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Thinkitrg Skills and TechniquesTo Enhance ESL Students'

Reading and Writing

Mariam Mohamed Nor

Abstract: In Malaysia's drive towards Vision 2020, the

development of human resources, the talents, skills and creativityof the people is the ultimate goal. In response to that, currently inMalaysia's secondary schools, efforts have been made to teach

students beyond the basic skills by equipping them with thinkingskills. In order to make this idea a reality, there is a need to look at

the implementation of 'thinking skills' in ELT and its influence inthe learning of English among secondary school students.

Keywords: Thinking skills, cooperative learning, graphic

organizers, higher-order questioning

Acknowledgement: This research was funded by UniversitiPendidikan Sultan Idris.

INTRODUCTION

The abilities to read and write clearly and fluently are two of the

more important skills required of students. However, it is

disappointing to find that we know relatively little about the most

effective way to foster reading and writing expertise. Hence, this

study attempts to investigate the teaching of thinking skills inlanguage classrooms, specifically for enhancing the teaching ofreading and writing skills.

Swartz and Parks (1994) proposed three general approaches to

teach thinking skills. First, we have the direct instruction ofthinking in non-curricular contexts, which is often called the

teaching of thinking. Teaching thinking by direct instruction means

that, students learn how to use explicit thinking strategies guided by

the teacher. The second approach is called teaching for thinkingwhich involves using techniques to promote students' deep

understanding of the context, such as using cooperative leaming,

graphic organizers, higher-order questioning, Socratic dialog,

English Language Journal

manipulative and inquiry learning. The third approach is theteaching of thinking skills using the infusion approach (Swartz andParks, 1994) that emphasises on skillful thinking so that studentscan improve the way they think. Infusion lessons feature a varietyof effective teaching practices that characterises the way thinkingcan be explicitly emphasized in the lessons.

Whatever the approach, it is important to understand therelationship between teaching knowledge, that is the languagecontent, and teaching thinking. It is generally thought that teachingknowledge is suffrcient for understanding (perkins, 1993), andthinking. Thinking seems to be enhanced by the deeperunderstanding of knowledge, but knowledge alone is not sufficient.As Perkins (1992) argues, a deeper understanding of knowledgeforms the basis for the active use of knowledge and skills, and thatshould be the aim of education. One of the ways of teaching fordeeper understanding and thinking is to allow students to play anactive part in the teaching and leaming processes. This approach isalso in line with what Onosko and Newmann (1994) suggest, ..The

best we can do is to engage in what we predict will be challengingproblems, guiding student manipulation of information to solveproblems, and supporting students' efforts." (1994:29).

Classroom activities that employ collaborative problem solvingseem to have the potential for teaching children how to deal withcomplex tasks and to work with and leam from each other(Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1990). One would expect thatexposure to a rich array of collaborative problem-solving activitiesin the classrooms would help students become problem solvers asadult. For this to happen in the classrooms, the traditional telling-listening relationship between teacher and student should bereplaced by one that is more interactive (Prawat, 1992: 357).

PROBLEM STATEMEI\T

In a briefing conducted by the Malaysian Ministry of Educationgiven to the district head of the English department (1997), threemain weaknesses in students' writing were identified: (i) inability

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Thinking Skills

to develop interesting and thoughtful ideas, (ii) inability to present

ideas clearly and coherently, and (iii) inability to plan paragraphs

and essays cohesively. Further, the culture of Asian learners is

characterised by group-oriented, harmony-seeking, hierarchical and

non-critical thinking, whereas, westem cultures consist ofindividualistic, adversarial, horizontal, and critical-thinkingbehavioral patterns (Atkinson 1997, Fox 1994; Ramanathan and

Kaplan 1996). According to Atkinson (1997:80) critical thought ismore of a social practice than a teachable set of behaviors.

However, Littlewood (2000: 34) found that 'Asian students do not,in fact, wish to be spoon-fed with facts from an all-knowing "fountof knowledge". They want to explore knowledge themselves and

find their own answers.' Hence, these findings suggest that a newgeneration of Asian learners is not being depicted accurately byconventional constructs.

