THE USE OF ARTICLE RULE CARD (ARC) TO IMPROVE YEAR 5 PUPILS’

ABILITY IN USING INDEFINITE ARTICLES

Anas bin Mazalan

Hasnah Binti Razali
Varugheese A/L Chako

ABSTRAK
Tujuan kajian tindakan ini adalah untuk menentukan penggunaan Article Rule
Card (ARC) untuk meningkatkan keupayaan pelajar Tahun 5 dalam
menggunakan indefinite articles. Sampel kajian ini mengandungi pelajar
Tahun 5 di sebuah sekolah di Selangor. Instrumen yang digunakan untuk
kajian ini adalah soal selidik, temubual dan ujian. Kajian ini dilakukan dalam
dua minggu. Dua sesi pengajaran telah dijalankan, pengajaran pertama
adalah cara pembelajaran biasa dan yang kedua adalah menerusi
penggunaan ARC. Hasil daripada kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa pelajar
telah mampu menggunakan indefinite articles dengan lebih bagus apabila
ARC digunakan. Pelajar juga lebih bermotivasi untuk belajar melalui proses
pengajaran dan pembelajaran tersebut.
Kata kunci: Indefinite articles, Article Rule Card (ARC)

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 THE USE OF ARTICLE RULE CARD (ARC) TO IMPROVE YEAR 5 PUPILS’
ABILITY IN USING INDEFINITE ARTICLES

Anas bin Mazalan

Hasnah Binti Razali
Varugheese A/L Chako

ABSTRACT
The purpose of the action research was to determine the use of Article Rule Card
(ARC) to improve year 5 pupils’ ability in using indefinite articles. The sample for the
study consisted of Year 5 pupils in a school in Selangor. The instruments used for the
study were a questionnaire, an interview protocol and tests. The study was carried out
over a duration of two weeks. Two lessons were conducted; one, a conventional
method and the other was with the use of ARC. The results of the study showed that
pupils were able to use indefinite articles better in writing when the ARC was used.
Pupils were also more motivated to learn in the teaching and learning process.
Keywords: Indefinite articles, Article Rule Card (ARC)

Introduction
Malaysia has had three main branches of schooling for the past fifty-six years
after gaining its independence from the British in 1957. Consequently, Malay,
Chinese, and Tamil schools were formed from the curriculum, ideas, and traditions of
many countries, leaders, and cultures from the local Malay people in Malaysia, to
Chinese people from China, and Indians from India (Ibrahim, 2008). As a result of
that, the English language has taken a back seat in classrooms to maintain the mother
tongues of the three major ethnicities in Malaysia: the Malays, the Chinese, and the
Indians. In 1991 however, Malaysia’s fourth Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Dr. Mahathir
bin Mohamad initiated Wawasan 2020 (Vision 2020), which in summary represents a
list of nine visions and challenges that Malaysia as a nation would achieve by the year
2020, many of which pertain to a “futural role imagery”(Ibrahim, 2008). As a result of
that, Malaysia has been striving to rise forward in educating its citizens into becoming
responsible future leaders of the nation and for the future of humanity.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Education has gone forward to increase its recognition
in the global world through Vision 2020, and through improving the Malaysian
Education Curriculum by creating a preliminary report on the “Malaysian Education
Blueprint 2013-2025” which states that the education curriculum should increase
bilingual proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia (Malay Language) and English (Malaysia
Ministry of Education, 2012). Therefore, the idea of bilingual proficiency subsequently
makes the English language an important factor to moving the nation forward, shifting
all schools to embrace English as more than a colonial language, but as an
“international language of communication” instead (Malaysia Ministry of Education,
2012).

