THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLASH CARDS TO IMPROVE
IRREGULAR VERB MASTERY AMONG THE EIGHTH
GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 3 KLATEN
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Wilda Prandika Student Number: 091214026
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLASH CARDS TO IMPROVE
IRREGULAR VERB MASTERY AMONG THE EIGHTH
GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 3 KLATEN
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Wilda Prandika Student Number: 091214026
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
i
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLASH CARDS TO IMPROVE
IRREGULAR VERB MASTERY AMONG THE EIGHTH
GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 3 KLATEN
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Wilda Prandika Student Number: 091214026
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of the other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, October 10, 2013 The writer
v
There is nothing in this life that can destroy you
but yourself.
Bad things happen to everyone, but when they do,
you can’t just fall apart and die.
You have to fight back. If you don’t, you’re the
one who loses in the end.
But if you do keep going and fight back, you win.
Alexandra Monir.
“I can do all things through Christ who lives in
me.”
Ricardo Kaka.
This thesis is dedicated to:
vi
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Wilda Prandika
Nomor Mahasiswa : 091214026
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLASH CARDS TO IMPROVE IRREGULAR VERB MASTERY AMONG THE EIGHTH
GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 3 KLATEN
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal : 10 Oktober 2013 Yang menyatakan
vii
ABSTRACT
Prandika, Wilda. 2013. The Implementation of Flash Cards to Improve Irregular Verb Mastery among the Eighth Grade Students of SMP N 3 KLATEN. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.
Mastering grammar, especially simple past tense, is very important in learning recount. Recount is one kind of texts which uses simple past tense. It should be learnt by students of junior high school. Unfortunately, many students face difficulties to understand simple past tense. Based on the preliminary study conducted by the researcher, the students of VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten faced difficulties in filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. In accordance with the condition, the flash cards strategy was implemented to improve the students’ irregular verb mastery. This research is addressed to answer a question: How do flash cards strategy improve irregular verb mastery of students of VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten?
This research employed Classroom Action Research (CAR) in which the stages consisted of plan, action, observation, and reflection. This classroom action research aimed to help the students of VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten learn the past forms of irregular verbs through flash cards. There were one preliminary study and two cycles of this research. The research was carried out on February 26, March 6, and 8, 2013. The instruments used to gather the data were field notes, test, and interview.
The analysis of the data showed that there was a significant difference of the students’ average score in the preliminary study (51.2), cycle 1 (81.3), and
viii
ABSTRAK
Prandika, Wilda. 2013. The Implementation of Flash Cards to Improve Irregular Verb Mastery among the Eighth Grade Students of SMP N 3 KLATEN. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Menguasai grammar khususnya simple past tense sangatlah penting dalam mempelajari recount. Recount adalah salah satu jenis teks yang seharusnya dipelajari oleh siswa SMP. Sangat disayangkan, banyak siswa yang mendapat kesulitan dalam mempelajari simple past tense. Berdasarkan pengajaran pendahuluan yang dilakukan oleh peneliti, siswa-siswi kelas VIIIB SMP N 3 Klaten menghadapi kesulitan mengisi bentuk lampau irregular verbs dalam sebuah teks recount. Sehubungan dengan kondisi tersebut, strategi flash cards diterapkan untuk meningkatkan penguasaan irregular verb para siswa. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menjawab pertanyaan: Bagaimana strategi flash cards dalam meningkatkan penguasaan irregular verb dari siswa-siswi kelas VIIIB SMP N 3 Klaten?
Penelitian ini adalah Penelitian Tindakan Kelas (PTK) yang langkah-langkahnya terdiri dari perencaaan, tindakan, pengamatan, dan refleksi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membantu siswa-siswi kelas VIIIB SMP N 3 Klaten dalam mempelajari bentuk lampau dari irregular verbs melalui flash cards. Dalam penelitian ini terdapat satu pengajaran pendahuluan dan dua siklus. Proses penerapan dilaksanakan pada tanggal 26 Februari, 6 Maret, dan 8 Maret 2013. Alat penelitian yang digunakan untuk mengumpulkan data adalah catatan lapangan, tes, dan wawancara.
Analisis data menunjukkan bahwa terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan dari rata-rata skor siswa-siswi dalam pengajaran pendahuluan (51,2), siklus 1 (81,3), dan siklus 2 (85,6). Dapat dilihat bahwa rata-rata skor siswa-siswi mengalami kanaikan dari 51,2-86,5. Siswa-siswi dapat memotivasi diri mereka untuk mempelajari bentuk lampau dari irregular verbs dengan baik melalui flash cards. Flash cards dapat juga membantu siswa-siswi dalam meningkatkan kosakata mereka.
Peneliti menyimpulkan bahwa mengajar bentuk lampau dari irregular verb melalui flash cards sangat bermanfaat bagi siswa-siswi. Oleh karena itu, direkomendasikan bahwa flash cards digunakan untuk mengajar bentuk lampau dari irregular verb.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank and praise my beloved Jesus Christ for His everlasting love, blessing, wonderful grace, mercy, power, and inspiration leading me to reach the completion of this thesis.
My great appreciation goes to the Head of the English Department and all lecturers of the English Department of Sanata Dharma University for their guidance and assistance during the study. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Caecilia Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. for her guidance, beneficial suggestions, motivations, valuable time, and encouragement in writing the thesis. I am truly indebted to Sunarto, S.Pd., M.Pd. and Tumarmi, S.Pd., as the principal and the English teacher of SMP N 3 Klaten, who have permitted me to conduct this research in SMP N 3 Klaten. I also wish to express my appreciation to the students of 8B of SMP N 3 Klaten 2012/2013 Academic Year for being very cooperative, fun, and friendly. I would like to thank Sr. Margareth, for being my proof reader. She is a very kind person who has given me constructive comments.
x
I would like to give my deepest gratitude to my lovely parents, Sukaya
and Sudarti, who always gives me encouragement, endless love, care, prayer, and support in finishing the thesis. I thank my younger brother, Rafael Adi Febianto,
who always supported me when I was doing the thesis. I also thank my niece,
Marita Agusta Maharani, who has inspired and encouraged me to work harder in finishing the thesis. I would also thank all of my big family who always care about and pray for me.
