Common Mistakes in Primary Year 6 English as Second Language (ESL) Pupils’ Sentence Construction Using Word-Phrase-Sentence (WPS) Pyramid Strategy

Cherryl Chandat Anak John Linggir,Hamidah Yamat

doi:10.6007/ijarbss/v10-i2/6960

Abstract

Writing has been one of the difficult learning skills to be learnt in the English as Second Language (ESL) classrooms in Malaysia. Pupils in the sub-urban or rural areas tend to make some major mistakes in sentence construction due to the lack of exposure towards English Language as well as lack of interest and motivation in learning the language. This paper aimed to discuss on the common mistakes made by the ESL learners in their English Language writing specifically on their sentence construction. Pre and post-tests had been given to the participants of Primary 6 ESL pupils in one of the primary schools in Saratok, Sarawak. The pre and post tests were given before and after the teaching of sentence construction using Word-Phrase-Sentence (WPS) Pyramid strategy. The research had unveiled that the WPS Pyramid strategy had helped the pupils to improve their sentence construction ability in the ESL writing. The research is suggested to assist English Language teachers, ESL students and teacher trainees in the learning and teaching of English Language.

Highlights

In accordance to the Curriculum Content of the English Language teaching and learning, Level 2 pupils (Year 4 - Year 6) are expected to write their ideas clearly in writing and with the teacher’s guidance, it enables the pupils to develop themselves in becoming independent writers (KPM, 2015)
This study introduces a writing strategy called Word-Phrase-Sentence (WPS) Pyramid to cater the needs of the Primary Year 6 English as Second Language (ESL) learners in one of the sub-urban schools in Saratok, Sarawak to construct better sentences due to their writing difficulties mentioned above
The findings on the common mistakes made by the pupils’ in their sentence construction had been simplified in the tables below: Table 4.0 Common Mistakes in pre-writing task

Summary

Introduction

In accordance to the Curriculum Content of the English Language teaching and learning, Level 2 pupils (Year 4 - Year 6) are expected to write their ideas clearly in writing and with the teacher’s guidance, it enables the pupils to develop themselves in becoming independent writers (KPM, 2015). Teachers teaching the English Language have to come out with suitable writing strategy which caters to the pupils need in improving their writing skill and captures their interest and motivation in learning the language. English Language in Malaysia has been made as one of the compulsory subjects to be learnt in all education levels especially in primary and secondary schools. In primary school levels, the pupils are required to learn the language for 6 years, starting from Year 1 to Year 6, with the pupils aged 7 years old to 12 years old. As English is learnt as the second language in the country, it has made the language as the second most important and commonly used language among big number of Malaysians

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