RATIONALE

There seems to be no studies which have attempted to investigate

how teachers construct pedagogical content knowledge to teach

thinking skills (Rajendran, 1998). For that matter, no studies have

attempted to investigate how teachers jointly construct pedagogical

content knowledge for teaching thinking skills in their writingclassrooms. Available evidence suggests that teachers need topossess the attitudes and beliefs necessary to teach thinking skills,

because teachers' views of teaching and learning influence theirteaching in the classroom. There is also evidence to suggest thatlanguage abilities and thinking competencies shape each other. In

relation to this evidence, there seems to be a need for teachers to

exploit the four language components, i.e. listening, speaking,

reading and writing, and to promote thinking skills among students.

Thinking seems to be inherent in almost all activities encompassing

the four language components. In particular, the Malaysian

National Curriculum (1991) specifies that students be able to listen,

to view and express ideas, opinions, thoughts and feelings

imaginatively and creatively in spoken and written form.

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English Language Journal

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Thinking is the way we make sense of the world and thinkingcritically is thinking about our thinking so that we can clariff andimprove it. If we can understand the way our mind works when wework toward our goals, make informed decisions, and analysecomplex issues, then we can learn to think more effectively in thesesituations (chaffee, J, 2000). Thinking skills includes strategieswhereby students are engaged in purposeful, extended lines ofthought, where they: identi& the task (or type of problem), defineand clarify essential elements and terms, gather, judge, and connectrelevant information, evaluate the adequacy of information andprocedures for drawing conclusions and/or solving problems. Inaddition, students will then become self-conscious about theirthinking and develop their self-monitoring problem_solvingstrategies, namely, cognitive, analysis, comparison, inference /interpretation evaluation, processes and metacognitive planning,monitoring, reviewing/revising (Baron and Sternberg I 9g7).

STGNIFICANCE OF' THB STUDY

This sfudy is a response to the government impetus to include theteaching of thinking in the series of measures to raise standards inthe teaching of language in ESL classrooms. All secondary writingteachers are expected to engage in the pedagogy of teachingthinking skills in their reading and writing lesson. They also seek tohighlight a number of characteristics common in teaching thinkingprograms: promotion of cooperative learning, promotion ofchallenge in learning, encouragement of transfer, and stimulatingpupils to think about their learning (rnetacognition). Hence,findings from this sfudy will encourage teachers to utilise thinkingskills in their reading and writing lessons in order to achieveacademic and social goals for students. In addition, curriculumdesigners for teacher education programs will be able to use theinformation, and to incorporate in the programs the strategies usefulfor the teaching and learning content.

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Thinking Skills

REVIEW OF LITBRATURE

lntroductionThe literature review focused on the main trends in thedevelopment of research on thinking skills to enhance secondarystudents' reading and writing. It looked at how the results of similarstudies were interpreted, and what implications were drawn.Further, it compiled references to the empirical work that had been

doqp in the area of thinking in reading and writing, specifically inthinking skills. Finally, it examined how most of the prior studieswere conducted.

The Rationale for Teaching ThinkingOn the whole, with or without special training everyone thinks. Onemajor assumption underlying the interest in teaching thinking isthat there is a need for teaching these thinking skills: to compare,classify, order, estimate, extrapolate, interpolate, form hypotheses,weigh evidence, draw conclusions, devise arguments, judge

relevance, use analogies, and engage in numerous activities that are

typically classified as thinking. However, most of us who talk aboutteaching thinking would probably agree that what we need to teach,

and to leam, for that matter, is not how to think in an absolutesense, but how to think more effectively, more critically, morecoherently, more creatively, more deeply-than we often, perhaps

typically, do.

There is little evidence to show that students acquire goodthinking skills simply as a consequence of studying conventionalcourse materials. Although domain-specific knowledge is essentialto good thinking within a domain, it is not sufficient to assure thatgood thinking will occur. As Glaser (1985) puts it, a student does

not tend "naturally" to develop a general disposition to considerthoughtfully the subjects and problems that come within the rangeof his or her experience; nor is he or she likely to acquireknowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning and

skill in applying these methods, simply as a result of having studicd

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linglish Langtragc Journal

this subject or that. There is little evidence that students acquireskill in critical thinking as a by product of the study of any givensubject. In other words, if students are to acquire good thinkingskills in the classroom, explicit attention will have to be given tothat objective. students should be trained to become good thinkersso that they will be equipped to compete effectively for educationalopportunities, jobs, recognition, and rewards in today's world.Goodlad (1980) has observed that few employers pay for suchactivities as contemplating, questioning, and inquiring, and thatmany discourage these activities. Clearly, some jobs require shillsof certain types of thinking(e.g., troubleshooting and problemsolving), but whether people who make a habit of thinking deeplyand reflectively are more valued employees or more successfulemployers than those who do not seems to be an open question.

