EXPLORING SCIENTIFIC APPROACH IN ENGLISH

LANGUAGE TEACHING
Suharyadi
English Department
State University of Malang
Abstract: In this year (2013), the Ministry of Education and Culture has just launched a
new curriculum for elementary and high schools - Curriculum 2013. This curriculum is
claimed to be different from the previous one KTSP- in several aspects. One of the
differences is that a scientific approach is introduced. This approach is old and new. It is
old as it has been used in science. It is new because it is newly applied in English language
teaching (ELT). For language teachers (English), this approach is not clear yet and probably
it causes some controversies. This paper aims at exploring the notions of scientific
approach and its possible application in English language teaching.
Key Words: Scientific Approach, English Language Teaching

The term Scientific Approach (abbreviated SA) commenced to be popular when the
Ministry of Education and Culture launched a new curriculum (Curriculum 2013) for
elementary and high schools to replace the previous curriculum-KTSP in 2013. This new
curriculum explicitly claims that SA is paramount to better the quality of teaching and learning.
SA is believed to be able to develop students affection, skills, and knowledge. SA is also
considered relevant with the idea that learning is a scientific process in the classroom. Thus,
how learning takes place should be scientific-based, meaning that all processes and steps of
learning should reflect fixed procedures starting from observing, questioning, associating,
experimenting, and networking.
Teachers and students have been familiar with SA in the academic areas. Teachers and
students usually use it as the basis to conduct studies, carry out experiments in the laboratories,
and observe social phenomena. In other words, this approach is not new and has been used for
years, particularly in the area of science, research, and social science for the sake of finding
something new, developing something different, or creating something unique and beneficial for
human life.
When I typed key words scientific approach in the Google search engine, I found a lot
of possible fields that may lead my interests to explore them more deeply. For example, I saw
that SA has been applied in psychology, anthropology, sociology, chemistry, research,
management, education, international relations, and teaching. These fields show me that SA has
been very much accessible in three big domains: science, research, and social science.
In contrast, when I typed the key words Scientific approach in language teaching or in
English language teaching, what appeared was that of the topics such as teaching science to
language minority students, effective science teaching for English language education, the
teaching of science, teaching science through English, and linguistics and the scientific
study of language teaching. This phenomenon indicates that SA is not yet prominent in the area
of language, particularly English language teaching.
These facts show that SA has been popular in science, social science, and management.
Probably, SA is not relevant with language teaching, particularly English language teaching, or
the researchers are not interested in this area since SA is not really linked to language teaching.
Why Science? Why Scientific?
Before I discuss the notions of SA, I need to illuminate the words science and
Scientific so that we get more comprehensive details about SA. If we are aware of the word
science, we can ask questions such as why science? and why scientific? The words
science and scientific are closed in that the latter derives from the initial word. Science is
a noun and scientific is an adjective. As a noun, science can be a subject, a course, or a field
that one learns, studies, or writes. As an adjective, scientific characterizes what one learns,
studies, or does in relation to the phenomena.
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The word science emanates from Latin scientia, meaning knowledge. The
knowledge here may be in the form of concepts, ideas, or formulas. It is the thing a person gets
or knows from learning. Science can also be a tool or activity with which a person learns to get
or find something new in systematic ways. Science is then a knowledge generating activity
which is based on systematically organized bodies of accumulated knowledge obtained through
objective observations (The National Academy of Sciences, 2008). Oxford Dictionary (1995)
extends the definition of science as the study of the structure and behavior of the physical and
natural world and society, especially through observation and experiment. Science is also
defined a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable
explanations and predictions about the universe (Feynman, 1968). Science is the intellectual
and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the
physical and natural world through observation and experiment (Jay, 1997). In short, science
seeks to discover uniformities and to formulate statements of uniformities and consistencies of
relationship between natural phenomena. Science is to understand, explain, and predict by
specifying the systematic relationships among empirical variables.
