I/We* hereby declare that I/we* have read this project report and in my/our* opinion this project report is sufficient in term of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Master of Teaching ofenglish Language as a Second Language (TESL) Signature : Name of Supervisor : ASSOCIATE PROF. DR. MASDINAH ALAUYAH BT. MD. YUSOF Date : 30 JANUARY 2013 *Delete as necessary
ii I declare that this project report entitled The Effects of the Topic Selection on the Number of Words Written in a Journal is the result of my own research except as cited in references. The project report has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree. Signature: Name : MAIZATUL BAHIYAH BINTI MOHD. ALI Date : 30 JANUARY 2013
iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartiest gratitude to my supervisor Associate Professor Dr. Masdinah Alauyah binti Md. Yusof for the advice and guidance. My utmost gratitude also goes to my principal, colleagues, my students and my course mates for their encouragement, cooperation and continuous support. I would also like to thank all the lecturers for the knowledge and experience shared; Associate Professor Khairi Izwan, Associate Professor Dr. Hassan, Professor Dr. Anie, Professor Dr. Yusof Boon, Associate Professor Dr Wan Fara Adlina, Associate Professor Dr. NoorAbidah, Dr. Adlina, Dr.Hanita and Dr. Zainuddin. The road trodden had been tough but the journey was eventful. The knowledge gained will be a lifelong investment. Lastly to my family, my inspiration, I dedicate this project report to them.
iv Abstract Teachers are always seeking for the ideal and effective ways to facilitate their students learning English. As writing is one of the most difficult skills to acquire by the second language learners, teachers will try their utmost best to find tasks or activities which will benefit their students which resembles as closely as possible to the real life situation. This study investigated the use of journal writing in the classroom. It further investigated how the topics selection affects the number of words written by the students in a journal. The study was conducted in a secondary school in Melaka. There were 22 students who participated in this study. The study was carried out for four months. The students had to write 15 entries of journal writing for 15 consecutive weeks. Besides journal writing, a set of questionnaire was also distributed to find out the students perception towards journal writing and the content feedback given. The data from the journal entries were tabulated and calculated using SPSS version 19.0. As for the questionnaire, the comments made by the students were transcribed to find out whether the answers were consistent with the data obtained from the journal entries. The findings revealed that the topics selected affect the number of words written by the students. The students would write more on personal topics compared to the general topics. In addition, it was found that the students enjoyed journal writing and read the feedback given by the teacher. Most of them appreciated the feedback given and felt motivated after they read the feedback provided. The implication of the study journal writing is a potential tool in writing class and should be used widely in language classroom. In the future, more studies could be done to investigate other aspects of journal writing with heterogeneous group or students of primary school.
v Abstrak Guru biasanya akan mencari cara yang ideal dan efektif bagi membantu pelajar menguasai Bahasa Inggeris. Memandangkan penulisan adalah kemahiran yang paling sukar untuk dikuasai pelajar yang mempelajari bahasa kedua, ramai guru mencuba sebaik mungkin untuk mencari tugasan atau aktiviti yang menyerupai aktiviti sebenar di luar bilik darjah. Kajian ini menyelidiki penggunaan penulisan jurnal di dalam kelas. Seterusnya, kajian ini juga menyiasat sama ada tajuk yang diberikan mempengaruhi jumlah perkataan yang ditulis oleh pelajar. Kajian ini telah dijalankan di sebuah sekolah di Melaka. 22 orang pelajar telah terlibat di dalam kajian ini. Kajian ini telah dijalankan selama 4 bulan. Pelajar telah menulis 15 entri sepanjang kajian dibuat. Selain daripada penulisan jurnal, pelajar juga diminta menjawab satu set kaji selidik yang diedarkan selepas pelajar menulis tajuk yang ke 15.Kaji selidik dijalankan bagi mengetahui persepsi pelajar terhadap penulisan jurnal dan maklum balas isi kandungan yang di beri oleh guru di setiap entri jurnal yang ditulis pelajar. Data yang di kumpul daripada jurnal telah dikumpul dan di kira menggunakan perisian SPSS versi 19.0 bagi mengetahui jumlah perkataan dan juga purata bagi setiap tajuk yang dipilih. Seterusnya, maklum balas yang didapati daripada soal selidik telah di analisa menerusi tema yang terdapat didalam respons yang diberi pelajar. Hasil kajian ini mendapati tajuk yang dipilih mempengaruhi jumlah perkataan yang ditulis pelajar, di mana tajuk yang berbentuk peribadi akan mencatatkan jumlah perkataan yang lebih tinggi daripada tajuk umum yang diberikan. Seterusnya, pelajar juga mempunyai persepsi yang sangat baik terhadap penulisan jurnal dan menghargai maklumbalas yang diberikan oleh guru di setiap entri yang ditulis dimana mereka berasa lebih bermotivasi setelah membaca maklumbalas yang diberi.antara implikasi kajian ini ialah penulisan jurnal menunjukkan potensi yang baik untuk digunakan didalam kelas bahasa. Akhirnya, di masa akan datang diharapkan agar lebih banyak kajian boleh dijalankan mengkaji penulisan jurnal dari aspek yang berlainan dengan kumpulan yang pelbagai.
