Active and Passive Voices through Concept Attainment Model ...

Active and Passive Voices through

Concept Attainment Model (CAM)

: a Case of Mathayom 1 Students

CHONTICHA LEKPOONKIRD1

1Student:MasterofArts,FacultyofLiberalArts,UbonratchathaniUniversity

92 วารสารศิลปศาสตร์

93มหาวิทยาลัยอุบลราชธานี

Abstract

This article investigates whether Concept Attainment Model (CAM)

can help Mathayom 1 students of different proficiency levels learn active

and passive voices in the simple past tense. The effectiveness of learning

grammarthroughtheCAMwasexamined. Inthisstudy,theparticipantswere

26Mathayom1studentsatHuaQiaoUbonRatchathani2,UbonRatchathani.

Theyweredivided into threeproficiencygroups:high, intermediateand low.

Therewere10,4and12participantsineachgroup,respectively.Thepre-test

wasadministeredtotheparticipantsinthefirstperiod.Thefollowingperiods

wereforthetreatmentwhichtheexemplarswerepresentedtotheparticipants

tostudyinordertospecifytheconcepts.Thelastperiod,theparticipantstook

thepost-testwhichthescoreswereusedtocomparetothoseofthepre-test

usingt-testandANOVA.TheresultsrevealedthatalthoughCAMdidnothelp

theintermediategrouplearnthepassivevoice,itcouldoverallhelpstudents

of different proficiency levels learn active and passive voices in the simple

pasttense.Itwasmosthelpfulforthehighproficiencylevelstudents.CAMis,

therefore,asuitableteachingtoolforallproficiencylevelsstudents,especially

thehighgroup.

Keywords: ConceptAttainmentModel,activevoice,passivevoice,

Mathayom1students


Rationale of the StudyEnglishisusedasaninternationallanguage.Peoplearoundtheworld

studyEnglish inorder touse it as a communication toolor for their further

studies.LearningEnglishgrammarisnecessaryforgainingtheknowledgeabout

Englishinordertouseitasaneffectivetool.Richards,Gallo,&Renandya(2001)

pointedout thatmost teachersbelieved in the roleofgrammar in language

teaching.TheEnglishgrammarisneededattheearlystageoflanguagelearning.

Consequently,howteachersteachEnglishgrammaristhekeypointinteaching.

Activeandpassivevoiceis importantforstudentstolearnasit isan

Englishgrammar featurewhich isneeded in formalwrittendiscourse (Hinkel,

2004).Studentsshouldbeabletoformcorrectstructuresofvoices.However,

there are studentswho cannot use voices correctly especially using passive

voice.Li&Thompson(1976)foundthatEFLlearnersencounteredproblemsof

usingactiveandpassivevoice.AlsosomeThaistudentsmadealotofpassive

voiceerrorsinthebasicessays(Abdulsata,2000).

From several class observations, the researcher has found that a

numberofstudentshaveproblemsmemorizingandunderstandingtheconcept

of grammar including the structures of tenses and voices, thatmost of the

timetheyhavebeentaughtbylecturing.Mostoftheobservedstudentshave

problems indistinguishing thestructuresofactiveandpassivevoices,and in

understandingthereadingsthatcontainthestructuresofactiveandpassivevoice.

Theoutcomewasthatonlysomestudentscouldrememberandunderstand

theconceptsorthestructuresofsentencestheyhadlearnedwhileothersdid

not.ThusteachingactiveandpassivevoiceforThaistudentsisnecessary;and

usingappropriateteachingmethodsisalsoimportant.

Thecausesoftheaboveproblemcanvary.Theymayincludeteachers,

students,classroomatmosphereandteachingmethods.AccordingtoNoisaengsri

(1981), poor teaching, uncertainty about teaching methods and shortage of


adequate teaching method were the reasons of students’ inability in using

English.Someresearchaboutteachingmodelswasfoundinterestingandalot

ofteachingmodelscanhelpstudentslearnmoreeffectively(Shamnad,2005).

TheresearcherisinterestedinexaminingateachingmethodthatcanassistEFL

studentsinlearninggrammar.ConceptAttainmentModel(CAM)wasdeveloped

fromtheworkofJeromeS.Brunerandhisassociates(1956)onthecognitive

activitycalledcategorizing. It isa teachingmethod thathelps students learn

stepbysteptobuildtheirownconceptwhichcanberecalledlater.CAMisa

teachingmodelthatisdesignedtohelpstudentsclarifytheattributesofgiven

examplessothattheycanformulateaconceptofthelessonsandhelpthem

makeconnectionsbetweenwhattheyknowandwhattheywillbelearning.

