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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 208 ( 2015 ) 111 – 121
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
1877-0428 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of The English Language Studies Section School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia
doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.187
3rd International Conference on Linguistics, Literature and Culture (ICLLIC 2014)
The Use of Consciousness-Raising Techniques in Teaching the Verb
‘be’ to Students of Vocational Colleges
Sirhajwan Ideka, Lee Lai Fongb
aUniversiti Teknologi Mara, Section 7 Campus, Shah Alam, Malaysia
bUniversiti Teknologi Mara, Section 7 Campus, Shah Alam, Malaysia
Abstract
This study evaluates the applicability of three consciousness-raising (CR) tasks involving three techniques of CR
(identifying, classifying, and hypothesis-building/checking) in teaching the verb ‘be’ to students at a particular
vocational college. The study was conducted with three discrete classes of 27 students from two different courses:
construction technology (Group 1), electric technology (Group 2) and cosmetology (Group 3). Each group
performed a series of CR tasks with different techniques: CR identification tasks, CR classifying tasks and CR
hypothesis-building/checking tasks. Pre-tests and post-tests were carried out, with interviews and questionnaires
also administered. The findings indicate that all three techniques of CR helped learners to perform better on the
post-tests. The students credited the CR tasks with improving their knowledge of the verb ‘be’. The hypothesis-
building technique is suggested to be more effective than the two other techniques due to the higher task demand
and more complex skill level.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of The English Language Studies Section School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Keywords: Consciousness-raising; Presentation-Practice-Production; identifying; classifying; hypothesis-building/checking
1. Introduction
Transformation of vocational education is one of the fundamental aspects of educational blueprint 2013-25 where
Vocational Secondary Schools are transformed into vocational colleges. The new vocational programme comprises
70% practical skills in vocational areas and 30% general academic education. as well as practicum placement in
industries as stated in Malaysia Blueprint of Education 2013-25 (Ministry of Education, 2012). According to
Ahmad Tajudin Jab, the ministry’s technical and vocational education division director, the goal of vocational
colleges is to produce a capable and competent workforce to meet the need for employers (Aisyah, 2013).
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of The English Language Studies Section School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia
112 Sirhajwan Idek and Lee Lai Fong / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 208 ( 2015 ) 111 – 121
Therefore, such major changes require students to attain a better English proficiency to be more employable and
marketable in industry. With this new direction in education, together with the introduction of new English
curriculum, ongoing assessment and semester-based exams, teachers in vocational colleges need to prepare and
familiarize students with practical skills and useful knowledge of the English language including grammar, an
elemental aspect of English. Their approach may need to depart from the conventional method to fulfil students’
needs for competency in their study areas.
The conventional language lessons, the PPP model (Presentation-Practice-Production), focused more on the
meaningful practice of language in communication over grammar (Richard, 2006). However, learners often perform
activities without gaining a clear understanding of the form-meaning relationship (Crivos & Luchini, 2012). This can
result in students’ lack of competence in applying grammar correctly in their language.
Batstone (1994) proposed that consciousness-raising (CR) can address this problem by developing learners’
awareness of the target form. Ellis and Gaies (1998, p. 56) describes consciousness-raising as not demanding
learners “to verbalize the rules he has learnt” but instead make them aware of a particular linguistic feature.
Rutherford (1987, p. 104) asserts that the defining feature of CR is “the drawing of the learner's attention to features
of the target language”. Richard and Schmidt (2002, p. 109) sum up the description of CR as “an approach to the
teaching of grammar in which instruction in grammar (through drills, grammar explanation and other form-focused
activities) is viewed as a way of raising the learner’s awareness of grammatical features of the language.
1.1. Problem Statement
Malaysian graduates and employees in vocational fields generally have poor English proficiency, despite having
the technical skills pertinent to their areas of expertise. In a survey of 14 Malaysian industry sectors, 80% of
employers stated that employees should master English language due to its significance (Prestariang Systems, 2011).