I truthfully want to thank my friend Agung Tri Nugroho, S.Pd., and Rr. Putri Pratiningrum, S.Pd., for their time to check the grammatical mistakes of the thesis, and support me in finishing the thesis. I thank Pipiet, Vita, Liliana,
and Budi for their valuable time to share action research and be my partners who helped observe my research. My thanks go to all my best friends Umpluk, Dika,
Lindung, Sita, Friska, Hana, Nana, and Ardek for making me smile when I am
Finally, I also want to thank all the people who cannot be mentioned one by one and who supported and prayed for me to finish this thesis. I hope that this research will be useful to improve knowledge.
xi
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... v
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
ABSTRACT ... vii
1. Standard of Content of VIII Grade Students... 9
2. Recount Text ... 10
3. Teaching Grammar... 11
a. Definition of Grammar ... 12
xii
1) Integrating both Inductive
and Deductive Approaches ... 12
2) Using Tasks that Make Clear the Relationship between Grammatical Form and Communicative Form ... 13
3) Focusing on the Development of Procedural rather than Declarative Knowledge... 13
c. Nature of Grammar... 14
d. Models of Teaching Grammar ... 15
1) Drills ... 15
2) Written Exercises ... 15
3) Grammar Practice Activities ... 15
4. Teaching Media... 16
a. Definition of Teaching Media ... 16
b. Kinds of Media ... 17
b. Possible Case of Implementation of Flash Cards ... 20
c. Flash Cards in Teaching Irregular Verbs ... 20
6. Classroom Action Research ... 21
a. Definition of Classroom Action Research ... 21
b. Aims of Classroom Action Research ... 22
c. Characteristics of Classroom Action Research ... 22
d. Models of Classroom Action Research ... 22
xiii CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY
A. Research Method ... 25
B. Research Setting and Participants ... 29
C. Research Instruments ... 30
D. Data Gathering Technique ... 32
E. Data Analysis Technique ... 34
F. Research Procedures ... 37
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. The Description of Implementation of Flash Cards Strategy ... 41
1. Preliminary Study ... 43
2. First Cycle of CAR ... 48
a. Planning of the First Cycle ... 49
b. Acting and Observing of the First Cycle ... 52
c. Reflecting of the First Cycle ... 57
3. Second Cycle of CAR ... 61
a. Planning of the Second Cycle ... 62
b. Acting and Observing of the Second Cycle ... 64
xiv
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
3.1 The Result of the Students’ Test Score ... 31
4.1 Teaching Schedule ... 42
4.2 The Results of the Test in the Preliminary Study ... 45
4.3 The Results of the Test in the First Cycle ... 55
4.4 The Results of the Test in the Second Cycle ... 68
4.5 The Average Score of the Students’ Results ... 75
4.6 The Percentage of the Students’ Test Result in the Preliminary Study ... 75
4.7 The Percentage of the Students’ Test Result in the Cycle One ... 76
xv
LIST OF FIGURE
Figure Page
3.1 The “action research spiral” (based on Kemmis and
xvi
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
Appendix 1. Covering Letter for the Head of SMP N 3 Klaten ... 83
Appendix 2. Research Official Statement from SMP N 3 Klaten ... 85
Appendix 3. Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials of the Preliminary Study ... 87
Appendix 4. Field Notes of Preliminary Study ... 98
Appendix 5. The Result of the test in the Preliminary Study ... 102
Appendix 6. Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials of Cycle One ... 105
Appendix 7. Field Notes of Cycle One ... 115
Appendix 8. The Result of the test in the Cycle One ... 119
Appendix 9. Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials of Cycle Two... 122
Appendix 10. Field Notes of Cycle Two ... 132
Appendix 11. The Result of the test in the Cycle Two ... 136
Appendix 12. Sample of the Students’ Irregular Verbs Test in the Preliminary Study... 139
Appendix 13. Sample of the Students’ Irregular Verbs Test in the Cycle One ... 143
Appendix 14. Sample of the Students’ Irregular Verbs Test in the Cycle Two ... 147
Appendix 15. Interview Guide ... 154
Appendix 16. Interview Results ... 157
Appendix 17. Samples of Flash Cards ... 167
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Chapter I presents a discussion of the thesis background which motivates the researcher to write the thesis. There are six major concerns presented in this chapter. Those are the research background, research problems, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms.
A. Research Background
Based on the 2006 Standard of Content, English teaching in Junior High School covers four skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In teaching English, there are some important language components (structure and vocabulary) to help the learners in acquiring these English four skills.
students usually face difficulties in English grammar, for instance in doing an exercise related to the use of the past forms of verbs.
There are many parts of grammar that cannot be ignored, such as articles, parts of speech, modal auxiliaries, tenses, etc. However, there is a part of the grammar that can be considered to be the most difficult thing to learn by Indonesian students, namely, tenses. Simple past tense is an example of the problem which is faced by eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Klaten especially in doing an exercise about filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. The use of simple past tense often makes the students confused with its complexity. Based on the researcher’s experience while doing an observation in SMP N 3 Klaten, it was noticed that the students faced difficulties in filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. Some students wrote
“Last year, I leaved New Zealand for Bunaken Island,”instead of “Last year, I left New Zealand for Bunaken Island.”, when they were learning a recount text.