Students should be able to figure out language structures in order

to have a long-term memory, where the information they want becomes

completelypermanentinbrainforsubsequentrecall.Fromthis,theresearcher

hasbeen interested inCAMthathelpsequipasemipermanentmemory for

studentstoretainaconcept.Scott(2007)statedthatstrategiesorfiguringouta

problemcanbetheprioritiestobeprocessedfirstandlatertransferredintothe

long-termmemorybyacomponentoftheworkingmemory.Thus,thestudents

whoareengagedinfiguringoutthestructuresofsentenceswouldbeableto

retaintheconceptofthestructurestheyhavelearned.Kalani(2009)foundthat

ConceptAttainmentModelwasmoreeffective thanconventionalmethod in

theretentionofconcept.

Purpose of the Study

ThisstudyinvestigatedwhetherCAMcouldhelpM1studentsofdifferent

proficiencylevelslearnactiveandpassivevoicesinthesimplepasttense.The

effectivenessoflearninggrammarthroughtheConceptAttainmentModel(CAM)

wouldbeinvestigated.


Research Questions

1. CanCAMhelpstudentsofdifferentproficiencylevelslearnactiveand

passivevoicesinthesimplepasttense?

2. Ifyes,isCAMequallyhelpfulforallgroupsofdifferentproficiencylevel

students?

Research Hypotheses

1. CAM helps students of different proficiency levels learn active and

passivevoicesinthesimplepasttense.

2. CAM is equally helpful for all groups of different proficiency level

students.

IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING VOICES Theimportanceofusingvoicecorrectlywasemphasizedinanumber

ofstudies.ThisispartlybecauseEnglishlearnersmayhavetoproducewritten

discoursebyusing tenses andvoices. It is especially important to teach the

usage of tenses and voices to non-native speaking (NNS) students more

intensivelythantonativespeaking(NS)studentssinceeventhebasicNSwriters

canmuchbetterusetensesandpassivevoicethantheadvancedandtrained

NNSuniversitystudents(Hinkel,2004).Hinkel(2002)andMaster(1991)ascited

inHinkel(2004)alsofoundthattheusageofpassivevoiceinconstructingformal

written discourse needs to be taught thoroughly because English passive is

difficultfornon-nativespeakers.Manyresearchers(e.g.Michaelis(1994),Nehls

(1988,1992),Pica(1994),Pfaff(1987),Rutherford&SharwoodSmith(1985)and

Swales&Feak (2000))alsoclaimedthat, inEnglishacademicwriting,allNNS

universitystudentsmustbeabletousesomeimportantgrammarfeatures,such

astenses,aspectsandspecificallypassivevoice.Moreover,understandingactive

and passive voices is important as English textbooks contain them (Raimes,


1992,1999;Swales&Feak,1994).Learnersshouldbeabletochangetheactive

topassivevoiceandviceversabecauseitissometimesmoreappropriatetouse

thepassivevoiceinsentences(Smally,Ruetten&Kozyrev,2000).

PROBLEMS IN USE OF ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICES Many research studies (Abdulsata, 2000; Chen Wanxia, 2002; Li &

Thompson, 1976; Olson & Nickerson, 1977; Perera, 1987; Somkul, 1995)

investigated theproblemsof using active andpassive voice. Li &Thompson

(1976), for instance, found that EFL learnersmay have problems if their L1

is different from English. To these researchers, languages are grouped into

topic-prominent and subject-prominent. The two groups influence how the

passiveconstructionislearned.First,topic-prominentlanguageswhichwhatthe

speaker/writerwants totalkabout is important.Besides, thetopicdoesnot

needtobethesubjectofthesentence.Second,subject-prominentlanguages

whichthesubjectofasentenceisimportantandthespeaker/writerneedsto

fillinsubjectposition.

Thai isa topicprominent language (Jogthong,2001).Forexample, in

Thai, ifwewant to talk about theweather condition that it is very hot,we

willsay,“ร้อนจัง”whichcanbetranslateddirectlyintoungrammaticalEnglish,

“veryhot.”Normally,Thaisdonotsay“มันร้อนจัง,”whichcanbetranslated

intoEnglishas“Itisveryhot”becausethetopicisthestateofbeinghot;the

subjectisnotimportantandthespeakerwantstoemphasizeonthetopic.This

comparisonofThaiandEnglishshowsthat,inThai,adescriptioncanbemade

withoutinsertingthesubjectinthesentence.Ontheotherhand,Englishisa

subject-prominentlanguage.Hence,thesubjectpositionmustbefilled.

