IMPROVING THE SPELLING OF OCCUPATIONS FOR YEAR

3 HIJAU PUPILS BY USING MISSPELL AND SLIDE GAME

By:
Muhammad Amirul Shafiq Bin Ahamad Zani, Zainab Binti Abd Rahman
Jabatan Bahasa-Bahasa, IPG Kampus Dato Razali Ismail
amisya91@gmail.com, zainababrahman@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
This research is conducted to improve the spelling of the Year 3 pupils on
occupations using the game called Misspell and Slide game. This action
research involved 4 pupils of Year 3 Hijau from Sekolah Kebangsaan Rengas
Bekah, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu. The Research participants were
selected based on observation and document analysis such as exercise books
and worksheets. Here, pupils tend to make mistakes in spelling when writing
the exercise. The instruments used in this study were the observation checklist,
interview and document analysis. Qualitative data was analysed descriptively
according to research participants. Based on the findings, it shows that the
intervention used had successfully helped the research participants problem in
their spelling on occupations whereby they showed improvement in their
spelling based on the result after the intervention. The strength of using Misspell
and Slide game is, it is able to create fun and interesting learning environment.
This intervention needs to be improved so that it can be applied to teach other
topics.
Keyword: Spelling, Writing, Occupation words, Misspell and Slide Game

REFLECTION OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

The effective teaching and learning session can be conducted if the teacher can plan the
activity that can attract pupils attention in the classroom. Based on the third phase practicum
experience at Sekolah Kebangsaan Rengas Bekah, I found that almost all the pupils
regardless of their year had problem in writing especially in spelling. During this phase, I
was assigned to teach Year 3 Hijau. This class was the second of the three classes in this
school. The proficiency of the pupils in this class was from low to intermediate level.
Based on my observation and comments from my lecturer during the practicum, I had found
some problems regarding the English learning. The major problem that I found was their
spelling when writing especially the occupation words. This was because I taught this topic
during the practicum. The pupils had trouble getting the letters right. When I asked the pupils
to spell the words, the pupils would say I do not know or just made a gesture to show that
they did not know. If they were persuaded to spell the words, they would just spell it based
on the sound of the words. For example, the word teacher is spelled as ticer.
As written in Document Standard for Year 3, spelling is included in the writing skill which
is under 3.2.4; able to spell common sight words. So, pupils should be able to spell the
words that they have learnt. But, what happened here was that the pupils still had problem to
spell correctly.
I also found that the pupils had short attention span during the teaching and learning sessions.
But their attention span will increase if I carry out fun activity such as game in the lesson.

Thus, to overcome this problem, I had done an action research to improve the spelling of
occupations by using Misspell and Slide game.

LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Nesamalar (2005), writing is a system for interpersonal communication using a
visible signs or symbol on a flat surface such as paper, cloth or even stone labels. According
to Oxford Dictionary (2014), spelling is a persons ability to spell word. It also the process or
activity of writing or naming the letters of a word in the correct sequence. (Voon Foo, 2007),
asserts that writing is such an important tool because it helps students to understand ideas and
concepts better. Thus, the important thing that needs to be considered when discussing about
writing is spelling. However, according to Johnston (2000), English spelling has traditionally
been difficult for those who teach it as well as those who must learn it.
According to psychology research, young children find it difficult or impossible to see
language as an abstract system, independent of communication or enjoyable such as song and
rhymes. They find it difficult in terms of learning goal or objective but they can respond
immediately to objectives such as drawing or colouring a picture. They also cannot focus on
one thing for a long time. According to a survey (Zhao Chengfu, 2002:202) shows that in a
well-organized atmosphere, childrens attention last for different time: around age 5 to 7, they
can pay attention for 10 to 15 minutes; age between 7 and 10 can pay attention for about 20
minutes; age between 10 and 12 last for about 25 minutes; and the time of attention of those
older than 12 may reach to 30 minutes. Thus, activity that can attract their attention is needed
so that they can remain focus on the class and game is one of the interesting activity.
Furthermore, a total physical response developed by James Asher in 1960 and later it is
discussed by H. Doughlas Brown. Psychologist also claimed that humans memory can be
increased if it stimulated through an association with physical activity (Brown, 2007)
As we know, children are active when playing game. Playing games is their nature. Hadfield
(1998) defines that a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun. Nesamalar
(2005) believe that games can remove boredom without sacrificing repetition that is necessary
for successful learning if language element. American psychologist and educational reformer
John Dewey holds the notion that teaching material must be highly coherent with psychology.
If the teaching material accords with childrens psychology, they would be attracted by the
interesting activities and accordingly learn and master the teaching material on their own
initiative (Cathy, 2008). When playing games, the children get the pleasure and satisfaction
so that they are willing to learn English. Therefore, I had invented an intervention based on
game.
The intervention is adapted from a board game called snake and ladder and is called misspell
and slide game. Studies had proven that a game is an effective way to help students with
language problems. Based on research done by Iin (2012), she stated that the use of songs
and game in teaching vocabulary could improve the students vocabulary achievement and
could involve the students in the process of teaching and learning. She also claimed that games
are able to arouse students motivation and improve students vocabulary achievement. This
is also supported with Wright (2006) that Games provides intense and meaningful practice
of language.