The word scientific which derives from the word science means about or related to
science, or using its methods or based on or characterized by the methods and principles of
science (Online Longman Dictionary, 2013). In this context, scientific means that any work
or result a person achieves must be accomplished by following the principles available in
science. For example, when one generated a scientific writing, she/he must have had understood
and followed the principles of writing. Furthermore, a lot of words are intentionally combined
with the word scientific to create an academic image and reflect the principles of science such
as scientific writing, scientific observation, scientific inquiry, scientific research,
scientific knowledge, etc. Uniquely, when ones work is not scientific, it is easily rejected
and questionable in terms of its design, data, analysis, and findings.
Why are the words science and scientific used? Why not using other terms such as
sociology, biology, history, language, and so on? I do not have any references to
answer these questions. Probably, I can use my logic to address these issues. When the first
person learned, she/he used systematic ways to find something new. Something new here
referred to science and systematic ways referred to scientific. She/he then kept using the
procedures in identifying other phenomena or objects and therefore it was called science and
scientific. Probably also, science was the first field or thing that was found or studied a long
time ago. Hence, anything that is identified systematically is always called scientific. If only the
first person found a new thing in language, the terms used might be different: they could be
language and language-tific.
What is Scientific Approach?
Now I come to the notion of SA. What is it? To answer this question, I need to use the
definition of scientific as explained above. It is about or related to science, or using its
methods or based on or characterized by the methods and principles of science (Online
Longman Dictionary, 2013). When combined with the word approach or method, it will
become scientific approach or scientific method. In this paper, scientific approach is the
same as scientific method.
In the online Longman dictionary, SA is defined as the usual process of finding out
information in science, which involves testing your ideas by performing experiments and
making decisions based on the results. The scientific method is a body of techniques for
investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous
knowledge. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the scientific method as a method or
procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic
observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification
of hypotheses.
According to Wolfs, the description of SA can be found in hard science textbooks
which include physics, chemistry, astronomy as well as texts in the life such as biology and
social sciences such as experimental psychology. He further explains that SA can be described
as consisting of four steps :( 1) observation and description of a phenomenon or a group of
related phenomena. When an investigator has little prior information, the first step is
description. This is the stage when qualitative methods may provide considerable information
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about what-is, (2) formulation of a hypothesis to explain the phenomena. Based on qualitative
and/or descriptive studies, investigators begin to speculate about which variables might be
related to other variables and in what manner (directly or indirectly). In educational research,
the hypothesis is often a question about the relationship between or among variables that may
influence learning. The hypothesis may be one that merely asks whether a relationship exists
(correlational research), or the hypothesis may state a cause-and-effect relationship, (3) predict
the existence of other phenomena using the hypothesis, or predict the results of new
observations, and (4 ) conduct experimental tests of the predictions by several independent
experimenters who use proper experimental methods.
Scientific Approach in Curriculum 2013
This approach is claimed to be more effective in increasing students learning outcomes
than the traditional one. This approach is also considered relevant with the idea that learning is a
scientific process in the classroom. Therefore, SA in Curriculum 2013 must be applicable in all
subjects including English. The criteria and the steps of SA in teaching and learning process are
elaborated in the following.
Criteria of Scientific Approach
There are seven criteria to determine whether a method of teaching is scientific or not.
They are (1) the teaching materials are based on facts or phenomena which can be logically or
reasonably explained. They are not based on prediction, approximation, imagination, legend, or
myth, (2) the teachers explanation, students responses, and teacher-student interaction are not
based on subjectivity and wrong logic, (3) the teaching materials support and inspire students to
be critical in thinking and analyzing, and accurate in identifying, understanding, and resolving
problems, and applying the materials learned, (4) the learning materials foster and inspire
students to hypothetically think when seeing diversities, similarities and links in the learning
materials, (5) the learning materials foster and inspire students to understand, apply, and
develop objectivity and rational thinking in responding to the learning materials, (6) the
materials are built on the basis on empirically valid concepts, theories, and facts, and (7) the
formulation of learning objectives is simple, clear, but attractive.
