will be able to understand my lesson easily without feel bored.

2.0 WHAT IS MY FOCUS OF INVESTIGATION?

My focus of investigation is on grammar skills for my Year 4 pupils in my English

language class at SK Sikamat, Seremban. The pupils proficiency level is low to
intermediate.

2.0 WHAT IS MY RESEARCH ISSUE AND WHAT HAVE I LEARNT ABOUT MY

RESEARCH ISSUE?

2.1.1 WHAT IS MY RESEARCH ISSUE?

Effective grammar instruction begins with what students already know about
grammar and it helps them use this knowledge as they write (Ann, 2000). This is because
grammar is a complex and challenging skill for many pupils because not everyone master in
grammar like it is not just for prepositions of place in, on and at. From this, it is crucial for me
to focus on preposition of place in, on and at because my pupils had difficulty in constructing
prepositions of place in, on and at. My research issue is pupils were not able to
understand and use preposition of place in, on and at. A preposition is defined as a word
that governs nouns or pronouns usually in front of, expressing a relation to another word or
element (Norhazian & Yong, L.C. (2011). While the definition of preposition of place is a
preposition which is used to refer to a place where something or someone is located (Ginger
Software, 2016).

From my observation the pupils were not able to differentiate and use preposition of
place in, on and at. This can be clearly seen when I gave them exercises on prepositions. It
is very confusing for the pupils because they did not use English language as their medium
of communication at home. They speak in Malay language at home and also in English
classes. As a result, the pupils have lack of knowledge in grammar and vocabulary skills. For
example, the pupils will communicate with their friends and respond to teachers question in
Malay language during English lesson.

Besides, the pupils have less exposure of materials in English language as they do
not like to learn English language because they feel that English is difficult to understand.
The pupils were not exposed to common words in English language and this makes the
pupils have lack of vocabulary and difficulty to speak in English language. In addition, the
pupils also have no habit in reading English reading materials. Thus, they tend to lose
interest in reading English language books because they cannot understand English
language.

Furthermore, I use root cause analysis (RCA) in order to get further understanding
about my problem. According to Willson (2015), RCA is a methodology for finding and
correcting the most important reasons for performance problems. Therefore, below is my
RCA to identify my issue.
 Issue:
Pupils have difficulty in completing sentences using preposition of place in, on and at.

Question 1: Why do pupils have difficulty in completing sentences using preposition of

place in,on, at.

Answer: Pupils have difficulty in completing sentences using prepositions of place

in,on, at because they cannot remember when to use the prepositions of place in, on
and at.

Question 2: Why do pupils cannot remember when to use the preposition of place in, on,
at?

Answer: Pupils cannot remember when to use the prepositions of place in, on, at
because they were confused with the prepositions of place in, on, at.

Question 3: Why do pupils were confused with the preposition of place in, on, at?

Answer: Pupils were confused with the prepositions of place in, on, at because they did
not pay attention during grammar class.

Question 4: Why didn't pupils pay attention during grammar class?

Answer: Pupils did not pay attention during grammar class because they cannot
understand prepositions of place in, on, at.

Question 5: Why can't pupils understand preposition of place in, on and at?

Pupils cannot understand prepositions of in, on and at because they lack of exercises
and activity in using prepositions of place in, on, at.

Through this RCA, I can conclude that my pupils were not able to make and complete
sentences using preposition of in, on and at because they lack of activities and exercises.
Therefore, I need to address this issue as my research issue because it is very important for
pupils to understand and know when to use preposition of place in, on and at as they are
already in Year 4 which is about 2 years before UPSR.

As a conclusion, teaching pupils prepositions is a must because it is also addressed

in Dokumen Standard Kurikulum Pembelajaran (2012) stated in 5.1 By the end of the 6-
year primary schooling, pupils will be able to use different word classes correctly and
appropriately and pupils must be 5.1.5 Able to use prepositions correctly and appropriately:
(a) in (b) on (g) at. Thus, it is important for me to address this issue as my research. This is
because I want to improve my teaching in grammar skill especially in prepositions of place
in, on and at so that I can deliver the lesson to my pupils clearly. Also, to make sure my
pupils will be able to understand my lesson easily without feel bored.

2.2 WHAT ACTION RESEARCH MODEL AND INTERVENTION I INTENDED TO USE?

2.2.1 Action Research Model

According to McNiff (1988b) in Goh (2016), the action research method involves the
understanding of the self through a reflective spiral of planning, acting, observing, reflecting
and re-planning. Thus, the action research model that I will do is Kemmis model. Below is
Kemmis action research model:

Figure 1: Action Research Protocol after Kemmis (as cited in Hopkins, 1985)

From this model, I will be able to revise my plan and can reflect on my intervention. I
will also be able to do cycle 1 and cycle 2 as the above figure so that I can observe and
reflect on my improvement. This is because according to Goh (2016), the procedure is
cyclical in nature and is intended to foster deeper understanding of a given situation. Thus, I
will be able to use Kemmis model in order to have deeper understanding as it is moving from
several interventions and evaluations. Therefore, I will be able to revise my plan of action.
2.2.2 Intervention that I intended to use.