Simple past tense is one of the tenses which must be learned by the students grade VIII in Junior High School. They are expected to be able to master it since simple past tense is the basic knowledge to make a recount text. By mastering simple past tense, students grade VIII will be helped to understand short recount texts easily. The teacher has to teach simple past tense clearly to the students in Junior High School.
not master simple past tense. For instance, the students actually did not know the past forms of irregular verbs (such as swam, blew, and shone) when they did an exercise although the words have already been provided. Therefore, the researcher wants to implement flash cards as a teaching strategy to help the students memorize the past forms of irregular verbs. The researcher chose flash cards because this teaching media has never been used in class. Moreover, Tafani (2009: 86) states that one of non-technical media is flash cards. Using a tool or media is an appropriate way which makes the students easier in memorizing the past forms of irregular verbs, especially using the flash cards.
large amount. In conclusion, there are many students who face difficulties in writing the correct past forms of irregular verbs. This phenomenon will affect the students in arranging or writing a sentence such as using the past forms of verbs.
Therefore, language feature used in a recount text should be taught clearly by the teacher. According to Standard of Competence 11 and Basic Competence 11.1, the students grade VIII should understand a recount text. This generally tells about how the students can understand the meaning of short functional texts and simple essays, namely, recount and narrative. (See appendix 3).
In order to make the teaching of a recount text for the eighth grade students successful, there are some important factors. One of them is media. According to Deflaur (1985: 33), media is used in teaching information and instruction. Besides, Tafani (2009: 82) states that media provide teachers and students with creative and practical ideas. The creativity can be shown by improving or developing materials, media, and techniques of teaching. The flash cards can also be an alternative way which helps the teacher to teach the past forms of irregular verbs in the class. Bard (2002: 164) says that flash cards are effective tool for memorizing spelling words, multiplication tables, and other information that does not require analysis. Based on the opinions above, the flash cards are media of teaching and enriching grammar.
eighth grade students improve the past forms of irregular verb mastery, so they can understand the past tense about the correct past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in some sentences in a recount text well.
B. Research Problem
In order to attain the objective of the research systematically, the following question is raised: How do flash cards improve irregular verb mastery of students of VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten?
C. Problem Limitation
This research focuses on discovering how the flash cards improve the
students’ irregular verb mastery. The researcher will conduct the research using the flash cards to know how the flash cards improve the students’ irregular verb mastery. The reason why the researcher chose SMP N 3 Klaten as the place to conduct the research is because the researcher finds out the problem where the eighth grade students face difficulties in filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text when he is doing the observation.
D. Research Objective
E. Research Benefits
The study is expected to give a useful contribution to the students, teachers, and other researchers.
1. The students
The students are expected to improve their abilities to understand the past form of irregular verb by using flash cards, so that students not bored if the learning process is done through interesting media. Therefore, they will be interested to learn the past forms of irregular verbs.
2. The teachers
This study is expected that the English teachers will be able to improve, motivate, and help the students learn the past forms of verbs through the flash cards. The study may also provide information needed by the English teachers about using the flash cards in teaching the past forms of verbs in English class. Hopefully, the teacher will teach better in order to solve the students’ problem.
3. Other researchers
F. Definition of Terms
1. Flash Cards
Mukalel (2004: 147) explains that flash cards are small cards, big enough to carry; (1) part of sentences, (2) phrases, (3) single words, (4) minimal pairs and so on. This card is added by single words of the present form, past form, and past participle of irregular verbs. The students can pronounce and memorize the irregular verbs well through the flash cards. Flash on the past form of irregular verbs can be defined implies to flash for learning tool which can help the teacher in teaching irregular verb. This flash card is especially used to teach the past forms of irregular verbs.
2. Irregular Verbs Mastery
According to Greenbaum & Quirk (1990: 29), irregular verb mastery can differ from regular verbs in that either the past inflection, or the –ed participle inflection, or both of these, are irregular. Irregular verbs either do not have the regular –ed inflection, or else have a variant of that inflection in which the /d/ is devoiced to /t/, for instance, send-sent-sent. Irregular verb mastery is a knowledge to understand the present verb that is changed into the past form without having the –ed/d inflection in the end of the word. In this research, the participants can differentiate whether the verb which is added by –ed/d inflection (regular verb) or the verbs which is added by a variant of the inflection.
3. Eighth Grade Students
9
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, the researcher presents a discussion on some theories as the foundation of this research. It will be divided into two parts. They are the theoretical description and theoretical framework. The theoretical description discusses the underlying theories which are related to the implementation of flash cards to improve the students’ irregular verb mastery. Meanwhile, the theoretical framework concludes all relevant theories which can help the researcher to answer the research problem.
A. Theoretical Description
The theoretical description contains related theories to this research. This part presents five major topics. They are theories of standard of content VIII, theories of recount text, theories of teaching grammar, theories of teaching media, theories of flash cards, and theories on classroom action research.
1. Standard of Content of VIII Grade Students
genres (Sutikno, 2004). For instance, to obtain the objective in learning a recount text, the students should achieve what are expected in standard of content. Based on the Government Regulation No. 19, 2005, standard of content is a range of learning materials and competence level in criteria of graduation competence, lesson competence, and syllabus that must be completed on a certain education. By looking at standard of content VIII, there are standard of competence and basic competence in learning a recount text especially for reading skills are as follows:
11. Understand the meaning of short functional texts and simple essays in a form of recount and narrative to interact with surrounding.
11.1. Read short functional texts and simple essays loudly in a form of recount, and narrative with pronunciation, and intonation acceptably related to the surrounding.
2. Recount Text
for the reader in order to understand about the text (i,e. who was involved, where it happened, and when it happened). Then, a recount text unfolds with a series of events (ordered in chronological sequences). At various stages there may be some personal comment on the event which is called as reorientation. Secondly, it is about the language features, language features in a recount text are: (1) Proper nouns to identify those involved in a text, (2) Descriptive words to give details about who, when, where, what, and how, (3) The use of past tense to retell the events, (4) Words which show the order events (for example: first, next, then).