Steps of Teaching and Learning in Scientific Approach
There are three points that become the focus in teaching and learning process with SA.
They include attitudes (affective), skills (psychomotor) and knowledge (cognitive). Attitudes
refer students know why, skills refer to students know how, and knowledge refers to what
students know. These three points are expected to make students affective, creative innovative,
and productive. In other words, with these three points, students have soft skills and hard skills
to live properly. In order to achieve these goals,
the teachers follow the five steps in teaching and learning process. They are observing,
questioning, associating, experimenting, and networking. Each of the steps is presented in the
following.
Observing
Observing is a kind of meaningful learning. Here, students and teachers are provided
with objects, real objects, or phenomena. Students are directly involved in learning. It helps
teachers to contextualize students learning in the classroom. At the same time, students can
learn based on what they see to construct their knowledge. It also facilitates students to fulfill
their need of knowing something. In this context, their curiosity will lead them to the
construction of knowledge. Contextually is also present because students can connect what they
have learned with what they are going to learn.
Questioning
The second step is questioning. It is a powerful teaching technique that has been used
for years since it was firstly introduced by Socrates. Research indicates that questioning is
second only to lecturing in popularity as a teaching method and that classroom teachers spend
anywhere from thirty-five to fifty percent of their instructional time conducting questioning
sessions. Other findings show that (1) instruction which includes posing questions during
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lessons is more effective in producing achievement gains than instruction carried out without
questioning students, (2) students perform better on test items previously asked as recitation
questions than on items they have not been exposed to before, (3) oral questions posed during
classroom recitations are more effective in fostering learning than are written questions, (4)
questions which focus student attention on salient elements in the lesson result in better
comprehension than questions which do not.
Questioning can be used by both teachers and students in the classroom. What are the
purposes of teachers classroom questions? A variety of purposes emerge from analysis of the
literature, including (1) to develop interest and motivate students to become actively involved in
lessons, (2) to evaluate students preparation and check on homework or seatwork completion,
(3) to develop critical thinking skills and inquiring attitudes, (4) to review and summarize
previous lessons, (5) to nurture insights by exposing new relationships, (6) to assess
achievement of instructional goals and objectives, and (7) to stimulate students to pursue
knowledge on their own.
Associating
The term associating used in Curriculum 2013 is more appropriate than reasoning.
Associating is to describe teachers and students active participation in the classroom. Of
course, students must be more active and are given more opportunities in learning. Associating
is the process of thinking logically and systematically over - the empirical facts that can be
observed in the form of knowledge to obtain conclusions. In the context of learning,
associating is focused on students learning activities. That is why; associating is used in
Curriculum in 2013 because it adopts the ideas of associative learning theories.
The term associating refers to the ability to group diverse ideas and associate diverse
events as experiences. When the experiences are stored in the brain, they will interact with the
previous events or experiences. This process is called associating. From the perspective of
psychology, associating refers to the connection between conceptual or mental entities as a
result of the similarity between the mind or proximity in space and time. According to the
theory of association, the learning process will be managed effectively in if there is a direct
interaction between teachers with learners. Interaction is done through stimulus and response
(SR) .Thus, the basic principles of the learning process in this theory is an association, which is
also known as the theory of stimulus - response (SR). Here, learners' learning process occurs
slowly or gradually, not suddenly.
How can Associating be applied in the learning process? The followings are the
activities the teachers can do. (1) Teachers prepare the learning materials in a form that is ready
in accordance with the demands of the curriculum, (2). the main task of the teacher is to give a
brief but clear instructions with accompanying examples , either by themselves or by means of
simulation, (3) the learning materials are arranged in a tiered or hierarchical , starting from the
simple to the complex, (4) results-oriented learning activities can be measured and observed, (5)
every error must be corrected or repaired, (6) repetition and practice need to be done so that the
desired behavior can become a habit, (7) evaluation or assessment is based on the behavior of a
real or authentic, and (8) the teachers record all learners progress.
