YOGYAKARTA
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Oda Yuni Nugrahaeni Wiharjo
Student Number: 071214074
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTEMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
USING GAMES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN
WRITING SKILL OF ELEVENTH GRADERS OF SMA N 6
YOGYAKARTA
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Oda Yuni Nugrahaeni Wiharjo
Student Number: 071214074
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTEMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2012
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- Benjamin Disraeli-
This thesis is dedicated to:
My Father, Christ. Lasono and My Late Mother, Adriana Maria Sumiyati
My Elder Brother, Dominikus Wahyu Wiharjo
My Younger Brother, Fransiskus Susilo Wiharjo
ABSTRACT
Wiharjo, Oda Yuni Nugrahaeni. 2012. Using Games to Improve Students’ Motivation in Writing Skill of Eleventh Graders of SMA NEGERI 6 YOGYAKARTA. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.
Motivation has been acknowledged as an essential part in a teaching learning activity. Motivation helps the students receive more input in second language acquisition. The researcher found that the students of XI IPA 4 of SMA N 6 Yogyakarta lacked motivation in writing activity. The other problems that the researcher also found in the learning and teaching activities were the monotonous activities. Besides, the students had writing problems, those are: vocabulary, organizing ideas, and revising the draft.
This research was intended to overcome the learning problems of XI IPA 4 of SMA N 6 Yogyakarta. The use of games was taken up as the solution considering that the games provided some advantages in teaching learning activity. A game provides various activities in a class and can raise students’ motivation in learning. The researcher formulated two questions to be answered in this research. The first question is “how do games improve students’ motivation in writing skill?”. The second question is “to what extent do games improve students’ motivation in writing skill?”.
This research utilized Classroom Action Research (CAR) which was focused on the implementation of games in writing activity in XI IPA 4 of SMA N 6 Yogyakarta. The participants of this research were 25 students of XI IPA 4 of SMA N 6 Yogyakarta 2011/2012 academic year. Games were used as the main activity in the learning and teaching process. There were two cycles in this research. In the first cycle, the game was placed at organizing idea in the writing process. Besides, in the second cycle, the game was placed at revising draft in writing process. Both of the cycles were conducted in one meeting. In this research, one cycle was meant to implement of one game. The instruments employed in gathering the data were observation, field notes, questionnaires, and guiding questions for interview. Then, in analyzing the gathered data, triangulation technique was employed.
The results of the data gathered showed that the use of games was implemented through group work. Moreover, it built student-student interaction in sharing their knowledge. This research concluded that games were able to improve students’ motivation in writing activity. Furthermore, it was found that game make the writing activity be different. The students also said that games helped them in expanding their vocabulary, organizing their idea, and revising their draft.
Keywords: classroom action research, motivation, writing activity, game
ABSTRAK
Wiharjo, Oda Yuni Nugrahaeni. 2012. Using Games to Improve Students’ Motivation in Writing Skill of Eleventh Graders of SMA NEGERI 6 YOGYAKARTA. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Motivasi telah diketahui secara umum sebagai bagian penting dalam kegiatan belajar dan mengajar (KBM). Motivasi membantu siswa dalam menyerap lebih banyak pengetahuan dalam penerimaan bahasa kedua. Peneliti menemukan bahwa siswa di kelas XI IPA 4 SMA N 6 Yogyakarta memiliki kekurangan motivasi dalam kegiatan menulis. Masalah lain yang ditemukan peneliti dalam kegiatan belajar mengajar adalah kegiatan yang monoton. Disamping itu siswa juga mengalami permasalahan dalam kosakata, menyusun ide, dan merevisi naskah.
Penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk mengatasi masalah yang dihadapi oleh siswa kelas XI IPA 4 SMA N 6 Yogyakarta. Penggunaan permainan dipilih sebagai solusi mengingat bahwa permainan memberi manfaat dalam kegiatan belajar mengajar. Peneliti merumuskan dua masalah untuk dipecahkan dalam penelitian ini. Rumusan masalah yang pertama ialah: “Bagaimana penggunaan permainan dapat meningkatkan motivasi siswa dalam kegiatan menulis?” Rumusan masalah yang kedua ialah: “Sejauh mana penggunaan permainan dapat membantu meningkatkan motivasi siswa dalam kegiatan menulis? “
Penelitian ini adalah Penelitian Tindakan Kelas (PTK) yang difokuskan pada penerapan permainan dalam kegiatan menulis di kelas XI IPA 4 SMA N 6 Yogyakarta. Responden dalam penelitian ini berjumlah 25 siswa dari kelas XI IPA 4 SMA N 6 Yogyakarta tahun ajaran 2011/2012. Permainan digunakan sebagai kegiatan utama dalam proses belajar mengajar. Terdapat dua siklus dalam penelitian ini. Pada siklus pertama, permainan diletakkan dalam kegiatan penyusunan ide. Sedangkan pada siklus kedua, permainan diletakkan dalam kegiatan revisi. Kedua siklus dilaksanakan dalam satu kali pertemuan. Instrumen yang digunakan dalam mengumpulkan data yaitu: observasi, catatan lapangan, kuesioner, dan panduan wawancara. Dalam menganalisis data yang sudah terkumpul, peneliti menggunakan teknik triangulasi.
Hasil dari data yang terkumpul menunjukan bahwa permainan diterapkan dalam kerja kelompok. Penggunaan permainan juga membangun interaksi siswa-siswa saat berbagi pengetahuan mereka. Penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa permainan dapat meningkatkan motivasi siswa dalam kegiatan menulis. Selain itu peneliti juga menemukan bahwa permainan membantu mereka dalam mengembangkan kosakata, menyusun ide, dan merevisi naskah. Penggunaan permainan juga membangun interaksi antara siswa-siswa dalam bebagai pengetahuan.
Kata kunci: penelitian tindakan kelas, motivasi, kegiatan menulis, permainan
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to bestow my deepest gratitude to my Gracious God, Jesus Christ, and my Holy Mother, Mother Mary. I thank them for their wonderful blessing in my hard days.