However, Malaysian employers considered only 20% of Malaysian graduates were proficient enough to use English
in the workplace. Studies on employability of Malaysian graduates revealed that English proficiency is essential for
the workplace (Phang, 2006; Kenji, 2006; Siti Hanim Stapa, Masum, Norizan, Mustafa, Darus, 2008; Isarji Sarudin,
Ainol Madziah Zubairi, Mohamad Sahari Nordin, & Mohamad Azmi Omar, 2008; Surina Nayan, 2010; Mohd
Zasfirul Zainal Abidin, 2010). A study was conducted on 123 employers from various industries (financial services,
manufacturing and industrial, telecommunications, technology and media industry sectors) through a seminar,
interviews, and questionnaires to investigate the industries’ perceptions of the English language. It was discovered
that English is considered the most important language, so it is continuously assessed in some industries to ensure
that employees meet the standards (Sarudin et al, 2011). Siti Noor Fazelah (2008) conducted a research of
employers in hotel and catering industries on vocational graduates of polytechnic college that revealed that
employers expected graduates to be able to apply the four language skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking
in English, especially when dealing with customers. Sanmugam, Rajanthran and Nurul Wahida (2012) carried out a
study on graduates of engineering courses, finding that employers criticize the skill gap between expected English
proficiency by industries and the graduates’ actual competence.
Isarji Sarudin, Amal, Zainab, Engku Haliza, Ainon Jariah and Faridah (2013) conducted a study on Malaysian
employers’ perception of English language needs; 83% rated English proficiency ss either equally important or
more important than their specific technical, vocational and academic competence. Mustapha (1999) conducted
empirical research on 120 Malaysian employers from manufacturing industries, finding that employers generally
have lower level of satisfaction with the communication skills of vocational graduates. Likewise, the main findings
obtained from responses of 211 employers and 257 working graduates in the Klang Valley of Malaysia indicated
that poor English proficiency is one of the main factors that hinder most graduates from having better career
prospects (Gurcharan Singh & Garib Singh, 2008). In fact, the Human Resources Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Wira
Dr Fong Chan Onn asserted how poor English proficiency had caused 30,000 Malaysian graduates to be
underemployed despite their degrees (“30,000 grads in unsuitable jobs”, 2005).
Thus, this research is crucial to address learners’ poor proficiency in English, especially when the main goal of
vocational colleges is to produce graduates who are highly marketable. Since students’ inability to attain desirable
English proficiency continues to persist across all learning institutions (Sahirah & Zaidah, 2004; Maros, et al.,
2007; Siti Hamin & Mohd Mustafa, 2010), it is vital for this issue to be resolved in vocational colleges. English
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language remains an important skill that most employers and industries demand graduates to excell at to be fully
competent in the workplace. Since grammar constitutes as a pivotal element of the English language, this research
focuses in finding better ways of teaching English grammar to students of vocational colleges, as one of the main
measures to overcome students’ lack of mastery of English.
1.2. Consciousness-raising
In Malaysia, the introduction of communicative syllabus and PPP has resulted in producing students with poor
mastery of grammar since the focus is on fluency at the expense of accuracy (Wee, 2009; Abdul Rashid, Goh &
Wan, 2004; Subramanian & Khan, 2013). Fawzi Al Ghazali (2006) points out that PPP overemphasizes the mastery
of correct production of a target form to the detriment of actual learning. Hence, it is crucial to explore whether CR
is effective in promoting better grammar learning, to the extent that learners are able to develop adequate
understanding and retain knowledge of how the particular target form works. As Ellis (2002, p. 169) describes,
“the aim of consciousness-raising is not to enable the learner to perform a structure correctly but simply to
help him/her to know about it”. Therefore, several prominent characteristics of CR should be highlighted in
designing and implementing CR to ensure that this goal is fulfilled (Ellis, 2003, p. 163).
1. There should be an effort to isolate a specific linguistic feature for focused attention.
2. The learners are provided with data which illustrate the targeted feature and an explicit rule description or
explanation.
3. The learners are expected to utilize intellectual effort to understand the targeted feature.
4. Misunderstanding or incomplete understanding of the grammatical structure by the learners leads to
clarification in the form of further data and description or explanation.