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that a recount text has three elements, namely, orientation, events, and reorientation or concluding statement of the story. In a recount text, one of the language features is past tense.
3. Teaching Grammar
a. Definition of Grammar
Before going to know the principles of teaching grammar in learning English, it will be better to have some definitions of what grammar is about. Richard et al. (1985) as cited in Nunan (2003: 154) define that grammar is a description of the structure of a language and the way in which units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language. Besides, Joyce & Burns (1999: 4-5) also define that grammar is essentially about the systems and patterns that are used to select and combine words.
b. Principles of Teaching Grammar
Nunan (2003: 158-160) states that there are three principles for teaching grammar. They are integrating both inductive and deductive methods, using tasks that make clear the relationship between grammatical form and communicative function, and focusing on the development of procedural rather than declarative knowledge.
1) Integrating both Inductive and Deductive Approaches
applying the inductive or deductive approach, the students will find it easier in learning grammar.
2) Using Tasks that Make Clear the Relationship between Grammatical
Form and Communicative Function
In this principle, the teacher has to give students the tasks related to grammatical form as much as possible in order to make students accustomed to learning grammar. On the other hand, Nunan (2003: 159) states that however, it is expected that grammar tasks given by the teacher do not only focus on grammatical form but also are able to be related to the communicative context. In other words, grammar is used in a context which shows the correlation between communicative function and grammatical form as clear as possible.
3) Focusing on the Development of Procedural rather than Declarative
Knowledge
Declarative knowledge means knowing language rules, whereas procedural knowledge means being able to use the knowledge for communication as stated by Nunan (2003: 160). He also explains that the teacher should focus on the procedural knowledge in order to make the students be able to apply knowledge which they have in daily conversation in learning grammar. In other words, it is also aimed to help the students in communication.
c. Nature of Grammar
According to Larsen (2003: 13), there are six statements about the nature of grammar. One of them is that grammar is arbitrary which is related to the verbs are the real problem faced by the students. Irregular English verbs are one of the important features of English. It is because the students use a lot of irregular verbs in speaking and less in writing. Rozakis (2003:29) states that irregular English verbs are those verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjunction in the language in which they occur. Irregular English verbs are often the most commonly used verbs in the language. Rozakis (2003:33) also says that no pattern is followed when the past and past participle are formed. Instead, there are many different forms.
d. Models of Teaching Grammar
In order to give the students some oral or written practices, the teacher should use the activities carefully to restrict the language needed and require the use of the target items in teaching grammar. According to Scrivener (1994:118), there are some typical restricted which use activities, such as drills, written exercises, and grammar practice activities.
1) Drills
Scrivener (1994:118) states that drills provide oral practices of selected sentences. It is used to make the students accustomed to use grammar point. It also helps the students to memorize the change of sentence pattern in part of subject, object, or verb. The aim of drilling is to improve accuracy in doing oral practices of selected sentences.
2) Written Exercises
Written exercises are a common and useful way of giving the students concentrated practices of language items as stated by Scrivener (1994:121). Written exercises aim to help the students become familiar with the use of verbs in English especially in filling in the blanks in a text.
3) Grammar Practice Activities
By doing the three activities, the teacher can help the students understand the models of teaching grammar, so that the students are easier in learning grammar and do not get bored easily.
4. Teaching Media
In order to have a clear understanding about the teaching media, the researcher provides explanation on the definition of media, kinds of media, and three reasons for using media.
a. Definition of Teaching Media
Before discussing the flash cards as a teaching media, the researcher is going to discuss the meaning of media. In general, media can be any object or agreement of object which is used as a device by human with the parallel meaning. Media is used in teaching instruction and information (Deflaur, 1985: 33), therefore, media is on decision whether it is used in teaching instruction or giving information for the students in learning.
Dawson (2003: 2) also says that, “the use whatever methods or media were appropriate for the learners and the task, acknowledging that words can be a powerful and efficient means of conveying ideas even for the youngest children”. Therefore, the components of teaching and learning process are related to one another. One of them is media. Using media is helpful in the teaching learning process to transfer the material to the students. One of the important things of the use of media is to make the students be more interested and motivate them in learning the subject.
b. Kinds of Media
Media help the teacher to present the material in efficient time and stimulate students in getting information more readily. According to Tafani (2009: 86), “in the teaching English as a second or foreign language, there are two kinds of media in the language teaching process”. They are:
1) Non-Technical Media : Blackboards, whiteboards, magnet boards, flannel boards, pegboards, flash cards, index cards, wall charts, posters, maps, scrolls, board games, mounted pictures, photos, cartoons, line drawing, object regalia, pamphlets, leaflets, flyers, equipment operation manuals, puppets, newspapers, and magazines.
Flash cards which are one of non-technical media are going to discuss in different part.
c. Reason for Using Media
Lueck (1988: 48) expresses that teachers must use media because the use of auditory stimulation in the classroom makes the impression vague. Therefore, the use of visual and the involvement of other senses are needed.
The eighth grade students of Junior High School, who learned English, need a help from the teacher to have a clear insight. Media is one of the tools which can be used by the teacher to present the material. Media are used to help the students in achieving the desire of learning outcomes. It is because the use of media in the teaching and learning English can help the students to recall the material that has been given easily. The students will be helped during the teaching and learning process by using media in the classroom. They are also able to retain most of the words given and recall them later in the next activities. Therefore, media are very helpful for the students. In other words, media of education is able to put the important basic for development in studying and memorizing the material stay permanently in the students’ memory.
