SEMINAR ON REFLECTION OF TEACHING PRACTICE (KPR 3012)

SEMESTER 1 SESSION 2022/2023

AT06 - GROUP E

ASSIGNMENT 3
ACTION RESEARCH REPORT

TITLE:
THE USE OF FAMILIAR TOPICS IN ENHANCING READING COMPREHENSION

AMONG UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ESL CLASSROOMS.

PREPARED BY:
NAME MATRIC NUMBER
MUHAMMAD FADZLI BIN FAIZAL D20191088008

COURSE LECTURER:
DR. KHAZAILA BINTI ZAINI
 TABLE OF CONTENT

1.0 Introduction 1

2.0 The Issue 1

3.0 Research Objectives and Research Questions 2

4.0 Literature Review 2-4

5.0 Research Instrument and Data Analysis 4-5

5.1 Samples 4

5.2 Research Instruments 4-5

5.3 Data Collection Procedures 5

5.4 Data Analysis Procedures 5

6.0 Research Findings 5-10

6.1 Findings from the Lesson Plan 5-10

7.0 Discussion And Conclusion 11-12

7.1 Discussion 11

7.2 Conclusion 12

8.0 References 13-14

Appendices
 ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to investigate the use of familiar topics in enhancing reading
comprehension among upper secondary school students. The reason behind this study is to
explore further the use of a familiar topic that has been confusing have benefits to the
students. This study shows that familiar topics play a major role in enhancing students’
reading skills among the students have a great impact on the lesson.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The researcher will analyse the use of familiar topics in enhancing reading comprehension
skills because the researcher found out the teaching and learning session are easier to capture
the students’ interest when the researcher uses the familiar topic during the lesson. Students
tend to be more understanding of the vocabulary and terms based on the topic that they
already learned from the previous lesson. The students are able to answer more questions
based on the familiar topic that has been discussed during the lesson. The targeted students
involved 23 Form 4 students. The lesson was conducted in 4 Stem Biology class.

2.0 THE ISSUE

The students that the researcher taught are having difficulty understanding the topic as the
researcher needs to explain it to them several times. When the researcher chooses an
unfamiliar topic for them to read during the class, most of the researcher’s students asked him
a lot of questions based on the reading text that they have read. They do not understand many
terms and words if the topic that the researcher chose is not based on their knowledge. They
cannot share their knowledge about the topic when the researcher asked some of them about
the text because they do not know about the unfamiliar topic given. The opinion that they
gave about the topic is also irrelevant because they cannot interpret the ideas because of the
lack of knowledge they have. They will become uninterested in the topic and lose focus
during the session. The study was conducted to investigate the use of familiar topics in
improving students’ understanding of reading comprehension among form 4 students in an
ESL classroom. Students do not have a vast knowledge of a certain topic which makes
teaching and learning sessions more difficult for the researcher.

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3.0 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Research Objectives:
i. This study aims to investigate the use of familiar topics in enhancing reading
comprehension among upper secondary school students.

Research Questions:
i. How do familiar topics enhance reading comprehension among upper secondary
school students?

4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

The topics from many other studies that are closely relevant to the subject of this study are
discussed in this chapter. It begins by providing a theoretical overview of the use of familiar
topics in enhancing students’ reading comprehension among upper-secondary students.
The early focus is on “The Effect of Topic Familiarity on EFL Reading
Comprehension” by Alaa’ Abdul Imam & Rana Abdul Settar Abid. This study investigates
that text comprehension is a demanding cognitive skill that requires the student to make
meaning from the text by using all the skills at his or her disposal, including prior knowledge
of the subject matter and the text itself. Understanding a text effectively depends on the
reader's ability to recognize words accurately, their understanding of grammar, their ability to
analyze relationships between various textual components, and their past knowledge. It is
also mentioned that based on schema theory, text-only provides listeners or readers on how to
extract or construct meaning from their own previously acquired knowledge, known as the
reader's background knowledge. The previously learned knowledge structures are known as
schemata (Alaa’ Abdul Imam & Rana Abdul Settar Abid, 2011). The inability of readers to
exert control over the level of difficulty in the language contributes to their inability to
activate the proper schema. Its been assumed that readers are unable to make use of
background information because they have not yet achieved what has been termed the
threshold level required for its usage. This threshold level seems necessary for readers to be
able to make use of background knowledge. According to the threshold hypothesis, readers of
a second language (L2) need to know or reach a certain level of knowledge in the target
language before they can effectively use their background knowledge, reading strategies, and
skills from their first language (L1) to help them comprehend the text. It should come as no
surprise that the requirements for pupils to reach this level do not consist of a predetermined

