IMPROVING STUDENTS’ GRAMMAR ACHIEVEMENT
BY USING ENGLISH SONGS AT GRADE VIII
OF MTs NEGERI 1 PADANGSIDIMPUAN
A THESIS
BY
MISRAYANA HARAHAP
NIM : 809112032
Submitted to Post Graduate School English Applied Linguistic Program State University of Medan
POST GRADUATE SCHOOL
ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTIC STUDY PROGRAM
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Praise is to Allah, the Almighty, the Merciful and the Most Beneficial
expressed by the writer that enables to finish this thesis.
The writer is fully aware that this thesis finally written with the assistance
of many people, without them it is impossible.
First, the researcher would like to express her gratitude to Prof.Dr. Lince
Sihombing, M.Pd and Dr. Didik Santoso,M.Pd as the first and the second
advisers, for their guidance , encouragement , kindness, and advise that have
greatly improved her rough draft.
Second, the researcher would like to thank to Prof.Dr.Busmin
Gurning,M.Pd as the head of English Applied Linguistics Study Program for his
criticism and supportive comments that have added up the quality of this thesis.
Third, special gratitude is directed to Prof.Dr. Busmin Gurning,M.Pd, Dr.
Anni Holila Pulungan,M.Pd, and Dr. Sri Minda Murni,M.S as the examiner team
for the valuable input to added up this thesis.
Fourth, many thanks to the principle of MTs Negeri Padangsidimpuan, the
staff, and collaborators for their time, good cooperation, and kindness during
collecting the data.
Finally, the writer wishes to express her deepest gratitude to her beloved
husband Imbalo Siregar,ST.MM for the endless love , affection, care, and support:
her beloved son and daughters Harry Madani Srg, Nurul Mardiah Srg, and Mutia
Wardah Srg, and my beloved mother who had given her support to finish her
The writer must admit that this thesis is still far from being perfect, she
warmly welcomes any constructive criticism that will improve the contents of this
thesis. She hopes this thesis would be useful to whom read it, especially who
wants to do this research.
Padangsidimpuan, 05 September 2012
The Writer
Misrayana Harahap
ABSTRACT
Harahap, Misrayana.Registration Number: 809112032. Improving Students’ Grammar Achievement By using English Songs at Grade VIII of MTs Negeri 1 Padangsidimpuan. A Thesis . English Applied Linguistics Study Program, Postgraduate School, State University of Medan, 2012.
Grammar is one of the important subjects which are taught in schools from elementary school to university. The grammar of a language is the description of the ways in which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentence in that language. If grammar rules are careless, it will be created bad communication and difficult to understand it. A grammar is a way how words are structured into simple sentences. Nowadays, grammar is not specifically taught in teaching learning English . English material in schools applied in texts which include in procedure, report, narrative, recount and descriptive texts. These texts are taught in Junior High schools. Because of English material teach in text so, there is no grammar focus to exercise them in grammar and beside that they have to able to write functional text. To know how to arrange sentences in good order they have to know grammar.
The purpose of this study is find out weather English Songs can improving students’ grammar achievement in study grammar. These songs were applied to the students in the classroom when they were studying grammar. This study applied in three cycles because this study was action research and the writer follows Kemmis and Robin step.
The subject of this investigation was students at grade VIII -3 of MTs Negeri 1 Padangsidimpuan which consist of 37 students.
The data were collected by means of field observation, teachers and students’ interview and test. Each cycle did in four steps that were, planning, action, observation, and reflection.
The result of this study showed that the English songs could give good inspiration to absorb English material in learning process. Students’ interest increased because they enjoyed and relaxed when they were studying. They were easy to remember the tenses through songs’ lyrics that they heard, so their score increased. In the first cycle their average score was 57, 13, in the second cycle their average was 66.16, and in the third cycle was 76.75
ABSTRAK
Harahap, Misrayana Nomor Induk Mahasiswa: 809112032. Improving Students’ Grammar Achievement using English Songs at Grade VIII of MTs Negeri 1 Padangsidimpuan. A Thesis . Linguistik Terapan Bahasa Inggris,Sekolah Pascasarjan ,Universitas Negeri Medan,2012.