DESCRIBE WHAT YOUR INTERVENTION IS PROVIDE SOME REFERENCE WHY THIS

INTERVENTION IS RELEVANT. YOU NEED TO DESCRIBE THE DETAILS OF HOW TO
USE IT IN ANOTHER HEADING

3.0 WHAT ARE MY RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS?

The research objectives and research questions are as the table below:

Research Objectives Research Questions Instruments / Data Sources

1. Explore ways in which I
can teach sentences
construction using the
preposition of place in, on
and at effectively.
2. Explore the use of Brick 2. How the uses of Brick PoP
PoP activity as a
technique to assist pupils
to complete sentences
using prepositions of place
in, on and at.
3. Explore the learning points
which arise from the action
research that may improve
and enrich me
professionally.
1. How can I help my - Observation.
participants in constructing
sentences using the
preposition of place in, on
and at?
- Document analysis.
activity help my participants - Semi-structured
in completing sentences interview.
using preposition of place
in, on and at?
3. How this action research - Document analysis.
can improve and enrich me - Semi-structured
professionally? interview.
- Reflective Journal.
4.0 WHO ARE MY RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS?

4.1 Practicum 3 SK Sikamat, Seremban.

I will conduct my research at SK Sikamat, Seremban. My research participants are Year 4

pupils in which I teach them English language. The pupils are in a second class which is 4
Bestari. They are seven pupils who are five boys and two girls. They are 10 years old and
their proficiency level is low to intermediate. In addition, the school is located BLA BLA..
DESCRIBE IN DETAILS WHY YOU HAVE CHOSEN THESE STDS.. PROVIDE THE
REFERENCES

5.0 WHAT IS MY RECOMMENDED IMPLEMENTATION?

5.1 How will I implement my intervention?

My intervention is using XXXXXXX to help pupils construct sentences using

preposition of place in, on and at. The XXXXXXX consists of. The steps to use the Brick
PoP activity are as below. USE THIS AS EXAMPLE

Activities Explanation
1. Teacher scatters the block that have
preposition of place in, on and at,
nouns, verbs and articles on a table.
- Teacher introduces about preposition
of place in, on and at.
- Teacher explains on how to complete
the activity.
- Pupils listen to the teacher carefully.
- Pupils are ready to complete their task.

2. Pupils need to take a few blocks that - Pupils need to form sentence using
the teacher scattered on the table and prepositions of place in, on and at.
arrange it to form a sentence using
preposition of place in, on and at.

3. -
4. -

Through this, the rationale of my recommended implementation of my intervention is pupils

will be able to learn and play at the same time. They will be able to focus while doing the
XXXXXX BLA Thus, my intervention can help pupils to . FIND A REFERENCE THAT IS
RELATED TO THIS SUCH AS BELOW

Therefore, activity use realia such as blocks and has kinaesthetic intelligence as
well as good thinking skill which pupils need to take the blocks and arrange it to make a
sentence. Realia provides language learners with multi-sensory impressions of the
language (Smith, 1997). This is because pupils will be able to learn through seeing, hearing,
touching and manipulating the realia with their friends. It will also help pupils to have real
language learning. Thus, I believe that my intervention will be able to help my pupils to be
able to construct sentences using

5. 2 How will I collect my data?

There are a lot of data collection method that researcher can use in order to get
precise information on the researchers issue. According to Rouse (2013), data collection is
a systematic approach to gathering information from a variety of sources to get a complete
and accurate picture of an area of interest. Therefore, I will collect my research data using
observation, document analysis and semi-structural interview with my participants.
DEPENDS ON HOW U R GOING TO COLLECT D DATA

i. Observation.
 Based on observation, I will collect the data through checklist I can have a clear
behaviour of my pupils.

ii. Document analysis.

Based on document analysis, I will collect my data using my pupils workbook or

exercise on pupils work so that I can help my pupil

iii. Semi-structural interview.

I will do a semi-structural interview with my pupils and cooperating teacher. The

semi-structured interview is very useful because it allows the interviewers to elicit information
with probes to get in-depth responses on the topic of interest (Goh, 2016). Through this, I will
collect the data by conducting an interview with ..

5.3 How will I analyse my data?

I will analyse my data through qualitative and quantitative data. Through this, I will
use several ways such as (THIS DEPENDS ON UR INTERVENTION) EG, checklist,
interview and coding the data. ELABORATE N PROVIDE REFERENCE FOR ALL THESE

5.4 How will I validate my data?

I will validate my data in order for me to get a quality and trustworthiness to my action
research. According to Yin (2013) in Goh (2016), he suggested using multiple sources of
evidence as the way to ensure construct validity. Through this, I will use a triangulation
method because I can use several data and will not rely on single source of data. Therefore,
the data that I will get from my research issue will have a high validity.

