USING ROOM MODEL KIT TO IMPROVE PREPOSITION OF PLACE AMONG 3 ARIF

PUPILS
ALIA FARHANA BT AB AZIZ
MADAM SAKHIYYAH BT A RAHIM
PISMP TESL 2
alyafarhana@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
The problem in using prepositions of place is very common among Malaysian pupils.
Hence, the objective of this research is to improve the understanding on prepositions of
places among Year 3 Arif pupils using Room Model Kit. Room Model Kit consisted of 2
Dimensional & 3 Dimensional models resembled rooms in house. The use of room models,
depicted pupils own kitchen, bedroom, living room and bathroom as what pupils see in their
everyday lives, enhance the correct ways of using prepositions of place. The participants
have to arrange things in the room through Tidying up the room activity according to the
instruction cards given. The use of concrete and stimulating materials such as models, toys
and things that can be touch by participants aid in their memorization as well as exploration in
understanding preposition of place.
In conclusion, the use of Room Kit is proven to be able to improve the understanding
on prepositions of place as well as expand vocabularies in English through enjoyable way.
Thus, it should be used in the teaching of English in the primary ESL classroom to have an
interactive and fun teaching and learning session, which is meaningful to the pupils.
Keyword: model, prepositions of place, concrete

INTRODUCTION
This action research aims to improve the understanding on preposition of place
among Year 3 Arif pupils in Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Wan. This topic was included
in Year 3 syllabus and should be given a prominent concern so that pupils will be
able to master the knowledge of simple preposition of place before they enter Year 4.
On the other hand, this research was important to be carried out due to the vital
function of preposition, as one of the aspects in grammar. Based on one research on
Challenges and Problems in The Teaching of Grammar which was conducted by
Prashant (2010), it was found that one general problem faced by most of the
teachers of English is the poor standard of the students. Students are even ignorant
of the basic rules and structural patterns, which they are supposed to have learnt at
the primary school level. In this research context, most of the pupils had problems
with preposition of places. According to Cleary (2014), preposition is a word that
connects a noun or pronoun to other words in a sentence. The relative shortness of
the preposition words (most are six letters and under) and their often misplace role in
the overall scheme of things making them not less significant than nouns and verbs.
Most important, the minor mistakes in using preposition might change the meaning of
the sentences as well as create ambiguity to the listener.
In order to intervene the problems, Room Model Kit was used throughout the
intervention process. Two cycles of intervention were carried out and a few
amendments were made to the intervention after its weaknesses were identified so

that it suited with the pupils level, background as well as their learning styles. The
data collected from document analysis, observation, and interview were analyzed
and recorded to identify significant improvement among the participants regarding
preposition of place after the intervention process was carried out.
FOCUS OF INVESTIGATION
The topic preposition of places was chosen, as there were problems in
understanding this topic among pupils in 3 Arif. They often misunderstood and had
problems to identify the position of object correctly. For example, they kept
interchange the role between in and on, under and behind, behind and in front of.
This problem should be intervened as soon as possible as it is the basic
things/knowledge that pupils should know when they want to provide information
about something. Besides, pupils always use and encounter with various types of
prepositions in their readings, writings as well as everyday conversation. The minor
mistakes in using preposition will create frustration and confusion in their writings &
real context of communication. The fossilization of wrong usage using preposition
might affect the pupils in future as well. People might interpret the information
differently due to wrong preposition used. Thus, the real meaning will be not
delivered clearly to the audience.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH QUESTION
This research was carried out to accomplish a specific objective, which emphasized
on the pupils learning and their development in grammar aspect of English
language. At the end of the research, the effectiveness of the intervention could be
identified when participants achieved the objective.
Research Objectives
This research aims to improve pupils understanding on preposition of places by
using Room Model Kit.
Research Questions
The research question for this study is How does Room Model Kit help to improve
pupils understanding on preposition of place?
RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
In this research, 3 pupils from Year 3 Arif were selected to be the research
participants. The socioeconomic background, academic performance, attitude and
personality of the pupils were identified in order to select the appropriate research
participants. All of the information about these research participants was obtained
through preliminary investigation and analysis conducted. The methods used in
collecting information about pupils in 3 Arif were through document analysis, by
obtaining their past TOV results, interview with their classroom & English subject
teacher as well as observation during English lesson.
Based on the past TOV results in English, it was found out that most of the pupils
were good in the other subjects, but could not perform well when it came to English
subject. Due to the less exposure in English at their places, pupils needed more
guidance in all aspects of English language skills such as reading, writing, listening &

