Page 45 - Jurnal Pendidikan Tingkatan Enam 2019 - Jilid 3

JURNAL PENDIDIKAN TINGKATAN ENAM 2019 JILID 3

ENHANCING SIXTH FORMERS’ CONFIDENCE IN GRAPH
INTERPRETATION THROUGH “TIDY AS SOC OR DOC”

Esther Angelina Wee Nyuk Jin
Pusat Pengajian Tingkatan Enam SMJK Sin Min, Sungai Petani, Kedah

Abstract 3

This study was conducted to reinforce Form 6 students’ ability in interpreting graphs in MUET Paper
4 question 1. The respondents were 11 students from Upper 6 Biology class of SMJK Sin Min. A
preceding study was carried out to observe students’ behaviours in graph interpretation and to identify
the area of difficulty in interpreting any given graphs using the tools of Observation and Focused
Group. The study unveiled students’ failures to interpret the graph correctly which is contributed to
lack of skill in graph interpretation. Hence, the ‘TIDY AS SOC or DOC’ method is designed to assist
Upper 6 students’ in their approach to identify the features in graph interpretation. This study was
conducted for 7 weeks. The MUET Session 2 (July paper, 2019) results indicated students were able
to interpret the graph confidently using the method ‘TIDY AS SOC or DOC’.
Keywords: MUET, Graph interpretation, confidence, behaviours, ‘TIDY AS SOC or DOC’.

1.0 REFLECTION OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

The MUET Paper 4 Question 1 is a challenging paper for the Upper 6 Biology class. Poor
results in graph interpretation would affect the overall marks of the MUET paper as equal
allocation of marks are given for Task Fulfilment and language which is 20 marks each.
The students were found to struggle in interpreting the graph question. As the students
are also average users of the language, the inability to interpret the graph accurately and
their average language mastery affected students’ confidence, and as a result caused poor
results in Graph Interpretation (Question 1).

The researcher identified two major concerns, which are students’ inability to analyse and
synthesise the graph correctly; and difficulty in identifying the four features of a graph. This
in turn causes the students to spend too much time in analysing and synthesising the graph
and unable answer question within the time frame given of 40 minutes. It was concluded
that the sixth formers could not deliver as they failed to comprehend that:
i. There are four important key features in any particular graph
ii. The description of the trend depends on the type of graph
iii. The analysis and synthesis in a graph must have the key features

The researcher thus designed the ‘TIDY AS SOC or DOC’ method to assist students to
answer the MUET Paper 4 Question 1, accurately and confidently.

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