CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the research
English is beyond doubt is the most significant language in the world. The existance of English language as one of communication tools is to break down language barriers among people with different race, culture and nationality. Including in Indonesia, English becomes the necessity to the students. As a teacher , teaching English in Indonesia means teaching English as Foreign Language (EFL) not English as Second Language (ESL). Both those terms of English are different, Krashen in Agustina (2012: 1) states that the core difference of those terms is the setting/environment or place where learners study English. Therefore EFL is defined as learning English in countries where English is not spoken as the first language, such as Indonesia.Talking about the use of English including speaking, writing, and reading is useful not only in education but also in business transaction. As the result, it is teacher‟s job to teach English well, and make English is
delighted by the students.
which case, English learning itself should be interested and enjoyable for the students. Now, the point that should be concerned is how teacher can create those kind of situation. Staying awake and interested in class can be difficult. However, what‟s even more difficult is being responsible for keeping
students participated during teaching learning process. Participation is assumed as one of significant factors to conduct successful learning, and it comes when the students are motivated in learning. Students‟ participation also foster a high level of energy and interest in the classroom learning environment.Logically, the more students interested toward learning , the more students will participate. That is a simple description how students‟
participation take the role of successful learning.
In the real condition, that description on the contrary is far from teachers‟ expectation. Based on pre-observation which was done on
November 14th, 2013 at VIII G class of SMP N 1 Purwokerto shows the opposite condition.
a. The students talked each other when the teacher speaks, only few students who focused during teacher‟s explanation.
b. There were some students who slept during the lesson c. Almost the students did not reponse teacher‟s questions
d. Only some students who wanted to come foward to do the task given by the teacher.
because of some causal factors namely the students consider that learning English is unpleasant because at most 6 or 7 hours students spend their time in the class. It may be monotonous and not interesting for the students to get teacher‟s lecturing during that time.
In addition, the lack of teachers‟creativity about teaching method and
classroom management are including the causal factors in which the students have low interest in English. It is obvious that participation is a goal in courses, in short, if only a few students participate by volunteering answers, asking questions, or contributing to discussions, and it makes class sessions become to some extent a lost opportunity to assess and promote learning.In fact, this condition is really difficult neither teachers nor students achieve the purpose of learning itself, moreover English itself is difficult to be learnt.Given that the issue above is a measurement of successful learning, therefore, this study has a goal to boost students‟ participation in learning
English by using ice breaking activity.
Ice breaking activities were selected because of some reasons. First, ice breking activities as tool to promote students‟ interest, so there will be an
interaction between teacher and student or among students. As Susan M. Heathfield (2013) in her article about ice-breaking states that an ice breaker is an activity, game, or event that is used to welcome and warm up the conversation among participants in a meeting, training class, team building session, or other event. Second, this technique is used to break students‟
facilitator in seminar or workshop to make the participants feel relaxed and focus during the activity. Third, this technique is easy to be implemented, and what is more attractive that ice breaking even used in the previous research to create effective learning in Enterpreneurship class by Sunyoto (2012) , and Chinese subject to increase students‟ motivation by Dian Arshinta (2010),
and the result is shown that ice-breaking activities are effective. In rare cases, this study gives different sense from the latest study by giving an action(ice breaking) to solve the same problem in learning English.
In conclusion, the aim of this research is to improve students‟ participation in learning English. That is why this research is entitled “Boosting Students‟ Participation in Learning English through Ice-breaking
Activities (A Classroom Action Research in VIII G Class of SMP N 1 Purwokerto in Academic Year 2013/2014)”.
B. The problem of the research
According to explanation at the background, the problem of this research is “Can Ice-breaking activities boost students‟ participation in VIII G
class of SMP N 1 Purwokerto in academic year 2013/2014?”
C. Reason for Choosing Topic
This study is intended to enhance students‟ participation on VIII G students of SMP N 1 Purwokerto for the following reasons: (1) students‟
teaching which are used by the teacher, (3) Ice-breaking activities as the way to encourage students‟ involvement in learning English.
D. The Objective of the Research
From the previous discussion in the background of study, it is explained that ice breaking activity is the way or teaching strategy that can be used by teachers to promote students participation. In short, there are many ways to be successful, but this study tries to prove that using ice breaking can help the teacher promote active learning, because ideally, the goal of increasing participation is not to have every student participate in the same way or at the same rate. Instead, it is to create an environment in which all participants or students have the opportunity to learn and in which their achievement is above average.
E. The Contribution of the Research
The contributions which are expected from the study are as follows : 1. For teacher
2. For the students
Icebreaking activity can motivate the students to engage in teaching learning process. This activity in real has many advantages for the students, they are as follows:
a. Create a positive and interesting atmosphere b. Reduce students‟ boredoom
c. Help people to relax d. Break down social barrier e. Energize the students
f. Help students to think outside the box g. Help people to get to know one another 3. For the Institution
The result of this research paper can be useful input in teaching English, and it can increase students achievement of that school especially in academic context.
4. For the researcher
This research can be an inspiration or idea for other researcher to conduct similar study in line with applying ice-breaking activities as an action.
F. The Clarification of the Terms
The title of this study is “Boosting Students‟ Participation in Learning
1. Boosting
Boosting comes from the word boost that means to increase or improve something in value, quality, desirability, or attractiveness. (an Encyclopedia Britannica Company)
2. Students‟ participation
Participation is role and involvement of students in teaching and learning process in the class. According to (Cambridge Learners‟
Dictionary ,2007) Participate is the action of taking a part or involving in an activity. Participation itself constitutes an interaction and communication that relate to right, responsibility, and benefits. In conclusion, participation can be defined as students‟ involvement in
teaching learning process. 3. Ice-breaking activities
The term “icebreaking” comes from “break the ice” which comes
from special ships called “icebreaker” that designed to break up the ice in
arctic regions. In other words these ships make it easier for other ships to travel. That illustration is the same as the function of icebreaking in the classroom activity, icebreaking helps to clear the way for learning to occur by making the learner more comfortable and encouraging interaction among the students, or between teacher and students.
According to Sigit Setyawan (2013:10) defines icebreaking as an activity that is used to create interesting atmosphere, build students‟