RESEARCH PURPOSE
The main purpose of this research is to improve the spelling of occupations of Year 3 Hijau
pupils by using the intervention called Misspell and Slide Game.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
To find out whether Misspell and Slide Game can help to improve pupils spelling of
occupation among Year 3 Hijau in Sekolah Kebangsaan Rengas Bekah.

RESEARCH QUESTION
How does Misspell and slide game improve year 3 Hijau pupils spelling of peoples
occupation?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research involved four pupils from 3 Hijau. There were two boys and two girls. The
research participants were selected based on my observation and the document analysis. The
instrument for data collection were observation checklist, interview and document analysis.
Qualitative data were analysed descriptively according to research participant.
The first type of data collected is through observation. The data is collected during the
intervention session. The instrument used to collect this data was observation checklist. The
checklist was designed to observe four aspects which are participants confidence when
answering the questions, their writing skills, their errors in spelling and their behaviours and
reactions during the game. In the intervention session, the other researchers helped in
observing the research participants and filling in the checklist given to them. The same type
of data is collected during the second intervention session with the same focus whereby the
intervention had gone through some amendments in order to improve the results.
The second type of data collected is interview. The interview session was done with each
research participant right after the intervention session ended. The interview was done in
Bahasa Malaysia so that the participants could clearly express their thoughts or feeling about
the intervention sessions. This type of data was also collected for both session but the
difference was the interview session during the second intervention is done with the purpose
of looking on their improvement and positive progress compared to what was done during the
first intervention.
The third type of data that I had collected was called document analysis. For this of data, I
used the worksheet. The data was collected right after the intervention session ended whereby
I gave the research participants a worksheet in order to assess the research participants
performance after the intervention was done. For the worksheet, there were 10 question where
the research participants had to write the spelling of the occupations based on the picture. The
worksheets were marked and the right answers were counted to see the improvement made
by the research participants. In this worksheet, I could see clearly the improvement made by
all the research participants after the sessions and to see whether the intervention helped them
in spelling.

INTERVENTION SPECIFICATION
The intervention is called Misspell and Slide game. It is a board game adapted from snake
and ladder game whereby the player needs to move their counter based on the number they
get from the dice and needs to answer a question when landed at the question mark circle. It
consists of a board, a dice, picture cards and four counters. In this intervention, the game was
conducted by a game master which was the researcher itself. The role of the game master was
to show the picture card to the player and make sure the player wrote the spelling into the

answer sheet and check the answer. If the answer was correct, the game master would allow
the player counter to move up the ladder and if the answer was wrong the game master would
ask the player to slide down the counter.
The board is the most crucial thing for this intervention. It was made from a mounting board.
Then it was pasted with square colour paper to make the big square. It has 42 squares
altogether. In each square there are numbers from 1 until 42. In certain squares there are small
circles with question marks. If the player moves the counter to the square with the circle, the
player needs to answer the question. The board also has slide and ladder picture in certain
squares. When the player answers the question wrongly, the player needs to slide down the
counter. For the ladder, if the question answer was right, the player can climb the ladder.

The board
During the intervention session, 10 picture cards had been used. The card are made from
plain white paper pasted on manila card to ensure its durability. The size of the picture card
is 7.5cm height and 22cm width. This picture cards are used to show the occupation needed
to be spelled by the player. The picture cards contains two side, on one side is the picture
and on the other side is the name of the occupation. The name of the occupation is folded so
that the player only sees the picture and after the player has finished writing the word, the
folded side will be opened so that the player can check their spelling.

Picture
The board
Card
The counter is used as an indicator for the player at the board. The counter is a button like a
cartoon character. The dice is the thing that is used for the player to get the number they can
move. It varies from each turn which is from 1 to 6. Both of the items were bought at the book
store.

Dice and Counter

There was amendment made which was an activity called word formation. For the word
formation, the materials used was envelope containing printed scrambled letter. The research
participants need to rearrange the letters to form a word.

Word Formation
The intervention was done in three sessions, in the first session all the research participants
participated in the game and they were required to answer all the questions prepared in order
to finish the game. The objective of this session was to increase the spelling of occupations
of all the research participants. But, the objective was not achieved and after getting the
feedback from the research participants, I had made amendment and the amendment was
conducted in the second and third session. For the second session, the amendment made was
by adding an activity called word formation. It means that the research participants had to
rearrange the letters and then write the answers in the worksheet provided. The third session
was implemented so that the result of the second session could be improved.