5. Flash Cards
a. Definition of Flash Cards
Charles (2009: 123) states that flash cards are especially useful for memorizing vocabulary words and their definition, dates in history and their significance, and picture artwork or other items that you will be responsible for identifying. The flash cards can be used at the beginning of a unit to present and practice new vocabularies. Mukalel (2004: 147) states that flash cards are small cards, big enough to carry on them, such as part of sentences, phrases, single words, minimal pairs and so on.
Besides, the flash cards also have some advantages in the learning process. According to Micheloud (2009), there are some advantages of using the flash cards in the classroom, namely, (1) the system is effective to use for distinguishing tenses, (2) the cards are easy to be prepared (everyone can make flash cards by drawing any illustration according to the purpose of teaching), (3) the cards are easy to be carried around (as they are only a stack of card, it is easy to be carried), and (4) the cards are easy to be used (cards are only transferred of flash from back to front).
b. Possible Case of the Implementation of Flash Cards words loudly. It is aimed at knowing the students’ pronunciation. If the students make some mistakes, the teacher gives the example of pronouncing the words correctly. The teacher is not going to change the flash cards before the students pronounced it correctly. Then, he asks them one by one to pronounce. They have also to change the irregular verbs of the words from the first form into the second form and the third form. After finishing that activity, the teacher gives an examination in order to evaluate the teaching and learning process.
c. Flash Cards in Teaching Irregular Verbs
In the beginning of the class, the teacher will explain the flash cards. If the teacher uses the flash cards to drill the past forms of irregular verbs, she/he should show them in front of the class, so the whole class can see the cards easily and go through the drill. After the students start to pronounce the past form and past participle of irregular verbs in the cards, the teacher can start to flash the cards for a second and the students have to tell what the card is. That is why they are called flash cards.
6. Classroom Action Research
This part presents the discussion of classroom action research. They are the definition, aims, characteristics, and models of classroom action research.
a. Definition of Classroom Action Research
Kemmis and McTaggart as quoted by Nunan (1992: 18) state that action research is a group of activity and a piece of descriptive research carried out by the teacher in her/his own classroom, without changing the phenomenon under investigation. Meanwhile Harmer (2001: 344) argues that action research is a series of procedures in which teachers can engage to evaluate the success of certain activities and procedures.
b. Aims of Classroom Action Research
Each kind of research must have a goal in order to solve the problem which is being researched. Elliot (1991: 49) states that the fundamental aim of action research is to improve practices rather than to produce knowledge. Meanwhile, according to Cohan and Manion as cited by Nunan (1992: 18), “the aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within the educational context in which research is being carried out”. Therefore, classroom
action research is used since the aim of the study is to improve the students’ irregular verb mastery through the flash cards.
c. Characteristics of Classroom Action Research
Kemmis and McTaggart arguments as quoted by Nunan (1992: 19), there are three characteristics of classroom action research. They are: (1) it is carried out by practitioners (for the purpose, classroom teacher) rather than outside researchers, (2) it is collaborative, and (3) it is aimed at changing things.
d. Models of Classroom Action Research
B. Theoretical Framework
By looking at the Indonesian curriculum 2006 which is implemented in teaching and learning process, the researcher should be able to understand various types of recount texts. The researcher decided to use a recount text which became the basic in making the materials in the teaching and learning process. Hammon et al. (1992) state that a recount text is both spoken and written text. In learning recount, the students must learn the language features of recount. One of them is simple past tense. Simple past tense is part of the grammar that can be considered to be the most difficult thing that must be learnt by the eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Klaten. However, grammar learning should be given enough attention and great importance in the classroom as stated by Chen (2009).
Based on the observation, the eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Klaten faced difficulties in understanding the past forms of irregular verbs. It could be seen that the students could not write the correct past forms of irregular verbs in filling the blanks in a recount text. It became the teacher’s responsibility to help students master grammar especially the simple past tense.
There are four stages which are used to conduct the research using flash cards, namely planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The researcher put the stages of acting and observing into one step.
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology used in the research. To achieve the objective of the research, the writer applies the following methodology which is divided into six sections: (1) research method, (2) research setting and participant, (3) research instruments, (4) data gathering technique, (5) data analysis technique, and (6) research procedure.
A. Research Method
In this study, the researcher employed classroom action research (CAR) as the research method. Kemmis and McTaggart as quoted by Nunan (1992: 18) state that action research is a group of activity and a piece of descriptive research carried out by the teacher in his or her own classroom, without changing the phenomenon under investigation. This classroom action research was conducted to overcome the problem encountered in class and to help the teacher increase the quality of learning and teaching process.
Figure 3.1 The “action research spiral” (based on Kemmis and mcTaggart 1988:
Based on the Kemmis and McTaggart’s model, there are the basic activities in conducting action research. The activities can be elaborated as follows:
1. Planning
Planning was the first stage of the research procedure. This activity covered the problem identification. It was the most important stage in conducting the research because by knowing the problem, the researcher could find a good solution to solve it. After identifying the problem, the researcher started to make a lesson plan as a planning before doing an action in the teaching and learning process. The lesson plan consisted of the activities which had been done by the researcher and the students. The activities were divided into three activities, namely pre activity, whilst activity, and post activity. In this research, the researcher conducted the preliminary study and two cycles which aimed to know the improvement of the students’ irregular verb mastery in VIIIB class of SMP N 3 Klaten.
2. Acting and Observing
the past forms of irregular verbs and pronounce the verbs by using the flash cards. The action was aimed to solve the problems.
In the observation time, there were the teacher and the researcher’s partner who aimed to monitor and observe the researcher when he was doing the action. The observation consisted of some aspects, such as the researcher’s performance, students’ behavior, and students’ response in the learning process. The researcher also observed what was happening in the teaching and learning process by taking a note about the class situation including the students’ participation and students’ response.
