WHAT’RE “HOTS” IN TOWN

Andy Lim Teik Hong

Rozita Rashid

English Language Department IPG Kampus Perlis

limth_94@hotmail.com

Abstract
This research was designed to investigate the effectiveness of the Town
Map Model to improve pupils’ Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).
Five pupils from Year 4 Arif of Sekolah Kebangsaan X were selected to
participate in this research. The data was collected using questionnaire,
document analysis and non-participant observation. Then, the data was
analyzed qualitatively. From this research, it showed that all the five
research participant had benefitted from the usage of the intervention.
Based on the findings, all five research participants have shown
improvement in answering HOTS questions. They were able to apply
critical and creative thinking by giving comprehensible answers to the
HOTS questions. At the same time, the research participants also
enjoyed learning English using the Town Map Model. As such, these
findings proved the effectiveness of the Town Map Model in enhancing
pupils’ HOTS.

Abstrak
Kajian ini direkabentuk untuk mengkaji keberkesanan Model Pemetaan
Bandar (Town Map Model) untuk meningkatkan Kemahiran Berfikir
Aras Tinggi (KBAT) murid. Seramai 5ima murid dari Tahun 4 Arif
Sekolah Kebangsaan X telah dipilih untuk mengambil bahagian dalam
kajian ini. Data-data telah dikumpul menggunakan kaedah soal selidik,
analisis dokumen dan pemerhatian. Kemudian, data dikumpul dan
dianalisis secara kualitatif. Kajian ini telah menunjukkan bahawa
kelima-lima peserta kajian telah menunjukkan peningkatan daripada
penggunaan model ini.dari aspek dalam menjawab soalan KBAT.
Mereka dapat mengaplikasikan pemikiran kritis dan kreatif dengan
memberikan jawapan yang mempunyai elemen KBAT. Pada masa yang
sama, peserta penyelidikan juga berasa pembelajaran bahasa Inggeris
menggunakan Town Map Model amatlah menyeronokkan. Oleh itu,
penemuan ini telah membuktikan bahawa Town Map Model berkesan
dalam meningkatkan KBAT murid.

Keywords: higher order thinking skill, town map model

Introduction

From the past teaching experience during three practicums in different schools, the

researcher noticed that HOTS is a major weakness that need to be addressed in order

to be able to keep up in the 21st century. From the researcher’s observation during his

practicums in school, pupils had a common interpretation that learning English is difficult

as it was not their mother tongue language. Not to mention using HOT skills in the target

language. As such, in order to introduce pupils to HOTS, the researcher had decided to

use a Town Map Model as one of the way to enhance HOTS.

Literature Review

Malaysia’s poor performance in international assessments such as Programme

for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics

and Science Study (TIMSS) has lead the Malaysian government to introduce initiatives

to assist students who do not have higher order thinking and problem solving skills (MOE,

2013). Based on Ministry of Education (2013), HOTS is the ability to apply knowledge,

skills and values in making reasoning and reflection to solve problems, make decisions,

innovate and strive to create something. It is necessary for students to learn and practice

this ability in order to acquire answers, to make decisions, and to solve problems (Lewis

and Smith. 1993). At the same time, research findings by Shabiralyani et. al (2015) on

the impact of visual aids in the learning process have shown that students find visual aids

sessions useful and relevant when it has some direct relation to the course content.

Based on Djurdjanovic (2015), both class teachers and single subject teachers can use

numerous teaching aids, which will simultaneously serve as sources of knowledge and

instruments of learning to make their activity more successful. Therefore, through the
Town Map Model, it is a great way to break from the common way of showing pictures

and asking pupils to determine based on what they see in the pictures.

Focus of Investigation

Based on Prayoonsri et al. (2015), students with HOTS are able to create new

knowledge and make appropriate and logical decisions. Throughout all my practicum

phases, I observed that big number of the pupils’ population are having trouble in

answering questions that required HOTS. This issue does not only occur to pupils who

are with low English language proficiency but also to those who are counted as average

and high achiever. Based on my observation, majority pupils will tend to view HOTS

questions as something difficult and complex causing them not to take much interest in

trying to answer it. At the same time, another problem that the researcher have observed

is that most of his pupils had low levels of proficiency in English language. Thus, linking

to pupils’ level of proficiency, the researcher can conclude that his pupils have problem

in answering HOTS questions is due to their low level of vocabulary and proficiency.

Research Objectives

This research was carried out to achieve certain targets. The objectives of the research

were

1. Identify the effectiveness of using the town map model in enhancing pupils’ higher

order thinking skills.

2. Explore the extent to which the use of town map model to improve pupils’ higher

order thinking skills.

Research Questions

1. Can the town map model enhance pupils’ higher order thinking skills?

2. How effective is the town map model if it is to be applied in the teaching and

learning session.

Research Participants

The researcher had chosen 4X class as his research participants. There were 26 pupils

consist of 12 male pupils and 14 female pupils. The research participants consisted of all

Malay pupils. All these research participants were treating English language as their

second language (L2). Eight of these pupils were with average proficiency level of English

language and the rest were classified as low English language proficiency. Research

participants had high interest in learning through the town map model based on the semi-

structured interview.

Research Method

This research used a mixed method of both quantitative and qualitative. Data were

collected using pre-test and post-test, questionnaire and also non-participant

observation.

Findings

In this action research, the Town Map Model was used as an intervention to enhance

pupils’ higher order thinking skills. Based on the questionnaire filled in by the research

participants and observation from the school teacher and teacher trainees, significant

data had been collected to answer the research questions. Based on the question

analysis that had been done, research participants agreed that the town map model is

interesting where they can relate to their daily lives. They also agreed that this model
should be applied in other topics and subjects. Therefore, data gained proved the

effectiveness of the intervention towards the research participants. Pre-test and post-test

results had provided solid prove on the improvement undergone by the research

participants. The common blank answers received when pupils hand in worksheet had

now changed into fathomable answers. Pupils have shown to be able to answer HOTS

questions with the aid of the intervention.