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set of linguistic skills. It has been proposed that the threshold level ought to be determined for
each topic given to the learners.
The next resource for the literature review is “Topic Familiarity and Vocabulary
Knowledge: Implication for Instructions” by Annisa Humaira Norman. This research is to
investigate the impact of topic familiarity and vocabulary knowledge on reading
comprehension and focuses on instructional approaches that enhance vocabulary knowledge.
According to Annisa Norman (2019), Learners may encounter familiar, less familiar, and
unfamiliar terms while reading. So, when we encounter unfamiliar words we cannot relate to
what the text is about and skip until we found the word that we are familiar with. “When we
see a word, we do not recognize, we skip it, especially if it is not crucial to the
comprehension of the text. Skipping words reduces the information gained through reading to
the point that it cannot be accessed by the conscious mind. This is because skipping causes
the related data to be kept in short-term memory (Stahl Hirsh, 2003). In order to make the
learner understand the text, we need to give them a text that they are familiar with so that
they are able to connect or convey the information based on their stored knowledge even
though there are some words that they could not interpret.
The third literature review is about “The Effect of Content Familiarity And Language
Ability On Reading Comprehension Performance Of Low And High-Ability Saudi Tertiary
Students Studying English As A Foreign Language” by Shummaimeri. The research
emphasizes the impacts of material familiarity and language ability defined by the
comprehension performance of low- and high-ability Saudi students of English as a second
language are examined. According to Shummaimeri (2006), readers may be able to overcome
their lack of sufficiently developed linguistic knowledge if they are provided with the
appropriate schema. A review of reading research, on the other hand, focuses on the
following results that contrast with those found in the previous research. It appeared that
providing readers with certain levels of proficiency with background information was helpful
in some cases. This can conclude that the more learner familiar with the text, success rate of
students who can answer the comprehension questions increases.
The next study is about “The Effects of Background Knowledge, Interest and Topic
Familiarity on Reading” by Ali Osman and Mehmet Ali (2005). This study is focused about
to assess how previous information, familiarity with the subject, and interest affect reading
ability. According to the study by Ali Osman and Mehmet Ali (2005), the percentage of using
familiar topics in reading passages is higher than the one using the unfamiliar passage for
both males and females. The gap in the success rate between familiar topics and unfamiliar
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ones is very high which is 60% for males and 64.7% for females on the unfamiliar topic
whilst the percentage for familiar topics jumped to 98.5% for males and 95% for females on
the familiar topic. This shows that the familiar topic plays a major role in enhancing reading
comprehension than the unfamiliar one.
The fifth related study based on the research that the researcher conduct is “The
Relationship Between Reading Text with Familiar and Unfamiliar Topics and Students’
Comprehension” by Besse Hardianti. The aim of the study that she conducted is to determine
the relationship between familiar and unfamiliar topics and students' reading comprehension,
as well as how text familiarity and unfamiliarity impacted students' reading comprehension of
that descriptive text as a complex cognitive process. The choice of topic plays a major role in
student’s ability to successfully read the text and decode the information from the text. The
most important skill that a learner needs to learn in the English language is the reading skill
because this is the most basic knowledge that every ESL learner needs to master before they
are able to master other skills. According to H. Besse (2017), the study confirmed that topic
familiarity can lead to language learning.