3. Reflecting
After implementing the action and observation, the researcher interviewed three students who gained the highest score, medium score, and lowest score in doing the test. The interview was done when the students had break time after their class. The result of interview became a reflection for the researcher to do what would be improved on the lesson plan in the next cycle. Besides, the researcher also shared with the teacher who became the observer in doing action research. He wanted to know the teacher’s view during the learning process. Those purposed to know what was needed to improve during the implementation of flash cards. In this stage, the researcher could observe whether the acting activity had resulted any progress or not in the teaching and learning process.
the preliminary study and two cycles. The test score was very useful to help the researcher make a reflection for what should be improved in the next cycle. Through test score, the researcher could know the individual’s ability, so he could give more practice during implementing the flash cards.
B. Research setting and participants
C. Research instruments
The instruments of this research were field notes, test, and interview.
1. Field Notes
Field notes enable the researcher to record and reflect systematically upon classroom interactions and events. According to Burns (1999), field notes as a description and account of events in the research context in a written form. The field notes were used to know the students’ behavior and teacher’s performance in the teaching and learning process. Besides, the field notes showed some notes taken in each action of the teacher and the students. By employing field notes, the researcher would be helped in reporting the information objectively. It is because the field notes provided the best way of describing every event which was happening in the class. The research provided ten questions as a field note guide consisted of the teacher’s performance, students’ behavior, and students’ responses toward learning process.
In this research, the field notes were used to record the responses and participation of the eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Klaten toward the action which happened in the classroom before and during using the flash cards. The researcher would observe the learning process twice before implementing the flash cards and during implementing the flash cards.
2. Test
process. In this research, the researcher used the test which was only about filling in the blanks in some sentences related to the use of the past forms of irregular verbs. The researcher took the test score in the preliminary study, cycle 1, and cycle 2. Test score was helpful as a research tool to compare the students’ achievement in learning irregular verbs before and after implementing the flash cards. researcher applied those verbs in the flash cards, so the students could know easier the past forms of verbs before doing a test. Finally, the researcher used a table to make it easier in analyzing the result of the students’ test score in each cycle. The example of table in analyzing the students’ test score is presented below.
Table 3.1 The Result of Students’ Test Score
the personal perceptions, experiences, opinions, and ideas. In other words, the data from the interview exactly based on the interviewee’s perception, experiences, opinions, and ideas. The researcher conducted the individual interview in this research. Burns (1999) states that individual interview could enable the researcher to follow up in more detail specific cases which have been identified. The interview was addressed to three students who gained the highest score, medium score, and lowest score in the preliminary study and two cycles. In conducting the interview session for those students, the researcher divided the interview into two sections before and after using the flash cards. There were 10 main questions to get the students’ opinion about their irregular verb mastery improvement before applying the flash cards in the end of the preliminary study. Then, there were 7 main questions which were different from the previous one. It was used to know the students’ opinion about their improvement after applying the flash cards in the end of the cycle one and two. The objectives of the interview were to find out the students’ interest and opinion in learning the past forms of irregular verbs.
D. Data Gathering Technique
the end of the class. As the result, the researcher found that most of the students did not know the meaning and the past forms of irregular verbs in doing an exercise or a test. From those, the researcher concluded that the students did not master simple past tense especially filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. The researcher also used less attractive media in the teaching process, so that students were bored when the researcher explained the lesson although the researcher had delivered the lesson well.
Secondly, the researcher gave a test to the students. It was aimed to know the previous students’ knowledge of irregular verbs. The test score which was obtained from the test could be helpful to compare the results of the test before and after implementing the flash cards. Thirdly, the researcher made a lesson plan to solve the major problem which was raised in class. Fourthly, the researcher implemented the lesson plan in the teaching and learning process. During the teaching and learning process, the researcher also noted the data through field notes to gather the data. It consisted of the students’ participation, students’ improvement, and students’ interest during the flash cards implemented. Besides, the researcher also used the test after implementing the flash cards. The test was done in whilst activity which was included in a lesson plan.
the learning process. At this step, the researcher could make the reflection based on the data which was obtained from the field notes, tests, and interviews. In addition, the researcher also shared with the teacher to know the teacher’s view in the teaching and learning process. Those could be helpful for the researcher in making a reflection. From all the data which was reflected on by the researcher, the researcher could make the next planning of the action for the next cycle which was better than the previous one.
E. Data Analysis Technique
Bogdan & Biklen (1982:164) state that data analysis is the collected data which are analyzed by the researcher since the researcher begins and develops the reflection and result processes. In the data analysis, the researcher evaluated all the actions in every cycle which had been carried out in the implementation of flash cards to obtain what had been done well and what needed to be improved. The researcher also analyzed the data gathered in the research in order to get the answer to the questions as stated in research problem. In analyzing the data from the instruments, the researcher used triangulation techniques. Campbell & Fiske (1959) state that triangulation may be defined as the use of two or more methods of data collection in the study of some aspects of human behavior. The data are collected from the result of the field notes, test, and interview.
study and two cycles of CAR. Through the field notes, the researcher could see what happened in the learning process, consisted of the students’ response, students’ participation, and students’ feeling when flash cards were implemented
in teaching the past forms of irregular verbs. This data would be gathered exactly from the field notes about the students’ actions in class. The data which was obtained from the field notes described the researcher acted out based on planning and the students responded positively in the learning process. It could be seen that the implementation of flash cards was done well.