Tata Bahasa merupakan salah satu materi pembelajaran yang sangat penting yang diajarkan di sekolah – sekolah dari tingkat dasar sampai perguruan tinggi.Tata bahasa suatu bahasa adalah suatu gambaran bagaimana kata – kata dapat berubah dan membentuk sebuah kalimat. Bila tata bahasa diabaikan maka komunikasi yang terjadi akan buruk dan akan terciptalah suatu susunan kalimat yang akan sulit untuk dimengerti.Tata bahasa adalah gambaran bagaimana kalimat – kalimat sederhana terbentuk.Pada masa sekarang, tidak ada lagi pembelajaran khusus tentang grammar.Materi bahasa Inggris diaplikasikan dalam teks yang meliputi procedure, report, narrative, recount, dan descriptive teks. Teks – teks ini diajarkan di tingkat sekolah menengah pertama. Tidak adanya pembelajaran yang memfokuskan grammar tapi yang ada adalah pengaplikasian teks langsung dimana para siswa harus dapat memahaminya dan juga harus mampu menulis jenis – jenis teks functional pendek.
Untuk dapat menulis teks – teks functional para siswa haruslah tahu tentang tata bahasa untuk dapat menyusun kalimat yang baik dan benar.
Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menemukan apakah ada peningkatan kemampuan grammar siswa bila diajar dengan menggunakan lagu – lagu dalam bahasa inggris? Lagu – lagu ini diterapkan pada siswa di dalam kelas ketika mereka sedang belajar grammar / tata bahasa.Penelitian ini diterapkan dalam tiga tahapan. Karena penelitian ini berbentuk action research atau penelitian tindakan kelas.
Objek dari penelitian ini adalah murid – murid kelas VIII-3 dari Sekolah Madrasah Tsanawiyah Negeri 1 Padangsidimpuan yang terdiri dari 37 orang siswa.
Data yang diperoleh untuk penelitian ini berasal dari pengamatan lapangan, wawancara terhadap guru dan siswa dan test kemampuan siswa.
Pada setiap tahapan dari penelitian ini terdiri dari empat tahapan yaitu; perencanaan, tindakan, pengamatan, dan refleksi.
Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa penerapan lagu – lagu berbahasa Inggris dalam pembelajaran grammar / tata bahasa memberikan nilai yang baik dalam proses pembelajaran. Dimana minat para siswa dalam belajar meningkat karena mereka merasa senang dan santai ketika sedang belajar. Mereka mudah mengingat kalimat – kalimat melalui lirik – lirik lagu yang diperdengarkan. Nilai – nilai yang mereka perolehpun meningkat di mana pada tahap pertama, rata – rata nilai mereka adalah 57.13, pada tahap kedua naik menjadi 66.16 dan pada tahap ketiga menjadi 76,75.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2.1. Students’ Achievement in Grammar………… ... 8
2.2. English Songs ... 15
2.2.1 Definition of English Songs ... 15
2.2.2 Principle of English Songs ... 16
2.2.3 Reasons for Using Songs ... 20
2.2.4 Procedure in Teaching English Song ... 23
2.2.5 Strength and Weakness ... 29
3.3 Techniques of Data Collections ... 38
3.4 Techniques of Data Analysis ... 38
3.5 Procedure of the Research ... 39
CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYASIS, FINDING
AND DISCUSSIONS……… ... 43
4.1 Data Analysis ... 43
4.1.1 First Cycle ... 47
4.1.2 Second Cycle ... 56
4.1.3 Third Cycle ... 65
4.2 Findings ... 71
4.3 Discussions ... 73
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 77
5.1 Conclusions ... 77
5.2 Suggestions ... 78
REFERENCES ... 79
LIST OF APPENDIXES
APPENDIXES PAGES
1. Observing Students’ Activities ... 84
2. Field Note ... 85
3. Observing Teacher’ Activities ... 86
4. Guiding of Interview ... 87
5. Description of Items ... 88
6. Items Test 1 ... 89
7. Items Test 2 ... 93
8. List of Songs ... 96
9. The Result of Interview with the Collaborators ... 99
10. The Result of Interview with Students in Pre-Test ... 101
11. The Result of Interview with Students in the First Cycle ... 104
12. The Result of Interview with Students in the Second Cycle ... 107
13. The Result of Interview with Students in the Third Cycle ... 110
14. Lesson Plan ... 114
15. The Result of Teacher Activities from 1 – 3 cycle... 119
16. The Schedule of Teaching Learning in 1 – 3 cycle ... 122
17. Result of Observation of Students’ Learning Activities in 1 – 3 cycle ... 128
18. The Analysis of Data Reduction ... 131
LIST OF TABLES
Table ... Page
1. Students’ Score of Grammar in Pre- Test ... 43
2. Students’ Score of Grammar in the First Cycle ... 52
3. Students’ Score of Grammar in the Second Cycle ... 61
4. Students’ Score of Grammar in the Third Cycle ... 68
LIST OF DIAGRAMS
Diagram ... Page
1. Diagram of the Students’ Score in Pre- Test ... 44
2. Diagram of the Students’ Score in First Cycle ... 53
3. Diagram of the Students’ Score in Second Cycle ... 62
4. Diagram of the Students’ Score in Third Cycle ... 69
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Problem
Grammar is one of the important subjects which are taught in schools from
elementary school to university. The grammar of a language is the description of the
ways in which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentence in
that language. If grammar rules are careless, it will be created bad communication
and difficult to understand it. Linguists have investigated native – speaker speech and
writing have, over the years, devised various different systems to describe how the
language works. A grammar is a way how words are structured into a simple
sentence. Nowadays, grammar is not specifically taught in teaching learning English.
