CONTOH LAPORAN KAJIAN TINDAKAN

(DI HANTAR KE PPD MENGIKUT FORMAT EPRD)

ENHANCING STUDENTS SPEAKING SKILLS

IN STATING AND JUSTIFYING POINTS OF VIEW
BY GENRE ANALYSIS APPROACH.
By
Hjh Hafiza Aini Bte Hj Hassan
Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar
Johor Bahru
Abstract
This research was carried out to assist the students in enhancing their speaking skills in
responding to Task A in their MUET Speaking Test by using the Genre Analysis approach.
There were 8 students who were involved. Early observations had been carried out through
speaking exercises in classrooms. Through the observations, it was seen that the students
were having difficulty in fulfilling the two tasks- Task A (Individual Presentation) and Task B
(Group Discussion). Thus, this research focuses on enhancing the students speaking skills in
Task A, that is the Individual Presentation. In this task, the students need to be able to have the
skills of stating and justifying their points of view. 5 lessons were carried out by using the Genre
Analysis approach. Students show their understanding and positive attitude towards
participating in all the activities carried out in the lessons. Lessons via Genre Analysis
approach should be carried out more often as it gives a clearer guideline to the students in
mastering English Language as their second language in speaking and writing.

1. Reflection on Previous Teaching and Learning

I observed that the students were having difficulties in giving their opinions and giving reasons
to support their opinions. As part of MUET examination, the students are required to be able to
present and justify their points of view formally. However, my students demonstrated their inability to
perform the tasks well. They showed lack of confidence during speaking lessons. They showed
difficulty even to come up with one justification to the topics given and could not reason out their
answers. Basically, less than 5% of the students would go beyond stating the first justification to the
tasks given despite frequent reminders and prompts during the activities. Their passive responses
were also lack of explanations to the justification that they produced.
Due to the predicament of giving even just one justification with no explanation, the students
were unable to go beyond the first minute in presenting their responses. 62% of them responded
below 40 seconds. Not only that, they paused a lot during their responses. Half of the class even
paused too frequently when they responded. Although it is a natural phenomenon to pause while
verbally responding due to the thinking process indulged by the brain, the students paused too long.
Some of them even paused as long as 30 seconds during their responses. This is a clear indication
that the students were facing a serious problem in giving, what more justifying their points of view. The
time factor is crucial as in the actual MUET Speaking Test, students are only given 2 minutes to
perform Task A and the students need to be able to state and justify sufficient points of view within the
time limit.
The students limited experience to the patterns of similar responses in the target language
worsen the scenario. This caused them not to know the best way to present their responses to the
tasks given. That was why they resorted to just state one justification.

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

confident in performing the task given. Their responses would be clearer and thus help the students to
be more focused in delivering their points of view.
With the anxiety that accompanies them throughout the MUET Speaking Test session, the
students would experience intimidation in preparing and responding to the task. This situation did not
help the students in their performance at all. So, equipping the students with speaking skills via Genre
Analysis approach would help to minimize their nervousness as it prepares the students with the
common structures used in their response.
3. Research Objectives
a. General Objective
To tailor a more effective lesson for oral communication by applying the Genre
Analysis approach in instilling the oral skills of the genre of stating and justifying points of view
in the learners response to the tasks similar to Task A in MUET Speaking Test.
b. Specific Objectives
This study was carried out to meet the following specific objectives:
i.
To guide the students on exploring and identifying the structure of the genre
of stating and justifying points of view with the guidance of the teacher,
ii.
To assist the students in producing three justifications for the opinion given,
iii.
To make the students aware of the time limit of their responses 2 minutes
only,
iv.
To highlight and assist the learners in acquiring the salient linguistic features
involved in presenting their responses to the tasks similar to Task A in MUET
Speaking Test.
4. Target Group
For this action research, the subjects were purposive, personally hand-picked, abiding the
criteria set. They were currently the students of Upper Six Form (2005) who would be sitting for MUET
examination in July 2005. Since the students in the class were mostly of those who had achieved 7D
9G, and only a small number with 3B 6C in their 1119 English Paper in SPM 2003, I carried out
the observation and treatment on the students who were of the two criteria. 8 students were chosen
and grouped into two different groups. The first group, the mediocre, consisted of those who achieved
3B 6C in their 1119 English Paper in SPM 2003. The second group involved those with Low English
Proficiency (LEP) who only managed to achieve 7D 9G in their 1119 English Paper in SPM 2003.
5. Action Implementation
In order to overcome the problems faced by the students in responding to Task A, certain
actions were taken. The actions were as below:
c. Problem Identification
In collecting the data, I used 2 approaches:
i.
Observation
The students seemed to shrink in anxiety when they heard from me that they
would have to perform speaking presentations. It would be impossible to see any one
of them to volunteer to be their groups spokesman, what more to go first during
presentations.
During the presentations, it was not their concern whether the listeners could
either hear or understand them. They would just state what they had to quickly and be
satisfied with that.
ii.