5. Learners are required to articulate the rule describing the grammatical feature.
1.3 The Verb ‘be’ and Malaysian ESL Learners
The verb ‘be’ is one of the elemental and earlier phases of subject-verb agreement. It is also one of the most
challenging structures in the English language to acquire (Azar & Hagen, 2006). Arshad and Hawanum (2010) state
that Malaysian students have difficulty mastering the verb ‘be’ since it can be very ambiguous in terms of meaning.
The verb ‘be’ encompasses various functions which include copula ‘be’, progressive auxiliary and passive forms.
Saadiyah and Subramaniam (2009) argue that the interference from learners’ first language in which the auxiliary
‘be’ is absent hinders students from fully learning it. Jishvithaa, Tabitha, Kalajahi (2013) attribute students’
incorrect use of the auxiliary ‘be’ to lack of understanding, whereas Surina and Kamaruzaman (2009) cite confusion
based on varied uses of the verb ‘be’ as the cause of their inability to use the form accurately. Therefore, it is
important to identify what technique of grammar teaching can be used to assist learners to effectively learn the verb
‘be’ effectively and to use it correctly.
Maros et al. (2007) investigated 120 students from a rural Malay secondary school to identify their most common
grammatical errors in English essay writing, discovering that the copula ‘be’ is one of the three major mistakes
students make in writing essays. Saadiyah and Subramanian (2009) examined errors in 72 essays written by 72
students; their findings indicated that students were likely to commit errors using the auxiliary ‘be’ in their writing.
Farhanaz (2007) studied written essays and syntax tasks completed by 160 students from a higher learning
institution in Malaysia, finding that the level of proficiency affects students’ acquisition of the verb ‘be’ in which
students of better proficiency produce more correct form of the verb ‘be’ in comparison with those whose
proficiency is lower. The study also revealed that errors in using the verb ‘be’ committed by ESL learners, usually
including addition, inflection, marker, omission, plurality/singularity, repetition, substitution, tense and word order.
Research by Jishvithaa et al. (2013) also revealed that overuse, tense shift and subject-verb agreement are the major
grammatical rules that affect Malaysian ESL learners’ use of the verb ‘be’.
114 Sirhajwan Idek and Lee Lai Fong / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 208 ( 2015 ) 111 – 121
2. Literature Review
There are seven techniques of CR: identification, classification, hypothesis building/checking, cross-language
exploration, reconstruction/deconstruction, recall and reference training (Willis & Willis, 2007). Identification
requires learners to search a set of data to discover a pattern of usage. Classification is a technique in which learners
need to categorize a set of data according to similarities and differences. Hypothesis building/checking is where
learners form a generalization about a target form or check a generalization against language data. Cross-language
exploration requires learners to look for similarities and differences between patterns in their language and the
English language. The fifth technique is ‘recall’ where learners are instructed to reconstruct elements of a text to
highlight significant features of the text. The last technique is reference training in which learners are encouraged to
use reference resources during discovery activities, such as dictionaries, grammar references, or study guides.
Crivos and Luchini (2012) incorporated three of these techniques (identifying/consolidating, hypothesis
building/checking, and reconstruction/deconstruction) in their research,h wit results indicating positive impacts on
learners’ mastery of grammatical rules. Moradkhan and Sohrabian (2009) also applied recalling technique in
communicative CR tasks that resulted in better performance by learners in learning grammar. The method of
teaching was through the deductive approach, where the teacher presented the rules to the learners at the beginning
of the lesson. Suter (2001) carried out three CR tasks involving cross-language exploration that required learners to
compare texts in three languages (French, German and English) for to learn the word order for each language.
2.1 Identification Technique
In performing CR tasks, one of the techniques recommended for learners is to identify and underline the target
form (Bankier, 2010). Svalberg (2013) suggests that students highlight a particular grammar feature to train them to
notice relevant forms in the language. A well-renowned task designed by Ellis (2002) focuses on identifying simple
past tense, where the text also contains adjectives with “ed” and past participle; identification is the first technique
the learners executed in a series of CR activities.
2.2 Classification Technique
Arshad and Hawanum (2010) propose the importance for students to distinguish the various uses of a particular
grammatical structure to express different meanings through comparison and contrast. Fotos and Ellis (1991)
applied classification technique of identifying grammatical and ungrammatical sentences on Japanese college
students of Language majors and Business Administration majors and the results suggested learners were able to
acquire better understanding on ‘dative alternation’ .