Special thanks go to my great major advisor Gregorius Punto Aji, S.Pd., M.Hum., for his valuable time, guidance, suggestions, and motivation during the process of finishing this research and writing this thesis. I would also like to thank Ibu Agustin Susilowati, S.Pd., not only for allowing me to conduct this research in her class but also to be willing to act as the teacher in this research and giving me suggestion. I also thank all students of XI IPA 4 SMA N 6 Yogyakarta 2011/2012 academic year for being friendly and cooperative during my research. I would like to thank all lecturers in PBI Sanata Dharma University. They have shared their knowledge and taught me well.
My thanks also go to my closest friends, Rieta, Wida, Bertha, Nana, Uni, Septi, Nuning, and Ratna for their support, warmth, care, and nice smiles. I would also like to express my appreciation to Novi and Indah for giving me encouragement and motivation during my process of completing this writing. I will not forget Dwi for sharing his knowledge about classroom action research. I would like to thank my boarding house mates, Adik An, Prisca, Adik Cecik, Ririn and Deslin for their care and beautiful smiles.
My greatest gratitude goes to my beloved family. I thank my lovely father, Bapak Kris and my mother Ibu Susi, for their love and understanding through the
very long duration of my study. My extraordinary gratefulness goes to my beloved late mother, Ibu Adri and my little brother Fran, who have passed away, for their love and inspiration for me. I also thank my older brother Mas Domi for teaching me the meaning of patience and endurance. I would like to give my gratitude to everybody who helped me in finishing this thesis, whose names cannot be mentioned one by one.
Oda Yuni Nugrahaeni Wiharjo
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE………... i
APPROVAL PAGE………...ii
DEDICATION PAGE……….iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY………. v
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI……… vi
ABSTRACT……… vii
ABSTRAK………. viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS………. xi
LIST OF TABLES……….. xiii
LIST OF FIGURES………. xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES………. xv
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Research Background……….……….1
B. Research Problem….……….…………...4
C. Problem Limitation………...4
D. Research Objectives………5
E. Research Benefits………..………..5
F. Definition of Terms………..………...6
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description………...8
1. Motivation………...8
2. Communicative Language Teaching………..9
3. Games in Language Learning………12
4. Writing Skill………...14
B. Theoretical Framework………..19
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Research Method……….21
B. Research Setting………..24
C. Research Participants………..….25
D. Research Instruments and Data Gathering Technique………...26
E. Data Analysis Technique………...…..32
F. Research Procedure………..…...33
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. The Implementation of Games to Improve Motivation……….….35
B. Games Motivate Students to Write………...61
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions………...67
B. Recommendations………...69
REFERENCES………...71
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
2.1 Teaching-Learning Design of the Research………20
3.1 The Data Needed in the Research………...31
4.1 Teaching Procedure of the First Cycle………..…..38
4.2 Teaching Procedure of the Second Cycle………..………..52
4.3 Observation Result………..62
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
2.1 Characteristic of Writing……….15
3.1 Kemmis & Mc Taggart’s Cycle Model………….………..23
4.1 The Game Procedure of First Cycle….……….…………..39
4.2 The Game Procedure of Second Cycle……….…………..53
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
A. Covering Letter for the Mayor of Yogyakarta………..74
B. Permission Letter from the Mayor of Yogyakarta………76
C. Syllabus……….78
D. Learning Materials 1. Lesson Plan of the First Cycle……….83
2. Lesson Plan of the Second Cycle……….86
3. Game of the First Cycle………90
4. Game of the Second Cycle………...93
E. Research Instruments 1. Observation Sheet of the First Cycle………95
2. Questionnaire of the First Cycle………..103
3. Raw Data of Questionnaire of the First Cycle……….106
4. Field Notes of the First Cycle………..110
5. Observation Sheet of the Second Cycle………...115
6. Questionnaire of the Second Cycle………….……….123
7. Raw Data of Questionnaire of the Second Cycle…….………126
6. Field Notes of the Second Cycle……….……….129
7. Interview Guide………....134
8. Interview Transcripts………135
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides information about the research background and also the description about the research problems. It encompasses research background, research problems, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms.
A. Research Background
There are four English skills which are required to be learned, those are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. All those skills are important and they support each other. In School Based Curriculum, those four skills are needed to be taught to the students.
Unfortunately, the researcher found that students of XI IPA 4 or senior high school students were lacking of motivation in learning writing skill. It was shown from the students’ attitude during the writing lesson. The students were bored during the lesson. Miffin (1997) states “Motivation is typically defined as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behavior” (p.399). The researcher observed the difference between the students’ attitudes during writing lesson and the students’ attitudes during reading, listening, and speaking lesson.
The researcher found that the teacher gave monotonous writing activities. It was different from the other lesson of English skills. Besides, the result of writing assessment was not as good as the result of other skills. The researcher figured out
that the teacher focused on teaching receptive skills, those are reading, and listening. Therefore, the teaching activities of receptive skills were varied. The teacher also emphasized to the students that mastering receptive skills were important to pass the final examination in senior high school. The teacher tended to drill the students on reading skill and listening skill. Even though speaking is a productive skill, the teacher prepared various activities for speaking lesson. The teacher sometimes used role play, presentation, and story telling in speaking activity. Whereas, writing has some functions in daily activity. According to Halliday (1985), the functions of writing are as follow.
1. Primarily for action
Public sign, e.g. on roads and stations; product label and instructions, e.g. on food, tools, or toys purchased; recipes; maps; television and radio guides; bills; menus; telephone directories; ballot papers; computer manuals, monitors and printouts.
For social contact personal correspondence; letters, postcards, greeting cards. 2. Primarily for information
Newspapers (news, editorials) and current affairs magazines; hobby magazines; non-fiction books, including textbooks; public notices; advertisements; political pamphlet; scholastic, medical, etc. reports; guidebooks and travel literature.
3. Primarily for entertainment
Light magazines, comic strips; fiction books; poetry and drama; newspaper features; film subtitles; games, including computer games.
(as cited by Nunan, 1991, p.84)
Halliday’s statement explained that writing is also important. Writing is used to deliver one’s idea to another or to share information with others. It also helps the writer to convey information in different time and place.
and then the students had to write in accordance with the model. Those were the activities in writing and it was always be the same. The monotonous activity in writing caused the low motivation in students.
The researcher found the implication of low motivation in writing in XI IPA 4 SMA N 6 Yogyakarta. Based on the writing assessment, the researcher found that the students had problems in developing the ideas, using tenses, adjusting the generic structure of the text, and making mechanical mistakes. The researcher presumed that the students’ problems in writing could be overcome if the teacher overcame the learning problems. Those are lacking of motivation and the monotonous activity.