English material in schools applied in texts which include in procedure,
report, narrative, recount and descriptive texts. These texts are taught in Junior High
schools. Because of English material teach in text so, there is no grammar focuses to
exercise them in grammar beside those students have to be able to write short
functional text too. By able to write functional text they have to know the grammar
how to arrange sentences in good order.
Teaching English should be implemented in teaching four skills; listening,
speaking, reading and writing. The focus of teaching grammar is to improve students’
2
which are often modified to make a grammar lesson effective and interesting for
students. According to curriculum KTSP, teaching grammar using text relate to two
components of skills that is reading and writing. Reading in which present some texts
can improve the students’ knowledge and comprehend the vocabularies and the
grammar used in text. And through writing in which consist of text can increase the
students’ knowledge of writing so they are able to write some texts using right
vocabularies, grammar in correct generic structures of certain genre.
However, the students’ grammar of MTs N 1 Padangsidimpuan is still low; it
can be seen from the fact in the field when the researcher asked the students to write
sentences they still make some mistakes in their sentences. It also can be known from
their average score that they get in semester that 56.34. The students often complain
that English is difficult and they do not know how to arrange the words in good
sentences. They are confused to make sentences due to the good grammar. They still
make their sentences as Indonesian rule and they do not know that the sentences use
adverb of time to show that the sentences are in present, past or future. As the result
they are not interested in learning English is regarded as difficult and boring lesson.
Another reason is some of the students in MTs N 1 Padangsidimpuan come from
countryside and never been taught English before.
Moreover, from the teacher side, some of the English teachers are frustrated
because the students can not comprehend English grammar well although they have
3
but they still find difficulties in making the students understand it. When the
researcher asked the teacher why the students were difficult to understand English
they said that when the learning process was holding some of them understood but
the other didn’t. Then, when the teacher asks them in another day they forget it.
Based on the researcher’s observation and informal interview with the
students about teaching English in the classroom, it is found that the English Foreign
Language teacher still practice teaching by applying grammar, structure drills and
memorization, then practice it in the form of pattern drill and it is used by the learner
in speaking and writing activities. Although the grammar points presented may well
fit into a grammatical syllabus, they may or may not meet the linguistic needs of the
students, when the students were asked to reflect on how grammar was taught to
them, most of them replied that the teacher used direct teaching worksheet or editing
the exercises to help students to improve their grammar proficiency. The goal of
teaching English in MTsN is to enable students to communicate in English spoken
and written. Then to analyze the teacher’s job, they simply advise the students to
apply their grammar that they have learned in sentences.
According to Larsen- Freeman in Concise Encyclopedia of Educational Linguistics
“teaching grammar is a means to an end, not an end in itself”. It is means if students
could recite all grammar rules but fail to develop in communication; it is means that
4
Based on the above problem found in teaching English and in order to make a
grammar lesson effective, beneficial and interesting, an English Foreign Language
teacher should use some well – develop and fascinating techniques in the classroom.
One of the possible techniques is the use of English song where it is the most
enchanting and culturally rich resource to develop students’ abilities in learning
language. Santos (1995) explains that songs have been a great motivational factor for
many of those who have engaged in English Foreign Language studies. Songs are
easy to remember, although for the first time we just remember the title and few lines
of the songs.
In other explanation about song, Pierce (1988) mentions that songs can be
used to familiarize the students with the frequency and variety of idiomatic
expressions. That why the researcher wants to apply song in teaching English to the
students of grade VIII of MTs N Padangsidimpuan, because they never teach by song
before and here the researcher wants to see the students’ grammar improvement by
using English songs.