5.0 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT AND DATA ANALYSIS

5.1 SAMPLES
Sampling is a process where the researcher finds a suitable audience or respondent
based on the research that the researcher conducted. According to Pooja Bhardwaj
(2019), Sampling is the process of choosing a sample from an individual or from a
large population for a particular type of research purpose. As a result, to choose
the intended participants for this study, the researcher used purposive sampling.
23 students from a national school in Merlimau, Melaka who are enrolled in
upper-secondary education are the researcher's target respondents.

5.2 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

5.2.1 Classroom Observation Checklist
A classroom observation checklist is a procedure that the researcher
used to observe the environment of the teaching and learning in the
classroom from different criteria. The classroom observation checklist
consists of 10 criteria that the researcher builds based on the video
recording of the lesson. Based on the checklist there are three columns
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 consisting of criterion, yes or no, and the observation evidence through
the video recording. The researcher needs to observe the video based
on the criteria and decide whether to tick yes or no. Then, the
researcher will have to fill the observation form with the evidence and
proof of why the researcher decided to tick either the yes or no column.

5.3 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES

The researchers began by watching a video-recorded lecture in a classroom where
the students were using the approach for teaching and learning. The researcher
starts observing the video-recorded lesson. Then, the researcher will then evaluate
the lesson by classroom observation checklist and tick the yes or no not column
depending on the ten criteria. After that, the researcher strengthens the proof by
explaining each criterion.

5.4 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES

The qualitative method will be used to analyse the data for this study. Thematic
analysis will also be used to extract data in addition to content analysis, which will
be the primary analysis method used in this study.

6.0 RESEARCH FINDINGS

Research Question 1: How do familiar topics enhance reading comprehension among upper
secondary school students?

6.1 Findings from the Lesson Plan

To answer research question number one, the researcher uses an observation
checklist to find out the use of familiar topics in enhancing reading
comprehension among upper secondary school students. In the observation
checklist, there are ten main points related to the use of familiar topics for the
students to be observed during the lesson conducted.

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 Figure 1: Classroom Observation Checklist Form

Figure 1 shows the observation checklist that the research uses to evaluate and analyse the
use of familiar topics in enhancing reading comprehension among upper secondary school
students.
Based on the Classroom Observation Checklist video recording of the teaching, the
researcher found out that from the ten aspects that have been observed, there are seven items
that the teacher and the students did based on the observation statement and there are three
statements that cannot be found or reach the expectation throughout the video teaching
recording.
The classroom Observation Checklist also has the observation sheet to prove the evidence
that all the criteria are supported based on the explanation from the researcher gained based
on the video. The column of the explanation is important to determine the use of familiar
topics that can enhance student reading comprehension.

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 Figure 2: The Outcome of the Classroom Observation Checklist

Based on figure 2, which is the outcome of the Classroom Observation Checklist the first
criteria are “The teacher makes students interact with the topic they are familiar with”. The
researcher has agreed that the teacher in the video uses the topic to interact with their
students. This can be shown when the teacher gives the students handout about Horror Film
Cliché in the first stage which is set induction. For the justification, before the lesson is
conducted the teacher gives their students a piece of handouts that they need to match the
definition with the vocabulary. There are eight questions that the teacher provided to the
students to interact with the students with topics they are familiar with.

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 Figure 3: Second Outcome of the Observation Checklist

Next, the criteria that the researcher focused on is “Students get the main idea of the lesson
when using a familiar topic”. The researcher also agreed and ticked the column yes in the
observation checklist. The explanation that the researcher found throughout the video is that
students can summarise what they understand through the topic. From the video, the
researcher saw the teacher pick one of their students to explain what they understand about a
lesson on that day and the student can answer the questions by saying that “horror film is a
movie about scary things for example about killers and ghosts”.

Figure 4: Third Outcome of the Observation Checklist

For the third criterion, the researcher also agreed by ticking the column yes on the “Students
can answer comprehension questions based on the familiar topic”. This is supported by
students’ ability to answer all the questions correctly based on the handouts given. For
justification, all the comprehension questions that have been done by the students from the
video are effective because most of the students are able to answer the comprehension
questions.