Having an interesting writing activity is expected to be a good solution to these learning problems. According to Sugar and Whitcomb (2006), a game is High-Outcome Technique. The reasons are game is fun with purpose, game motivates learners, and game accelerates learning. (p.2)
B. Research Problems
From the observation, the researcher found that in writing activity students did not perform well. The researcher figured out from the students’ writing that the students only copied and pasted the story from internet. The researcher thought that the writing activities were monotonous. Therefore, the researcher thought that using games in writing activity could be a good treatment for this problem. The research was conducted to answer the research problems. The problems were formulated as follow.
1. How do games improve students’ motivation in writing skill?
2. To what extent do games improve students’ motivation in writing activity?
C. Problem Limitation
D. Research Objectives
1. To find out how games improve students’ motivation in writing activity. 2. To find out to what extent games improve students’ motivation in writing
activity.
E. Research Benefits
1. Students
This study is conducted to solve students’ problem in learning English. It helps students increase their motivation in writing skill. It can help the students in the writing activities.
2. Teachers
This research helps teachers of senior high school to teach writing in different ways. The creativity of teachers is improved because they have to think what appropriate games to use for the students. It also inspires teachers to use games in their activities to avoid students’ boredom and to raise the students’ motivation.
3. Student-teachers (teacher candidates)
4. Future Researchers
This study provides information that is needed by the future researchers in completing their study. The future researchers can use this research as a reference in conducting Classroom Action Research. Furthermore, the future researcher can develop this research.
F. Definition of terms
1. Motivation
Schunk, Pintrich, and Meece (2008) state “Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained” (p.4). Motivation involves goal because it encourage us to action. The point is that individuals are conscious of something that they are trying to attain. Then, most activities that students engage in are geared toward attaining their goals. The motivational processes are critically important to sustain action. Such motivational processes as expectations, attributions, emotions, and affects help people to handle the difficulties and sustain the motivation.
2. Writing Skill
concluded that writing skill is an ability to find an idea and to express the idea in meaningful patterns to share it to others.
3. Games in Language Learning
Bloom (1981) states “games are any contest (play) among adversaries (players) operating under constraint (rule) for an objective (winning, victory, or pay-off)” (p.51). Not all games can be used in the language learning context. According to Lee Su Kim (1995) the requirements of a language game are: related to the academic material, encourage teamwork, motivate learner. It can be concluded that games in language learning is a fun activity under specific rule which is motivating in language learning.
4. Eleventh Graders
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of theories related to the topic of the research. There are two major sections which are used as the groundwork of this research. They are theoretical description and theoretical framework.
A. Theoretical Description
In the theoretical description, the researcher discusses the theories which are related to this research. The theories are Theories of Motivation, Language Teaching, Game, and Writing Skill.
1. Motivation
Schunk, Pintrich, and Meece (2008) state “Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained” (p.4). Furthermore Miffin (1997) states that “Motivation is typically defined as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behavior” (p.399). Motivation is relevant to learning because learning is an active process requiring conscious and deliberate activity. Krashen (1982) states five hypotheses related to language acquisition. One of the hypotheses is affective filter hypothesis. There are three kinds of affective filter related to second language acquisition: 1) motivation, 2) self-confidence, and 3) anxiety. The affective filter Hypothesis states that motivation and self confidence have low affective filter, which helps receive more input in second language acquisition. Anxiety has high affective filter, which prevent acquisition in taking place. This theory shows that
motivation has important role in acquiring language. (as cited by Richard and Rodgers, 2001, p.183)
According to behavioral theory that is stated by Schunk et. al. (2008), motivation is a changing of behavior as an effect by environmental events and stimuli. From behavior stand point, motivation is an observable phenomenon. Furthermore Schunk et al. (2008) said that there are three methods in assessing motivation; direct observation, rating by other, and self-reports. Direct observation is focused on the action that the students choose. The motivation is seen from the students’ persistence in doing the task, the effort to perform well, and how the students’ participation is in doing the task willingly. Rating by other is a method that requires the observer to judge the students on various characteristics. It often attempts to capture motivational process that underlies behavior, and thereby provides data not attainable through direct observation. Self-reports is a method where people judge themselves.
2. Communicative Language Teaching
Richard and Rogers (2001) explain:
Communicative Language Teaching is a theory of language teaching that starts from communicative model of language and language use, and that seeks to translate this into a design for an instructional system, for materials, for teacher and learner roles and behaviors, and for classroom activities and techniques. (p.158)
speaking, and listening. Brown (2007) explains that for many people Communicative Language Teaching is a paradigm which encompasses authenticity, acceptability, and adaptability (p.45).
There are some features which distinguish Communicative Approach from others. According to Finnocchiaro and Brumfit some of them are: (1) language is learnt by communication, (2) reading and writing can be taught although speech has not been mastered yet, (3) teacher helps learner and motivates them in learning language, (4) learners are expected to interact with other learners through a pair or a group work or writing. (as cited in Richard and Rogers, 2001, p.156) Those are some of the distinctive features of Communicative Language teaching and other language teaching approach.
Littlewood (1981), as cited in Richard and Roger (2001), states, “One of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspect of language” (p.155). It is different from the other approaches which focus on the structure of language. Communicative language teaching also pays attention to the function of language which is to communicate. The concept of Communicative Language Teaching will be easier to be understood by understanding the theory of language and the theory of learning.
a. Theory of Language
Hymes, communicative competence was an important need to have in order to communicate well in a speech community (as cited by Richard and Roger, 2001, p.159).
There are four characteristics of language, which are seen from communicative view, stated by Richard and Rogers (2001):
1. Language is a system for the expression of meaning.
2.The primary function of language is to allow interaction and communication.
3. The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses. 4. The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural
features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse (p.161).
b.Theory of Learning
3. Game in Language Learning
Games are fun activities which are usually considered inappropriate in education because education needs serious activities. Therefore, we need to know the definition of games first so that we do not have miss interpretation of games in education. Bloom (1981) states “games are any contest (play) among adversaries (players) operating under constraint (rule) for an objective (winning, victory, or pay-off)” (p.51). Boocock and Schild (1968) say that the difference between educational game and un-educational game is the objective of the game. An educational game’s objective is to educate, not to entertain. Entertainment becomes an instrumental value, rather than the design objective (p.72). Furthermore Boocock and Schild (1968) give limitation of educational game. Educational game is not substitute for conventional study but an enhancing supplement.
a. Benefits in using game
According to Lee Su Kim (1995) there are some advantages we can get in using games as the method in teaching learning activity.