RESEARCH FINDING
The research question was aimed to investigate how the use of game improve the spelling of
ten occupations. This research was conducted in three intervention session. The intervention
was done by using a board game called Misspell and Slide game. On this finding I will
focus on a research participant called Mat. Before the research Mat was reluctant to
participate actively in English lesson. He was lazy to write any word during the lesson and he
also loved to disturb his friends during the lesson. When I checked his worksheets he made
many spelling mistakes and he was not motivated to learn as for him English was a tough
subject.
From the observation during the first session, Mat looked excited to play the game. But, he
hesitated to spell the occupation word when he landed at the question square. He was also not
focused on the game as he disturbed his friends and looked around the place. For the second
session, he looked eager to play the game. He also liked the new activity which is the word
formation. This word formation activity was the amendment made to improve the result of
the game. Although he liked the new activity, he took longer time than the other research
participants to arrange the letters. During the third session, he had shown improvement where
he looked confident to spell the word. This was proved when he took less time to arrange the
letter and he could focus on the game.
Based on the interview conducted after each intervention session, I found that this game had
helped Mat to improve his spelling. As Mat said after the first session, he said that he did not
remember the spelling of the occupations. He also said that my pronunciation was not clear
for him to spell the words. So, based on the feedback of the interview, I had made amendment
to the game and conducted the second session. In this session of the second intervention, Mat
said that he loved the new activity introduced. He could play rearranging the letters which
increase his focus on the game. Then in the third session, he said that, he knew how to spell
the words.

Number of mistakes in the worksheet

10
9
8
7
6

5
4
3
2
1
0
Mat
Session 1

Session 2

Series 3

From the chart above, we can see that Mat had made improvement in his spelling. During the
first session, he made 9 mistakes in the worksheet provided after the intervention session.
Then, he had made improvement in the second session whereby he made 4 mistakes and made
another improvement in the third session where he only made 2 mistakes. This result had
shown that the game had helped improve his spelling of the occupations.
All the research participants in this research had successfully made improvement in their
spelling of occupations words. Two of the research participants managed to spell all the 10
words correctly, one managed to spell 9 words correctly and one manage to spell 8 words
correctly.

Conclusion
The finding revealed that the pupils who had learnt through game can improve the spelling of
the words. In this research, it was clear that game had helped the research participants to solve
their spelling problem in writing. This happened as the pupils were attracted to the game
which was interesting. The spelling had improved for all the research participants after
playing the Misspell and Slide game. They had all shown improvement in the worksheet
given after the sessions. The result of the exercise is shown on the graph below.

Marks for Spelling Exercises

12
10
8
6

4
2
0
Amira

Ain
Session 1

Alif
Session 2

Mat

Series 3

The game also increase the motivation and confidence of the pupils. From the research, the
motivation and confidence level of the research participant had increased from the first session
to the second session. Khan (1991) asserts that the usefulness of the game is because of its
motivating importance. Thus, when the pupils feel motivated, their confidence level will also
increase.
This action research is a research that can increase the professionalism as a teacher to be. This
is because, during the process of action research, I could identify problems that occur among
the pupils. Apart from the problem on the topic or syllabus, I could also identify the problems
related to pupils behaviours. In addition, my communication skills have improved as I needed
to communicate with teachers and pupils in order to conduct this research. During the
intervention session, I played an important role especially when interact with the pupils. Other
than that, I needed to ensure that the problem faced by the pupils could be solved with the
best solution. Therefore, I think of the best ways that I could do in order to help the pupils
solving their problem. Thus, this action research found to be very helpful in enhancing the
professionalism of the researcher as a teacher-to-be.
The strength of my research is the intervention attracts the pupils with fun and interesting
learning environment. It is because I used game with the element of fun learning. As children
love to play, game is the most suitable approach to get them to learn. This intervention has
also helped to solve the spelling problem in a fun way.
Besides the strength, I found that this intervention also had weakness in it. The weakness is
the board is hard to carry. The board is big and it has a lot of things such as dice, picture cards
and counter that come with it. In order to solve this problem, I think that I can use a bag to
put all the materials for the board or make the board with material that can be folded. By doing
this, it can increase the board mobility.
In conclusion, I feel satisfied with this research as it has successfully improved my pupils
ability to spell the words on occupations. This research has motivated me to do more research
on the future.

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Cathy.

(2008). cersp. Retrieved from Using Games in English

http://eblog.cersp.com/userlog26/189416/archives/2008/856581. Shtml

Teaching:

Hadfield, Jill (1998). Elementary Vocabulary Games. Pearson Education Limited.

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