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What Was My Research Issue?
An article is a word used to modify a noun, which is a person, place, object, or
idea (Knowles, 2013). Technically, an article is an adjective, which is any word that
modifies a noun. Usually adjectives modify nouns through description, but articles are
used instead to point out or refer to nouns. There are two different types of articles
that we use in writing and conversation to point out or refer to a noun or group of
nouns: definite and indefinite articles. Definite article is the word ‘the’, and it refers
directly to a specific noun or groups of nouns while indefinite articles are the words ‘a’
and ‘an’.
I chose to do a research on pupil’s usage of indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’ due
to my regular encounters with pupils’ mistake in using articles correctly in
conversations or in their writings during my practicum. The pupils were confused on
which article to use whenever they speak or write.
Evidence of my pupils’ mistake in using indefinite articles is illustrated in Figure 1 and
2.

Figure 1. Sample of a pupil’s write-up in a task sheet in a writing lesson.

Figure 2. Sample of a pupil’s test paper for Section C, writing essay.

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 I noticed that whenever it is a grammar lesson, pupils are having
difficulty in grasping the content of my lesson. This week, I did a lesson
on how to use indefinite articles, ‘a’ and ‘an’, during my presentation of
the lesson, my pupils seemed confused on which article should be
used for different sentences given on the board. Could this be due to
my method of explanation?
(Journal Entry No. 10, 30th August 2016)

In my opinion, an issue regarding the use of indefinite articles is an issue that

would make a great addition to my research because this problem is not only found
in Primary School, but also amongst the adults in Malaysia. I realize that there are
many factors contributing to this issue such as the ignorance of grammar rule, and
the interference of their mother tongue.

My Research Objective
The objective of this research was to determine the use of ARC to improve
Year 5 pupils’ ability in using indefinite articles.

Who Were My Research Participants?

This action research was carried out during my second practicum phase. My
research participants were Year 5 pupils from that school. This school is a National
School and the main medium of communication is the Malay language. This school is
a National School and the Malay language is the main medium of communication.
After doing several thoughts and considerations, I chose my participants from
various family background and a second language learners who possesses
intermediate language proficiency. I considered these factors because it increased
the validity of the research thus helped me in collecting the data and fulfilled my
research objective. My research participants were selected based on their errors and
mistakes in using articles through prior testing which is done indirectly. I have also
selected my research participants through continuous observations towards pupil’s
written work, whereby average pupils with high tendency of using incorrect indefinite
articles were prioritized. Total number of participants that I have picked were ten, both
male and female.

How Did I Collect My Data?

In this research, I used three different types of instruments, which were tests,
interview and questionnaires, in order to collect the data that I need in determining
the impact of using my intervention which is using the Articles Rule Card (ARC) to
improve Year 4 pupils’ ability in using indefinite articles. The reason of using more
than one instrument is to achieve higher validity and reliability of the result (Diehl &
McDonald, 2011).

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Tests
For this data collection method, I carried out two tests which were Test 1 and
Test 2 in order to gain the result of the effectiveness of my intervention. The usage of
two tests helped me to measure pupils’ development and can be used as reference
to find the root of the problem. Test 1 will provide me with information about pupils’
current achievement and knowledge. Test 2 was the platform that enabled me to
compare and contrast the result of my intervention. The level of difficulty for both tests
is parallel.
Another reason for using test as my instrument is because I want to see how
much the pupils improved in using indefinite articles after I implement my intervention,
and through testing, I was provided with a more concrete data that can be analysed
easily because it involves numerical data which can be calculated through various
methods. Furthermore, from test 1, I was able to witness a clear view about the pupils’
problem in using indefinite articles.

Interviews
Interview was my second instrument for data collection. Interview involves
asking questions and getting answers from participants in a study. Interviewing has a
variety of forms including: individual, face-to-face interviews and face-to-face group
interviewing (Johnson, 2008). Interview could be one of the most important
instruments in a research as it provides more than just the data required, whereas
additional information through facial expression and emotion can be observed. .
The reason why I chose interview as one of my instruments, is because I
believed that interview will be able to give me the research findings that I need for the
triangulation of data. During an interview, the teacher needs to be aware of a few
aspects in order to ensure that the interview was a successful one and responses that
the pupils give are sufficient for the research. In my research, I chose to do the
qualitative interviews. I will also conduct two interview sessions after each tests were
delivered.