Research on Thinking To Enhance Readingand WritingThis section discusses writing researches which incorporatethinking both in the Ll and L2 settings and also examines theoutcomes of these researches and their implications for the teachingof reading and writing in schools. Hopefully, it will provide anoverview of thinking skills in reading and writing researchespreviously conducted as the background to this research paper.

To begin, Taylor, Pearson, Peterson & Rodriquez (2003)conducted a study which investigated the effects of teachingthinking on students' reading achievement. The study focused onstudents' reading and writing growth in grades l-5. A total ofeighty-eight teachers and seven hundred and ninety-two studentsacross these grades participated in the study. Looking across thedata, it was found that teachers who emphasised thinking eitherthrough the questions they asked or the tasks they assigned,promoted greater reading growth. Thus, the findings suggested thatelements that maximize students' cognitive engagement areimportant when attempting to improve reading instruction.Effective teacher questioning of texts is purposeful. The teachersassess students' learning through student answers to challenging

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Thinking Skills

qr.restions. They actively involve students in literacy activities,

olten giving them responsibilities for holding their own discussions

about text, an activity which maintain a high pupil involvement.

Similarly the context of a study by Leat and Mei Lin (2003) was

teaching thinking which was promoted as a means to raise

standards by the Malaysian govemment. Teaching thinkingincludes the concepts of metacognition and transfer in its

underpinnings but there is little support for teachers to make these

concepts a reality in the classroom. In England there was agovernment impetus to include teaching thinking. The White Paper,

Excellence in Schools (Department for Education and Employment

[DfEE,i997] gave some prominence to teaching thinking and

suggested the link between systematic teaching of thinking skills

and positive learning outcomes. These skills were specified as

Information-processing skills, Reasoning skills, Creative thinkingskills, and Evaluation skills. All secondary subject teachers inEngland were expected to engage with the pedagogy of teaching

thinking. Furthermore, Baumfield et al. (1995) identified a number

of characteristics which were common in teaching thinkingprograms. These include the promotion of cooperative leaming,promotion of challenges in learning, the development of concepts

in subject domains, the encouragement of transfer and stimulatingpupils to think about their learning (metacognition). Transfer and

metacognition are the two most significant concepts in the field ofteaching thinking. Hence, current reforms demand that teaching

thinking be taught through the national curriculum subjects in

England so that pupils can reflect on what and how they have

learned and transfer their learning to new contexts.

Further, Yarrow and Topping (2001) conducted a study inScotland to demonstrate peer assisted learning in writing named

Paired Writing (Topping, 1995) which incorporated both

metacognitive prompting and scaffolding for the interactive

process. Participants were 28, ten and eleven year old students

forming a problematic mixed ability class. All received training inPaired Writing and its inherent metacognitive prompting. Paired

Writing is a structured but flexible collaborative writing system

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linglish Languagc Journal

which combines metacognitive and social interactive approaches tosupporting children's writing development. The writing processconsists of six steps: Generating Ideas, Drafting, Reading, Editing,producing a Best copy and Evaluating. Helper (tutor) and writer(tutee). Roles and behaviors were identified at each step. Results ofthe study were that writing improvements demonstrated by the NoInteraction condition suggested that some of the positive effects ofthe intervention might be attributabre to the training, metacognitivesupport' peer assessment and increased opportunities for practice.on pre- and post-project analyses of the quarity of individualwriting, all groups showed statistically significant improvements inwriting. However, the pre-post gains of the children who wroteinteractively were significantly greater than those of the lonewriters.

Onosko and Newmann (1994) conducted a study (involvingteachers, department chairs, and principles) which attempted to findout, among other things, participant,s conceptions of andcommitment to teaching thinking as an educational goal, and thefactors they perceived as necessary to accomplish it. They reportedthat academic departments committed to teaching thinking as afundamental instructional goal had teachers whose classroomsshowed more thoughtfulness than departments not committed tothis goal. Based on classroom observations, open-ended interviewswith students, and survey questionnaire items, they reported thatstudents were more likely to be interested in academic study whenthey were challenged to think. Onosko and Newmann also,identified the barriers or obstacles to the promotion of thinkingskills in the classrooms. one of the barriers they suggested is thatteachers perceive teaching as knowledge transmission. Similarly,Cuban (1984), after researching the pedagogical practices inAmerican classrooms for period of 90 years concluded that thedominant forms of classroom 'discourse' past and present areteacher lecture and teacher-led recitations. The overriding agendais to transmit information and ideas, and than request that studentsreproduce them either orally or in writing.

