1.

6 scope of the study

1. conducted my research at abune basilios primary school because of the constraints of time and
other resources. My study confined on the problem of writing skills of the 2009 E.C grade 5 th section
“D’ and “E’ student’s particularly English period. in grade 5 there are five sections and I selected only
sectionD and E for my study. So, my study involves only grade 5 section D and E female and male
students.

1.7. limitation of the study

The researcher faced the following problems while conducting the research

 There was shortage of references

 Time constraints
 Getting information was limited due to interviewees unwillingness

So, these might have a negative impact for the quality of my study but they did not prevent me to
come to the end.

1.8. definitions of technical terms

 Effective teaching: - is defined as the use of instruction which causes a desired change in
the learner’s behavior.
 Evaluation: - it is related with the activities that the students perform during the teaching
learning process.
 Low achiever: - it refers that the students who were selected by the researchers to help
weak students to improve their reading skill.
 Problem of writing: - it refers to students who did not write a sentence and a poaragraph
properly.
 Pupils: - it means students.
 Techniques of writing: - they are the means of writing that enable the students to write a
sentence and a paragraph.

Chapter two
2. action research methodologies
You know that methodology means a system of gathering information concerning the problem that
faced using different techniques.

It also contains sampling procedures instruments of data collection data analysis and the like.

2.1. research design

The type of the research design is descriptive since it tries to improve or show the
techniques of writing skill. The data was collected through both design i.e. qualitative and
quantitative approach because of the study was described through words and numbers. This
helps the researcher to get reliable accurate and tangible information. The research was
conducted using practical method because
The research is applied and it involves measurement, analysis, comparison and implement to draw
conclusion from the data discovered.

2.2. subject of the study (participants)

Even though the existence of poor writing skill ability was the problem of almost all students at
Abune Basilios primary school, this research has been conducted on grade five section “D’ and “E’
students.

2.3. sampling procedures

The purposive sample consisted of 20 grade five students of Abune Basilios primary school. There
were eight male students and twelve female students. this sample was ethnically homogeneous
because all students were from similar families. None of them were from English speaking family
backgrounds. Almost all the students of the sample were from poor families. However, the time
duration for this study was three months. Therefore, I had to do supportive teaching for intervention
during the Saturdays because this set of students had no free time during the weekdays. So I got
permission from the principal of the school and parents were informed about the project at a class
circle.

2.4. data gathering instruments

The main focus of the study was to identify the weakness of the students in reading in English
language and make them active participants in the class room. After subjects and samples of the
study were identified the researcher used three instruments of data collection. This are observation
diagnostic test and unstructured interview.

To find out the problems of the students in reading English language the following tools were used.

2.4.1 observation: - this instrument was mainly and intentionally selected as it was appropriately to
identify the student’s day today interaction in writing English in the classroom. My objective was to
find out how grade five students participate and what must be done to minimize their problems in
writing. Due to this I tried to observe the students continuously. For example, I observed how many
students were volunteer to participate in tutorial class and improve their writing skills.

2.4.2 diagnostic test this is the second method that I used to gather information about the students
writing skills

2.4.3 unstructured interview:- this is also another method of data collecting instrument that I used to
collect information about the students writing difficulties.

CHAPTER THREE
3.implementation of research and data analysis
3.1 presentation and analysis of data
The data gathered from students by questionary is analyzed and interpreted the data
collected through questioner were sorted out and organized quantitatively. The presented
data were generalized on the basis of numerical value and calculated in percent.
3.2 implementation of the action research
I could implement the process of work of this research by means of two steps; a diagnostic
test and final test.
Phase one (the diagnostic test)
The diagnostic test was held on the 30 of February 2017. This test was constructed for
evaluating students writing spelling pronouns the simple present and the simple past tense.
There were tewelve types of questions and the questions were based on creative writing.
(refer the appendix). That day itself I asked them to complete the questionery given in the
mother tongue anonymously. As the distribution of marks according to class intervals shows.
Elven students of the sample have scored below fifty marks. Eventhough nine students of
the samole have scored over fifty marks, they have done a number of mistakes in writing
about persons and places.
However their mistakes were analysed under the following sections.
 Difficulty in understanding instructions
 Writing numerical figures in words
 Correct use of articles pronouns and prepositions
 Use of verbs in the simple present tense
 Formation of “WH” questions
 Use of capitalization and punctuation
 Subject verb agreement
I thought it would be better to select a limited number of mistakes to be remedied by
intervention. I should select the ones related to writing about a person and a place/thing
therefore I decided to plan my lessons to promote their existing level in order to achieve the
objectives therefore I used the following techniques to solve these problems. Techniques for
improving writing skills.