1) Games are motivating and challenging.
2) Games help students make and sustain the effort of learning. 3) Games create meaningful context for language use.
4) Games encourage students to interact and communicate (p.35).
immediately what they have done naturally. Third, games can be a media of interaction. Playing games give opportunity for the learners to interact with each other. Fourth, games can be seen as a competition. It stimulates learners to do their best to win the competition. Fifth, playing games is good to build learners’ cooperation. Sixth, games tell the learners their position and their self-image. Seventh, through playing games, learners gain information about what they learn unconsciously. Eight, It increases learner’s skill in problem solving (p.xxii). In addition, Sugar and Whitcomb (2006) state “game is High-Outcome Technique” (p.2). Some of their reasons are: games are fun with purpose, games motivate learners, and games accelerate learning.
b. Game Requirements
We can find so many games around us. There are some requirements for games to be used in teaching activity. According to Lee Su Kim (1995) there are some requirements of using games.
1) The game should be directly related to the academic material and goal, not a free period.
2) It can encourage teamwork and positive attitudes
4. Writing Skill
This part discusses three things related to this research. They are the definition of writing skill, the nature of writing and the approach of writing.
a. Definition of Writing Skill
There are some definitions of writing. As stated by Nunan (2003) “writing is finding idea and the expressing of that idea by organizing into statements and paragraph in order” (p.88). The similar definition with Nunan is stated by Donald and Dawn. According to Donald and Dawn (1992), writing is a system of communication. Writing is not only letters put together in meaningful patterns. It has deep meaning. They believe that writing is a way of thinking, a way of learning, a way of sharing ideas with others. We can see the writer’s way of thinking by reading his writing. By writing the ideas, writer learns how to express his idea in a good organization and also learns more about his ideas. The purpose of writing his ideas is to share the ideas to the reader (p.3). Donald and Dawn look at writing as a way to transfer one’s idea to others indirectly.
b. The nature of writing
Clear, fluent,and
effective communication
of ideas
Syntax
Word Choice
Purpose
Audience
Writing
process
Content
Grammar
Organization
Mechanics
Figure 2.1 The Criteria of Writing (Raimes, 1983, p. 6)
and pronoun. Syntax encompasses sentence boundaries, sentence structure, and stylistic choice.
c. Writing approach
There are many approaches in writing. The popular approaches are product approach and process approach. Product approach is also known as traditional approach. According to Cohen (1990), the underlying assumption of product approach is that learners are capable of turning out finished products the first time around. The focus of this approach is on the result of the learning process, the product of writing. Learners pay attention more to their sentence formation and grammar in their writing. Learners are expected to be able to write as fluent and competent as the native (p.105). This approach conveys to the students that the function of writing is to produce texts for teacher to evaluate not to communicate with others.
There are different processes of writing but generally, as Meyer states in his book (2003, p.3) the processes are as follow.
1. Exploring Ideas
In some books, this activity is included in pre-writing activity. Meyer sees that exploring the idea is one process and it is not included in pre-writing activity. In finding the idea, the writer needs to consider the subject or the material that she/he wants to write, the purpose of the writing, and the audience.
2. Pre- writing
There are many pre-writing activities used in writing such as brain storming, clustering, strategic questioning, sketching, freewriting, exploring the senses, interviewing, and information gathering.
3. Organizing
Organizing is the process of selecting, subtracting, and adding the ideas, then outlining them into a good arrangement.
4. Writing the first draft
First draft is written down by selecting the best idea and expanding it into a paragraph. In making the draft the writer just needs to write what is in their mind. There is no worry about mistake because it can be revised later.
5. Revising the draft
6. Producing the final copy
After revising the draft, the next step is to edit the writing. Gebhard (2000) states that editing is activity in writing which recognizes the problems in grammar (e.g.,subject-verb disagreement, improper pronoun use, incorrect verb tense), syntax (e.g.,fragment and run-on sentence), and mechanics (e.g., spelling and punctuation errors) (p.230). After editing, then the next step is proofreading. Proofreading means examined carefully the final copy of writing.
Brown (2001) states “the drafting and the revising stages are the cores of process writing” (p.348). Drafting is viewed as an important and complex set of strategies, the mastery of which takes time, patience, and trained instruction. Furthermore, Brown explains that in traditional approach there are two kinds of writing instructions. First, the students are given timed in-class compositions to write during the class hour. The advantage is they can finish at the same time but the disadvantage is that they do not have opportunity for systematic drafting. Second, the students are given a homework writing assignment. The advantage is that they have more time to do drafting but, the disadvantage is they may not do the drafting.
This research is focused on process writing approach because the researcher thought that students need to know the process in writing.
B. Theoretical Framework
The learning problems in XI IPA 4 were lacking of motivation and monotonous activity. The learning problems drove the students of XI IPA 4 have difficulty in writing. Their ideas are not well organized. They made mistakes in generic structure and also mistakes in mechanics.
Miffin (1997) states, “Motivation is typically defined as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behavior” (p. 399). Motivation can help the students receive more input in learning. Therefore, raising students’ motivation supposes to help the students overcome their difficulties in writing.
The writing approach used by the researcher is writing process approach which emphasizes the process of writing. The process writing is suitable for the students because one of the problems is organizing idea. The students also need to know the process of writing. Accordingly, the researcher tried to make the process of writing more enjoyable for the students so that they could produce a writing better than before. Therefore, the researcher suggested using games in writing activity. The using of game is adjusted to the method used in this research and also the needs of the students.
Having different activities in the class by having games is the solution that the researcher offers in this research. Using games in teaching writing can motivate students to produce or to express their ideas in written form. Besides, the students can interact with their friends in order to improve their ability.
While doing the games, the students can help each other in learning. They can motivate their friends and can also improve their knowledge by sharing their knowledge. Games provide different activities from the usual activity they have in the class. To assess the motivation, the researcher employs direct observation, rating by others, and self-reports.