2.3 Hypothesis Building/Checking Technique
Hendricks (2010) conducted CR activities on a group of student-teachers by integrating hypothesis-
building/checking technique into the tasks. A list of 14 sentences with correct and incorrect prepositions was
presented to the subjects who had to identify the errors and correct them. The findings implied that the subjects
managed to understand the rules better. Wan Nurul Elia (2009) discovered that weak students were able to improve
their accuracy withusing article and singular/plural nouns through their analysis of errors. Thus, in this study, two
research questions were constructed in order to identify the feasibility of CR tasks. The research questions were as
follows:
1) Are the techniques of CR effective in improving learners’ knowledge of the verb ‘be’?
2) Which CR technique is most effective in enhancing students’ knowledge of the verb ‘be’?
3) What are the learners’ perception on CR techniques in helping them to learn the verb ‘be’?
4) How do CR techniques assist learners’ learning of the verb ‘be’?
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3. Methodology
The methodology was conducted with mixed-methods research design, with the combination of qualitative and
quantitative study of tests, questionnaire and interviews.
3.1 Sampling
The subject comprised three discrete classes of 18 ESL learners whose age was 17 years old from Keningau
Vocational College. They were sophomore year students of construction technology course, electric technology
course and cosmetology course. Their English level was intermediate as the results of their English subject exams in
the previous standardized examination in their former schools ranged from grade B to grade D with most of them
obtained grade C. They came from various areas in interior region of Sabah, Malaysia in which exposure to English
was very minimal.
3.2 Instruments
The research instruments comprised of pre-test and post-test which contained 20 fill-in-the-blanks questions on
the verb ‘be’, a 5 Likert-scale questionnaire which consisted of 3 main items which were designed to explore
learners’ opinions on the general effectiveness of the techniques, and a set of interview questions that focused on
eliciting learners’ perception of how the techniques helped them to learn the verb ‘be’.
3.3 Treatments
Three classes of a construction technology course, an electric technology course and a cosmetology course were
labelled as Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3 respectively. Group 1 was assigned with the “‘identify’ CR tasks, Group
2 was given the ‘classify’ CR tasks and Group 3 received the ‘hypothesis-building/checking’ CR tasks. Each
individual received a task card and a task sheet designed specifically for the CR technique that they were assigned
to. In ‘identify’ CR tasks, learners were required to identify the verb ‘be’ in the texts. In ‘classifying’ CR tasks,
learners had to indicate the accuracy of the use of the verb ‘be’ by marking the sentence as wrong if the verb ‘be’ is
incorrectly used and correct if it is accurately used. In ‘hypothesis-building/checking’ CR tasks, learners were asked
to identify errors in the use of the verb ‘be’. Learners were expected to provide rules for the use of the target form in
all tasks.
3.4 Procedures
The research was conducted over five weeks. The pre-test was administered on the first week, followed by two
weeks allocated for the treatment. The post-test was administered during the fourth week. Three students from each
group were randomly selected for interviews during the fifth week; a questionnaire was distributed to the subject
the same week. The three respondents from Group 1 were respectively labelled as Respondent 1, Respondent 2, and
Respondent 3. The three respondents from Group 2 were known as Respondent 4, Respondent 5 and Respondent 6
while Respondent 7, Respondent 8 and Respondent 9 were three students interviewed from Group 3.
3.5 Data Analysis
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to identify whether there are any significant differences between
the means of two or more independent groups (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989). In this study, ANOVA was utilized to
determine any significant differences between the means of gain scores among the three groups, based on the
different treatment they received. The data from the questionnaire was tallied and categorized to obtain students’
general responses on how they perceived the CR tasks as helping them learn the target form. The responses from the
interview were also analysed, coded and analysed according to themes that emerged in relation to how the tasks
improved their learning.