speaking and also grammar. Besides, from the interview with classroom & English
subject teacher, some of information regarding pupils background and performance
in the classroom were recorded and analyzed in order to determine which
participants that need to be assisted and the kind of intervention that are suitable for
them. Last but not least, through the observation of pupils performance and attitude
during daily English lesson, the name of potential pupils to be the participants for the
research were shortlisted by taking into account their interest, verbal and non-verbal
behavior as well as their respond during the lesson.
Based on the selected participants, in terms of socioeconomic background, two of
the participants come from low-income family while only one of them come from highincome family. The academic performances for all of the three participants were quite
low as compared to other friends in the class. They were spotted being uninterested,
could not follow the pace, and did not responded much when it comes to English
lesson. In terms of attitude, all of the three participants showed good attitude towards
their friends and teachers. They need personal attention and are assisted one by one
in order to improve their understanding regarding the topic in preposition of places.
RESEARCH INTERVENTION
The intervention for this research was related to how to improve the understanding of
grammar preposition in English primary classroom. It was known as Room Model
Kit. There were 2 cycles of intervention and 3 sessions for each cycle were
conducted by using this kit. Cycle 2 of intervention was conducted due to some
improvement made to the intervention, based on the flaws and weaknesses in Cycle
1. In the first cycle, this kit consisted of four 2 Dimensional laminated pictures, 15
easy to take off objects, 4 instruction cards, and 3 worksheets. In the second cycle,
the intervention consisted of 3 Dimensional models of rooms in a house, 15 things to
be arranged, 3 instruction cards and 3 worksheets.
For the implementation of intervention in the first cycle, the participants need to paste
the correct object at the right location based on the instruction cards given. The
objects were scattered around the places so that participants can tidy up the room
to achieve a clean and neat room. The activity was conducted according to stations;
A Bedroom, B- Living Room, C- Bathroom, D- Kitchen so that all of the participants
had the chance to tidy every room in every session. Lastly, there were worksheets
given after each of the session to check participants progress after the hands-on
task that they have done during activity.
In the second cycle, the intervention was upgraded from 2D materials to 3D models,
which resembled a house. The instruction cards were included with pictures, making
them as pictorial instruction cards so that the participants will be able to refer to the
pictures while tidying up the room. This was due to the problem aroused in Cycle 1,
where the participants were lack of vocabularies and had problems in understanding
a few English words in the instruction card. On the other hand, the same worksheets
and procedure in Cycle 1 was implemented in Cycle 2. The activity in the second
cycle also conducted according to stations. However, the stations were reduced to 3
stations as there were only 2 participants involved in the second cycle.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Lewins, Taylor & Gibbs (2005) defined qualitative data analysis as the range of
processes and procedures whereby we move from the qualitative data that have
been collected into some form of explanation, understanding or interpretation of the
people and situations we are investigating. In this research, three types of data such
as document analysis, observation and interview that were collected during the
intervention cycle were analyzed.
Document analysis
For document analysis, the instruments that were used were pre-test and post-test.
Both tests, which consisted of the same questions, were used in order to track
participants progress before and after intervention. The tests were analyzed by
calculating the scores of the participants, converting them into percentages and
examining which part of the questions were quite problematic to each participant.
Observation
For observation, the instruments that were used were observation checklists, which
were filled by observer. They were analyzed by taking account participants interests,
verbal and non-verbal cues, and level of achievement. The observation checklists
acted as evidence that will support the data analysis. As passive observer, the
observer jotted down any changes of behavior down without being biased towards
the participants. Participants interest were analyzed by looking at their participation
throughout the intervention process such through asking questions, responding to
instructions, giving cooperation and others. Besides, verbal and non-verbal cues
were analyzed by looking at participants body posture, facial expression and
behavior.
Interview
For interview data analysis, the interview protocol form that were completed during
interview session were analyzed in order to gain more information about participants
feelings, thoughts and opinion after the intervention process. The interview sections
were divided into three parts, which were, interests of the lesson, understanding of
the lesson and physical appearance of materials. The interviews were conducted
after every session of intervention. During the interview session, the conversation will
be transcribed one-by-one, creating more convincing evidence regarding participants
response towards the intervention process.
Triangulation
In order to support the findings of this research, all of the three types of data obtained
from both pre-test and post-test, observation checklists and interview protocol were
analyzed and compared with each other to create a triangulation of data. For
document analysis, all of the participants had improved their performance and
understanding on prepositions of place after two cycles of intervention. This was
shown through the progress in percentages for their marks in pre-test and post-test.
Next, from the interview analysis, all of the participants gave positive comments
towards the intervention during the final observation. They claimed that the
intervention did helped them to enjoy learning preposition in a fun and joyful way as
well as improve their understanding in preposition of places. As for the observation
conducted during the first and final sessions, all of the participants became more
interested towards the learning session in the final observation after amendments