Li&Thompson(1976)observedthatpassiveconstructionisnormally

found in subject-prominent languages. In topic-prominent languages, passive

constructionisrarelyused.Thus,aproblemofusingtheL2passivevoiceresults


fromtherareuseofpassivesentenceinL1.Forexample,inThai,thepassive

construction isusedonlywhentheverb isnegative intermsofmeaninge.g.

hate,punish,hit,blame.Forexample,inThailanguagewecanonlysay“ฉันถูก

รังเกียจ”meaning,“Iamhated”inEnglish.Unliketheverbsthathavepositive

meaninge.g.love,admire,likeetc.InThaiwecannotsay“ฉันถูกรักโดยคนหลาย

คน”or,“Iamlovedbymanypeople.”Thus,mostThailearnersofEnglishmay

haveproblemswiththeuseofpassivevoices.

Otherresearchstudiesfoundthatlearnershaveproblemsofusingactive

andpassivevoices.ChenWanxia(2002)completedacorpus-basedresearchon

the acquisition of English passive by Chinese learners. They investigated the

mistakesmadeby theChinese learnersofdifferentEnglishproficiency levels

(senior high school students, non-English majors of intermediate and higher

proficiency levels, and Englishmajors of intermediate and higher proficiency

levels).Thefindingshowedthatthelearnersofdifferentproficiencylevelshave

asimilarproblemwhichisthepoorunderstandingofverbusages.

InThaistudents’case,Somkul(1995)studied236Mathayom3students

atsecondaryschoolsinSukhothaiprovince.Hehypothesizedthattheirlevel of

grammaticalstructureawareness(e.g.activeandpassivevoices,questiontags,

tenses)was very poor. He found that, after checking the students’ 3writing

tests,thehypothesiswastrue.Also,Abdulsata(2000)studiedthebasicessaysof

thesecond-yearEnglishmajorThaistudentsofSrinakharinwirotUniversity.She

foundatthesentencelevel,errorsofusingpassivevoiceoccurredfor80.55%

ofallpassiveconstruction.

Perera (1987) found that primary level students have difficulty in

understandingpassivevoices.Confusionarosewhenbothsubjectandobject

of the preposition “by” canpossibly perform the verb. For example, in the

sentence “Michael was murdered by Christian, ” students have problems

identifyingthedoer,thesubjectortheobjectofthepreposition“by”.Thisis


probablybecauseintherealworldbothMichaelandChristiancancommitthe

murder.

Olson&Nickerson(1977)alsoinvestigatedchildren’sunderstandingsof

therelationsbetweenactiveandpassive.Theresearchersfoundthat5-year-old

childrenunderstoodsentencesbyassimilatingthesentencesintotheirexisting

knowledgebase.Thatis,childrenusetheirbackgroundknowledgeorwhatthey

knowtohelpthemunderstandthesentence.

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICES: Past Simple Active and Passive Voices

Grammatically,voiceshowswhether thesubjectofa sentencedoes

theaction,or isdonebytheaction.Voiceisagrammaticalcategorywhichis

usedtodisplaytheactionofasentence intwowaysby remainingthe facts

reported (Quirk,Greenbaum,Leech,&Svartvik,1972,pp.801-811).Whenwe

referto“voice”inasentence,itisrelatedtoverbplacementwhichinvolves

intheactionofatransitiveverbinthesentenceandalsothefunctionofthe

subjectwhichcanbeeitheradoerorareceiver.Therearetwotypesofvoices:

activevoiceandpassivevoice.

It is the active voice if the subject of the sentencedoes the action

oritiscalledthedoer.Asentenceiswrittenintheactiveformwhenwegive

importancetothedoer.Passivevoiceisalsousedwhenthedoerisunknownor

unimportantandwhenwewanttofocusonthereceiverbeingactedupon.In

otherwords,thepassiveisusedwhenthesubjectoftheactivevoicesentence

mentionedisanindefiniteorvaguepronounornoun(Wren&Martin,1990:70).

CONCEPT ATTAINMENT MODEL (CAM)

CAMisoneoftheteachingmodelsbelongingtothefamilyofInformation

ProcessingModelwhichhelpsincreasestudents’abilitytoacquireandorganize

informationbyhandlinginputsfromtheenvironment,buildandtesttheirown


generatedhypotheses.

