Action research (farah skt4) coded feedback in L2 writing

ACTION RESEARCH REPORT

Researcher’s Name : FARAH BINTI HASABANPanel : BAHASA INGGERISResearch Title : CODED CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK (CCF) IN SELF-CORRECTING

ERRORS IN MALAYSIAN PUPILS’ L2 WRITING

REFLECTIONI am teaching Year 5 Arif for English Language.

My pupils’ major problem was pupils still made errors (i.e grammatical and technical error types) although they had received corrective feedback on their L2 writing.

This problem was revealed by pupils’ writing, their corrected works and the scores obtained in their L2 writing test and exercises.

Based on the initial findings during in-class exercises and writing test, the errors made by

pupils are as such:

pupils had used problems in using tenses consistently in their writing, pupils had spelling and punctuation issues in their writing, pupils had poor choice of vocabulary and parts of speech in their writing.

Examples of pupils’ errors although they had received corrective feedback from their teacher was

as such:

A guided essay (15 marks):

In sentence 4, ‘’ They went to λ jungle …’’ and in sentence 7 ‘’ Ali and his friends pitched λ tents and

searched for firewood.’’

This problem was common among pupils because they heavily rely upon teacher’s direct

correction on their writing thus had poor control on language forms in which they had

problems with.

Rogayah bt Abdullah, SMK Kempas, JB …………..1

This problem was also derived from teacher’s direct corrective feedback practice on pupils’

writing which had caused pupils to be less independent at correcting own errors in L2

writing.

RESEARCH FOCUS

Based on the above reflection, the objectives of this research are outlined as such:

1. To find out whether coded feedback can help pupils to self-correct the errors in their L2 writing,

2. To train pupils to be more independent in self-correcting errors thus become less dependent on teacher’s direct correction for L2 writing.

If this problem is not solved, the pupils will continue on making the same errors in their L2

writing although they had received corrective feedback on their work.

Pupils will lose the opportunity to obtain better scores due to the occured errors which they are

unable to self-correct due to a heavily emphasis on teacher’s direct correction.

In order to overcome this problem, the teacher would like to implement coded feedback to the

pupils for their L2 writing.

OBJECTIVE OF RESEARCH

It is hoped that with the implementation of coded feedback, pupils will be able to self-correct their own errors and gradually become independent at self-correcting own errors in L2 writing.

Generally, the use of coded feedback would enhance the quality of L2 writing among pupils and raise the pupils’ awareness on reducing the common errors in their work.


Specifically:

1. Pupils are gradullay able to self-correct errors made in their essays and written work,

2. Pupils have refined their writing skill and able to produce quality writings thus obtained better scores for their work,

3. Teacher will be able to train the pupils to become more independent in self-correcting errors thus decreasing the amount of corrective feedback to be provided for pupils’ L2 wriitng.

This research has involved an English teacher and 16 pupils of Year 5 Arif in SK LKTP Tenggaroh 04, Mersing, Johor.


PLANNING STAGE

In order to collect data for my research, i plan to do the following actions :

1. Pretest (writing guided essay): INDIVIDUAL WORK

2. Treatment (doing correcion, story writing exercises): INDIVIDUAL WORK

3. Posttest (writing guided essay(i.e. question similar to pretest): INDIVDUAL WORK

The recommended actions are as follows:

i. Activity 1 : ‘Pretest (writing guided essay): INDIVIDUAL WORKSTEP 1: Pupil sit for pretest on guided essay writing (i.e. helping words and picture series are provided)

STEP 2: Pupil hand in essay to teacher .

STEP 3: Teacher provided the score and coded signs on errors made.

STEP 4 : Pupil make correction on their wriitng by referring to coded signs given.

STEP 5 : Pupil hand in correction to teacher and receive a score.

ii) Activity 2: Treatment (story writing exercises): INDIVIDUAL WORK

STEP 1: Pupil do story writing exercises on guided essay writing (i.e. helping words and picture series are

provided)




STEP 5 : Pupil hand in correction to teacher and receive a score

ii) Activity 3 : Posttest (writing guided essay(i.e. question similar to pretest): INDIVDUAL WORK

STEP 1 : Pupil sit individually and study the given pictures and helping words on the tasksheet given.