made to the intervention. They showed improvement in interests in learning session,

behavior, facial expression & attitude, understanding of the lesson as well as the
level of achievement.
All of the three data above supported each other, thus this was how triangulation was
achieved for this research intervention. Thus, it was concluded that using the Room
Model Kit really helped pupils to improve their understanding on prepositions of
places such as in, on, under, in front of and behind.
FINDINGS
This research intends to improve pupils understanding on preposition of places by
using Room Model Kit. From the findings, participants improvement in understanding
preposition of places can be shown through their ability in filling in the blanks with the
correct preposition based on the pictures shown during the post-test. Besides, their
knowledge in preposition was measured through their confidence in putting the right
things at the right places by referring to the instruction cards. The findings also
indicated that the used of visuals and examples during intervention really helped
participants in expanding their new vocabularies as well as assisted them to put the
right things at the right location in a short time. This is based on the past research by
Dorvedic & Sad (2013), which suggested that the most successful method of learning
prepositions is simply the exposure to examples and visual aids. Besides, the fun
learning activity and colourful materials used in every session also develop
participants positive perception/behavior towards English. This is supported by
Paniagua (2015), which claimed most of students tend to participate and enjoy in
hands-on activities, which create fun and learning environment for them. To
conclude, the use of Room Model Kit proved to help participants in understanding
preposition of places. It also helped pupils to learn new vocabularies as well as
increase their interest and positive perception towards English.
RECOMMENDATION
This research was very important to the researcher as well as the participants.
Throughout the intervention process, there were a lot of improvement can be
made, so that this research can benefit more participants, by extending it to
different context and teaching of other subject. First of all, this research
intervention can be implemented to the rural pupils with lower proficiency level,
by making some amendments to the instruction cards, room pictures and models
to suit the context of the pupils. Instead of using room pictures/models that were
unfamiliar for rural pupils, the researcher can use pictures/models, which
portrayed the kampung life situation of pupils in the rural area. Through this
amendment, pupils will feel more secure and comfortable to learn as they had
the previous knowledge regarding the words, and difficulties in understanding
the instruction cards would not happened during the intervention.
Apart from that, this research can also be adapted into teaching and learning of other
language subjects such as Malay language by using the same activity and resources.
For example, the grammar rules used in Malay language, kata sendi quite similar to
grammar rules in English language, which is preposition. If we used sentence such,
kotak itu di bawah meja, the translation version in English would be, the box is
under the table. This showed that the sentence structure of both Malay and English
language is similar and it is not a problem to use the Room Model Kit to teach kata
sendi for Malay language subject.

As the conclusion, this research would be a big help to the researcher in making
them more competent in doing research as well as would assist pupils in with low
proficiency level in order to understand preposition of places. Even though it requires
some effort from the researcher in order to complete this research, but it does give
positive impact to the participants and teachers by changing pupils perception
towards English language as well as giving the teachers ideas in teaching complex
grammatical rules in a creative and meaningful way.

REFERENCES

Cleary, B. (2014). Under, Over, By the Clover : What is Preposition? New York:
Milbrook Press
Dorvedic, M. & Sad, Novi (2013, May). Typical Diffficulties with English
Prepositions.
Goh, L. H. (2012). A practical guide to writing your action research. Selangor Darul
Ehsan, KL: Penerbitan Multimedia Sdn. Bhd.
Lewins, A., Taylor, C. & Gibbs, G.R. (2005). What is qualitative data analysis?
(QDA)? Online QDA. Online at
http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Intro_QDA/what_is_qda.php.
Prashant, M. (2010). Challenges and Problems in Teaching of Grammar. 10 (2),
220. Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). (2005). Data Collection.
Paniagua, F. (2015). Engaging students in class activities through games to increase
participation . Retrieved August 31, 2016, from
https://mix.office.com/watch/1km2worn1j8ty