Briefly, the design of teaching learning activity of this Classroom Action Research is as the follows.
Approach Communicative Language Teaching
Procedure Process Writing
Technique Writing Games
21
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the researcher would like to present the description of the research method. There are six sub-chapters to be discussed. They are research method, research setting, research participants, research instruments and data gathering techniques, data analysis techniques, and research procedures.
A. Research Method
This research was Classroom Action Research (CAR). According to Elliot (1991), the using of Action Research is to develop how teaching problems identified is resolved (p.30). Furthermore, it was explained by Stephen Kemmis as cited by David Hopkins as follows.
Action research is a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social (including educational) situation in order to improve the rationality and justice of (a) their own social or educational practices, (b) their understanding of these practices, and (c) the situation in which the practices are carried out. It is most rationally empowering when undertaken by individuals, and sometimes in cooperation with ‘outsiders’. In education action research has been employed in school-based curriculum development, professional development, and system planning and policy development.
(Hopkins, 1993, p. 44)
From the definition above, it can be concluded that action research comes from the problem found in the class by reflecting. The purpose of action research is not only to solve the problem but also to improve the educational process.
the root of the problems was. Then, based on the analysis, the researcher tried to find the best way to resolve the problem.
The reason why Classroom Action Research was employed to solve the problem found was based on the theory stated by Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1992), “action research is not a research done on other people. It is a research on their own work in order to improve what they do” (as cited in Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2000, p.227).
Figure 3.1 Kemmis & Mc Taggart’s Cycle Model (Hopkins, 1993, p. 48)
After diagnosing the problem, the researcher planned a strategy to resolve it by conducting the classroom action research. If it is implemented in the cycle, the researcher more or less would do:
1. Planning
was to improve students’ motivation in writing competence. In this step, the researcher also discussed the planned action with the teacher.
2. Action and Observation
In this step, the researcher applied the treatment in teaching. While the teacher was teaching, the researcher conducted observation in the class. The researcher thought that in conducting the research, the action and observation phases were held together. Therefore, while the teacher taught, the researcher observed the students’ participation in the class. Then, after the implementation was conducted, the researcher needed to know the students’ opinion or the reaction toward the treatment.
3. Reflection
The teacher and the researcher tried to find the strengths and the weaknesses of the implementation. Does the treatment work to overcome the problem? If it does not, there must be something wrong and the teacher should find the cause and improve it to be better in the next cycle.
B. Research Setting
C. Research Participants
The participants of this research could be divided into the participants of research or implementation, the participants of observation, the participants of questionnaire, and the participants of interview.
1. Research or Implementation
The participants of the research were the teacher, the researcher, the observer and the eleven grader of IPA 4 of SMA N 6 Yogyakarta. The teacher who participated in this research was the English teacher in the class which was being researched. The observer was the student of PBI in Sanata Dharma University who was also doing research in education. The students who participated in this research were taken from one class which had been observed before. There were 29 students in the class.
2. Observation and field note
The participants of the observation were the researcher, the teacher, the observer and the whole class. The subjects of the observation were the teacher and the students. The observation phase was focused on the students’ attitudes and the students’ participation during the implementation. In the observation phase, the researcher and the observer tried to describe the situation during the implementation. The observation was also used as the method of assessing motivation, namely direct observation.
3. Questionnaire
implementation of using games in writing activity. The questionnaire was also used as the method of assessing the students’ motivation, namely self-report.
4. Interview
The interview was purposive interview which means that the interviewee was chosen based on some requirements. The participants of the interview were the students who still had a low motivation in writing activity or did not actively participate during the learning and teaching activity. They were taken from the result of the observation and the questionnaire.
D. Research Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
The researcher employed some instruments in this research. Those were: observation, field notes, questionnaire, and interview. Observation was employed during the learning and teaching activity, whereas questionnaire and interview were employed after the learning and teaching activity.
1. Observation Form and Field Notes
The observation form and field notes were done at the same time. It was to save the observers’ time in filling the field notes and observation. They did not have to hold many instruments to be filled. Moreover, field notes in the observation step have a function to give more information about the things to be observed.
and Morrison (2000) also said that observation is powerful tool for gaining insight into the situation. The observation enables the researcher to see the situation in the class clearly so that the researcher could identify the problem which occurs in the class; determine the strategy to be implemented, and also observe the effect of implementation (p.135).
The researcher conducted non-participant observation which means the researcher was not involved in the learning activity while observing the learning and teaching activity. The reason was that by not involving in the students’ activity, the students would not realize that they were being observed. It also helped the researcher observe the teaching and learning activities objectively.
This observation was aimed to see the general situation during writing activity where a game was implemented as the strategy to overcome the problem in the class. Moreover, the researcher could see how students responded during the learning and teaching activity.
Bogdan and Biklen (2003) define field notes as “the written account of what the researcher hears, sees, experiences, and thinks in the course of collecting and reflecting on the data in a qualitative study” (p.110). Hopkins (1993) gives simple definition of field notes; he defines it as a report of observation, reflection, and reaction to the problem in the classroom. He also says that field notes should be written as soon as possible after the lesson. It is much better if field notes are made during the lesson (p.116).
field notes reflect general impressions of the classroom, its climate, or the events (p.116). Similarly, Bogdan and Biklen (2003) divide filed notes into two materials; descriptive and reflective. The concern of descriptive field notes is described the setting, people, action, and conversation as observed (p.112). Field notes would help the researcher in reporting the information during the implementation. The field notes used in this research was issued-oriented or descriptive field notes. It enabled the researcher to describe every event which happened in the class. The focus of the field notes was to see students’ general responses toward the implementation of using game in writing activity. It would also help the researcher reveal students’ interest on the implemented strategy.
2. Questionnaire
According to Wilson and McLean (1994), questionnaire is an useful instrument in collecting survey information, providing structured, often numerical data, being able to administer without presence of the researcher, and often being comparatively straight forward to analyze (as cited by Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2000, p. 245). Hopkins (1993) also say similar thing, he said that questionnaire is a quick and simple way in obtaining bread and rich information from pupils, especially those which ask the specific questions (p.134).