Based on the observation, all observers agreed that the activity conducted were

engaging, attractive and interesting. This is because they can understand the lesson well

and able to think creatively and critically. In the aspect of the intervention introduced to

the pupils, observers agreed that it is authentic, matched the curriculum need, easy to

understand and had potential to enhance pupils understanding on the questions that

required HOTS. Moreover, all observers agreed that the lesson was well conducted, clear

instruction, with good classroom control and engaging learning. They suggested that the

teachers could apply this model in other topic as it proved to be versatile.

Research Participants' Progress

7
6 6
6
Questions answered

5 5
5
4 4
4
3 3
3
2
1
1
0
0
Pupil 1 Pupil 2 Pupil 3 Pupil 4 Pupil 5
Research Participant

Test 1 Test 2

Figure 1 Comparison Graph

Based on Figure 1, the researcher observed that there were huge improvements for each

research participants’ in this research. Four out of the five research participants’ are able

to answer all the HOTS questions that were given to them. For the first research

participant, there was 33.3% improvement from the being able to answer only four

questions in test one to being able to answer all questions in Test 2. For research

participant 2 and 3, both of them are only able to answer half of the HOTS questions in

Test 1, but after the intervention were carried out, both research participant improved by

50% by being able to answer all the HOTS questions. The fourth research participant

answered only one question in the Test 1 managed to answer all the HOTS questions

too for Test 2. This result shows that research participant 4 have improved by 83.3%.

Last but not least, the research participant number 5 have improved as much as 66.6%.

For Test 1, research participant 5 left the HOTS question blank while in Test 2, research

participant 5 are able to answer four out of the 6 HOTS questions. This data have clearly

shown that there were improvements after the interventions took place. So, based on the

Figure 1 above, this data can be one of the evidence that the using the Town Map Model

proved to be effective in enhancing higher order thinking skills. In short, the research

participants were able to demonstrate improvement in answering HOTS questions based

on the data collected. They also viewed the intervention as an alternative way to learn on

their own by building their own knowledge through past experience as well as having fun.

Reflection

This action research had shown that through the town map model, pupils can enhance

their higher order thinking skills. The implementation of using this model definitely had

helped pupils to apply critical and creative thinking skills in learning. Apart from that, the

time limitation as well as the venue of the research had somehow been an obstacle that

the researcher had to go through. However, with proper planning and implementation,
the researcher managed to overcome these obstacles by following the correct procedure

to collect feasible data. Last but not least, this action research had brought experience

for the researcher to continue sharpen his skills especially in teaching English by finding

creative ways to make the lesson as interesting as possible through various strategies,

methods and techniques to attract pupils in order to maximize learning.

Suggestion and Recommendations

After the research had been carried out, there were various new insights that could be

identified based on the study. First of all, this action research only focused on Year 4 ESL

classroom in a rural area where all the research participants came from the same

background. Therefore, for further research, it could be conducted in a more

comprehensive and detailed manner involving research participants from different

background from Year 1 to Year 6. The future research could also be conducted in other

rural or urban schools for a longer period of time. This was to test the maximum ability of

the intervention. Besides, this research only focused on the aspect of HOTS using the

intervention. The future research aimed to go deeper in terms of the versatility of the

intervention. One of the improvements that could also be done is where these intervention

was to be applied in various topic at one time. This would provide variety into the

intervention causing the effectiveness level to be affected. Further research would reveal

the effectiveness of utilizing the intervention in various subject and topics. Another

suggestion is that the teacher could insert the element of Information Technology to cater

the 21st century learning system. As the digital world is progressing rapidly these days, it

is not impossible to apply technological skills to improve the teaching and learning

process. Pupils were always excited to use modern technologies to learn, therefore, may

affect the effectiveness level of the intervention.

References

Anderson L. W., Krathwohl, D. R. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and

assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York:

Addison Wesley Logman.

Djurdjanovic, M. M.(2015). The Use Of Teaching Aids And Their Importance For

Students’ Music Education. International Journal of Cognitive Research in

Science, Engineering and Education. 3(2). 371-378

Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of

attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.

Green, J. F. (1970). The use of the mother tongue and the teaching of translation. ELT

Journal, 24, 217-223.

Holmes, T. H., & Rahe, R. H. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of

psychosomatic research, 11(2), 213-218.

Lewis A, Smith D (1993). Defining Higher Order Thinking. Journal of Theory Practice.

32(3):131-137.

Lindsey, K. L. (2013).Teacher-Efficacy for using HOTS Pedagogy in the Classroom.

Master's Theses. 406. http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/gs_theses/406

Patton, M.Q. 1990. Qualitative evaluation and research methods. Newbury Park: SAGE

Publishers.

Prayoonsri, B., Tatsirin, S., Suntorapot, D., Jariya, C., (2015). Factors affecting higher

order thinking skills of students: A meta-analytic structural equation modeling

study. Academic Journal. 10(19). 2639-2652. 10.5897/ERR2015. 2371

Rajendran, N. (2001). The Teaching of Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Malaysia. Journal

of Southeast Asian Education. 2(1).

Shabiralyani, G., Khuran, S. H., Naqvi, H., Nadeem, I. (2015). Impact of Visual Aids in

Enhancing the Learning Process Case Research: District Dera Ghazi Khan.

Journal of Education and Practice. 6(19). 226-233.

Zohar, A., Dori, Y.J. (2003). Higher Order Thinking Skills and Low Achieving Students:

Are they Mutually Exclusive? J. Learn. Sci. 12:145-18.