Through the process of the 4Mat system instruction, the researcher found that

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS

Through the process of the 4Mat system instruction, the researcher found that

students’ interest in learning English was promoted, especially those with low English

proficiency. Students paid more attention than before because they could find their

places in class no matter how they did in their test.

Besides these, some challenges and limitations should also be discussed here in

this chapter.

Based on the results discussed in the previous chapter, the first and the second

research questions of this study can be concluded as following: the 4Mat system

approach can truly help readers of different learning styles to read strategically. It can

help Type 1 learners guess the meanings of the words more precisely, help Types 3

and 4 learners to find the main ideas of the article more easily, and help Type 4

learners to make inference from the article.

The lesson plan should always consist of four parts, including warming up,

Limitations of this Study

In this study, there were altogether 30 participants. After taking the personality

test, each group only consists no more than 10 members. There was a potential danger

that no significance will be shown in the statistical analysis because of the small

number of the members. As in the case of analysis problems with Type 2 learners

reported in Chapter four.

Another way to make the results more convincible is that future researchers

should design more questions of the same kind instead of only one question of each

kind to have more satisfying results.

Limitations of Adopting the 4Mat System

The articles chosen in the research were suitable for the 7

grade students. With

higher EFL proficiency level of students, the length of the article will surely be longer

and the vocabulary will be more difficult. Then it may need more time to conduct the

activities of the 4Mat system and cut back the time for normal class activities. It is

therefore suggested that the teacher use the reading section in the textbook as the

practice of the 4Mat system to promote students ability in reading comprehension.

Suggestions

Although the subjects improved their reading strategies with the 4Mat system

instruction, the teacher has to spend more time in course design and planning more

classroom activities. To be more efficient, the teacher should develop a habit of

recording all the activities he or she can think of and categorize them for different

types of learners. Some activities may go well; others may not. The teacher should

make modification to fit the topic or the atmosphere of the class. A pool of activities

created by a team of teachers may also help reduce the burden and the time for course

design.

Besides course design, it is also a big challenge for the teacher to supervise the

process of the activities. During the four parts of the 4Mat, except for the second part,

in which the teacher plays the main role, students need to complete the activities

either on their own or with the help of their group members. The teacher must play a

good role of supervising by asking the students to speak in English as much as

possible, and not to chat in private, he/she also needs to assure the functions of the

five roles (leader, encourager, announcer, clunk expert, and gist expert).

Compared with conventional instruction in the past, the teacher using the 4Mat

make some changes in teaching English. The researcher believes that through every

English teacher’s effort, more evidence of the effects of the 4Mat system can be found

in the near future.

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