1. It is easy to administer; quick to fill in 2. It is easy to follow up
3. It provides direct comparison of groups and individuals.
4. It provides feedback on: attitudes, adequacy of resources, adequacy of teacher help, preparation for next session, conclusions at end of term, data are quantifiable. (p.136)
Cohen, et.al. (2000) explain that there are several types of question and response in a questionnaire. They were closed question, rating scale, open-ended questions (p.248). In this research, the researcher used closed-question, which provides response to be chosen by the respondent. Using closed question not only helps the students in filling in the questionnaire but also help the researcher in coding the information. Nevertheless, the questionnaire also provided the open question to get the information from the respondents.
3. Interview
As Wallace (1998) say that questionnaires and interviews are used to collect information about learners’ knowledge, opinions, ideas, and experiences, the researcher also used interview to collect the data needed (p.124). The interview was used to get more information from the learners after they had done the questionnaire. Hopkins (2008) states the advantages of an interview, as follows.
1. Teacher is in direct contact with pupil.
2. Pupils are familiar with teacher, therefore more at ease.
3. Teacher is able to seek information they want directly and not through a ream of irrelevant information.
5. It can follow up problems immediately when they arise and get information while minds are sill fresh (p.111).
The Interview can be divided into two types according to the variety of respondents; they were an individual and a group interview. The researcher conducted individual interview by choosing the interviewees. The researcher chose the interviewees who were not actively participating in learning and teaching activity and who still had problems in writing. It could be seen from the result of the observation and also the questionnaires. The purpose of the interview was to enable the researcher to get the more detailed and specific data which had been identified in the questionnaire but not really obvious. The interview was done after the questionnaire had been analyzed. It also helped identify the students’ problems during the implementing process.
According to Wallace (1998) from the format used, an interview can be divided into three categories: structured interview, unstructured interview, and semi-structured interview (p.146). This action research used semi-structured interview. As its name indicates, semi-structured interview is a kind of collaboration between structured interview and unstructured interview. Wallace (1998) added that “semi-structured interview therefore combine a certain degree of control with certain amount of freedom to develop the interview” (p.147). Thus, the researcher provided the guideline questions to control the underlying focus of interview, but it was done in an unfixed order.
Step of CAR Data Instrument Cycle 1 St. Participation during
implementation
- Students are enthusiastic
during learning and teaching process.
- Students interact with teacher and other students.
- Students follow the teacher’s instruction.
- Students give their opinion in doing the game.
- Students show negative
attitude during the implementation such as: sleeping, drawing, chatting or playing.
St. opinion toward using games in writing class
- The game helps the students in organizing idea in writing.
- The game motivates the
students in writing.
- The game helps the students in other aspects of writing.
- Observation
- Students are enthusiastic
during learning and teaching process.
- Students share their
knowledge to revise the draft.
- Students work together in
doing the game.
- Students follow the teacher’s instruction.
St. opinion toward using games in writing activity in other aspects of writing.
- Observation
- Field notes
- Questionnaire
- Interview
E. Data Analysis Technique
Burn (1999) said “data analysis in Classroom Action Research involves describing and explaining the data” (p.153). In this research, there were two kinds of data; those are verbal and numeric data. The numeric data was the number of the students’ action during the implementation and also the number of the students’ answer on the questionnaire. The researcher then transformed the data into descriptive analysis. The verbal data explained how the implementation worked and how the students participated during the implementation. The verbal data was interpreted in descriptive analysis.
To check the validity of the data, the researcher used triangulation. Burn (1999) state “Triangulation is aimed to gather multiple perspectives on the situation” (p.163). Silverman (1993) defines triangulation as:
Comparing different kinds of data (e.g. quantitative and qualitative) and different methods (e.g. observation and interviews) to see whether they corroborate one another…This form of comparison called triangulation, derives from navigation, where different bearings give the correct position of an object.
(as cited in Burn, 1999, p.163) Thus, by employing triangulation, the data from different instrument support each other. This research employed investigator triangulation.
According to Denzin (1978), investigator triangulation used more than one observer in the same research setting. It also provides the reliability check of the observation. There were some similar questions asked in the questionnaire and the interview. There were also some points observed in the observation and the field notes. It was aimed to check the validity of the data gathered (as cited in Burn, 1999, p.164).
F. Research Procedures
There were seven steps in conducting this research. The steps were asking for the school’s permission, conducting preliminary observation, finding the problem and deciding the problem solving, planning, action and observation, data gathering and reflection.
1. Asking for the school’s permission
a. The researcher asked the teacher of the class which would be the participant of this research.
b. The research asked permission from the school.
c. The researcher got the permission letter from concern institution.
2. Conducting Preliminary Observation
a. The researcher, as the observer, joined the learning and teaching activity. b. The researcher observed how the teacher delivered the materials, how
students responded to the teaching learning process, and what problems appeared during the teaching and learning process.
c. The research identified the problematic factors which occurred in the class.
3. Finding the Problem and Deciding the Problem Solving
a. The researcher discussed with the teacher which was the most problematic factor.
b. The researcher tried to identify the cause of the problem.
4. Planning
a. The researcher designed the cycles of the classroom action research.
b. The researcher made the lesson plan with the implementation of the strategy or the problem solving.
c. The researcher prepared the instruments and the document used in the research, such as the observation form, the field notes, the questionnaire and the interview.
5. Action and Observation
a. The teacher implemented the strategy in the learning and teaching activity. b. The teacher asked the students to do the writing assignment.
c. The researcher observed what was going on during the implementation. d. The researcher wrote the field notes to record every event during the
learning and teaching activity.
6. Data Gathering
a. The researcher distributed the questionnaires to the students after the class. b. The researcher conducted the follow-up interview with several students
which were chosen based on the observation.
7. Reflection
a. The researcher and the teacher shared about what went well and what needed to be improved during the implementation according to the result of the observation and field notes.
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH RESULT AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents two major aspects in this research which are related. First, the researcher focuses on the implementation of games in writing activity of the English class in class XI IPA 4. The description and the findings are reported based on the data gained from the observation and the field note forms.
Second, after describing the implementation, the researcher discusses the influence or what aspect was improved from the implementation of the games in writing skill of XI IPA 4 students. The discussion covers the research results that are gained from the questionnaire and the interview.
A. The Implementation of Games to Improve Motivation
Games were employed in this research to overcome the writing problems of XI IPA 4 students. Then this strategy was implemented during the teaching and learning process through classroom action research (CAR). The researcher used three phases of CAR as proposed by Kemmis and Mc Taggart; namely planning, acting and observing, and reflecting. Those phases are called cycle. In this research, there were two cycles conducted from which one cycle consists of one implementation of a game in writing class.
