THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FIVE SIMPLE STEPS IN ENHANCING THE SKILL OF WRITING c, a, d, g, and q LETTERS AMONG PRESCHOOLERS Mohd Anuwi bin Husain IPG Kampus Dato’ Razali Ismail, Kuala Terengganu
[email protected] Kamariah binti Yunus University of Sultan Zainal Abidin Kuala Terengganu
[email protected]
Author Note Kamariah Yunus, Faculty of Languages and Communication (FLC), UniSZA, lecturer of Discourse Analysis and Contrastive Grammar Inquiries concerning this paper should be addressed to Mohd Anuwi bin Husain, Jabatan Ilmu Pendidikan, IPG Kampus Dato’ Razali Ismail, Kuala Terengganu, lecturer of Early Child
[email protected] Education at:
[email protected] Contact:
[email protected] ABSTRACT
Writing is a complex cognitive skill and a challenging task in teaching and learning, particularly among preschoolers. This study was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of five simple methods to improve preschoolers’ skill of writing c, a, d, g and q letters. The respondents in this study were five five-year-old preschoolers attending one pre-school in the district of Setiu, Terengganu. Data were collected through pre and post tests, checklists, document analysis (spreadsheets), and interviews. This study concentrated on the use of developmental fine motor skill activities to increase the preschoolers’ writing skill. The findings showed some improvements in their writing skill as well as increased interest in the five methods used. Keywords: five simple methods, preschoolers, writing skill
1.0 Introduction
Preschool education has gained a place among teaching practitioners and researchers in our country at present. Furthermore, with the transformation of the National Preschool Curriculum to the National Preschool Curriculum Standard (NPCS), preschool education has increasingly become the centre of attention. Professional Circular Number 9 of 2010 (Surat Pekeliling Ikhtisas Bilangan 9 tahun 2010) has established that beginning January 1, 2011, all preschools across the country should implement the new curriculum based teaching. The curriculum is designed to increase the level of basic skills among children during the preschool. Writing skills is one of the essential skills to be mastered by students in preschools. Weaknesses in mastering these skills can cause a lasting impact on students' progress. As such, a study was undertaken by the researchers to improve the writing skill among preschool students using some simple steps. These simple steps implemented fine motor stimulation progression techniques focusing on hand and eye coordinating development in children. These steps are expected to attract students in improving their writing skills. This study was undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of the implementation of five methods in improving preschoolers' mastery of writing skill. The study was conducted at one of the preschools in the district of Setiu, Terengganu. Five preschoolers were identified as having problems in mastering the skill of writing five letters: c, a, d, g and q. These five letters were selected because they all begin with a c design- the molded form of c. 2.0 Review of Related Literature In the process of teaching and learning, reading and writing skills are the fundamental skills to be mastered by students. Writing skill is seen as a means of non-verbal communication in which the views and opinions are expressed through writing. Writing skills refer to the ability of students to write words and sentences, as well as producing ideas through a variety of writing-related knowledge and personal experiences encountered. Marohaini Yusuff (2004) states that writing skills are a process of formation of symbols of the language in order to communicate and connect a message. According to Chomsky (1957, as cited in Gary, 2012), students have to go through two types of writing skills to ensure the neatness of their writing: mechanical and mental. A child can produce neat handwriting if they acquire the mechanical writing skills at an early stage. Activities such as shape, trace, and form letters are important as the basis of training and experience of the child. The mental level begins when children have mastered the mechanical level. Noraini Ombi (2009) reported in her study that the difficulties the children had in writing were basically due to gripping problem or incorrect holding of a pencil. Therefore, it is important for parents or teachers to ensure the correct way of gripping and holding of a pencil in children since the beginning.
The Curriculum Development Centre of Malaysia (2003) outlined a number of goals and fine motor outcomes for children in the National Preschool Curriculum. The goal is that children can master the fine motor skills of using the fingers to perform activities such as molding, cutting, and shaping to enhance the writing skills in children. The development of writing skills of children is born naturally in stages as early as two years of age. At this stage, when children are given a pencil, they will be more prone to scribble or write freely. Hence, the environment where children live do play a role in ensuring the writing development of these children. Studies conducted in preschools in America (1998-1999) found that parents who read to their children three to four times a week caused their children to have better language skills compared to the parents who did the same activities less often. This process is called early exposure given by parents to promote their children’s language development. The same thing will happen if parents train their children’s writing skill at an early stage in order to produce competency in writing.