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Thinking Skills

Another barrier to the promotion of thinking in classrooms is

teachers' the low expectations of students (Onosko and Newmann,1994). They reported that some teachers in their study assumed thatstudents lacked the inherent mental capacity, the raw "brain power"to engage in thinking, especially those students labeled lowachievers or low ability. When students were perceived to lackthinking skills, many teachers were less likely to formulate lessons

that require thinking challenges.In short, teachers need subject matter knowledge, the necessary

pedagogical skills, and the appropriate attitude to teach. Recent

research had documented some of the important ways that teacher'sknowledge of the subjects they taught shaped their instructionalpractice. A number of studies had suggested that teachers with aricher understanding of subject matter tended to emphasise

conceptual, problem-solving, and inquiry aspects of their subjects,whereas less knowledgeable teachers tended to emphasise facts and

procedures (Ball, 1998; Wilson, 1988; Ball and MrDiarmid, 1990).

DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY

Aim: There were three aims for this study. The first aim was toinvestigate whether Form Two ESL students displayed elements ofcritical thinking in their reading and writing. Second, to investigate

the way Form Two ESL students interpreted and constructedknowledge and framed (developed and linked with each other)ideas in reading and writing. Third, to examine the effectiveness ofusing patterns of organization in developing students' knowledgeand frame ideas for writing (developed and linked with each other).

Methodology: Data was collected using interviews, students'written prbducts, a reading-writing intervention program and

students' feedback.

Instruments:

(i) Written Protocols:Students were given a few topics to write about in an essay,

each of which were analysed for instances of voice and

lingl islt Languagc Journal

attitude towards the issue discussed in the essay. The type ofanalysis used was a product-oriented analysis, using thewritten products of students in two writing classes.

(ii)Interviews20 participants were randomly selected for follow_upinterviews.

(iii)Reading and Writing Intervention programA reading-writing skill using patterns of organization(adapted from Mikulecky and Jeffries,2000, p 100, Winkler &McCuen, 2000; Langan, 2000) in developing knowledge andframe ideas for reading-writing was utilised to enhancestudents' critical reading-writing skills. For the interventionprogram, the participants (N:80) were assigned to two groups,one group with teacher A and another with teacher B. Thestudent participants were trained using the reading-writingskill, "patterns of organization," using topics at a levelconforming to the Form Two syllabus. The participants weregiven sufficient training sessions until the researcher wassatisfied that the participants had acquired sufficient skills inframing ideas for critical reading-writing skills. participantswere pre- and post-tested on the reading-writing skill for fourcommon patterns (listing of ideas, sequence, comparison/contrast and cause-effect) to measure for learning and transfereffects. For the intervention program there were two mainpackages of materials; one for the training and one for the tests(pre-test, post-test). T-test was conducted on the scoresobtained. The results of the tests were compared to find out ifthere was any significant difference between them.

RBSBARCH DESIGN

Quasi-experimentalThe research was conducted in 5 phases on two groups ofparticipants (N:80)

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Thinking Skills

Phase l:Pre-test for reading and writingPhase 2: Intervention Program

Phase 3: Post-test for reading and writingPhase 4: Interviews (Reflection)

Phase 5: Written Feedback

FINDINGS:

The results from the study showed that ESL (Malay) students had

stereotypical, passive, and respectful and dovetail attitudes as

portrayed by some of the researches conducted by other Asian

researchers. Also, the analysis of students' written products

denoted that the majority of students did not utilize thinking skills,

knowledge construction and idea framing when writing essays'

Consequently, teachers were advised to create a teaching module

for reading and writing using pattems of organization to enhance

students' critical thinking-reading-writing skills.