Questionnaires
In this study, I used questionnaire to get feedback from the research
participants after they undergo the first and second lesson. According to Nardi (2006),
questionnaires constitute interactions between the researcher and the respondents in
which standard instructions are given to all the participants. Besides, Ary, Jacobs,
Razavieh and Sorensen (2006) had an important consideration for instrument design
as the way that the construction of the response items will lead to the kinds of
information being sought. This can help to answer the research question directly. The
questionnaire were administered to all the participants after Test 1 and Test 2
respectively which means that there were two sets of questionnaire, Questionnaire 1
and Questionnaire 2.

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How Did I Implement My Action?
This section explains how I conducted the two lessons. This research was
carried out within a week, which started from 28th February 2018 until 7th March 2018.
For this research two English lessons were being conducted and were derived from
two different topic, Unit 4 Malaysian Legends and Unit 5 Moving Forward. To make
the lessons parallel with the scope of my investigation, the language content that I
focused on was indefinite articles for both of the lessons.
The first lesson that I had conducted was the traditional method where I did
not used my ARC method yet. For the set induction, I displayed two sentences using
the LCD projector and the sentences were ‘Cik Siti Wan Kembang was brave and
wise leader’ and ‘Simalungun was transformed into an crocodile’. I asked the pupils
who noticed the mistakes to tell the whole class what is wrong with the sentences and
what is the correct form of it. After that, I introduced the indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’
to the pupils.
Then, in the presentation stage, I displayed the rules of using indefinite articles
on the board and explained each of the rules. I also gave them several examples for
each of the rules stated. Right after that, I displayed several sentences with blanks
and random pupils will be called to complete the sentences using ‘a’ or ‘an’. At the
end of the stage, I discussed the answers together with the whole class.
During the practice stage, I showed various sentences on the board. Pupils
were to come in front and state whether the sentences were correct or not. If the
sentences were wrong, pupils were to correct the sentences orally. Then the answers
were discussed at the end of the stage.
In the production stage, the pupils were asked to switch on the chrome books
that have been arranged in front of them. Pupils were asked to go to the Quizizz link
given and to enter the code to play the game. The Quizizz was actually a platform for
me to conduct Test 1 on them. A total of ten questions were administered.
Lastly, I ended the lesson by asking the pupils to rearrange the chrome books
to its original place and I asked them on what they have learnt in the lesson. Random
pupils were called to briefly gave me an example of a sentence of how to use indefinite
article ‘a’ and ‘an’.
For the second lesson, I applied the ARC method as my intervention strategy.
The set induction and closure stage of this lesson was basically conducted in a similar
way to that of my first lesson. The difference can be seen during the presentation,
practice and production stage of the lesson.
During the presentation stage, in a similar way but with different examples, I
explained the various rules of using indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’. Immediately after
that, I introduced the ARC to the whole class. I have explained to them on how to use
the ARC as a reference whenever they have difficulties in remembering or recognizing
the rules of using indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’.
For the practice stage, I passed the hardcopy of the ARC, which was my actual
intervention innovation, to the ten selected pupils which I have selected based on the
results of Test 1 from the previous lesson. The selected pupils may refer to it to
determine whether the sentences that I have displayed on the board was correct or
not and to restructure the sentences using ‘a’ and ‘an’.
Lastly, during the production stage, the selected pupils were seated in front to
ensure that they were not affected by any of their friends’ answer and to make it easier
for me to monitor them during the assessment using the Quizizz. Test 2 was
conducted in a similar fashion using Quizizz with the difference of seating
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arrangement of the pupils and that the selected pupils were given the Article Rule
Card to refer to during the assessment session.

What Were The Results of My Study?

After conducting both of the lesson plans that I have prepared, the data that I
have collected from Test 1 were analysed. This was to see the differences between
the scores obtained by the pupils in traditional method, and after I implement my ARC
method. The comparison of scores was tabulated in Table 1 below.