3.0 Research Methodology
3.1 Five simple steps In this study, the researchers made use of five simple steps to improve the preschoolers’ skill of writing the five letters. The five steps include: 3.1.1 Writing and shaping the c-shape in the water using fingers The respondents were first given a container filled with water. Then they were directed to make free finger movements in the water. Next, the researchers asked the respondents to form the c-shaped curve in the water. Due to the limited water containers, the researchers had to rotate this activity until all the respondents were able to take part in the activity.
Figure 1: Forming a c-shape in the water
3.1.2. Writing and shaping the five letters on their friends friends’’ back using fingers The researchers asked the respondents to turn the other respondents’ back. The respondents were asked to write and form letters on their friends’ back. The researchers asked the respondents to form letters beginning with the letter c followed by the letters a, d, g and q. The letter c was chosen first since the other letters begin with the c-shape.
Figure 2: Drawing the five letters on the friend friend’’s back 3.1.3. Using dough to write letters For the third activity, the researchers distributed the paper with the large-sized letters of c, a, d, g, and q to each respondent. The researchers asked the respondents to knead the dough and shape the dough on the letters in the paper. For example, to form the letter d, the researchers directed the respondents to form the curve c first prior to forming a vertical line using the dough. This was intended to train the respondents to write in the correct way.
Figure 3: Using dough to shape the letters 3.1.4. Using fingers to write letters on the surface of the sand-filled paper
This step required the respondents to write letters on the surface of the sand placed on a piece of paper. The sand-filled paper was distributed to each respondent. The respondents were asked to write a letter in correspondence to the flash card shown by the researchers. For example, if the researchers flashed the letter c, the respondents were required to write the same letter indicated by the flash card on the surface of the sand-filled paper.
Figure 4: Writing the letters on the sand surface
3.1.5. Joining the dots The last method required the participants to connect the dots of the five letters. Each respondent was distributed with several worksheets. The worksheets contain the dots of the five selected letters - c, a, d, g, and q. The researchers started with the letter c followed by the other letters - a, d, g, and q. The dots of the letter c was assigned first since the other letters are formed with the letter c. See Figure 5 below for the activity.
Figure 5: Joining the dots 3.2 Data collection In the process of collecting the data, the researchers employed a number of methods such as observation, checklists, pretest and posttest, analysis of documents and interviews. 3.2.1 Observation This method was employed since it could be carried out anytime during the class. By using an observation method, the researchers could monitor any changes in the respondents’ acts and behaviours at all time. This could avoid prejudice towards the respondents. The respondents’ acts and behaviours in class were video-taped for the analysis. 3.2.2 Checklist
Another method employed by the researchers to record the data was a checklist. The checklist contains the items indicating the students’ progression before and after the period of data collection. 3.2.3 Pretest/Postest The reseachers also measured the respondents’ writing skill before and after one week of treatment. The pretest aimed to measure the initial preschoolers’ writing skill of the five letters. The worksheets were used as the reseach instruments in the pretest/posttest. After one week, the worksheets were redistributed to the respondents to measure their skill of writing the five letters. 3.2.4 Pictorial document analysis Pictorial document analysis was carried out by the researchers to look at the level of development of the respondents in writing the letters c, a, d, g, and q. This research instrument documented the respondents’ work before and after the course.
3.2.5 Interviews To investigate the preschoolers’ perceptions, attitudes, values, and opinions towards the implementation of the five methods, the interviews were conducted. The sample responses for activity 1 is given below. Researcher: Do you have fun when the teacher asked you to write in the water? R1: fun teacher R2: nod R3: very ‘beh’ [best] teacher R4: suke R5: very suke teacher (with a smile)
4.0 Findings Based on the data obtained from the pretest/posttest, observations, checklists, and document analyses, the results showed that there was a significant increase in the acquisition of the writing skill among the respondents. The analyses of the documents obtained by the researchers were presented as follows.
Before the treatment treatment
After the
Figure 1: Comparing the neatness of writing the letter a before and after the treatment
Before the treatment
After the treatment
Figure 2: Comparing the neatness of writing the letter d before and after the treatment
Before the treatment
After the treatment
Figure 3: Comparing the neatness of writing the letter g before and after the treatment
Before the treatment
After the treatment
Figure 5: Comparing the neatness of writing the letter q before and after the treatment
The findings obtained from the checklist were presented as follows. Table 1: The number of letters written correctly prior to the treatment Respond ndeents
Letters c
a
d
g
q
R1
√
√
x
x
x
R2
√
x
x
x
x
R3
√
√
x
x
x
R4
√
x
x
√
x
R5
√
x
x
x
x
Table 2: The number of letters written correctly after the treatment Respond ndeents
Letters c
a
d
g
q
R1
√
√
√
√
√
R2
√
√
√
√
√
R3
√
√
√
√
√
R4
√
√
√
√
√
R5
√
√
√
√
√
The increased percentage of writing the five letters is presented in Table 3 below. The increased percentage was calculated based on the number of letters written correctly and neatly by each respondent in the pretest and posttest.
