THE USE OF THE PHONEME CALENDAR TO HELP YEAR 2 PUPILS

LEARN CONCRETE WORDS.

Amirah Najihah binti Abdul Azis
Mr. Muhamad Raja b. Abdullah
PISMP JANUARY 2013 (TESL)
mirajiha93@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
This action research was conducted to investigate how the use of the Phoneme Calendar
helped Year 2 pupils learn concrete words. The research participants of this study consist of 5
pupils of Year 2 Amal in Tulip Primary School (pseudonym). The Kemmis and Mc Taggart
model (cited in Goh,2012, p.10) was used as a research design for this study. The results
from the initial data such as diagnostic test, observation and reflective journal indicated that
the pupils low proficiency in English language was due to their lack of vocabulary. Thus, the
Phoneme calendar technique was introduced to help pupils learn concrete words. There
were several methods used to collect data namely observation, interview and analysis of
documents. The results of data analysis showed that all the participants indicated an increase
in post intervention scores compared to the pre-intervention post and gave a positive
feedback during the interview session and observation during lesson. Nevertheless, it is
recommended that this intervention should be done over a longer period of time with more
focus given on different classes of English words to make sure pupils learn better. Hence, the
results showed that the Phoneme Calendar was very effective in helping Year 2 pupils learn
concrete words.
Key words: Phoneme Calendar, vocabulary, concrete words

ABSTRACT
Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti bagaimana penggunaan Kalendar Fonem dapat
membantu pelajar Tahun 2 untuk mempelajari kata nama konkrit. Peserta kajian ini terdiri
daripada 5 orang murid dari tahun 2 Amal dari Sekolah Rendah Tulip (bukan nama sebenar).
Model Kemmis dan Mc Taggart (rujuk kepada Goh,2012, ms.10). Hasil tinjauan awal melalui
ujian diagnostik, pemerhatian dan jurnal refleksi telah mendapati bahawa murid tidak mampu
menguasai Bahasa Inggeris disebabkan kurang penguasaan perbendaharaan kata. Oleh itu,
Kalendar Fonem telah diperkenalkan untuk membantu murid mempelajari perbendaharaan
kata pada kata nama konkrit. Antara kaedah pengumpulan data yang digunakan dalam kajian
ini adalah analisis kerja-kerja murid, pemerhatian dan temu bual. Melalui analisis yang
dilakukan, semua peserta kajian menunjukkan peningkatan markah pada akhir ujian
berbanding ujian awal intervensi dan memberikan respon yang positif semasa sesi temu bual
dan pemerhatian ketika sesi pembelajaran. Walau bagaimanapun, adalah dicadangkan agar
intervensi ini dijalankan dalam tempoh masa yang lebih lama dengan memberi fokus kepada
perkataan Bahasa Inggeris dari kategori lain pada masa akan datang untuk membolehkan
murid belajar dengan lebih baik dan memperbaiki penguasaan perbendaharaan kata. Secara
keseluruhannya, penngunaan Kalendar Fonem adalah berkesan membantu pelajar
mempelajari kata nama konkrit.
Kata kunci: Kalendar Fonem, perbendaharaan kata, kata konkrit.

INTRODUCTION
The aim of this study is to help Year 2 pupils of Tulip Primary School
(pseudonym) to improve their learning of vocabulary. According to Schmuck (2010),
vocabulary is the most important component of a language because it is the main
pillar of the four language skills which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing
This can be seen in the suggested vocabulary or word list which has been included in
the Primary School Standard Document (MOE, 2011). Of the word list, I have chosen
concrete words for my study as the subject are Year 2 pupils who still have not
grasped the concrete words listed for this level.
I encountered several problems during the lessons. For instance, pupils suddenly
becoming clueless to the words found in the reading materials, story books,
newspapers, magazines, and even the signage around the school because of their
limited vocabulary. From the initial data such as diagnostic test, observation and
reflective journal, several pupils could not spell the words correctly. Besides, I noticed
that the pupils often gave answers in Malay language and asked me to translate
words and simple phrases. I concluded that the pupils low proficiency in English
language was due to their lack of vocabulary and I needed to find a right technique to
teach vocabulary.