116 Sirhajwan Idek and Lee Lai Fong / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 208 ( 2015 ) 111 – 121
Table 1. The categorization of level of students’ perception on the CR tasks based on the means obtained through
Likert-scale questionnaire
Mean level
Level of agreement
4.50 - 5.00
Strongly agree
3.50 - 4.49
Agree
2.50 - 3.49
Neutral
1.50 - 2.49
Disagree
1.00 - 1.49
Strongly disagree
Source: Atef & Munir, 2009; Shams, 2008
4. Results and Discussions
The results from the tests, questionnaire and interviews were analysed and then used to answer the four research
questions.
4.1 One Way ANOVA
The results from the ANOVA conducted on the pre-test and post-test scores were used to answer the first and
second research questions. The findings from the interview and questionnaire addressed the third research question.
Table 2. Data summary of gain score of pre-test and post-test
Group 1
(Identifying)
Group 2
(Classifying)
Group 3
(Hypothesis-building/checking)
Number of Samples
18
18
18
Mean
19.722
33.778
38.389
Std. Deviation
15.933
21.306
20.394
Total
30.630
Table 3. ANOVA results on effects of treatment
Source
Type III Sum of Squares
df
Mean Square
f
Sig.
Treatments
3403.593
2
1701.796
4.5433
0.0153
Error
19103.000
51
374.569
Total
22506.593
53
In Table 2, the mean for gain scores of Group 1 is 19.722. The mean of gain scores obtained by Group 2 is
33.778 and the mean for gain scores of Group 3 is 38.389. This indicates that Group 3 which performed hypothesis-
building tasks has the highest average gain scores followed by Group 2 which received classifying tasks. Group 1
that performed identifying tasks has the lowest average gain scores. Overall, students’ performance in the post -test
generally improved, imply that all three techniques of CR can assist learners’ increased understanding of the target
form. It can be deduced that hypothesis-building task is the most effective technique in enhancing students’
knowledge of the verb ‘be’ followed by classifying and identifying techniques.
The P value is 0.0153. It is less than 0.05, indicating that there is a statistical significance between the means of
the gain scores obtained by the three groups. This suggests that it is likely that the difference between the means of
gain scores among the three groups was as a result ofthe three treatments (identifying, classifying and hypothesis-
building/checking) performed respectively byeach group. It can be concluded that all three techniques are effective
in promoting learners’ learning of the target form and the effects vary in accordance with what technique is being
used in which hypothesis-building technique is the most effective one.
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4.2 Questionnaire
Table 4.0 shows the learners’ perception on CR tasks. In terms of preference on the CR tasks over other
grammar tasks--Group 1 which performed identification tasks (M=3.72, SD=0.57), Group 2 that received
classification tasks (M = 3.72, SD= 0.75) and Group 3 that was assigned to do hypothesis-building tasks (M=3.72,
SD= 1.02)—all agreed that they generally preferred the CR tasks over other grammar tasks they previously
performed. All three groups also agreed that the CR tasks helped them to learn the verb ‘be’, as Group 1 (M=4.22,
SD=0.55), Group 2 (M = 4.06, SD=0.64), and Group 3 (M = 4.22, SD= 0.73) obtained means within the range of
3.50-4.49 which is considered as ‘agree’. As for the perceptions on the effectiveness of the CR tasks in comparison
with other conventional grammar tasks, they generally agreed that the CR tasks were more effective as indicated by
the means of each group: Group 1 ( M = 4.00, SD = 0.77), Group 2 ( M = 4.28, SD = 0.67), and Group 3 ( M = 3.83,
SD = 1.25).
Table 4. Learners’ perception on the CR tasks
Group
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Perception
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Preference over other
grammar tasks
3.72
0.57
3.72
0.75
3.72
1.02
Helpfulness in
learning the verb
‘be’
4.22
0.55
4.06
0.64
4.22
0.73
Effectiveness over
other grammar tasks
4.00
0.77
4.28
0.67
3.83
1.25
4.3 Interview
The findings from the interview were used to address the third research question of how each technique can assist
learners to learn the verb ‘be’.