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER TITLE PAGE ADMISSION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT ABSTRAK TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF TABLE LIST OF FIGURE ii iii iv v vi ix x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Background of the study 2 1.3 Statement of the problem 4 1.4 Purpose of the study 5 1.5 Research Objectives 5 1.6 Research Questions 5 1.7 Scope of the study 6 1.8 Significance of the study 6 1.9 Limitations 7 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction 8 2.1 Journal writing 8 2.2 The use of journal writing in the classroom 11 2.3 Benefits of journal writing 14 2.4 Disadvantages of journal writing 16 2.5 Topic selection for journal writing 17
vii 2.6 Feedback 18 2.6.1 Content feedback 19 2.7 Journal writing and content feedback 21 2.8 Studies on journal writing 22 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction 27 3.1 Research Design 27 3.2 The subjects 27 3.2.1 Students 28 3.2.2 Teacher 28 3.3Research Instruments 28 3.3.1 Journal 28 3.3.2 Questionnaire 29 3.4 Research Procedure 30 3.5 Data Analysis 31 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.0 Introduction 33 4.1 The topics selected in journal and the journal entries 34 4.2 The students views on journal writing and content feedback 50 4.2.1 The students perceptions towards journal writing 50 4.2.2 The students perception towards content feedback 51 4.3 Conclusion 53
viii CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.0 Introduction 55 5.1 Overview of the study 55 5.2 Summary of findings 56 5.2.1 The topics selected in the journal entries 56 5.2.2 The students perception on journal writing 57 5.2.3 The students perceptions on content feedback 57 5.3 Implications of the study 59 5.4 Limitations of the study 60 5.5 Recommendations for future research 61 5.6 Conclusion 62 REFERENCES 63-66 APPENDICES Appendix A Questionnaire 67 Appendix B Students Responses Question 1 68 Appendix C Students Responses Question 2 70 Appendix D Students Responses Question 3 72
ix LIST OF TABLES NO. OF TABLE TITLE PAGE Table 3.1 Data analysis procedure 32 Table 4.1 Average number of words written by the Respondents on each topic 36 Table 4.2 Topic that students wrote the most 37 Table 4.3 Topic the students like the most 39
x LIST OF FIGURES NO. OF FIGURES TITLE PAGE Figure 3.1 The percentage of students favourite topics 32
xi
1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction Teachers are always in a dilemma when they assign a writing assignment to the students. Most of the assignment in the reference books or text books seem unreal and unattractive to the students. At the same time, the students will have difficulties in many areas such as generating ideas, selecting the precise vocabulary or using the correct grammar. Some students are really afraid of making mistakes and they end up not completing the assignment. Writing is considered as the most difficult skill to acquire for ESL learners. The students are struggling to write in English as most of them do not come from English speaking background. They seldom read English books, magazine or speak English with their family members or friends.writing in English ultimately is the least activity that they do in their daily lives. The only time they have English input is during their English lesson. Writing exercises whether in- class assignment or take home assignment have to be given form feedback. It is mandatory for the teachers to give feedback to the compositions so as to ensure the students know their performances. The composition will be returned to the students with errors identified and corrected. At times, these can be seen as bleeding composition as there will be red marks throughout the page. Students are made to do corrections after they get back their compositions. Unfortunately, the same errors will be repeated in the next composition.