Figure 5: Fourth Outcome of the Observation Checklist

The criteria that the researcher also ticked the column yes is “The familiar topic during the
lesson gives students information about the content of the lesson. The explanation of the
researcher is that all the students understand the instructions and the information about the
“Horror Film”. This is because we can see that the teacher explained the instructions only

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once, but the students already knew what they were doing when they were given a familiar
topic which is the topic that they have been briefly taught.

Figure 6: Fifth Outcome of the Observation Checklist

The next criteria are “the use of familiar topic helps students to get the moral values of the
lesson”. The researcher cannot find any moral values that have been implemented through the
lesson about horror films. The lesson does not give the students any moral values because the
teacher only focused on explaining the reading passage and also the instruction to answer the
reading comprehension questions.

Figure 7: Sixth Outcome of the Observation Checklist

For the sixth criterion, the researcher has ticked yes on “the use of familiar topics makes the
students give their opinion based on their experience. This is explained by the researcher that
the students are able to share their experiences based on the topic. The justification can be
found in the post-lesson in which the teacher needs their students to come in front of the class
and give their own opinion about the scariest experience they ever face. The students can
come up with their own experiences that relate to the topic of horror.

Figure 8: Seventh Outcome of the Observation Checklist

Furthermore, the criteria that the researcher focused on is that “The use of familiar topics
makes the students participate actively in the class”. This is explained by the researcher that
most of the students actively participate by volunteering themselves to answer the questions
in front of the class. Based on the video, there are certain students volunteering to share their
own experiences with the class.

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 Figure 9: Eighth Outcome of the Observation Checklist

The next criterion that the researcher also ticked is “The use of familiar topics makes the
lesson more understandable for the students. The explanation that the researcher found
throughout the video is the students know what to do with the task given. Throughout the
video, the researcher found that every time the teacher from the video gives the handouts to
the students, they quickly answered the questions given before giving the instruction from
their teacher. This shows that the students already understand the topic and are ready to
answer all the comprehension questions.

Figure 10: Nineth Outcome of the Observation Checklist

For the next criterion which is “Students raise their hands to answer a question or volunteer,”
the researcher did not find out whether the students in the classroom raised their hands to ask
questions or volunteer in giving opinions. This is explained by the researcher that there are no
students raised their hands during the lesson conducted. Most of the students stay silent and
do their own work. The teacher must pick randomly to ask the students some questions.

Figure 11: Tenth Outcome of the Observation Checklist

The last criterion based on the classroom observation checklist is “Students attempt to answer
the reading comprehension questions thoroughly and well. This is proved by the researcher
that the students can answer the comprehension questions when they are asked to write the
correct answer on the whiteboard. Based on the video, we can see that most of the questions
that were given by the teacher were answered correctly by the students. This shows that the
students understand the familiar topic well.

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7.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

7.1 DISCUSSION
The findings of the study were summarised in relation to the research question
proposed. The discussion of the findings is stated below.7.1.1

7.1.1 How do familiar topics enhance reading comprehension among

upper secondary school students?
The first research question of the study is how familiar topics
enhance reading comprehension among upper secondary school
students. The researcher found out that familiar topics can enhance
students’ reading comprehension. This can be proved based on the
classroom observation checklist. The researcher analyses the video
recording lesson. From the ten criteria that the researcher observed
there are seven criteria that are aligned with the study focus. Based on
the student’s behaviours during the video recording, most students tend
to act more actively during the class when the topic that they are
familiar with is being introduced. Not to mention that students were
able to answer the comprehension questions extremely well during the
class and did not hesitate to give their own experiences about the topic
in front of the class.