Table 3: The percentage of the respondents’ performance in the pretest/posttest Respond ndeents
Pretest
Percentage
d,g, q) (c,a, ,a,d ,g,q
(%)
Posttest d,g, q) (c,a, ,a,d ,g,q
Percentage
Percentage
(%)
Increase (%)
R1
2/5
40
5/5
100
60
R2
1/5
20
5/5
100
80
R3
2/5
40
5/5
100
60
R4
2/5
40
5/5
100
60
R5
1/5
20
5/5
100
80
5. 0 Discussion and Conclusion The employment of the five simple steps with preschool children showed that their skill of writing the five letters had improved. The improvement was shown in the increased correctness and neatness in writing the five letters. The students’ enhanced interests and motivation could also be observed in the students after the employment of the five simple steps as expressed in the interviews. Learning while playing involving hand movements and fine motor development helped increase the preschoolers’ dexterity in using a pencil while writing. This finding was in consistent with the finding by Gina Ombi (2009) who reported that her respondents’ problem in writing was mainly due to their difficulty in gripping or holding the pencils correctly. The use of fine motor activities to improve her participants’ gripping ability such as molding and kneading the dough was in line with our chosen activities in this study. 6.0 Further research The employment of the five simple methods were shown to be able to solve some of the problems of writing the letters c, a, d, g and q among the preschoolers. This method does not incur a lot of expenses and tools, and it could be implemented at any time and place. Further comprehensive research involving more preschoolers should be carried out to support and extend the findings in this area.
References Che Zanariah Che Hassan., & Fadzilah Abd Rahman. (2011). Pelaksanaan Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Kemahiran Menulis di Sekolah Rendah. Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Melayu Bilangan 1 : 67-87
Ernie Suriana. (2008). Prestasi Kemahiran Motor Halus Dan Motor Kasar Kanak- Kanak Masalah Pembelajaran Menggunakan Instrumen Movement Assessment Battery For Children (MABC). Tesis Ijazah Sarjana Muda tidak diterbitkan. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai. Juliana Ling Chu Chen. (2009). Membaiki Tulisan Murid Tahun 3 Dalam Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Cina Dengan Kaedah Ansur Maju. Kertas Kerja Seminar Penyelidikan. IPG Kampus Batu Lintang, Sarawak. K.A. Razhiyah. (2006). Mengapa Kanak-kanak Sukar Belajar?. PTS Profesional Publishing Sdn. Bhd. Kamarudin Hj.Husin., & Siti Hajar Hj.Abd.Aziz. (1997). Penguasaan Kemahiran Menulis. Subang Jaya: Kumpulan Budiman Sdn.Bhd. Kamus Dewan Edisi Keempat. (2005). Kuala Lumpur. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Kamus Pelajar Bahasa Malaysia Edisi Kedua. (2008). Kuala Lumpur. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Kurikulum Prasekolah Kebangsaan. (2003). Kuala Lumpur: Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia. Marohaini Yusuff (2004) dalam Kemahiran Berbahasa. Dimuat turun pada 24 Februari 2012 daripada http://www.scribd.com/doc/50264557/18/Definisi Noor Azizah Ahmad. (2006). Pengaplikasian Teori Konstruktivisme Dalam Proses Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran Mata Pelajaran Reka Cipta. Projek Sarjana Muda. Fakulti Pendidikan, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai. Noraini Ombi. (2009). Kajian Kes Ke Atas Kekemasan Tulisan Murid Tahun 2 Dalam Kelas Pemulihan Khas Bahasa Melayu. Kertas Kerja Seminar Penyelidikan Tindakan. IPG Kampus Batu Lintang, Sarawak. Norazura Zikir. (2011). Kekemasan Penulisan Huruf Melalui Psikomotor Halus. Kajian Tindakan yang tidak diterbitkan. IPG Kampus Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Pahang. Noraziah Abdul Hamid. (1981:2). Alatan Mengajar Dalam Pengajaran Bahasa. Jaya: Penerbitan Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd Rosli Ghani. (2012). Pengajaran Kemahiran Bahasa Melayu. Dimuat turun pada 1 Mac 2012 daripada http://roslighani.blogspot.com/2012/07/pengajaran-kemahiran-bmbmm3104.html