2 This dilemma has made many teachers explore other alternatives that may provide a less threatening environment for the students to write and explore new ideas without worrying about errors. Journal writing is seen as one of the promising tools that can be employed by teachers. Students will be able to practise their writing and put their thoughts into words comfortably knowing that the teachers will not ask them to do corrections. Students will find it relatively easy to generate ideas and explore their thoughts and put them on paper as its main objective is to train the students to build ideas and not to emphasize on correctness. The topics given would be relevant and personal to the students. Therefore, they could use their existing knowledge to write. 1.2 Background of the study Most students in lower secondary school lack the writing skill required to write even simple sentences. Although they had learned English Language for about 7 years they are still not confident enough to share their ideas in the second language. The fact that they learn writing only to pass the examination makes the situation even worse. There is no initiative from them to use it outside the classroom environment. Furthermore in preparing the students for the examination, their writing exercises are based on examination model-like exercises. The writing exercises would focus on notes expansion and not free writing. Therefore, the students must use all the notes given in the task to complete the composition. They have to elaborate by supporting it with details and examples. No options are given to them. The nature of the writing is definitely unauthentic and seems unreal. Furthermore, the feedback given most of the time emphasises on the grammar and the mechanics of writing. The students are also made to do corrections for all the grammatical errors which were identified by the teacher. Thus, the writing assignment is really unappealing to the students. The feedback given really
3 demotivate the students and teacher could hear them sigh each time they had to write a composition. In addition, from several informal class discussion or brainstorming session done in class students always claimed that they had no ideas to write. If they were given a choice, they prefer to memorize phrases or expressions or even a composition to secure higher grades in the examination. They are so terrified of errors that they do not want to attempt thewriting exercise. They prefer the teachers to give them sample essays or model essays for them to copy or replicate. The over-emphasis on accuracy and correctness has hampered the students exploration in stringing their own sentences and generating their own original ideas in writing. They are highly dependent on model like essays and lack the confidence in writing. Thus, their composition most of the time will lack of liveliness, originality and details. Perhaps, journal writing is one of the possible methods to be utilized to assist students to generate ideas and practise their writing in a non-threatening environment. Ideally the journal writing is read with theteachers only respond to the content. The content feedback should help the students to explore areas that they have not thought before. The feedback also serves as an affirmation to the students that someone has read and understood what they are trying to convey. In addition, the students also will write with an audience in mind. They know that the journal writing will be read by their teacher. Furthermore, in this study journal writing is used as tool to help students to generate ideas in writing as it is carried out in a more flexible manner. The students were given a few days to write on a topic. A new topic was given every week. The topic was given by the teacher. The focus of journal writing was more on ideas rather than correctness. Teachers would not mark the entries, instead she would give commentaries on the content, which was known as content feedback.
4 1.3 Statement of the problem The present writing exercises such as notes expansion provided by teachers were too exam oriented. Most of the exercises would replicate the public examination question papers. This made the writing task unattractive and unauthentic. The students feel forced to do the task to pass the exam. They do not it as an exercise to improve their writing skills as there is no communication involved in the task. It is a one way communication as most of the questions would require the students to expand on notes provided. Furthermore, some of the students had difficulties in using the notes or words given correctly. This would definitely affect the students performance in writing. They would eventually get low grades and this mostly affect some of the students self-esteem as a writer and second language learner. In addition, every composition would be graded and given form feedback by the teacher. The students would not even look at the corrected composition if the teacher does not ask them to do corrections. They would just look at the feedback given and do not learn anything from it. Thus, this is the main reason why the researcher introduced journal writing to her students. She has used journal writing for a number of years to different group of students. Most of the time, she would provide topics for her students. After using journal writing for a while, she started to be curious of the topics that her student like and do not like. Furthermore, she also would like to know the students perception towards journal writing; do they benefit from it or whether it is just similar to other monotonous exercises given to them. Thus, the present study attempts to investigate not only the students perceptions towards journal writing and content feedback but also whether the topic given has any influence on the number of words written by the students in their journal. The group of students in this study had not experienced journal writing before this study was carried out.
5 1.4 Purpose of the study This study investigated whether the topic selection in journal writing influence the number of words written in the students journal entries. It will also be interesting to know the students feedback on journal writing on what they have learned and gained throughout the study as they had never experienced journal writing before. 1.5 Research Objectives The objectives of the study are as follows: 1. To find out whether the given topic for journal writing influence the numbers of words written in the students journal entries. 2. To find out the students perception towards journal writing and content feedback. 1.6 Research Questions Based on the research objectives, the following are the research questions: 1. Has the given topics in journal writing influenced the number of words students write in their journal? 2. What are the students perception towards journal writing and content feedback?
6 1.7 Scope of the study This study seeks to investigate whether the given topic has managed to help the students to write longer and generate more ideas. It also investigated the students perception towards journal writing and content feedback. The study was carried out for a semester. The respondents were 22 students from a homogeneous intact group of all Malay students. There were 7 boys and 15 girls. The respondents were form two students studying at a secondary school in Melaka. 1.8 Significance of the study It is hoped that this study will not only benefit the teacher as the researcher in selecting the right topics to be given for in journal writing specifically and eventually assisting her students in improving their writing skills, the findings also will be a guide for novice teachers who wish to start journal writing in the language classroom. It will also be interesting to know the students feedback on journal writing on what they have learned and gained throughout the study as they had never experienced journal writing before. The findings from this study will also have important pedagogical implications in the teaching of writing in schools. It is hoped the findings in the study will encourage the language teachers in Malaysia to use journal writing in their classroom and journal writing will be highlighted as a potential tool to support the teaching of writing in Malaysian classroom.
7 9.0 Limitations This study only utilised 15 topics selected by the teacher. Most of the topics were personal topics with a few argumentative topics. So, there are many other topics which have not been used and investigated. The findings could be limited to similar topics and genre and could not be applicable to other topics or different genres. The respondents in this study also are from homogeneous group. They were all Malay students studying in the same school. All of them spoke only Malay at home. Thus the findings from this study could not be generalized to other groups of Form Two students.