Table 1.
Tabulation of data analysis for Test 1 and Test 2.
Pupils Test 1 (%) Test 2 (%) Scores

(Traditional (ARC Method) Difference

Method)

A 50 60 +10

B 60 60 +0

C 60 80 +20

D 70 80 +10

E 50 70 +20

F 80 100 +20

G 80 90 +10

H 70 70 +0

I 70 100 +30

J 80 100 +20

As seen on Table 1, after several calculation, the mean score for the first test,
which is Test 1, is 65%. There were seven pupils who scored less than 80% and it
means that these pupils were unable to answer two or more questions in the test
because the total number of questions in Test 1 and Test 2 were 10. Other than that,
none of the pupils were able to get 100% for Test 1. The mean score for Test 2, where
my ARC method was conducted, is 81% which shows an increase of 16%. In relation
to that, three out of ten pupils were able to get 100% accuracy in Test 2.
Moreover, based on Table 1, Test 1 and Test 2 scores for pupil I was 70% and
100% respectively. This showed that pupil A performed better during Test 2 referring
to the marks she had was higher for Test 2 as compared to the marks in Test 1. These
differences in marks can be seen in Table 1. Referring to Table 1, eight pupils were

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able to achieve better results in Test 2 compared to their results in Test 1. However,
two pupils maintained the same marks for both tests. This could be due to the
difficulties that I faced during the implementation of the intervention where some of
the targeted pupils were not paying attention when I was explaining on how to use the
ARC method.
The results from my interview also supported my findings. In order to
understand why the pupils performed better using the ARC method, I interviewed all
the ten selected pupils. Their responses were transcribed, coded, and categorized to
determine emerging themes (reasons). From the analysis, the data is presented as
below in Table 2.

Table 2.
Emerging themes from the interview data after Test 2.
Num. Categories of themes Frequency Percentage

(%)

1 The example given is clear/helpful 5 23.8

2 I understood the rules 4 19.0

3 The card helped me 7 33.4

4 The questions was easy 5 23.8

Total 21 100

Based on Table 2, the theme with the highest frequency is ‘The card helped
me’. It was mentioned seven times (33.4%). This indicates that the intervention
strategy that is the ARC method helped them to understand how to use the indefinite
articles. Basically the card helped them to recognize and remember the rules of using
indefinite articles as they may refer to it anytime.
The second highest mentioned reason are ‘the example given is clear/helpful’
and ‘the questions was easy’. These were both mentioned 5 times (23.8%). The
examples given when I introduced the ARC method made the pupils remember and
understand the rules better as it was clear. Pupils understood the rules taught as the
examples were simple and clear.
To further support the findings above, I came out with an analysis of the results
obtained from the questionnaires. To do this, I calculated the means for each item in
the questionnaire. Comparisons were then made using the mean for each item
between the conventional (Questionnaire 1) and ARC (Questionnaire 2) method. The
results are tabulated as in Table 3 below.

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Table 3.
Comparison of item means between Questionnaire 1 and 2.
Item Method Difference

Questionnaire 1 Questionnaire

1. I can remember the rules 4 4.1 0.1

in using ‘a’ and ‘an’.

2. I know how to choose the 3.7 4.0 0.3

correct articles in the

questions.

3. The method used by the 3.3 4.1 0.8

teacher helped me to

recognize ‘a’ and ‘an’ better.

4. I am confident in 2.9 3.3 0.4

answering the questions

given.

Table 3 shows that for items 1, 2, 3 and 4 the mean scores were higher for the
ARC method compared to the conventional method by 0.1, 0.3, 0.8 and 0.4
respectively. The findings indicated that the pupils agreed that they can remember
the rules in using ‘a’ and ‘an’ and that the method used helps them to recognize the
indefinite articles better after the implementation of the ARC method.
For item 3, the difference of mean was 0.8, where the score for Questionnaire
2 and Questionnaire 1 were 4.1 and 3.3 respectively. This item holds the highest
difference compared to the other items. This finding suggested that the method that I
used, which was the ARC method, was able to help the pupils in recognizing how to
use ‘a’ and ‘an’ better compared to the traditional lesson where I did not use the ARC
method. This result supported my findings in my interview where one of the emerging
themes was ‘the card helped me’ (refer to Table 2).