IMPLICATTONS

From the results of this study we could deduce that students could

not think by themselves. They have to be guided and trained to

think while reading. This conclusion is in accordance with the

growing consensus that, "thinking is a skill and can be taught"

(Chance, 1986: 133). Polya (1965: ix) proclaimed, "Solving

problems is a practical art, like swimming, or skiing, or playing the

piano: you can learn it only by imitation and practice."

The classical approach to the teaching of thinking was based on

the conceptions of what to teach, how to teach, and where to teach:

to view thinking as a single intellectual ability that can be improved

through mental discipline. Binet, who believes in the teachability ofthinking skills described thinking as:

Intelligence is not a simple indivisible function with a

particular essence of its own'..but it is formed by the

combination of the minor functions...all of which have

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linglish Larrguagc Journal

proved to be plastic and subject to increase. With practice,enthusiasm, and especially with method, one can succeed inimproving one's attention, memory and judgment, and inbecoming literally more intelligent than before" (19fi/r962:150).

The classical approach emphasised correct performance. However,Lochhead (1979, p.l) rejects the classical approach: "we should beteaching students how to think; instead we are primarily teachingthem what to think-" what Lochhead and others are saying is thatinstead of focusing on the product of problem solving 1i.e.]geftingthe right answer) we should focus on the process of piottemsolving (i.e., the methods used in problem solving). In summurythe method used in many successful programs is to give studentspractice in problem-solving processes used by good problemsolvers. Therefore, in contrast to the classical approach, our secondcriterion for a successful training program is a iocrrs on problem-solving process (Mayer, 1992: 365).

CONCLUSION

In winding up, teaching thinking skills and techniques has positiveeffects on students, reading-writing achievement (see Appendix l).This notion was demonstrated through the research findings whichshowed group-writing and background support assisted theimplementation of teaching thinking skills in the languageclassrooms.

REFERENCES

Atkinson, D. (1997)..A critical approach to crirical thinking in TESOL,. TESOLQuarterly. 5ll7:20-28

Ball, D' & McDiarmid, w. (1990). The subject matter preparation of teachers. InW. Houston, et al., (Eds.). Handbook of research on teacher education. NewYork: Macmillon .pp. 437-449.

Baron,J.B and Sternberg,R.J. (19g7) Teaching Thinking Skills. U.S.A:W.H.Freeman & Co.

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Thinking Skills

llaunrfield,V.., StanclifllD., Atkins,M,& Leat,D. 1995. Improving Students'

performance- a guide to thinking skills programmes in education and training(Gateshead, Tyneside Training and Enterprise Council.)

Ilruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press.

Chaffee,J.(2000) Thinkins Critically. Sixth Edition. New York: Houghton MifflinCo.

Chance,P. (1986). Thinking in the classroom: A survey of programs- NewYork:Teachers' College Press.

Department For Education and EmploymenVQualifications and CurriculumAuthority (DfEE/QCA). 1999. The National Curriculum - handbook forsecondary teachers in England Key Stages 3 and 4 (London'DfEE/QCA).

Fox, H. (1994). Listening to the World: Cultural issues in academic writing.

Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Glaser, E. M. (1985). Critical thinking: Educating for responsible citizenship in a

democracy. -ly'ational Forum, 65 :24-27 .

Goodlad, J. (1980). What schools should be for. Leaming, 9:38-43.

Grosmann, P.C. (1990). The making of a teacher: Teacher lonwledge and teacher

education. New York; Teacher College Press.

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T. & Holubee, E. J. (1990). Circle of learning:

Cooperation in the classroon 13td. ed.;, Edina, MN: Interaction Book Co.

Kozulin, A. (1990). Vygotsky: A biological perspective, Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press.

Leat,D and Mei Lin.2003. Developing a Pedagogy of Metacognition and Transfer:

some signposts for the generation and use ofknowledge and the creation ofresearch partnerships. British Educational Research Journal,vol 29'No.3.

Littlewood, W. (2000). 'Do Asian students really want to listen and obey?' ELTJournal 54/l:31-36

Mayer, R.E. (1992) Thinking, Problem Solving,Cognition.2nd Edition.New York:

W.H.Freeman

Onosko, J.J., & Newmann, F.M. (1994). Creating more thoughtful learning

environments, In J.N. Mangieri & C.C. Block (Eds.). Creating powerful

thinking in teachers and students: Diverse perspectives, Fort Worth: Harcourt

Brace College Publishers.p. 250-257. ELT Journal Vol. 56/3. July. Oxford -University Press.