STEP 2 : Pupil write a complete essay in 30 minutes based on the pictures and helping words.

STEP 3 : Pupil reread their essay and check for errors.

STEP 4 : Pupil receive coded feedback from teacher with given score.

STEP 5: Pupil do correction on their writing and submit to teacher.



ACTION

(Write in a form of reflection/diary/impacts from lesson plan)

The actions that I had carried out are as follows:

I) Activity 1 : ‘Pretest (writing guided essay): INDIVIDUAL WORK

STEP 1: Pupil sit for pretest on guided essay writing (i.e. helping words and picture series are

provided)





On my observation, this activity had shown the strengths and weaknesses of my pupils’ writings. The use of coded signs helped a lot at determining the major types of errors made by pupils (i.e. grammatical errors and technical errors) in their writing.

On my reflection, this activity was helpful as pupils are able to relate their knowledge of grammar and technical writing while doing their correction on their writing (see Appendix A)


STEP 1: Pupil do story writing exercises on guided essay writing (i.e. helping words and picture

series are provided)





On my observation, this activity had contributed a lot in getting the pupils familiar with coded signs and relates them with their own writing. It also helped the pupils to reduce the errors made thus resulted to a better score compared to pre-test.

On my reflection, this activity was useful and helpful at training the pupils at gaining awareness of their own errors in L2 writing. It also contributed in training the pupils to be independent at self-correcting own errors in L2 writing.

OBSERVATION

In this study, it revealed that the use of coded feedback to correct errors in pupils’ L2 writings had

been useful to indicate the errors made by pupils and raise their awareness to correct these errors into its correct forms. The pupils had able to show more control in self-correcting some erros in L2 writing (i.e. tenses, parts of speech, punctuation) thus resulted to better grades and scores for their essays. Besides that, it also implied that the pupils had a good understanding of the different nature and various types of erros which was indeed a win-win situation for both teacher and the pupils .

The outcome of this study had shown that there are some areas or refinement needed in the use of coded signs. It is important to note that not all pupils are well-versed in L2 grammatical rules. Some of the pupils need ample time to understand the difference of each rules and how it is reflected in their L2 writing. Thus, the need for teachers to be really careful at introduing the set of coded signs and which code stands for what is totally crucial. As for spelling and punctuation, it is not much a problem except for those pupils who have a messy handwriting may need some practice on intensive mechanical writing skill exercise.


ACTION

(Write in a form of reflection/diary/impacts from lesson plan)

The actions that I had carried out are as follows:

I) Activity 1 : ‘Pretest (writing guided essay): INDIVIDUAL WORK

STEP 1: Pupil sit for pretest on guided essay writing (i.e. helping words and picture series are

provided)





On my observation, this activity had shown the strengths and weaknesses of my pupils’ writings. The use of coded signs helped a lot at determining the major types of errors made by pupils (i.e. grammatical errors and technical errors) in their writing.

On my reflection, this activity was helpful as pupils are able to relate their knowledge of grammar and technical writing while doing their correction on their writing (see Appendix A)


STEP 1: Pupil do story writing exercises on guided essay writing (i.e. helping words and picture

series are provided)





On my observation, this activity had contributed a lot in getting the pupils familiar with coded signs and relates them with their own writing. It also helped the pupils to reduce the errors made thus resulted to a better score compared to pre-test.

On my reflection, this activity was useful and helpful at training the pupils at gaining awareness of their own errors in L2 writing. It also contributed in training the pupils to be independent at self-correcting own errors in L2 writing.

Appendix A (Pupil’s Pre-test and Post-test)


Mapping chart of coded signs


Table of coded signs

Signs Kind of error Example

V .Past/V. Pre Verb Tense (Present /past) Last weekend, Ali go to Malacca.

Art. Articles She bought a ice-cream for him.

Prep. Prepositions Ali sat between Abu.

Conj. Conjunctions It was raining but she used her umbrella.

Λ Omission of a word She received….. key chain.

W.W Wrong Word They on the television.

Sp. Spelling She likes swiming.

P Punctuation Her mother ….Puan Siti is a nurse.


Action research (farah skt4) coded feedback in L2 writing

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