DISCUSSION
Reflection is the process of thinking about one’s own behaviour and judging
its merits that play a major role in changing one’s behaviour for the better (Charles,
2011). Through this action research, I started to understand more about the relation
on identifying research issue and coming out with an idea of intervention. In terms of
counselling, intervention is an attempt or a set of techniques to help people for an

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addiction or any other problems or issues. When we put this meaning to education
field, intervention is rather important in order to help pupils or even teachers to
overcome certain issues regarding the classroom.
In this research, I realised that as a teacher, I should be creative and
innovative in doing my job in the teaching profession in order to cater to various pupils’
needs. The idea of using ARC method is an effort to let the pupils get used to what
they refer to. People use dictionary to find meanings of words that they did not know
and will after that aware of the meaning later in the future. The function is the same
as my ARC method. Pupils refer to the ARC to find the correct indefinite article to use
and will later be more aware of it in the future without the need to refer to it anymore.
After the intervention, I believe that this method is successful to some extent as most
of them increased their achievement in Test 2 after the implementation of ARC
method.
The result obtained from this research were quite confirming that this
intervention was encouraging and successful to a certain extent. It had its own
weaknesses. One of the weakness was pupils did not have plenty of time and
opportunity to be familiarised with the indefinite articles rules stated in the ARC and
master that method. The pupils were only exposed to the method for an hour, which
was certainly not enough for them to master the method. This explained why the
pupils were still facing difficulties in answering the test questions. As I mentioned
earlier, this method requires more time in order for them to grasp it as though they
were using dictionary as a reference. After two to three times of using it, they will get
use to the rules and will remember this grammatical rule by heart without referring to
the ARC method.
In the next cycle, I will integrate the usage of ARC together with
communicative activities such as games and songs. These communicative activities
could help pupils in drawing their attention to the particular form of grammatical rules
even better. This could help them to practise the rules or structures meaningfully
through the tasks given.
Besides, through this research, I still believe that we need time in order to
master in anything that we do especially in learning English. Articles could be one of
the hardest grammatical rules. According to Ionin, Ko and Wexler (2004), ESL
learners need longer period of time to fully acquire the article system than any other
grammatical forms due to the complication of English articles system. I cannot expect
my pupils to fully master the correct usage of articles within the short duration that I
have for my research. So, in the next cycle, I suggest that longer duration should be
given to conduct this research where more exposure could be provided to the pupils.
Overall, the findings of this action research proved that the use of Article Rule
Card in enhancing pupils’ correct usage of articles is effective. This is because there
were seven pupils who gained better scores in Test 2, two pupils maintained their
scores and one pupil did not performed well in Test 2 because of the minor decreasing
of the marks after the implementation of the intervening action. The results are
supported with the data gathered through tests, interviews and journal entries.
However, the intervention can still be improved and modified during the second cycle
of the research.

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References
Ibrahim, A. (2008). Malaysia, from traditional to smart schools: the malaysian
educational odyssey. Selangor Darul Ehsan: Oxford Fajar.

Malaysia Ministry of Education. (2012). Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.

Putrajaya: Malaysia Ministry of Education.

Knowles, L. (2013). Definition of Articles. Retrieved 27 January 2018 from

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ition-use-examples.html

Diehl, D., & McDonald, D. (2011). Establishing the validity of quantitative studies.
Retrieved from University of florida: http://edias.ifas.ufl.edu

Johnson, W. (2008). Qualitative research. Retrieved 29 January 2018 from

http://www.qualres.org/HomeInte-3595.html

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Charles, C. (2011). Building classroom discipline. United States of America: Pearson

Education Inc.

Ionin, T., Ko, H., & Wexler, K. (2004). Article semantics in L2 acquisition: the role of
specificity. Language acquisition, 3-69.

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