Thebook, A Study of Thinking,developedbyBruner,Goodnow,and

Austin (1956), presents Bruner’s theory that after receiving information from

whichhumansscrutinizeitemstofindcommonattributes,theygrouptheitems

intocategoriesandnamethem.Aconcept,oracognitivestructure,meanseach

category, its name and the shared characteristics of items.Humans can add

moresimilaritemstothoseexistingcategoriesandcanbuildupnewcategories

when they are exposed to information items. This is thepattern recognition

and categorizing process that is useful for human thoughts. However, it had

notbeenateachingmodeluntilJoyceandWeiltransformeditintoateaching

modelintheirbook,Model of Teaching.Theysetupasyntaxordescriptionof

theteachingmodelusedintheclassroomfromBruner’stheoryofconcepts.

CAMisaninductivemodelwhichwasdesignedtoteachconceptsand

toassiststudentslearnconceptseffectively.Themethodistopresentrelevant

informationorattributesofaconceptasanumberofexemplarstostudents

fromwhichtheycananalyzetogenerateahypothesisoftheconcept.Thenthe

studentwilltesttheirconcepthypotheseswithadditionalexemplarsinorder

toconfirmwhetherornottheirthinkingisontherighttrack.Finally,students

testifytoconceptattainmentbygivingtheirownexemplarsoftheconceptand

alsobyexplainingwhatstepstheygothroughtoattaintheconcept.

The Syntaxes of CAM Based on Reception Strategies

Phase 1 Presentation of data and identification of the concept

• Teacherpresentslabeledexemplars.

• Studentsconsidertheattributesofpositiveandnegativeexemplars

andcomparethem.

• Studentsgenerateandtesthypotheses.


• Studentsspecifyadefinitionfromthecriticalattributesofthe

exemplars.

Phase 2 Testing attainment of the concept

• Teacherpresentsmoreunlabeledexemplarsforstudentstoidentifyif

theyarepositiveornegativeonesbysaying‘yes’or‘no’.

• Teacherapprovesstudents’hypotheses.

• Teachergivesthenameoftheconcept.

• Teacherrestatesthedefinition.

• Studentscreatetheirownexemplars.

Phase 3 Analysis of thinking strategies

• Studentsexplaintheirunderstanding

• Studentsreporthowtheygeneratehypothesesandhowtheyimprove

orchangethemwhentheyarenotconfirmedbyteacher.

• Teacherevaluatesthestrategies.

CAM has been used as a part of several studies conducted to

investigateitseffectivenessinassistinglearningandteachingandtocompareit

tootherteachingmethods.SomeresearchstudiedCAMandothermodelsor

approachesabouthowtheyassistedlearnerstolearn.ItwasfoundthatCAM

wasmoreeffectiveinhelpinglearnersdefineconceptsandsupportingteachers

todeveloptheirteaching(Ahmed,Gujjar&Ali,2011;Das,1986;Gangrade,1987;

Kalani, 2009; Kulachit, 1993; Lamm, 1993; Peters, 1973; Polchai, 2003; Singh,

2011;Sreelekha&Ajitha,2004;Sushama&Singh,1987;Tongaht,2007;Zacharia,

1989).


METHODParticipants

Theparticipantswere26differentEnglishproficiencylevelstudentsof

Mathayom1studentsatHuaQiaoUbonRatchathaniSchool2,UbonRatchathani.

Inthisstudy,theparticipantsweredividedintothreeproficiencygroups:high,

intermediate and low. The high proficiency students included students who

received75-100outof100scores in thepreviousEnglishsubject in thefirst

semester.Theintermediateproficiencystudentswerethestudentswhoreceived

60-74outof100scores.Thelowproficiencystudentswerethestudentswho

received0-59outof100scores.Therewere10,4and12participantsineach

group,respectively.

Materials Thepre-andpost-testswerethesametest. Ithad20gapswhichwere

composed of 10 gaps for active constructions and 10 for passive ones. The

participantshadtoreadthestorycarefully,andchangedtheverbgiveninthe

parenthesisforeachgapintothecorrectformofeitheractiveorpassivevoice

inthesimplepasttense,andwritetheformdowninthegap.Theparticipants

had50minutestofinishthetest.

Therewerefivesetsofexemplarsusedto teach fourconcepts.The

exemplarsweredividedintopositiveandnegativeones.Thepositiveexemplars

containedallattributesof theconceptswhichare thecharacteristicsofpast

formsofverbsandpastparticipleformsofverbs,andstructuresofaffirmative

sentencesofactiveandpassivevoicesinthesimplepasttense.Thenegative

onescontainedsomeornoneoftheattributesoftheconcepts. Furthermore,

PowerPointandhandoutsweremadeuptopresentthesetsofexemplarsto

thestudents.