Triangulation referred to the desire to use multiple sources of data (Mills, 2014).
From this, I can use multiple sources of data to do my research in order to get a valid data.
ELABORATE

- OTHER EXAMPLES ,PEER CHECKING, CONSULT THE COOPERATING

TEACHER OR INTERVIEW THE STUDENTS ETC

5.5 What is my plan of action?

5.5.1 The schedule

In order to complete all the actions and to gather information as well as obtaining intended
results, I have prepared

WEEKS / 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
ACADEMIC 25/ 1/2 15/ 22/ 29 7/3 21/ 28/ 4/ 11/4 18/ 25/ 25/ 1/ 8/
ACTIVITIES 1 2 2 /2 3 3 4 4 4 7 8
29/ 5/2 19/ 26/ 11/3 25/ 1/4 15/ 22/ 29/ 29/ 12
1 2 2 4/ 3 8/ 4 4 4 7 5/ 8
3 4 8
Observation in
the classroom to
find problems.
Reflect on
teaching and
learning practice
that can be
improved.
Finding research
issue and
objectives.
Design a plan of
action.
Plan relevant
information
gathering and
data analysis
methods.
Write the action
research
proposal.
Final write up of
research
proposal.
Prepare data
collection tools.
(Implement Cycle
1).

Carry out data

collection and
interpretation.
(Collecting
baseline data.)
Giving input of
action to
research
participants (RP).
Make
amendments to
original plan
based on the
reflection of the
1st Cycles result.

Practice,
implement and
make the RP
familiar with the
intervention.
Carry out
intervention.
Gather relevant
information.
Reflect and
assess the action
in Cycle 1.
Interpret and
analyse collected
data and
information.
Write draft of the
report for Cycle 1
and start
planning for
Cycle 2.
Implement Cycle
2.
Reflect and
assess the action
in Cycle 2.
Interpret and
analyse collected
data information.
Write report for
Cycle 2.
Conclude the
outcome of the
research.
Final write up of
the action
research.
Prepare for
action research
presentation.
Present action
research.
5.5.2 The budget 9 DEPENDS ON WHAT U NEED)

The materials that I will use for my research are:

i. Ink
ii. A4 Papers.
iii. Coloured papers.
iv. Plastic block game.

The table below is my budget on my action plan.

No. Items Price Quantity X Cost Total Cost

per Unit
1. Ink RM 12.50 1 cartridge X 1 RM 35.70
2. A4 Paper RM 9.50/ rim 1 rim X 1 RM 9.50
3. Coloured paper RM 11.00/ rim 1 rim X 1 RM 11.00
4. Plastic block game RM 11.90/ set 3 set X 1 RM 12.50
aTOTAL: RM 68.70
6.0 CONCLUSION

My action research issue is on pupils have difficulty in constructing sentences using

preposition of place in, on and at. I learnt that it is important for me to address this issue
because pupils need to be able to know about preposition of place in, on and at as to
prevent from miscommunication with other people. It is also to make sure the pupils can
have an effective communication with their friends. Therefore, it is important for me to
address this issue as my action research.

Moreover, pupils usually like to learn using games or activities because they are able
to learn new thing while playing with their friends.

However, the pupils must be able to listen actively and carefully as well as they need to
recall about the topic that they have learnt. Based on this, I believe that they are able to at
least use English language during English language class because it is the only place that
the pupils can have the opportunity to speak in English. This is because games can be a
great way, to build confidence, and learn English, and if it is used very well, it really can
speed up learning (TEFL Survival, 2012). Therefore, it is true that using game during
teaching and learning process will help pupils to understand well the language skill
especially in learning grammar skill.

As a conclusion, I hope that my intervention is to be used in grammar learning

process can help my pupils to be able to use preposition of place in, on and at. Through
this, my pupils can differentiate when to use the preposition of place in, on and at easily.
They can also prevent themselves from doing direct translation from Malay language to
English language. Therefore, I believe that my intervention of Brick PoP activity will be
able to help my pupils in constructing sentences using preposition of place in, on and at.
7.0 REFERENCES

Ann, B. C. (2000). The Role Of Grammar In Improving Student's Writing. Retrieved on 21st
January 2016 from http://people.uwplatt.edu/~ciesield/graminwriting.htm#About
%20the%20Author

Dokumen Standard Kurikulum Pembelajaran. (2012). Putrajaya: Kementerian Pelajaran

Malaysia

Eastbourne School of English Blog. (2013). 4 Reasons Why Learning English is So

Important. Retrieved on 28th January 2016 from http://www.esoe.co.uk/blog/4-
reasons-why-learning-english-is-so-important/

ETC ETC