Perkins, D.N. (1992) Smart schools: From training memories to educating minds,

New York: The Free Press.

Perkins, D.N. (1993). Teaching for understanding. American Educator, Fall' pp.

28-35.

Polya,G.(1965).Mathematicaldiscovery.Vol ll: Onunderstanding, learningandteaching problem solving. New York:Wiley.

Postman, N. (1985). Critical thinking in the electronic era. National Forum, 65:4-8

llnglish Languagc Journal

Prawat, R. (1992). Teachers' beliefs about teaching and leaming: A constructivistperspective. American Journal ofEducatior, 100, pp. 354-393.

Ramanathan, V. and R. B. Kaplan. (1996). .Audience and voice in currentcomposition texts: Some implications for ESL student writers'. Journal ofSecond Language l{riting 5 ll: 2l-34.

swatz, R. & Parks, s. (1994). Infusing critical and creative thinking into contentinstruction, Califomia: Critical Thinking Press.

Taylor,B.M;Pearson,P.D;Peterson,S.D & Rodriquez,M .C 2003. Reading Growthin High_Poverty Classroom. The influence of Teacher practices thatencourage Cognitive Engagement in Literacy Learning. The ElementarySchool JournalVol. I 04,no. l,p:3-28.

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University press.

Yarrow, F and Topping,K.J 2001. Collaborative Writing: The effects ofmetacognitive prompting and structured peer interaction. British Journal ofEducational Psychologt, v 71, (261-282).

APPENDIX 1

Students Reflections (via Interviews)1. Saya rasa lebih bersemangat untuk mempelajari Bahasa

Inggeris2. Discussions can make me talked and thinked with my

friends.

3. Ajaranya lebih memberi peluang kepada pelajar untukbertanya dan tiada masaalah.Memberi saya semangat baru untuk membaca rencana2Bahasa Inggeris dengan lebih sempurna dan cara yang betul.Dapat mempelajari pelajaran baru, tapi memerah otak.It is good and I like it.Saya suka sebab belajar dalam kumpulan banyakidea.Sebelum ini apa yang kita tak tahu kita dah tahuPada pendapat saya, pembelajaran ini memang bagusSaya rasa ianya berkesan, kerana ia memberi langkah untukmembaca dan menjawab soalan.Good, it give me more lessonsIt is good and I like it.Berkesan. Mendapat ilmu dengan baikSaya rasa, saya sudah boleh membaca dan menulis karangandengan baik.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

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'l'hinkirrg Skills

APPENDTX2

Objectives:

l. Read and think criticallY.

Text: The Kitchen

One week before Hari Raya Puasa, Azura and I come home

from school in a heavy rain, and when we push in the door

we find the kitchen empty. The table and chairs and trunk are

goneandthestoveiscold.Grandmaisstillthereandthatmeans we haven't moved again. Father would never move

without Grandma. The kitchen floor is wet, little pools of

water all around, and the walls are twinkling with the damp'

There's a noise upstairs and when we go up we find father

and mother and the missing furniture' It's nice and warm

there, mother sitting and reading a book in the bed, and father

reading the day's newspaper. Mother tells us there's a terrible

flood, that the rain came down the road and poured in under

our door. They tried to stop it with rags, but they only turned

sopping wet and let the rain in. She thinks we should stay

upstairs as long as there is rain. Dad says it's like going away

on our holidays to a nice foreign place like Hawaii' That's

what we'll call the upstairs from now on, Hawaii' Azura says

Grandma is still on the wall downstairs, and she's going to be

all cold and couldn't we bring her up? But mother says, 'No,

she's going to stay where she is because I don't want her on

the wall glaring at me in the bed. Isn't it enough that we

dragged her all the way from Taiping to Sungai Siput to Ipoh

toKualaLumpurtoKemaman?Alllwantnowisalittlepeace, ease and comfort.

Reading comprehension questions

l. What does 'trunk' mean in the text?

2. How many of the five senses (see, hear, smell, taste, feel)

does the descriPtion use?

3. What words refer to or suggest each of these senses?

Unglish Languagc Journal

4. The scene is described in the present tense even though itoccurred long ago. why do you think the writer chooses thattense?

5. What effect does it have on you?6. Where is the place?7. How many people are in the scene?8. What are the names of the people?9. What does 'Grandma'refers to?