1. The First Cycle of CAR
The first cycle was conducted in one meeting on Monday, November 14th 2011. The participants of this research were actually 29 students. However, there
were 4 students absent. This research employed writing process approach as the basis of writing activity that is stated by Meyer (2003); they are exploring ideas, prewriting, organizing ideas, drafting, revising, and producing the final product (p.3). In the first cycle the game was placed in the organization idea of writing step. The first cycle of this research consisted of three phases namely planning, acting and observing, and reflecting.
a. Planning of the First Cycle
Having a preliminary observation on October 24th, 2011 and discussion with the teacher, the researcher found that the students of XI IPA 4 had a problem in writing. The researcher and the English teacher agreed that the problem in the class was lacking motivation. It led the students to have difficulties in ordering their idea, in phrasing, and in mastering vocabulary in writing. In the preliminary observation, the students showed that they were not interested in the writing activities. It might be caused by the monotonous activities of writing. The teacher always gave the students the same activities in writing; those were modeling by the teacher, take-home writing, and then presenting their writing in front of the class. Therefore, the researcher offered the teacher to employ games in order to have various activities in writing. The researcher expected that using games could overcome the students’ difficulty in writing by increasing their motivation.
activities. The researcher also decided to employ process approach of writing. In the first cycle, the writing process encompassed exploring idea, pre-writing, and organization step. In the activity of exploring idea, the researcher had selected the topic for the students. The game was placed in the organization, the third step of writing process stated by Meyer (2003). Organizing is the process of selecting, subtracting, and adding the ideas, then outlining them into a good arrangement. As Brown (2001) stated “drafting and revising stages are the core of process writing” (p.348). The organizing was selected because the students still had difficulty in organizing their ideas. The organizational game was aimed to help the students in writing the draft. Drafting activity was given as homework in order to give freedom to the students. The students were expected to get more information to write.
The researcher suggested a guessing game which was adapted from the organizing form by Hardy and Klarwein (1990, p.58). It would help the students develop their vocabulary, phrase-building, and also the organization steps. Then the researcher made the procedures of the game and prepared the game.
Before implementing the strategy, the researcher and the teacher discussed the learning materials, the learning activities and the procedures of the game. The researcher needed to discuss it with the teacher because the English teacher is the one who implemented the strategy, while the researcher acted as the observer in the implementation stage. It was important to have the same understanding about the research especially in the implementation stage. The teaching procedures can be seen in Table 4.1. and the game’s procedure can be seen in Figure 4.1.
No. Stages Activities
1. Pre-activity - The teacher reviews the material.
- The teacher gives a brief explanation about writing process approach.
2. Whilst-activity
- The students explore idea/select the topic (given). - The students do clustering step (provided). - The teacher introduces the game.
- The students organize the ideas (guessing game). 3. Post activity - The teacher reviews the material.
- The students write the draft (homework).
THE PROCEDURES OF “GUESS THE ANIMALS” GAME
1. The students make a group of three or four.
2. The teacher distributes two pieces of paper, one is the outline and the other is the description of certain animals.
3. The students have to arrange the description into a noun phrase and put the noun phrase into the outline paper.
4. The students must put the description according to the aspect of description (physical, habitat, behavior, etc.)
THE RULES OF “GUESS THE ANIMALS” GAME
1. The students are not allowed to see the other group’s paper.
2. The students have to describe the animal using the words prepared. 3. The students need to use all of the words provided.
Figure 4.1. The Game Procedures of the First Cycle
The activities of exploring idea and clustering were included in the game. In designing the game, the researcher, as suggested by the teacher, had decided on the topic. There was also clustering or a group of words provided in the game. Those words would be used to fill the outline as the organization activity.
b. Acting and Observing of the First Cycle
1) Pre-Activity
When the teacher came to the class, the researcher found that there were 9 (nine) students who had not come yet. The students in the class were busy with their own activities, such as operating their mobile phones and chatting with their friends. When the teacher greeted them, the students began to be quieter. However, the lesson had not yet started; they had to sing the national song before starting the lesson on Monday.It is the policy of the minister of education to sing the national song before the start of the lesson on Monday if the ceremony is not held. Having sung the national song, the teacher gave the students several minutes to prepare to study. Five (5) students came late to the class and the other 4 (four) students did not attend the lesson because of illness. Twenty-five (25) students attended the class. Assuming that the students were ready, the teacher opened the lesson by telling the students that they would have the same topic as the previous meeting, report text. The teacher also explained that it would focus on writing.
The students began to open their book on the report text topic. When the teacher asked the students about the previous lesson, one student actively answered. The questions were about what report text was, the generic structure of report text, tenses, the example of report text and the difference between report text and description text. The researcher observed that there were 5 (five) students who were not interested in the lesson. They acted as if they were paying attention to the teacher but actually they were not.
The teacher gave a brief explanation about the writing process. Then the teacher told the students that they would have a writing game. The researcher observed that the students were interested in having the writing game. The students who did not pay attention before began to listen to the teacher’s explanation.
Those were the activities observed during the pre-activity. Observing the whole actions done by the teacher, the researcher concluded that the students’ response were positive during the activity. They gave a signal of having curiosity for the activity.
2) Whilst-Activity
The activities included in this phase of learning would deal with the main activities of the learning process. In this meeting, the main activities were focused on the implementation of the game. In the first cycle, the position of the game in writing was on the organizing ideas of the writing process.
The teacher gave a brief explanation to the students about what kind of game it was. When the teacher explained about the game, it was only half of the total students or 50% students in the class who listened carefully to the teacher’s explanation. Then the teacher asked the students to make a group of three or four. Hearing that, the students quickly made their group. There were 8 (eight) groups. After the students gathered with their group, the teacher distributed the worksheet to the students. The teacher explained the use of the sheets. There were 5 (five) animals to be guessed.
not sure what to do. Accordingly, the teacher was moving around, checking the students work in the group. The teacher helped the students in understanding the game procedures. The students had to guess what animals that were described by the descriptors. There were two things that the students had to do. First, they needed to arrange the words into a phrase. The phrases were the descriptors of the animals. Second, the students needed to put the descriptors into the tables prepared. The tables were the aspect of description. Those were: classification, physical feature, habitat and food, behavior and life cycle, and the use of animal to man and other interesting fact. Therefore, arranging the phrases was important so that the students knew to what aspect they belonged. After the students got the entire phrases into the aspect of animal description, they had to guess what animal it was.