Procedure Thefirstperiodwasforthepre-test.Ineachclass,teacherledintothe

lessonbytellingthestudentstheobjectivesofthestudyandthecharacteristics

of positive exemplars. Then the teacher presented the exemplars for the

studentstostudysothattheycouldgeneratehypotheses.Afterthattheteacher

had to present unlabeled exemplars for testing the students’ attainment of

theconcepts.Thestudentscouldseeiftheirhypotheseswerecorrectornot

andtheteacherstatedthenameoftheconcept.Thentheteacheraskedthe

students to create their ownexemplars and checked them. In the last step

of the treatment, the teacherhad representativeofeachgroupdiscuss their

understanding andexplainedhow theyhadhelpedeachother in the group

togeneratehypothesesandchangethemwhentheywereincorrect.Afterthe

instruction,thestudentstookthepost-test.Theywerenotallowedtousethe

dictionary, but they could ask the teacher about themeanings of unknown

words,thesameasthepre-test.

ANALYSIS

Analysis of Scores of Pre- and Post-Tests Thescoresofthepre-andpost-testsoftheparticipantswerecollected.

Eachiteminthetestwasequaledonepoint.Thescoringcriteriaweresetas

follows:1)1scorewasgiventothecorrecttense,formofvoice,andagreement

of subjectandverb,e.g.shewatchedTVlastnight;TV was watchedbyherlast

night.2)0.5scorewasgiventothecorrecttense,formofvoice,butincorrect

agreement of subject and verb or spelling, e.g. many rooms was cleaned

yesterday;thehomeworkwere finishedbyherlastnight.3)0scorewasgivento

thewrongtense,formofvoice,andagreementofsubjectandverb,e.g.many

roomscleansyesterday;thehomeworkfinished byherlastnight.


Thepre-andpost-testswerescoredandstatisticallycomparedusing

t-testandANOVA.First,thepre-testmeanscoreofeachgroupwascompared

withthatofthepost-testusingthet-testtoseeifCAMhelpedthemlearn.Then,

thegainedmeanscoresofthetwotestswerecomparedusingtheANOVAtosee

ifthethreegroupsoftheparticipantsequallybenefitedfromlearningthrough

CAM.

Analysis of Thinking Strategies Theperformanceoftheparticipantswasobservedbytheresearcher

andvideorecordedtoseewhetherthewaytheydiscussedtheirthinkingand

helpedeachother ingroupwasconsistentwith their scoresof thepre-and

post-testsornot.

RESULTS TheresultsofwhetherCAMcanhelpstudentsofdifferentproficiency

levelslearnactiveandpassivevoicesinthesimplepasttensewillbepresented

first.Theywillbeshowninthreetableswhichwerecalculatedusingt-test.

Table 1

Pre-andPost-TestScoresofAllGroupsofProficiencyLevels

Groups of proficiency

levelsN S.D. t p

Pre-test Post-test

High 10 1.35 14.35 3.42 12.007 0.000*

Intermediate 4 0.25 7.50 3.43 4.230 0.012*

Low 12 0.17 8.83 3.17 9.465 0.000*

*Significantlydifferent(P≤0.05)


Table1showsthatthepost-testmeanscoreofeachgroupwashigherthanthat

of thepre-test.Thereweresignificantdifferencesbetweenthemeansof the

post-andpre-testscoresofthehigh,intermediateandlowgroupsatp=0.000,

0.012and0.000,respectively.ThisappearsthatingeneralCAMcouldhelpthe

studentsofthreedifferentproficiencylevelslearntheactiveandpassivevoice

inthesimplepasttense.

Table 2 Pre-andPost-TestScoresofActiveVoiceItemsofAllGroupsof

ProficiencyLevels


levelsN S.D. t p

Pre-test Post-test

High 10 1.35 9.50 2.81 9.174 0.000*

Intermediate 4 0.25 6.13 2.25 5.222 0.007*

Low 12 0.17 6.92 2.01 11.658 0.000*


Table2showsthatthepost-testmeanscoreofactivevoiceitemsof

eachgroupwashigherthanthatofthepre-test.Thereweresignificantdifferences

betweenthemeansofthepost-andpre-testscoresofthehigh,intermediate

andlowgroupsatp=0.000,0.007and0.000,respectively.ThisseemsthatCAM

couldhelpthestudentsofdifferentproficiencylevelslearntheactivevoicein

thesimplepasttense.


