Improving the Ability in Completing Written Exercises Properly: An Action Research Study

The subject of Information Technology has a prominent place in the current school curriculum due to its involvement in expanding the capacity, cognitive and psychomotor skills of an individual. The subject consists of both theoretical and practical areas. The ability to write proper answers for a given written exercise is a fundamental skill a student must have when studying Information Technology. While conducting the teaching learning process, the main problem encountered was the backwardness of student X in providing proper short answers to a given written exercise. Through data collection methods such as observations, interviews and documentary study, the nature of the problem was clearly investigated. The current study was started with the intention of eliminating backwardness in providing proper short answers to a given written exercise. The literature review was done to orient the action research towards the correct direction by getting an insight into implementing the intervention plan. The preliminary functional plan was executed with three steps and the objective was to motivate the student to complete the given written exercise accurately. The second intervention plan was implemented and completed with three steps. The objective of the second intervention was to build up the ability to construct a written answer logically and creatively. Finally, the third intervention step was executed with three steps to improve the ability in completing the written exercises properly. The qualitative analytical comparison was done among pre and post written answers of student X. There was a vivid positive improvement in the post written answer. Marks obtained for the structured essay part in the Information Technology subject had improved by eleven marks after conducting the action research. The current study thus demonstrates that there is a direct proportional relationship between the variables of student performance and the student’s capability in completing the given written tasks. Keywords: Cognitive; Psychomotor; Action Research; Intervention Plan; Structured Essay