The second technique was giving tests. After the researcher observed the class situation and described the process when the implementation of flash cards was done to improve the students’ irregular verb mastery through field notes, the researcher applied the test for the students. The researcher asked VIIIB students to do the test because the test was aimed to know the improvement of the students’ irregular verb mastery. Therefore, the test score was very important to see the students’ progress in understanding the past forms of irregular verbs after the researcher implemented flash cards. For instance, if the test score in the first cycle was better than the test score in the preliminary study, it was concluded that the improvement of the students’ irregular verb mastery happened. However, the test would be done again in the second cycle because the test score was used to know whether the students really improved their irregular verb mastery or not. If the test was done once, it could be concluded that the students’ improvement was not
improvement of the students’ irregular verb mastery. Then, the researcher used a table or list to make it easier in analyzing the test score in each cycle. Through a table or a list, the researcher could put all test scores and see the students whom gained the highest score, medium score, and lowest score easily.
To find the degree of the students’ achievement in each activity, the score of each student was counted individually by using the following formula:
The score = Number of right answer x 100 Number of item
While the average of students’ result was counted by using the following formula: The average of students’ test result = Total of the score
Number of the students
F. Research Procedures
There were eight steps in conducting this classroom action research. The steps were asking for the school’s consent, conducting the preliminary observation, finding the problem, planning, implementing an action and observing, testing, collecting the data, and reflecting. The brief discussion of each step would be described in the following sections.
1. Asking for the School’s Consent
The researcher asked the permission from the school’s side to conduct the research. The researcher explained to the headmaster of SMP N 3 Klaten about the background of the research, purpose, and reason why the researcher wanted to conduct this research in SMP N 3 Klaten.
2. Conducting the Preliminary
After asking the permission, the researcher did the preliminary study to know how VIIIB class situation generally, including the teacher’s performance in delivering the materials, and students’ participation in the learning process. In preliminary study, the researcher had to identify the problems which occurred in the learning process.
3. Finding the Problem
explained carefully because it would be applied as a solution to solve the lack of students’ ability in filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text.
4. Planning
After analyzing the possible cause faced by the students, the researcher chose the flash cards to solve the problem. Flash cards were used to teach the past forms of irregular verbs. After the lesson plan was made, the researcher should act out the lesson plan which was arranged in the learning process. The researcher also conducted two cycles to know the improvement of the students’ irregular verb mastery. To know the students’ response toward the activity in the teaching and learning process, the field notes was used to record not only what was seen and heard but also reflections on what had occurred in the teaching and learning process. Besides, the researcher also used the test score and interview results to make a reflection.
5. Implementing an Action and Observing
6. Testing
The researcher gave the test after explaining the materials and giving some exercises to the students about irregular verbs. The test was aimed to see the students’ understanding about the past forms of irregular verbs and the meaning of verbs after implementing the flash cards. The test was filling in the blanks in some sentences related to the use of the past forms of irregular verbs. After the test was done, the researcher could know the result of test score. The test score aimed to measure the students’ achievement in understanding the past forms of irregular verbs.
7. Collecting the Data
In the last activity of learning irregular verbs before and after implementing the flash cards, the researcher conducted interview which addressed to three students of VIIIB class. It is used to find the students’ answers about their feelings and opinions during the teaching and learning process. The interview was addressed to three students who gained the highest score, medium score, and lowest score. The interview also added the information about the students’ improvement of irregular verb mastery. Besides, those were used to make a reflection for the next action.
8. Reflecting
41
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This section discusses description of the implementation of flash cards as a teaching strategy in improving the students’ irregular verb mastery of VIIIB in SMP N 3 Klaten. It also discusses the process on how flash cards improve the students’ irregular verb mastery. In this chapter, the researcher would analyze the data gathered from the students’ achievement of each activity in the preliminary study, cycle 1, and cycle 2. The results of the research were reported based on the data which were gained from the field notes, test, and interview. This research described the preliminary study and cycles of classroom action research. Each cycle consisted of planning, action, observation, and reflection.
A. The Description of the Implementation of Flash Cards
the past forms of regular and irregular verbs through flash cards, practicing of the flash cards’ strategy in the group and individual, and doing a test.
The description of the process on how flash cards improve the students’ irregular verb mastery in each cycle is in the following part.
1. Preliminary Study
The researcher conducted an observation before doing the preliminary study on February 19, 2013. The purpose of the observation was to know the real condition of the students in class VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten. The researcher could know the problem when he observed the teacher who was teaching the past forms of verbs in the teaching and learning process. In observation, the teacher asked the students to read a recount text. Then, she asked them to do an exercise which was filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text.
In fact, the students faced difficulties in doing an exercise about the meanings of verbs and past forms of irregular verbs. Besides, the researcher also observed the teacher’s performance and students’ behavior in the teaching and learning process. The teacher looked enthusiastic in teaching the students through explaining a recount text. The teacher used various methods to make the students interested to pay attention to the material given. On the contrary, most of the students did not pay attention to the teacher’s explanation about the past forms of irregular verbs (see Appendix 4).
followed this pre-test which became a part of the preliminary study. The total of the students is actually 38 students, but three of them were absent and one of them was sick in that meeting. The researcher reviewed the materials about recount which was similar to the previous meeting. While the researcher was teaching recount, he gave some exercises about matching Indonesia – English words and filling the past forms of regular or irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. However, the verbs which were given in exercises had been taught by the teacher in the previous meeting. In fact, most of the students faced difficulties by answering many questions incorrectly in filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. The students needed a lot of time to do this part. They found it difficult and confusing in doing an exercise related to the past forms of irregular verbs. As a result, they only added –ed/d for the past form.
Table 4.2 The Results of the Test in the Preliminary Study
Based on the test results above, there were many students who gained the test scores under the passing grade 70, which was made by the school. From those, the researcher could conclude that most of the students in VIIIB class had low ability in understanding the past forms of irregular verbs. They faced difficulties in differentiating between the verbs which had to be added with –ed/d (regular verbs) or changed the original forms from the present forms (irregular verbs).