Table 3 Pre-andPost-TestScoresofPassiveVoiceItemsofAllGroupsof

ProficiencyLevels


levelsN S.D. t p

Pre-testPost-

test

High 10 0.00 4.85 3.06 5.005 0.001*

Intermediate 4 0.00 1.38 1.70 1.616 0.103

Low 12 0.00 1.92 1.83 3.624 0.002*


Table3 shows that thepost-testmean scoreofpassivevoice items

ofeachgroupwashigher thanthatof thepre-test.However, thedifferences

betweenthemeansofthepost-andpre-testscoreswerestatisticallysignificant

onlyforthehighandlowgroup(p=0.001and0.002,respectively).Therewasno

significantdifferencebetweenthepost-andpre-testscoresoftheintermediate

group(p=0.103).ThisappearsthatCAMcouldhelponlythestudentsofhigh

andlowproficiencylevelslearnthepassivevoiceinthesimplepasttense.

In order to answer the research question regarding whether CAM is

equallyhelpfulforallgroupsofdifferentproficiencylevelstudents,ANOVAwas

usedtocomparethemeansofthegainedscoresofthethreesubjectgroups.

Thedataareshowninthetablebelow.


Table 4 GainedMeanScoreofPre-andPost-TestsofAllGroupsof

ProficiencyLevels


levelsN gained

score

F pPre-test

Post-

test

High 10 1.35 14.35 13.00

6.46 0.006**Intermediate 4 0.25 7.50 7.25

Low 12 0.17 8.83 8.66

**Significantlydifferent(P≤0.05)

Table4indicatesthatthemeansofthegainedscoresofthethreegroups

weresignificantlydifferentatp=0.006.ThismeansthatCAMwasnotequally

helpfulforallofthegroups.Accordingtothemeansofthegainedscores,CAM

seemstobemosthelpfulforthehighproficiencystudents,followedbythelow

andintermediategroups,respectively.However,whenthemeansofthegained

scoresofthethreegroupswerecomparedstatistically,itwasfoundthatthelow

andtheintermediategroupshadlearnedtheconceptsequallywell.(SeeTable

5.)


Table 5 ComparisonsofGainedMeanScoresbetweenEachPairofAllGroups of

ProficiencyLevels

(I) GROUP (J) GROUP Mean Difference (I-J) Sig.

High Intermediate Low

5.754.33

0.007**0.006**

Intermediate High Low

-5.75-1.42

0.007**0.466

Low High Intermediate

-4.331.42

0.006**0.466

**Significantlydifferent(P≤0.05)

Table5 shows that themeansof thegainedscoresof thehighand

intermediategroupsandthehighandlowgroupsaresignificantlydifferentat

p=0.007and0.006,respectively.ThismeansthatCAMwasmorehelpfulforthe

highgroupthantheothertwogroups.Ithelpedthehighproficiencygrouplearn

themost.Incontrast,thereisnosignificantdifferencebetweentheintermediate

andthelowgroups(p=0.466);therefore,CAMseemedtohelptheintermediate

andlowproficiencylevelstudentslearntheconceptsatthesamedegree.

Fromtheoverallobservationofthestudents’performanceonthinking

strategies,itwasevidentthatthestudentsofallproficiencylevelshadsimilar

thinkingstrategies.However,itwasoftenthehighproficiencyoneswhounderstand

moreandtookaleadingroleingroupdiscussions.Andthisisconsistentwith

theirgainedscoresafterthetreatment.Thatis,thisteachingmethodseemedto

workbestforhighproficiencylevelstudents.Whengeneratinghypotheses,they

explainedthattheystartedwithnoticingthepresentedexemplarsandshared

theirideasingroupabouthowthepositiveandnegativeonesweredifferent.


Furthermore,theintermediateandthelowstudentswhowerenotcertainof

theirthoughttriedtodiscusswiththehighonestoassureortochecktheirs.

Sometimesahighproficiencystudentwhotookaleadingrolewithingroupasked

eachofthemwhattheiropinionswere,gatheredtheothers’thoughts,created

thehypotheses,andfinallytestedthem.Thelowproficiencyonesseldomled

thegroup.Thentheydiscussedandselectedonlyonehypothesiswhichwas

frommost of themembers to define the studied concept andpresented it

to the class. Finally, when the generated hypotheses were not correct, the

highproficiencystudentsusuallyplayedaroleofhelpingotherstudents.They

wouldstartthinkingonceagainabouttheincorrecthypothesisandaskforthe

others’opinions.Somelowproficiencystudentsgavetheirideasonthisafter

checkingitoutwiththeexemplars.Someusedtheotherhypothesiswhichthey

hadgeneratedfromthebeginningtoexplaintheexemplars.Theydidthisuntil

theyfinallycouldgeneratethecorrecthypotheses.