Tests
As it is only through tests that we are possible to see students real ability,
two tests were carried out. The first one was a speech presentation where the
students were given two weeks to prepare a speech on a title of their own choice and
present their piece within two minutes.

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

Observation
The reason for the observation was to see how keen the students were with
speaking presentations. Speaking presentations were done twice a month and the
students response were not encouraging. They always answered the
announcements of speaking assignments with groans.
For group presentations, although they knew that they should not have the
same speaker as their spokesmen, they did try to trick me in asking the same
persons to represent their groups. Usually they were the ones identified as having the
best speaking skills compared to the others in the group.
In individual presentations, they were very reluctant to volunteer to perform
first. Even with two weeks preparation time given, some even said that they were not
ready to perform their speech with the title of their own choice.
ii.

Tests
In the individual speech, the students did not present clearly. They mumbled
their words and were not interested to ensure that their listeners could understand
them.
They also did not use up the whole two minutes provided and this shows that
they had bad time management. This could also be seen in their mock MUET
Speaking Test. A few exceeded the two minutes while the rest did not even touch the
first minute.
In their mock test, the students just tend to go straight to the main issue being
stated without dealing with the introduction and topic introduction. Instead of giving
three reasons to justify their views or opinions, they just gave one and were satisfied
with it. Their responses were also lack of the use of salient linguistic features thus
decreased the impact of formality.
e. Research Methodology

i.

Based on the observations and tests done, it was clear to me that the students were
oblivious of the structure that they need to follow in order to present their responses. They
were also unable to use the transitional signals correctly and with variety in their responses.
Thus, I used the Genre Analysis approach in order assist the students to respond to the task
given better. Genre Analysis approach was used in assisting the students:
a. to be aware of the required structure,
b. to understand the variety and correct usage of the transitional verbs.
The stages of the action research taken are as below:
A pre-test was carried out in order to identify students initial level of competency
and ability in responding to Task A.
ii.

Five lessons were carried out and they were

a. Activity 1 Investigating and identifying the structures of
responding to Task A.
b. Activity 2 Practicing brainstorming for 3 justifications on
various topics within 2 minutes for each.
c. Activity 3 Going through various transitional signals and the
correct usage.
d. Activity 4 Practicing on using correct transitional signals for the
justifications on various topics.
e. Activity 5 Practicing responding to Task A in groups of fours
within the time limit of 2 minutes for the preparation, and two
minutes of individual presentation.

iii.

A post test was carried out to identify the effectiveness of the activities carried out
in helping to enhance the students speaking skills in responding to Task A.
Instruments used:
a. Pre and post tests
A
digital
audio
recorder.
A mock MUET Speaking Test.
Real Audio Player
A computer
b. Activity 1

An audio CD of a recorded sample

answer for Task A.
A sample answer.
Frequency Checklist
c.
Activity 2
An Audio CD of 3 recorded sample
answers for Task A.
The transcriptions for the sample answers.
An exercise for brainstorming of the justifications on
various topics.
d.
Activity 3 Power Point presentation of a sample
dialogue.
A list of transitional signals and a task sheet for
categorising the signals based on their proper usage.
e.
Activity 4 - An exercise for practising the use of
transitional signals.
f. Activity 5
A copy of a mock MUET Speaking Test.

iv.

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

Implementation of Action and Observation

i. Implementation of Pre Test
1. The students were put into 2 groups of fours. They were categorised into
three different categories (the mediocre and the ones with low English
proficiency). Each group was asked to enter the room in their respective
groups without the presence of the other group. This was to prevent the
other group from preparing their responses beforehand.
2. The students were seated with pairs facing each other. They were given
a set of test which allowed me to have a sampling of their spoken
discourse.
3. Once the students were seated, I distributed the task. The students were
given 2 minutes to prepare their responses.
4. Each student was given two minutes to present their responses. I took
the place as one of the assessors. I recorded their responses and
evaluated them by using the six-band assessment criteria set by the
Malaysian Examinations Council.
5. Once the first group had finished with the task, another group was called
in. They were given the same task and followed the same procedure.
They were also recorded and evaluated.
i. Observation
The students evaluation can be seen in the table below:
Table 1: The bands achieved by the students.

Studen
PT
t

A
1

B
2

C
1

D
1

E
1

F
1

G
1

H
1

With reference to the Six-Band Assessment Criteria set by the Malaysian

Examinations Council, all except one of them were in Band 1, that is the

lowest. Only one managed to be in the 2nd band. Looking at the moves
carried out, the record of their responses can be seen below: