New Horizons in Education

Abstract

Writing picture compositions is part of the requirements for the mother tongue language learning in Singapore primary schools. For Chinese as a mother tongue, the prevailing materials used for learning picture composition are confined to only black-and-white drawn pictures. This has caused some problems: (1) not many good and suitable black-and-white drawn pictures are available for the teachers to prepare for their lessons: (2) even there is, the processes of preparing for a composition lesson with these pictures is quite time-consuming and (3) black-and-white drawn pictures are not necessarily realistic and interesting enough to motivate pupils. The aim of this study was to experiment the use of color digital photographs in Chinese picture composition lessons. It hoped to achieve two objectives: (1) to investigate the pupils’ preferences for the use of color photographs in composition lessons; and (2) to find out if the use of color photographs can help improve pupils’ performance. This study followed the action research approach and progressed through three cycles of school testing. At the end of the third cycle of school testing, a survey was administered to 194 pupils; an interview was carried out with 23 pupils; and a debriefing was also conducted with the six subject teachers. In addition, the pupils’ marks were collected and analyzed for their performance. The study found that majority of the students preferred the use color photographs in composition lessons, and their marks appeared to support this observation. Only a few pupils were either neutral or not in total agreement. The teachers, on the other hand, believed that using color photographs has the potential of helping them better prepare their composition lessons.

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