During the teaching and learning process, the partner of the researcher also helped the researcher observe what was happening in the class. The observation was done when the researcher taught the students in learning the past forms of irregular verbs in a recount text. Overall, the researcher looked well prepared in teaching the students and showed the good steps in explaining the materials. On the contrary, the students faced difficulties in doing an exercise and a test related to the use of the past forms of irregular verbs. It might be caused by their own business, such as talking to their friends next to them and sleeping during the learning process. Most of the students did not actively ask the researcher and answer the questions which were given by the researcher (see Appendix 4).
After finishing the lesson, the researcher conducted the interview with three students who gained the highest score, the medium score, and the lowest score. The purpose of doing the interview was to know the teacher’s performance, the students’ behavior, and the students’ participation in the teaching and learning process (see Appendix 16).
From the result of the interview in the preliminary study, the researcher decided to have five questions which would be addressed to the three students who gained the highest, medium, and lowest test score. The first question is about the students’ opinion about the kinds of the verb which is used in the learning
“Ada 2 yaitu irregular verb dan regular verb.” (Dr#the highest score). (There are two kinds of verbs which are irregular verb and regular verb)
“Saya tidak tahu namanya, tapi terkadang ada beda bentuknya. Kemudian, saya tinggal nambahin akhiran –ed semuaya.” (Am#the medium score) and (P#the medium, and lowest test scores had the same answers. The teacher asked them to find some vocabularies and then find the meaning of those vocabularies.
“Mencari kosakata-kosakata dengan cara menulis dan mengartikannya setiap pertemuan di buku catatan.” (Dr#the highest score), (Am#the medium score), and (P#the lowest score)
(They are asked by the teacher to find vocabularies and find the meaning of vocabularies)
The third question is about the students’ interest about the way of teaching
which was used by the teacher in teaching vocabularies especially the verb. The three students who gained the highest, medium, and lowest test scores had the same answers. They stated that they were bored with joining the lesson. It was caused by the way of teaching used by the teacher in teaching the past form of verbs.
“Cara gurunya mengajar kurang menarik, jadi bikin cepat bosan.” ((Dr#the highest score), (Am#the medium score), and (P#the lowest score)
(The way of teaching which was used by the teacher not interested, so it makes me bored)
scores had the same answers. They stated that they faced difficulties understanding the meaning of the verbs, pronounce the verbs, and write the verbs. “Sangat merasa kesulitan ketika mengartikan, mengucapkan, dan menulis kata-kata kerja itu.” ((Dr#the highest score), (Am#the medium score), and (P#the generally stated that they had often to open the dictionary.
“Dengan membuka kamus untuk menghafal, mengucapkan, dan menulis kosakata-kosakata.” ((Dr#the highest score), (Am#the medium score), and (P#the lowest score.
(I have always to open a dictionary to memorize, pronounce, and write vocabularies)
Based on the interview above, it could be concluded that the students were bored with following the lesson about the past forms of verbs. It might be caused by the way which was used by the teacher in the teaching and learning process or the less attention who were shown by the students toward the teacher’s explanation.
2. First Cycle of CAR
The findings of the first cycle would be elaborated into four stages of CAR. Those were planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. However, the researcher did the action and observation at the same time because the researcher thought that it would be more effective by conducting the implementation of flash cards to teach the students about the past forms of verbs and observe the teacher’s performance and students’ behavior through the field notes in the learning process. The researcher also thought that the action and observation would be one stage based on the consideration mentioned above. In other words, while the action was implemented, the researcher could observe well what was happening during the teaching and learning process.
a. Planning of the First Cycle
After doing the preliminary study, the researcher decided that the main factor which occurred during the learning process in VIIIB class was the lack of students’ ability to understand the correct past forms of irregular verbs. It could be proven from the students’ test scores which were under the passing grade. The average score of VIIIB students in the previous test was 51.2 (see Appendix 5).
how to prepare a good method in teaching the past forms of irregular verbs through the flash cards.
In this step, the researcher reviewed a little bit about a recount text to the students. He taught the generic structure and the language feature of a recount text. The students were asked by the researcher to use the past forms in writing the verbs in a recount text. He gave the further explanation about simple past tense as the language feature in a recount text. It became a focus to overcome the problem which was faced by the students. Besides, the researcher planned to provide the flash cards in teaching the past forms of irregular verbs to the students. He also planned to provide some verbs in Italic that were translated into Indonesia and some verbs to be changed into the past form. Those aimed to help the students improve their mastery about the past forms of irregular verbs. Martin (1987: 54) states that flash cards can really help the students who have difficulties in learning English words.
mention vocabulary especially regular and irregular verbs which were used appropriately in the text given.
After writing the indicators, the researcher decided to choose the learning methods which were appropriate in teaching the past forms of verbs. The learning methods planned were questions-answers, discussions, individual work, and group work. The interactions which were used in the learning process were students – teacher and students – students. The researcher also made a handout and a worksheet for the students. The handout contained a brief explanation about the materials which were taught especially giving the further information about the past forms of regular and irregular verbs. Meanwhile, the worksheet was about choosing the appropriate answer in completing a recount text by filling the past forms of verbs in the blanks.
(1991), the researcher usually used the time to check the students’ understanding and summarize the materials being studied. The researcher reviewed the materials and asked the difficult things which were faced by the students in the teaching and learning process.
Those were the summary of the lesson plan which was implemented in the first cycle. Before using the flash cards, the researcher and the teacher had to discuss the learning materials, learning activities, and the assessment. Afterwards, the researcher and the teacher also knew about the steps of using flash cards in teaching the students about the past forms of irregular verbs.
b. Acting and Observing of the First Cycle
The researcher had an important role to carry out the implementation of flash cards in the classroom action research. The researcher was also helped by his partner to observe what was happening during the teaching and learning process. In this step, the researcher was going to explain the details of events in pre activity, whilst activity, and post activity in order to have the description towards the process of flash cards implementation.
1) Pre Activity of the First Cycle