4.3.1 Recognizing the accurate features of the verb ‘be’
Findings from the responses provided by the three respondents from Group 1 (identification tasks) suggest that
learners are able to recognize the fundamental characteristics of the verb ‘be’. Respondent 1 stated that “reading and
understanding the text help to learn the verb, for example, if the subject is singular, so ‘is’ is used because it is
singular”. Respondent 2 said that “the verb ‘is’ and ‘was’ were used when the subject is singular, the verb “are” and
‘were’ were used for plural subjects, ‘was’ and ‘were’ were used for past tense”. Respondent 3 claimed that “I read
it and I know because of the sentences, for example, the children are playing badminton, there is more than one
child, there are many of them, so plural form is used”. Normazidah et al. (2012) explain that learners aremore
sensitive and aware of the target form.
4.3.2 Distinguishing the different forms and functions of the verb ‘be’
Findings from the three respondents from Group 2 (classification tasks) indicate that classification technique
assist ESL learners to distinguish the use of each variation of the verb ‘be’. Respondent 4 stated that “if there is ‘s’
in the subjects, it usually indicates plural forms, plural verb ‘are’ should be used, for example, the verb ‘is’ is used
after the subject in the sentence “fluorescent lamp is…” because it is singular while the sentence “the mercury from
the lamp are…”, the verb ‘are’ is wrong because the subject is singular”. Respondent 6 claimed that “by looking at
the subject, we can know whether singular form is used or plural form should be applied, if there is “s” in the
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subject, it is plural, if there is no “s” in the subject, it is singular. For example, the ‘s’ in “many stars” suggests that
the subject ‘stars’ is plural. Respondent 6 also explained that “the sentence is wrong if the subject and the verb do
not match, for instance, in ‘lots of fluorescent lamps is’, the verb ‘is’ is use when it should be the verb ‘are’.” This
implies that classification technique assist learners to distinguish and differentiate the various forms and functions of
the verb ‘be’ (Kolln, 1994) as the learners were able to understand the different features and functions of the verb
particularly through their recognition of their physical features and meanings. ESL Malaysian learners always have
difficulty in distinguishing the use of the verb ‘be’ and other grammatical structures in English ( Arshad &
Hawanum, 2010; Saadiyah & Subramaniam, 2009: Surina & Kamaruzaman, 2009) and classifying grammatical
structures might facilitate them to be aware of the different variations of the target form.
4.3.3 Examining the contextual meaning of language structures containing the verb ‘be’
Respondent 5 said that “I need to look at the rest of the sentences especially the phrase before the verb ‘be’ in
order to identify the subject whether it is singular or plural, examining the sentences in terms of singular and plural
forms, subjects and verbs. If the subject is ‘moons’ and the verb used after it is ‘is’, it is wrong because it is
supposed to be ‘are’. Respondent 4 also added that “if we look at it in terms of past tense form, some of the
sentences refer to the past but present tense verbs were used when they should be in past tense forms”. The
responses denote that learners also examine other aspects of the sentences in order to determine the accuracy of the
verb ‘be’ as proposed by Lorincz and Gordon (2012), Woolard (2000) and Pakhomov (1999) that learners can learn
grammar by establishing logical relationship among words and study the structure in context.
4.3.4 Constructing analytical hypothesis on how the verb ‘be’ is applied
Responses from Group 3 (hypothesis-building/checking) also indicate that the technique promotes effective
learning of the target structure. Respondent 7 stated that “if ‘is’ is for singular form, ‘are’ is for plural form, there is
also past tense, for instance, in sentence “she was going to shopping complex” ( referring to present event), it should
be in present tense, the sentence does not refer to the past, it did not happen yesterday, it has not happened yet, in the
sentence “he is playing football” ( referring to past event), the verb ‘is’ should be ‘was’ because it refers to the past.”
Respondent 7 added that to “read the sentence, understand it and analyse which one is wrong, this helps him to learn
the verb”. Respondent 8 claimed that “in every sentence, there are subject and predicate, subject shows the nature of
the sentence, subject like proper noun determines the predicate where the verb ‘be’ is used”. These responses
suggest that learners are able to construct deep understanding and articulate grammatical rules properly. Students
usually have to make, test and confirm their hypothesis in order to learn a target form (Ta Thanh & Nguyen Thi
Huong, 2013). Learners tend to form wrong hypothesis of how the verb ‘be’ is used by overreliance on other
grammatical rules and being influenced by previously application of a rule (Arshad & Hawanum, 2010). Hence,
hypothesis building/checking will enable learners to actively develop accurate understanding of the actual rules.