FOCUS OF THE STUDY

The aim of the study is to improve the pupils learning of vocabulary. The main
problem that I identified was the pupils had very limited vocabulary. The Phoneme
calendar technique seemed suitable as the pupils learned to recognise the concrete
words step by step as they blended the phonemes to form words and used the
visuals to reinforce the learning of the words. I found the phoneme calendar
technique was manageable and I used it several times according to the topics. It
suited with her pupils interest as it involved their participation in forming words. Thus,
the Phoneme calendar technique would help the pupils to acquire and practice new
concrete words and improve their command of vocabulary.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY AND RESEARCH QUESTION

Objective of the study
To investigate how the use of the Phoneme Calendar helps Year 2 pupils learn
concrete words.
Research question
How does the Phoneme calendar help Year 2 pupils learn concrete words?

PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY

The class I chose for this study was Year 2 Lily of Tulip Primary School. It was a
mixed ability class where English was their second language. The class comprised of
11 girls and 10 boys of the age of 8. I chose 5 out of the 21 pupils as the subjects in
this action research.

RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION
Action Plan
For this action research, I used Stephen Kemmis and McTaggarts model (cited in
Goh,2012, p.10). It consists of four systematic steps: planning, implementation,
observation, and reflection. Three interventions were carried out using this technique.
In the implementation of action plan, there were six steps involved.
Step 1: Introducing the phonemes.
Introduced the phonemes by showing the first page of the calendar.

Step 2 : Blending and word formation.

Flipped the second page of the calendar and blended the letters with
the phoneme to form words
Step 3 : Matching word to picture.
Flipped the third page of the calendar consisting of a picture card.
.
Step 4 : Practicing blending word formation with pictures.
Repeat step 1-3 using different letters.

Step 5 : Reading in context.

Step 6 : Assessment.
All the steps above were repeated using different phonemes and vocabulary
based on the table below:Table 1 : Concrete words used during the interventions.
Phoneme
Intervention 1
Intervention 2

Intervention 3

ur
curl
fur
oi
oil
soil
air
chair
hair
stairs

or
fork
horn
ow
crow
bowl
ear
ears

In

this research, I used both the qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse the
data. The observation and interview data was analyzed qualitatively using content
analysis. Meanwhile, the quantitative data was analysed and presented through
descriptive statistics of the pupils work and pre and post test.
3

Analysis of Documents
The participants results from the pre and post test were summarized in the Table 2
below (Refer Table 2).
Table 2 : Pre and Post test scores.
Participants
Pre-test
Post-test
(a)
(b)

Differences
between pre-test
and post-test
(b - a = d)

Marks

Marks

P1

Mark
s
5/12

40

8/12

67

+3

27

P2

2/12

17

7/12

58

+5

41

P3

4/12

33

9/12

75

+5

42

P4

4/12

33

8/12

67

+4

34

P5

5/12

42

10/12

83

+5

41

Pre and post test scores

90
80
70
60
50
Scores 40

Pre-Intervention

Column1

30
20
10
0

P1

P2

P3

P4

P5

Participants

Figure 1: Pre and post test scores.

Pupils work
The worksheets for each intervention session were collected and marked. The
scores were tabulated in the graph below.

Scores for Worksheets

9
8
7
6
5
Scores 4
3
2
1
0

Intervention 1
Intervention 2
Intervention 3

Pupil 1 Pupil 2 Pupil 3 Pupil 4 Pupil 5

Participants

Figure 2 : Scores for worksheet 1, 2 and 3.