When the students were arranging the phrase, the students asked the teacher whether they could open the dictionary or not. In looking for the meaning of the words, the students opened an online dictionary and also an electronic dictionary. Some of the words were new for the students. The researcher put the new words deliberately to advance the students’ vocabulary mastery. The teacher allowed the students to open the dictionary. After finding the meaning, they discussed actively in the group to arrange the words into a good phrase and to put the phrase into the aspect it belonged to.
indifferent toward the teacher’s explanation. When the teacher came to the group which had a complaining student, the students said “susah bu. ga ngerti. Ini artinya apa bu?” (It is difficult. I do not understand. What is the meaning of this word?). The teacher tried to help the student and asked her to open the dictionary. When the teacher left the group she said “ah susah.” (It is difficult) and she only watched the other 2 (two) friends in her group doing the games. Hearing this, the teacher went back to the group and asked the students what was her difficulty. The student just said that she did not understand English. The teacher patiently guided the students what she needed to do. The researcher also saw there were 2 (two) students who were even sleepy during the class activity. They were not interested in the lesson activity. When the teacher came to their group, they tried to look as if they participated in the group activity. There were 2 (two) students in another group who showed lack of interest in doing the game. They did not participate in the group discussion. They just watched their friend work on the game. However, the other group members tried to involve them into the group discussion.
The groups that worked well basically knew how to arrange the words into a phrase. They were not sure and it led them into the wrong arrangements. The teacher helped them understand how to arrange the words into a phrase. The observer observed that the students preferred the explanation in a small group rather than in the class. They more focused when the teacher explained in the group.
game. There were only 2 (two) groups from 8 (eight) groups that made the wrong guess; they guessed the bees as the butterfly. The teacher also asked the students the reason why they made the guess. The students performed well in the class discussion. It seemed that they were sure with their answer. The student actively answered the teacher question and gave the reason for their answer by telling the animal description they found in the games. When 1 (one) group made a mistake in phrasing or in putting the phrase into the table, the teacher gave opportunities to the other group to correct it. If no group got the correct answer, the teacher gave the correct answer to the whole class.
Those were the description of the learning activities done in the whilst-activity. It could be concluded that there was very good interaction between students and students. The interaction between students and teacher was also seen.
3) Post-Activity
the animal description into paragraph. The students were allowed to give more information about the animal. Seeing that the students did not really understand, the teacher explained it again to make sure that the students understood. The purpose of giving the draft as homework was to give plenty of time to the students so that they could make a well-developed draft.
The students wrote the draft in the current group. The teacher emphasized that they had to submit the draft two days after the meeting. The draft should be typed not in handwriting. The students did not have to make the draft for each animal but they might choose one of the animals being described. The animals were Bee, Dolphin, Elephant, Eagle, Crocodile, and Turtle. The teacher emphasized once more that the students needed to develop the organization they had made into a draft. They should develop the phrase into a sentence. Each aspect of the descriptors could be developed into a paragraph. The teacher also suggested that the students gave more explanation or to add more information about the animal.
Having finished with the explanation of the draft assignment, the teacher reviewed the lesson. The teacher gave questions about the characteristic of report text. The teacher also asked what the assignment was. Throughout the activity, the researcher found that the students performed well in the group discussion.
The activity that could be observed from the first cycle can be summarized as follows.
3) The students were enthusiastic in doing the games. 4) The students used the facility to do the games.
5) The students had courage to ask the teacher when they worked in the groups. 6) The students had good interaction in the group.
7) There were too many things to do within one game. 8) The students needed encouragement.
9) The teacher acted as a good facilitator when the students worked in groups.
c. Reflecting on the First Cycle
The reflection step was conducted by reflecting on the implementation activity on the first cycle. In this stage the researcher focused on how it happened and what to do to prevent it. The researcher employed the field notes and also the questionnaire result.
From the activity of cycle one, the researcher found that the students did not listen to the teacher’s instructions. Only half of the total students or 50% of the students listened to the teacher’s explanation carefully. This could be led by the unenthusiastic teacher when explaining or giving instruction. The teacher’s instructions were not clear enough for them. They were just pretending to listen to the teacher while they were wondering what the teacher was talking about.
Even though the students did not perform as the teacher instructed, the students were enthusiastic in doing the guessing game. The researcher presumed that it was because the activity offered by the game was a group activity so that they could do the game together. Furthermore, the researcher observed a good interaction between the students in the group. They were free to give their opinion in the group. The researcher assumed that the students’ performance was better in doing game in a group.
The students had initiative to use internet to open online dictionary. They used the school facility to do the game. It showed students’ effort to find the words they did not know. They did not only rely on the teacher to explain the new words they found. The consequence of using internet was that the teacher needed to watch the students not to open unnecessary site.
While doing the game, the students felt free to ask the teacher for help. They could answer the teacher’s questions. The students’ attitude in working in a group was different from working alone or in the class discussion. They were more relaxed. Therefore, they had courage to ask the teacher when they were having problems in a group discussion.
another. In doing all those activities the students had a discussion with their friends in the same group.
The game indeed was good to improve students’ interaction and also could motivate the students because they needed to participate in the group. The weakness of the implementation of the game in the first cycle was that there were many things to do. The students got so many instructions from the teacher. They also had more than one paper so it was not practical. In designing the activities, the researcher thought it would be good for the students to advance their vocabulary. Therefore, the researcher designed many tasks within one game for the students. The researcher saw the need to reduce the activities and also the paper for the students.
The students’ attitudes in the class discussion and in the group discussion were different. They would like to ask the teacher when they faced difficulties. The researcher thought that the students need encouragement to perform well in the class discussion. The teacher’s role was important to make it happen. The teacher needed to reinforce the students to answer or to state their opinion. At the beginning of the lesson, there was 1 (one) student who was active in answering the teacher’s questions. Those who answered the teacher’s question were always the same students. The other students needed to be encouraged to speak up. It was because after the teacher encouraged the passive students to answer, they answered the teacher’s questions.