DISCUSSIONThehypothesisthatCAMhelpsstudentsofdifferentproficiencylevels

learnactiveandpassivevoices in thesimplepast tense issupportedbythe

significantdifferencebetweenthepre-andpost-testscoresreported.Wecan

inferthatCAMisachoicetohelpstudentsofallgroupsofproficiencylevels

understandhowtousethetwovoicesbecausetheparticipantswereclearly

abletoperformbetterintheirpost-test.CAMcanbehelpfulforthestudents

in using active and passive voices. It enables learners to define the studied

concepts(Abushihab,El-Omari&Tobat,2011;Ahmed,Gujjar&Ali,2011;Das,

1986;Gangrade,1987;Kalani,2009;Kulachit,1993;Lamm,1993;Peters,1973;

Polchai, 2003; Singh, 2011; Sreelekha&Ajitha, 2004; Sushama&Singh, 1987;

Tongaht,2007;Zacharia,1989). Thereareatleasttwopossiblereasonstoexplain

whyCAMwasbeneficialforthestudents. First,itmaybebecausethehelpthat


the studentsneededwas contained inPhase2of the syntaxof themodel,

wheretheteacherhadtoapproveofthestudents’hypothesestocorrecttheir

answers.Fromthis,thestudentswerecertainabouttheirhypothesesconfirmed

bytheteacherwhichhelpedtheminmakingdecisionsaboutusingactiveand

passivevoiceslater.Anotherpossiblereasonmaybethatthestepsofanalyzing

theconceptandpreparingexampleswhenplanningtheCAMlesson(Shamnad,

2005)weresowelladjustedthatthepositiveandnegativeexemplarspresented

were created accurately. Thus, the students could learn the concepts from

theseexemplarstogeneratetheirownhypotheses.

Inaddition,groupdiscussionmayhavehelpedpromotethestudents’

learningofactiveandpassivevoicesinthesimplepasttense.Thisisbecause

the students had to give their ideas when considering the attributes of the

exemplars, generatehypotheses, specify conceptdefinitions, and improve or

change theunconfirmedhypotheses. Basedon the researcher’sobservation,

duringtheactivities,thestudentsperformedwell.Mostofthemplayedactive

rolesinparticipatingwitheachstepoflearning.Theyhelpedeachotherinthe

group figureout the concepts. Thehighproficiency level ones, inparticular,

tried toanswer thequestions fromthe intermediateand lowstudents.They

came to present their understanding, and how they formed hypotheses in

frontoftheclassroom.Thiswasbeneficialforthestudentswhopaidattention

to the representative of each group because they could comparewhat the

representativessaidtotheirideas. Nevertheless,thereweresomestudentswho

didnotactivelyjoinbothgroupdiscussionandclassactivities.Evensomehigh


proficiency levelstudentsdidnotpayenoughattentionto theactivitiesand

somewerenotconfidenttopresenttheirideasinfrontoftheclassroom.This

mightbethereasonwhysomelowproficiencylevelstudentshadhighergained

scoresthansomehighonesinthepost-test.

However,theattainmentoftheactiveandpassivevoiceofeachgroup

ofproficiency level studentswasdifferent.According toTable2, it is shown

that there is significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores of

activevoice itemsofallgroups.Thisshowsthatthestudentswerebetterat

usingactivevoice.WhenitcomestotheresultshowninTable3,however,the

differencebetweenthepre-andpost-testscoresofpassivevoiceitemsofthe

intermediategroupsisnotstatisticallysignificant. ItappearsthatCAMdidnot

effectivelyhelpthisgroupoflearnerslearnthetargetpassivevoice.AsHinkel

(2002) andMaster (1991), cited inHinkel (2004) said, Englishpassive voice is

verydifficultfornon-nativespeakerstousecorrectly.Somestudentsdidnot

performbetter intheirpost-test.Theystillhadproblemsusingpassivevoice.

ThelearningofthesubjectsofthisstudymayhavebeenaffectedbytheirL1,

whichisatopic-prominentlanguage,inwhichpassiveconstructionsarerarely

used(Li&Thompson,1976).Butwhydidthisonlyhappentothestudentsof

intermediate proficiencylevel?Theanswermightbeaboutthenumberofthe

studentsinthisgroupwhichmightnotbehighenough.

