WEEKLY JOURNAL

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WEEK : 7

DATE : 25TH OCTOBER 2020 – 29TH OCTOBER 2020

TITLE : LACK OF CONFIDENCE AMONG PUPILS IN SPEAKING ENGLISH

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1. PROBLEM / ISSUE
On the seventh week of practicum on 25 th October to 29th October 2020, during my
Language Arts class with 5 As-Siddiq on 25th October 2020, I learnt that these pupils have
lack of confidence in speaking English and performing in front of the class. When, the pupils
were asked to practice reciting or singing the poem with their group members, most of them
were shy and did not want to be the first to start, hence, I needed to help them get started by
reciting the poem first for them. Besides, when it was for their performance, each group had
to perform in front of the class, a few of the groups were shy and only recited the poem.
Although it was okay to just recite the poems, however, their voice was really low and not all
of their classmates were able to listen to the recitation well.

2. ANALYSIS
From my point of view, the cause of this problem was due to my lack of knowledge and
experiences in guiding and encouraging these pupils. During the lesson on 25th October
2020, during the presentation stage, I did guide the pupils on the pronunciation and changed
the poem into a song. However, I did not check the pupils’ pronunciation and just gave them
the freedom to change the poem into any song they like. This may be good for the advance
pupils, however, for the weak and average pupils, they found this task to be difficult. One of
the groups consisted only of weak and average pupils found this task really difficult as they
did not know how to change the poem into songs and also had problems with their
pronunciation. I needed to guide the personally. Furthermore, during that lesson, I did not
encourage the pupils that it was okay to make mistakes on their pronunciation, therefore,
they became shy and afraid.

3. PAST RESEARCH (LITERATURE REVIEW) TOWARDS ISSUE

Most pupils and students across Malaysia were unable or unwilling to speak in English
[ CITATION Haz17 \l 17417 ]. This is due to their lack of confidence in their answer or in
 speaking English. The cause of this problems is due to the lack of engaging activities in the
teaching and session as well as lack of teacher’s encouragement in motivating these pupils
to speak up even if they are wrong [ CITATION Haz17 \l 17417 ]. As teachers, they need to
reinforce any of the pupils’ attempt in speaking English [ CITATION ELT19 \l 17417 ].
Reinforcement such as praise them or give rewards when they tried to speak in English. If
the pupils make mistakes, still praise them for trying. Hence, it would encourage the pupils
to be more confident in speaking English.

4. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS

In order to overcome this issue, there are some ways and course of actions that can be
taken.
i. Ask the pupils to recite the poem on their own first and fix their pronunciation.
ii. Help the weak group by giving them a melody to use and guide them how to sing the
whole song first.

5. PERIOD OF TIME TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE

4 days.

6. FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS
The actions that I would take to solve this issue is by during the presentation stage, I would
ask the pupils to recite the poem together on their own first and I would try to fix their
pronunciation if there were mistakes. Besides, I would also help the weak and average
group during the practice stage by giving them a melody to use and guide them to sing the
whole poem using the melody. I would only guide the until anyone of the group members
understand and then, let them practice on their own as a group.

7. DATE OF FOLLOW-UP ACTION BEING DONE

1st November 2020.

8. EFFECTIVENESS OF SUGGESTED STEPS FOR IMPROVEMENTS

I discovered that helping the pupils with their pronunciation during the presentation stage
helped them to perform and practice the song better. As they were advanced pupils in the
class, they could help to fix their group members’ pronunciation during the practice stage as
they remembered the teacher’s pronunciation during the presentation stage. Although, I still
 WEEKLY JOURNAL
needed to guide the group with no advance pupils, the other group seemed to face no
difficulties. As they were confident with their pronunciation and with their group, their voices
also got louder. Besides, for the group with only weak and average pupils, my personal
guidance managed to help them built up their confidence a little bit. They knew what to do
and what to practice, hence, their performance was a bit better than before.

9. CONCLUSION / REFLECTION (EFFECTS OF ACTION AND OBSTRUCTIONS)

In conclusion, teachers need to take responsibility in developing the pupils’ confidence in
speaking English as English is crucial throughout their whole education. Pupils need to be
brave in using English as it is not only used for their education but for their communication
as well since English is a second language in Malaysia that is widely used by a majority of
Malaysian.

REFERENCES

ELTT Guide. (2019, April 18). Six Tips To Encourage Students To Speak Out In English.
Retrieved from https://elttguide.com/six-tips-to-encourage-students-to-speak-out-in-
english/

Hazlina Aziz. (2017, August 2). Getting Students to Speak Up. New Straits Times.

Prepared by:

Checked by: _____________________

Name : NURUL SYAFIQAH BINTI
CHE RANI
Date :
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(AZMAN BIN MOHAMED NOR)