10. Why do you think mother does notupstairs?

want 'Grandma' to be

Observation

Phase 1:

students seemed to read and tried to absorb the meaning of the text.But they do not seem to understand the questions and the text, forthey kept referring to the English-Malay dictionary. Theyconversed in Ll (Bahasa Melayu) and used the target language(English Language) when reading the text aloud. The majorityseemed engrossed in trying to find the answers, reading the textintensely, translating word-by-word, trying to deduce the word_meanings however, they only managed to translate the word_meanings out of context. Generally, they do not seem to understandwhat they were reading. For instance, they could not give thecorrect contextual meaning for the following words: trunk,Grandma and the five senses from the text, .The Kitchen.,

Phase 2:

The teacher explained to the students what the questions were aboutand how to answer them. For example, to answer the meaning ofthe word, "trunk," they have to understand the words meanin! incontext, and the context here is the kitchen. Hence, the mostappropriate meaning for the word trunk is a wooden box forkeeping clothes.

40 4l

Tliinking Skills

Word Dictionary Meaning

Trunk A wooden box for keeping clothes

An elephant's nose

A tree stump

Another word, "grandma" does not refer to a person but to a photo

of a person. They can deduce this from referents made, 'Grandmaon the wall,' looking at me.

After the teacher had explained all this thoroughly, the students

were able to answer all the questions correctly, observed by

comparing the answers given by the students for the reading

comprehension questions before and after the teacher's

explanation.

Phase 3:

Group Writing Task: Write one paragraph describing a scene inyour school.

. First, the teacher instructed students to write a paragraph

describing a scene in the school. But they were not able towrite. Some students managed to write one or two sentences.

. Lateq the teacher used the blueprint for writing a descriptivescene and gave a briefexplanation ofit.

Sample Student Essay:

First time we reach this school, we see beautiful sceneries, smart

and cute students, the teachers and the beautiful buildings. Then,

we hear laughing from the students and the birds singing. We also

smell the frogrant from the flowers. When we go to the canteen we

taste delicious foods and drihks. Lastly, we feel fresh and healthywhen we're in this school.

linglish Languago Jourrral

APPENDIX 3

Teachers can also give students articles from the newspaper thatmake them read and think. For example, teachers can use activitiesthat makes them use thinking skills such as generalizing,categorizing, identifuing main ideas, predicting, problem solvingand creating headlines for the text.

Kuala Lumpu4 Sun- Two sisters caruied their 98-year-old greatgrandmother to safety as fire threatened to engulf their home inKampung Chubadak Tambahan, Sentul, today.

Rubayaton Adawiyah Zaini,22 and Siti Nuril Ashikin, 17,rescued Jabariah Chu Mqt Lawi after fire spread from aneighbour's house. Jabariahb son, Amin Mohamed,75, said hewaswatching television when he heard a monir explosion from thehouse next door "I went to the window and saw my neighbour'shouse in flames," he soid. "I shouted to my mother and fourgrandchildren to get out of the house." Amin said soon afterRubyatun and Siti Nurul bought his mother out of the house, the

flames spread to his house.

Sentul Fire and Rescue Department operations fficer AbhutHqdi Abdullah said three fire engines responded to an emergencycall at I0.I5am.

Teachers can use the following activities to stimulate students'thinking.

Instructions: Answer the following questions. your answers mustbe supported with concrete evidences from the article.

Steps:

l. What do you think is the 'headline' for the article?

Igeneralising]2. Who were involved in the fire and what were their

relationships? [categorising]3. What do you think caused the 'minor explosion?,[predicting]

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Thinking Skills

4. What caused the fire to spread very fast? [predicting]5. Imagine that you are the Member of Parliament for that area.

How can you help the 10 homeless people, in terms of

shelter, food, clothes and their future? [problem solving]

Suggested Answers:

The headline is associated with fire because there are many

words related to it, for instance: fire threatened to engulf, fire

spread, minor explosion, in flames, flames spread, Fire and

Rescue Department, and fire engines.

A grandmotheq Jabariah Chu Mat Lawi; an old man Amin

Mohamed, who is Jabariah's son; and four grandchildren'

It could be a gas tank, a bottle of oil' a television.

Usually, the houses in a squatter area are made of wood and

are built close together both of which helped to spread the

fire fast.

1.

2.

J.

4.