ThedataaffirmedthatalthoughCAMwasbeneficialforallgroupsof

learners, itwasnotequallyhelpful forallofthegroupsasthegainedmean

scoresofeachgroupweresignificantlydifferent(SeeTable4).CAMappearedto

bemosthelpfulforthehighproficiencylevelstudentswhoreceivedthehighest

gainedscoreinthethreegroups.Inotherwords,thisgroupbenefitedfromCAM

themost.ItmightbethenconcludedthatwhenCAMisused,theteachersmay

needtofocusmoreonhelpingtheothertwogroups.

From the researcher’s class observation, the intermediate and low


proficiencylevelstudentspaidlessattentiontoandwerelessengagedinthe

teaching.Theyseemedtobepassivelearners.Also,theyweredifferentfrom

thehighproficiencyleveloneswhowerethoughtfulwhenansweringwhether

the unlabeled exemplars were positive or negative. This resulted in similar

performanceofbothintermediateandlowproficiencystudentsinthepost-test.

Asthetwogroupswerenotadequatelyengagedinfiguringoutthestructures

ofthesentences,theythereforemightnotbeabletoretaintheconceptofthe

structurestheyhadlearned(Scott,2007).However,CAMappearstobehelpful

forallgroupsofdifferentproficiencylevelstudents.Itcanbeemployedasa

teachingmethodforteachinganewconceptinamixedproficiencylevelsclass.

Also,groupingstudentswithdifferentproficiencylevels inasecondlanguage

classisagoodwayoflearningtogetherbecausethestudentsofhighproficiency

levelcanhelptheloweronesbydiscussing.Thiswillmakethehighproficiency

group increase their awareness ofwhat they know, and conversely, thiswill

helpthelowproficiencyonesreducetheiranxietyandlearnfromthebetter

onesthroughthediscussionabouttheirthinking(Kessler,1992).Thisisevident

inthisstudy.Thestudentsofallproficiencylevelsseemedtobenefitfromclass

activities.Theyhelpedeachotherlearn.

Intheaspectofstudents’thinkingstrategies,asshownintheresults,

the different proficiency level students’ thinking processeswere similar. The

students of all groups here compared and contrasted between the positive

andnegativeexemplars.Thentheygeneratedhypothesesfromwhattheyhad

studied,andfinallytestedthembyansweringiftheunlabeledexemplarswere

‘yes’or‘no’.Allgroupsofstudentshavelearnedthetargetgrammarthrough

CAM.


Pedagogical Implications CAMmaybeagoodchoiceforteacherswhoteachamulti-proficiency

levelclassroom.However,theteachershouldputmoreemphasisonthepassive

voice,particularlywiththeintermediategroup.Meanwhile,mixingstudentsof

differentproficiencylevelsinaclassisgood.Inthisstudy,itwasclearthatthe

students of all groups could gain benefit, and learn. Group discussions also

helped low learners reduce learning anxiety, which could increase learning

motivation. Inaddition,whenusingCAM,theteachershouldcloselyobserve

students’ roles during the activities to see how they discuss and help each

other. The teacher should encourage students to giveopinions in their own

groupandinspirestudentstohaveconfidencetopresenttheirhypothesesand

tohelpeachotherwhenmakingpresentations.Furthermore,theteacherhasto

playthekeyroleinfacilitatingeverystepandapprovethelearners’generated

hypotheses.

Thisstudyhasprovidedvariationsofstrategies,elementsofthemodel,

andstepsofplanningaConceptAttainmentLessonforoneswhoareinterested

inusingCAMtoteachanewconcepttoarrangealessonconsistentlywiththe

determinedobjectives.

Recommendations for Further StudiesFirst,thedurationofthestudyshouldbelongerforteachingconcepts

sothatthehighernumberofpresentedlabeledandunlabeledexemplarswill

begiventothestudentstoconsiderandpractice,andalsothestudentswill

havemoretimetocomposeactiveandpassivesentences.Especiallythetime

forteachingandpracticingpassivevoiceshouldbelonger.

Second, the students should be encouraged to join group activities

becausetheirideasmaybeusefulfortheirfriendstofigureouttheconcepts.

The teachermay have the students form their own group to increase their


learningmotivation.Theteachershouldalsoprovideappropriatequestionsto

guidethestudentsindescribingtheirideas.

Next,thenumberofparticipantsshouldbelarger.Thereshouldbeat

leastfiveparticipantsineachgroupofproficiencylevel.

Finally, a long-term assessment of understanding active and passive

voicesinthesimplepasttenseisusefultoseeifthemethodcanhelplearners

learninthelongrun.

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