Enhancing Narrative Writing Competency among Grade 6 Students through Design Thinking Cycle: An Action Research Study at Rinchhen Kuenphen Primary School

Abstract

Narrative writing is an important component of English language learning, yet many grade 6 students experience difficulty generating ideas, organizing events, elaborating characters and settings, and using language accurately. This classroom action research examined the use of Design Thinking Cycle to support narrative writing among 33 Grade 6 students in Class 6 E at Rinchhen Kuenphen Primary school, Thimphu, Bhutan. The study used a six-week mixed methods action research cycle of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting, with the five Design Thinking stages – Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test – embedded in regular English lessons. Data were collected through pre- and post – intervention narrative writing tasks scored with a six-criterion analytic rubric, a Likert-scale attitude survey, short-response questionnaires, and qualitative classroom observations. The overall mean rubric score increased from 10.18 to 15.97 out of 24, a gain of 5.79 points (56.9%), with improvement across all six criteria. The largest percentage gains were observed in Language Use (86.2%), Mechanics (61.4%), and Vocabulary (61.0%), while Elaboration showed the smallest gain (40.4%). Students also reported marked gains in confidence in generating and organizing ideas, and they consistently identified brainstorming and peer feedback as helpful components of the process. However, spelling, sentence construction, and elaboration remained areas of difficulty. The findings indicated that Design Thinking Cycle was associated with improved supported narrative-writing performance and more positive student perceptions of writing. Given the single-class, pre-post design and absence of a comparison group, the findings should be interpreted as classroom-based evidence rather than causal proof. The study nevertheless provides a practical, low-cost model for integrating structured ideation, drafting, feedback, and revision into primary English writing instruction.