1. Controlled writing
It is the step at which the teacher controls almost all word phrases and sentences. The
students are not allowed other than what the teacher directs them.
E.g. Direction; use only simple present tense to complete the blank space.
1. kebede …………………………. every day(drink)
2.kebede……………………………...every day (read)
3. kebede………………………………. every day (dance)
4. kebede ………………………………. every day(shout)
Only with words given in bracket they have only one option or choice. The words are
controlled.
2. Guided writing
Now there is a shift in the balance of control. During this stage observing the progress of his/
her students, the teacher moves from the role of complete control to the role of giving
guidance.
E.g write five sentences using “there is ……………structure”
Thus, the students are expected to use the structure, but they have the opportunity to write
words and phrases of their own choice.

3.free (communicative activities)

This is the stage at which the students are in control of what they write and the
way organizes their writing.
E.g., write a paragraph about your families
4. scrambled sentences
Scrambled sentences are disordered sentences that a teacher writes to make his students
reorder in arranging full way.
e.g., Direction: the words in the following sentences are put in the wrong ordered. Put them
in their correct order and write meaningful sentences.
1. the /ball/plays/merry/with
2. English/does not/merry/to/practice/like
5. correcting sentences
The students change the sentences to make sense using items from the list that follows.
E.g. I go to school by a plane.
 I go to school on foot.
6. write and rubout
Write short sentences on the blank board. Give pupils short time to look at it and then rub it
out. e.g. think twice before you speak once.
7. grouping words
Write the names of several different types of things in the blackboard in a jumbled order.
e.g. Direction; group the following words according to their nature
8. parallel writing
The teacher can ask his/her students to do some parallel writing on a personal level. Give
your students a model text to read and then ask them to write parallel
e.g. my name is Alemu Samuel.
I am a grade 5 student
I live with my family
Students can write their own paragraph using this clue.
9. writing paragraph from questions
The teacher designs questions that guide the students to produce a paragraph
e.g., Direction; write a paragraph based on the questions given below.
1.what is your name?
2.how old, are you?
3. where do you live?
4. how long have you lived here?
5. with whom do you live here?
6.what can you tell us about your family?
7. what do you like to do after class?
8. what is your future plan?
Here the students answer these questions respectively and organize them to write a
paragraph.
10. using tables
Tables are one of the most important techniques to practice writing in the school.
e.g. write five sentences using the information given in the table.

A sun give Egg

An plants gives meat
the OX Fruits
Hen milk
sheep light
The students are going to form appropriate sentences using the table.
11. modeling
The teacher gives students a model paragraph and orders them to write their own
paragraph based on the model.
e.g., A good English Teacher
A good English teacher always teaches the students. He/She always works cooperatively
with different students to give a good knowledge and skill. In addition to this a good English
teacher uses different teaching learning methods and uses time properly. For example, first
period uses jigsaw group and other uses crossover discussion. Generally, these good teacher
Has a relation with the students and gives good advice and controls the student’s behavior
and actions. A good English teacher fulfils this idea and teaching learning process.
I used these mechanisms to improve the sample students writing skills by using the
weekends especially Saturday. After using these mechanisms, I prepared a final test for them
and gave them to do it.
3.3 evaluate of the action
After applied this appropriate mechanism in all students of the samples based on the
proposed action, the researcher evaluated the progress of students in English lessons
through giving test and her got a good improvement.
3.4 conclusions
Based on the findings the following conclusions were drawn. As the researcher interpreted
the data the mechanisms that the researcher used to improve the students writing skills
were the above eleven methods that the researcher used. So English teachers as well as
other related subject teachers can use these kinds of methods and help their students.
These mechanisms have helped:
 Students in preparing themselves for tests quizzes and exams
 Students in assessing themselves on how much they understanding the topic
that they have written and they are going to write.
 This mechanism also will help student to read different reference materials due
to the fact that some questions need further reading.
Actually, most of the students did not read other supplementary materials to increase or
enhance their writing skills. However, these mechanisms helped them to read other
supplementary materials although the researcher was tired more and more to create
awareness to the students.
Generally using the mechanisms, the researcher got high satisfaction about his students for
increased or improved his students than the former.
3.5 recommendations
Since the students used the appropriate mechanisms that the researcher took on English
instructions in implementing the outcomes of the researcher showed better improvement
on their performance than the former. Thus, the researcher will recommend for English and
other related area (Amharic) teachers to give tutorial class advise the students to learn in a
student- teacher, encourage the students to help weak students in writing discuss with
students’ parents to reduce parental related problems. Tell the appropriate studying skills
and writing techniques etc., to improve or enhance the level of student’s performance on
the skill of writing.