The Figure 2 above showed the score for worksheets obtained by each
participant in the three interventions. Each of participants had improved from
worksheet 1 to worksheet 2 and worksheet 3.
Interview
Individual interviews with each participant were carried out after the third intervention.
The audio recording of the interview (verbatim) was transcribed. After analyzing and
interpreting the data, several categories such as identify, fun and meaningful,
application and motivation were discovered during the interview.
Observation
The observation notes were tabulated based on the observation checklist, analysed
and coded through several categories and emerging themes such as understanding,
apply and interaction.
Theme : Understanding of using phoneme calendar.
Intervention 1
Intervention 2
Intervention 3
Form
Know
Form
Know
Form
Know
words
meaning
words
meaning
words
meaning

Participan
t
1
2
3
4
5

Table 3: The summary of checklist on participants behaviour during the intervention.

Table 4 :The summary of checklist on participants behaviour during the intervention.

Participant

Theme: Apply the concept of Phoneme Calendar

Intervention 1
Intervention 2
Intervention 3
Form new words
Form new words
Form new words

Table 5 :The summary of checklist on participants behaviour during the intervention.

Theme: interaction and participation

P
Intervention 1
Intervention 2
Intervention 3
A
F
AR
A
F
AR
A
F
AR

5
*keywords : P : Participants , A : Active , F : Follow, AR : Appropriate
Response

RESEARCH FINDINGS
The research question can be justified through the employment of analysis of
the worksheets and the pre and post intervention. All the participants depict vast
improvement in enriching the mastery of vocabulary on concrete words which can be
seen clearly through post-intervention. These findings corresponded with the
observation analysis where the participants were able to understand the Phoneme
calendar, apply the concept and encourage the participation from the pupils and
participants.
Furthermore, from the interview session, some of the participants were able
to remember and list several concrete words that taught during the intervention with
the correct spelling and pronunciation. Besides, from the interview session, they
enjoyed the lesson as they said the lesson was fun and exciting. Besides, they also
gave their full attention during the intervention sessions and were highly motivated in
learning English. By triangulating the data gathered, I was able to prove the validity of
the data collected from the Phoneme Calendar

REFLECTION
Throughout the implementation of this research, I have gained a great deal of
experiences, knowledge and inputs on how an action research is carried out. It is
essential for me to identify the strengths and weaknesses of my pedagogical
methods in order to improvise my instructional strategies and approaches so that
learners needs could be catered (Tomlinson, 2008). The findings and results
obtained from this research prove that all the participants showed remarkable
improvement in learning concrete words after the implementation of the action. Apart
from that, the participants also showed their interests in using Phoneme Calendar
which consequently helped them to learn concrete words in appropriate and
meaningful way.

SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

7

Phoneme Calendar technique can be improved from several aspects. The

use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is the first aspect of this
study that can be improved in future as ICT can make this Phoneme Calendar more
fascinating and remarkable to young learners who are keen in enriching the mastery
on concrete words through educational applications. Secondly, use different classes
of English words other than concrete words. Hence, it will determine to what extent
the Phoneme Calendar is effective in enriching the mastery of vocabulary on
concrete words to ascertain whether the impact is similar or different. Thirdly, the time
allocation for the study should be longer as it gives time to the researchers to revise
and improve upon their strategies. Last but not least, another improvement that is
recommended is varying the activities that being used to assess the pupils. It is also
recommended that the teacher should add more challenging questions in the
worksheets given to the pupils. In conclusion, it is hoped that these initiatives can
help to enrich the pupils mastery of vocabulary, skills and interest of the participants
in learning regarding the concrete words. With the several recommendations above,
this study should be more comprehensive and the result gained in future will be more
precise, accurate and reliable.

REFERENCES
Goh, L. H. (2012). A Practical Guide To Writing Your Action Research. Selangor:
Penerbitan Multimedia SDN. BHD.
KementerianPendidikan Malaysia. (2011). Dokumen Standard Kurikulumdan
Pentaksiran. Bahagian Pembangunan Kurikulum.

Schmuck, R. A. (2010). Practical Action Research for Change. Illinois: Skylight

Professional Devolpment.

Tomlinson, B. (ed.) (2008). English Language Learning Materials. A Critical Review.

London: Continuum.