4.3.5 Develop familiarity with the grammatical rules of the verb ‘be’
Respondent 9 explained that he was able to learn the target form through familiarity with the rules, “ the verb
‘are’ refers to plural form and in the sentence “ she are the best”, the sentence is not familiar, it sounds weird but
when you replace it with ‘is’, only then it sounds correct”. Schmidt (1990) states that learners’ ability to be more
conscious of how a target structure works is also influenced by how well learners are able to routinize previously
met structures. Routinization is defined as the ability to develop and enact a behavioral repertoire which
provides standard solutions for choice problems (Betsch & Haberstroh, 2005). Thus, the more familiar learners
with the use of the target form, the more they are able to identify and use it correctly.
5. Implication
The techniques involved in the CR tasks: classifying, hypothesis-building/checking, explaining grammatical rules
and errors are consistent with the skills of higher order thinking skills outlined by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001)
in their revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Thus, the incorporation of these processes train
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learners to analyse and evaluate materials. It is crucial to train learners’ higher order thinking skills in any possible
way as Ismail and Hassan (2009) claims that modern English teaching in Malaysia has to equip learners with higher
order thinking skills in order to develop individual cognitive aspect. The main purpose is to prepare students for the
increasing demand of employers for both language skills and thinking skills (Lee Allen & Wern, 2011). In this
study, the grammar tasks require learners not only to identify, classify and build/check hypothesis on the target
structures but also to justify their choice of answers with grammatical explanations based on existing rules. Hence, it
helps learners to develop higher order thinking skills, providing preliminary steps in further incorporating higher
order thinking skills in English teaching.
Since vocational colleges have recently established learning institutions in Malaysia that aim to produce
competent and marketable graduates (Ministry of Education, 2012), new approaches in English education are
necessary, which include new techniques in teaching grammar as a way of equipping vocational students with
adequate grasp of English command, including elemental grammatical knowledge. This can create a foundation for
the development of English for Specific Purpose (ESP) or English for Occupational Purpose (EOP) for vocational
college which is necessary, in fact, inevitable. Pandian & Aniswal (2005) argue that the responsibility lies on
universities and colleges to train graduates to be competent enough in using the English language to enable them to
meet the expectation of employers in their job performance.
In terms of designing grammar tasks, there are many techniques which can be embedded in the tasks in order to
enable learners to practice different skills in learning grammar as proposed by Willis and Willis (2007): identifying,
classifying, hypothesis-building/checking, cross-language exploration, reconstruction/deconstruction, recall and
reference training. As for the text used in grammar tasks, the text can be specifically produced for the purpose of
learning the target form, consisting of sufficient examples of how the target form is used (Bankier, 2010). According
to Rutherford (1987), it is important to organize language input in a controlled and guided manner that allows
learners to make a generalization of how the target form is applied. In these tasks, the texts in each card were
specifically adapted in order to highlight the verb ‘be’, that was the focus of the tasks. Therefore, it is crucial to take
into consideration of the techniques and the texts used in grammar tasks in order to enhance learning opportunity of
a particular grammatical structure.
It is fundamentally imperative for learners to be conscious about grammatical structures in order for them to fully
understand these structures and be able to use them correctly. Schmidt (1990) argues that noticing precedes learning;
before learners can learn anything, first, they have to be aware of what they are learning. Unlike other
grammar tasks, CR tasks demand students to formulate rules explanation for the targeted linguistic features
(Bankier, 2010). Explaining grammatical rules is one of the principles of CR that allow learners to develop explicit
knowledge about the target form (Ellis, 2003). Hence, grammar tasks must be designed in a way that draws learners’
attention to the target forms.
6. Conclusion
The three techniques of CR can be integrated effectively in grammar tasks used in Malaysian ESL lessons including
vocational colleges. The study provides insight on the importance of raising students’ consciousness of grammar by
assuring that they notice linguistic features and develop explicit knowledge of how these grammatical structures are
applied. It also enlightens teachers on how to utilize CR techniques in designing and implementing effective CR
tasks that can promote better grammar learning and enhance learners’ opportunity of being proficient in English.
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