Lazanov in Colin in Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century (2002)
explains that music has big influence to strength brain .Learning English grammar
through songs also provides a non- threatening atmosphere for students. English
songs can be used successful for teaching grammar and there are many advantages to
using English songs in the classroom, the songs are easily available and can present
5
pronunciation and the last is most of the students enjoy learning English in the
classroom. By knowing some songs students are hoped can make sentences in
present, past form and future. Personally, the writer thinks that learning English
through music and songs can be very enjoyable; with it the teacher can mix pleasure
with learning when the students listen to a song and exploit the song as a means to
their English progress. Learning is not an automatic consequence of pouring
information into a student’s head. It requires the learner’s own mental involvement
and doing. Explanation and demonstration, will lead to real, lasting learning. Only
learning that is active will do this. What makes learning active? Learning can be
active when the students are given an opportunity learning actively; it means that
students do most of the work. They use their brains, studying ideas, solving problems,
and applying what they learn.
1.2 Identification of the Problem
Based on the researcher’s experience at grade VIII – 3 at MTsN 1
Padangsidimpuan when she taught them the writer found that the students still could
not able to organize or arrange sentences in good order and even some of the students
did not have English dictionary. The students has low ability in grammar and do not
enjoy the class. The student’s competences are low and they are not competent in
6
English especially in grammar so, when the teacher ask them to write sentence they
will be able to write it in good sentences.
1.3 Limitation of the Problem
Because of limited time, the research will be focused on the problem in
teaching grammar at grade VIII – 3 at MTs N 1 Padangsidimpuan .The researcher
will focus on applying some songs on teaching and learning grammar. At this
opportunity the researcher will applied some songs to improve student’s grammar
competence because the students as beginners will study the songs in teaching
learning process. The songs will be used in this research those which convey simple
present tense (Space invader), Past tense (What a crazy day) and Present Progressive
(Johnny’s playing football).
1.4 Problem of the Study
This research will be focused on the songs weather songs can improve
students’ grammar in studying. Related to focus of research, the research question is
formulated as follows: “To what extent can English Songs improve the students’
7
1.5The Objective of Study
The objective of this research is to improve the students’ grammar
achievement by using English song to the students of MTsN 1 Padangsidimpuan who
study in the VIII – 3 grades. Here the writer wants to know the students’ achievement
in grammar. The reason takes this class because this class had been taught by the
researcher herself. By applying English songs technique, it is hoped that the student’
grammar achievement will be improved.
1.6 The Significance of the Research
This research will give worthwhile for the teaching and learning grammar.
Theoretically, the research finding will give valuable input for Secondary School
English teacher in teaching grammar. While practically, it will be beneficial for
helping teacher improve her/ his teaching quality in teaching. Beside, this research
would be one of the valuable considerations in improving students’ grammar
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGGESTIONS
5.1 CONCLUSIONS
This research was focused on the implementation of English songs in
improving students’ grammar. English songs had been tested to the students to
improve their achievement in grammar. This technique was implemented and
developed through three cycles. The result indicated that there is an increase in
students’ average scores periodically.
First, the students’ achievement in grammar improves. Based on the result
of the students’ test, most of them gradually gained good score at the end of cycle.
Their average score increase too, from 46.27 in the preliminary study to be 57.13
in Cycle 1, 66.16 in Cycle 2, and 76.75 in the Cycle 3.In the third cycle none of
them in criteria very poor and poor, few of them in fair criteria. Most of them are
in very good and excellent criteria.
Second, the students who involved in teaching learning process increase
too and now, they have great enthusiastic to study grammar.
Third, students can analyze the tense and apply it in different context.
Fourth, students who want to ask teacher and want to do the exercises in
front of the class increase because they had known about the tenses and they think
that grammar is very important in study English.
Fifth, English song is effective technique to improve students’ grammar
79
they are learning grammar, and grammars of English songs can be a pattern in
study English.
5.2 SUGGESTIONS
Based on the result of this action research, the writer gives some suggestions
as follows:
First, based on the effectiveness of the English song technique in teaching
teachers who teach in senior high school should apply English song if they want
to teach grammar.
Second, it is recommended that the English teachers should more creative in
design, develop, and present English material to make students interested in
learning.
Third, it is suggested that English teachers should prepare songs that relate to
material that will be taught before teaching.
Fourth, for further researchers, it is recommended to develop songs which can
make students enjoyable in learning because classroom environment is different
80
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