THE USE OF SONGS FOR WEAK PUPILS OF

YEAR 5 IN A RURAL SCHOOL OF SEKOLAH

KEBANGSAAN BATU, KULIM BANDAR BAHARU
DISTRICT TO HELP MEMORISE THE USE OF IS
AND ARE FOR SINGULAR AND PLURAL
SUBJECT IN SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

 Grammar is one of the difficult aspects of a foreign

language to master
For primary school pupils in rural area especially face
difficulty to memorise and understand grammar.
Focusing on Subject-Verb Agreement, an important
aspect is learning to identify the subjects in sentences.

 Pupils were still confused with the use of is and are in

subject-verb agreement for simple present tense.
The girls (is/are) playing with their dolls, most of the
pupils chose to answer is.
The men (is/are) working in the office., most of the
pupils chose to answer is too.

For primary students, the best songs would be those that are
either familiar to the children or those, though maybe not
familiar, which have an international nature, such as Old
MacDonald

As stated by Lo and Fai Li (1998:8), learning English

through songs also provides a non-threatening atmosphere
for students, who usually are tense when speaking English
in a formal classroom setting.

This research aims to :

i. Use song for weak pupils of 5
Seroja to help them memorise the
use of is and are for singular
and plural subjects in the simple
present tense

The research question is:

i. How can the use of songs help the
weak pupils of 5 Seroja to help them
memorise the use of is and are
for singular and plural subjects in
the simple present tense

 The target group comprised of six pupils from 5

Seroja (a pseudonym) class in a rural school
located in Kulim Bandar Baru District
From the result of the pre-intervention, there
were six pupils who scored the lowest marks

THE ACTION
PLAN
THE PICTURES

 the use of song for weak pupils of year 5 Seroja

helped the pupils to memorise the use of is
and are.
I had answered my RQ because the percentage
showed improvement from the pre- and post
Intervention result.
The questionnaires showed that the pupils
showed more interests in learning and retaining
memories on the use of is and are.

 Pupils showed positive improvement compared to

before intervention and the research carried out.
They could memorise list of singular subjects such as
he, she, Abu, the girl or the lady.
They could also memorise the list of plural subjects
such as we, they, Ali and Abu, the ladies, the firemen
and the boys.
They could even match the list of subjects to their
correct verb-to-be of is and are.

Grammar
items

DA

Pupils

Number of
Correct
Answers from
Workbooks

Number of
Correct
Answers from
Exercise Book

3/5

1/2

3/5

1/2

2/5

0/2

3/5

1/2

2/5

0/2

2/5

0/2
DG

Pupils

Number of
Correct
Answers

Percentage of
Correct
Answers

3/10

30 %

3/10

30 %

2/10

20 %

3/10

30 %

4/10

40 %

4/10

20 %

PARTICIPANT

SCORE (%)

DIFFERENCE
(%)

PREINTERVENTION

POSTINTERVENTION

3/10

30%

10/10

100%

70%

3/10

30%

10/10

100%

70%

2/10

20%

8/10

80%

60%

3/10

30%

8/10

80%

50%

4/10

40%

9/10

90%

50%

4/10

40%

10/10

100%

60%

Pupils

Number of
Correct
Answers

Percentage of
Correct
Answers

8/10

30 %

8/10

30 %

7/10

20 %

9/10

30 %

10/10

40 %

10/10

20 %

Item

Agree

Percenta
ge
%

Disagree

Percenta
ge
%

6/6

100 %

0/6

0%

6/6

100 %

0/6

0%

6/6

100 %

0/6

0%

6/6

100 %

0/6

0%

6/6

100 %

0/6

0%