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7.2 CONCLUSION
The aim of this research is to study the use of familiar topics in enhancing
reading comprehension among upper secondary school students. Based on the
methods used in conducting this study, the researcher can conclude that the
objective is achieved in this study. The data researcher collected is a classroom
observation checklist. This study examines the use of familiar topics in enhancing
reading comprehension among upper secondary school students The researcher
can confirm that this study can help teachers or future teachers how to teach their
students in answering reading comprehension successfully using the familiar
topic. It also can help the pre-service teacher to understand that topics play an
important role in deciding students’ comprehension of a certain topic that will be
taught.

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8.0 REFERENCES

AbdulAziz Al Shahrani. (2014). Role of Topic Familiarity and Gender Differences in

Reading Comprehension. International Journal of English and Education, 3(3), 331-

345. Retrieved from

http://ijee.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/abdul_aziz.29682157.pdf.

Abdul Imam & Rana Abdul Abid. (2011). The Effect of Topic Familiarity on EFL Reading

Comprehension. Journal of the College of Arts, (56), 64-95. Retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/31896881/The_Effect_of_Topic_Familiarity_on_EFL_Read

ing_Comprehension.

Ali Osman & Mehmet Ali. (2005). The Effects Of Background Knowledge, Interest, And

Topic Familiarity On Reading. Retrieved from

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED497455.pdf.

Annisa Norman & Fay Fouad. (2019). Topic Familiarity and Vocabulary Knowledge:

Implications for Instructions. National Seminar Proceeding. 99-104. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331431923_TOPIC_FAMILIARITY_AND_

VOCABULARY_KNOWLEDGE_IMPLICATIONS_FOR_INSTRUCTIONS.

A.Patrik & C.Corte. (2019). What is Qualitative in Qualitative Research. Qualitative

Sociology. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331387557_What_is_Qualitative_in_Qualitat

ive_Research.

Besse Hardianti. (2017). The Relationship Between Reading Text with Familiar and

Unfamiliar Topics and Students’ Comprehension. 1-46. Retrieved from

http://digilib.unhas.ac.id/uploaded_files/temporary/DigitalCollection/

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 MTIwOGZjODI0ZGRlMzE4ODJhMWM1NzljZDk2YTJhNDAwY2Q5ZWRmZg==.p

df.

C. Leana & G. Tom. (2013). The Effect of Subject Familiarity on Comprehension and Eye

Movements during Reading. 285-288. Retrieved from

http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~Tom.Gedeon/pdfs/The%20effect%20of%20subject

%20familiarity%20on%20comprehension%20and%20eye%20movements%20during

%20reading.pdf.

Davud Kuhi, Mehrzad Hosseini & Mahin Yavari. (2013). The Relationship between

Awareness Raising Activities and Students’ proficiency in Reading Comprehension of

Culturally- Bound Materials. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 4(3), 515-522.

Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287635645_The_Relationship_between_Awa

reness_Raising_Activities_and_Students'_proficiency_in_Reading_Comprehension_of

_Culturally-_Bound_Materials.

Flora Etaf Soltani & Narjes Malaee. (2015). The Effect of Familiarity with Academic Topics

on Learner's Reading Proficiency as Measured By IELTS. International Journal of

Humanities Social Sciences and Education (IJHSSE). 2(7), 78-88. Retrieved from

https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijhsse/v2-i7/9.pdf.

Hardhan Mohajan. (2018). Qualitative Research Methodology in Social Sciences and Related

Subjects. Journal of Economics Development, Environment, and People, 7(1), 23-48.

Retrieved from https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/85654/1/MPRA_paper_85654.pdf.

M. Steve. (2012). Reading Comprehension, What We Know: A Review of Research 1995 to

2011. Language Testing in Asia, 2(1), 45-58. Retrieved from

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/2229-0443-2-1-45.pdf.

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1
Video Recording Lesson

Appendix 2: Classroom Observation Checklist Form

Appendix 3: Outcome of the Classroom Observation Checklist

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Appendix 4: Student’s Worksheet

SET INDUCTION STAGES

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PRE-LESSON STAGES

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WHILE LESSON STAGES

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ANSWER SHEET

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