Kajian tindakan edisi ketiga bahagian perancangan dan penyelidikan dasar pendidikan

2.0 
FOCUS OF STUDY 
After having observed them on several occasions, I noticed that the teachers were very self-conscious 
of their English proficiency. They were not comfortable with their pronunciation and their constant fear 
of using the wrong words and inability to speak without referring to their books, affected the effective 
delivery of the lessons. As a result the lessons were made very simple and more time was needed to 
deliver the lesson. On the students’ part, they were quite natural and take to learning science and 
mathematics in English as if it was a natural thing to do. This was made easier for them because they 
were fresh from the primary schools and took to learning these subjects in English as if it was the thing 
they had to do in a secondary school. Thus, the problem was more on the teachers’ inadequacies than 
the students’. Furthermore, the inability of the teachers to converse in English with their pupils had 
adverse effects on the teacher-pupils relationship. There was no attempt to initiate questions and the 
pupils were not given the opportunity to ask questions in English. This was due to the fact that the 
teachers were not confident to explain the topics on their own; instead they followed the words exactly 
from the books. As their ‘critical friend’, I had to find out where they needed help and how best to help 
them. 

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The observations conducted during the teachers’ lessons showed that there was a need to construct a 
rich communicative environment for the teaching and learning of science and mathematics, in which the 
importance of teacher-pupil interaction was emphasized and teacher-pupil conferencing was an 
important instructional component. The project took 10 months to complete, and comprised four cycles 
of action research that were designed in response to the teachers’ immediate needs, as they were 
revealed to me through their group conversations and through their responses to videotapes that I 
showed them of teacher-pupil conferences taking place in their classrooms and elsewhere.