Experimenting
To get the real or authentic learning, learners have to do experiments. For example,
students should understand the concepts of science and its relation to everyday life. Learners
must have the skills to develop knowledge about the environment, and be able to use the
scientific method and scientific attitude to solve the problems they face in everyday life. The
application of experimental methods is intended to develop various learning objectives, the
attitudes, skills, and knowledge.
Networking
Networking is also called collaborative learning. Here, collaborative learning is a
personal philosophy, which is more than just learning techniques in the classrooms.
Collaboration is the essence of philosophy and lifestyle of human interaction that places and
facilitates collective efforts in order to achieve common goals. For teachers, the collaborative
learning function is more directive oriented in which the teachers are managers in the students
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learning. Here, the students are those who are active. In a collaborative situation , the learners
interact with empathy , mutual respect , and receive a deficiency or excess , respectively . This
allows the learners to face various changes and challenges to learn together .
.
Scientific Approach in English Language Teaching
SA in English teaching is new. As I mentioned in the previous section that the topic of
SA in English teaching is not found in the Goggle. Therefore, I say that it is a brave
breakthrough in the sense that applying an approach of hard science and soft science into
language pedagogy, which has different characteristics, is not easy. It is also a difficult
challenge as teachers are not supplemented with adequate examples of implementing SA in
English teaching. I can say that Indonesia is the first and the only one country which tries to
implement SA in language. In fact, I have not found any sufficient sources to be used in this
paper to advocate SA in ELT. The available sources are limited to PowerPoint slides which are
given by the Ministry of Education in the workshops and seminars.
Since SA is new, its prevalence is also controversial. Several lecturers in the English
Department where I work have different perspectives on this approach. They want to know
why scientific approach? How can we apply this approach in ELT? What about other methods
or approaches in ELT such as GBA, CTL, etc.? Are they scientific or not? If it is possible to
apply SA, how can it be technically implemented? Do you think we need to follow what has
been used in science? Honestly, I cannot answer these questions since there is no example yet
on how SA can be applied in English language teaching. What I can do is to discuss SA from
the theoretical perspectives. In fact, SA has been very much used in science, research, and
management, but not English language teaching.
So far, there have been various approaches, methods, and techniques identified in the
history of language teaching. They include Grammar-Translation Approach, Direct Approach,
Natural Approach, Reading Approach, Audio-lingual Approach, Cognitive Approach, Eclectic
Approach, Total Physical Response, Suggestopedia, Communicative Approach, MimicryMemorization Method, Pattern Practice Method, Translation Technique, and Question-Answer
Technique. Several teaching and learning models have also been used frequently in language
teaching which include Three-Phase Technique, Direct Teaching Model, Genre-Based
Approach, Cooperative Learning Models, and Problem-Based Instruction.
The question is will we change these existing approaches, methods, techniques, and
models with scientific approach? The answer is of course not. We cannot do that. English is
different from other fields. The way we learn and teach English is different from those in
science. Therefore, SA should be seen as steps that can be used in teaching and learning
process. SA is not a model of teaching in English. Within these steps, teachers can still use the
approaches or methods which are relevant or appropriate with the students levels and needs.
Examples of SA Combined with Other Teaching and Learning Approaches
The followings are some efforts made in order to make SA compatible with English
language. In so doing, SA needs to be combined with other approaches, methods, or theories of
teaching and learning which have been prominent in English language teaching such as
discovery learning, collaborative learning, project-based learning, Contextual Teaching
Learning (CTL), cooperative learning, Blooms Taxonomyand Krathwohl's Affective Domain
Taxonomy GBA, and so on.

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Bloom and Krathwohl's Affective Domain Taxonomy

Remembering
Questions of this level are the most frequently used in the first stages of English
learning, because students are at the first level of English language acquisition. Answers
to the questions can be made using yes/no or embedded answers. Flashcards, drawings,
and realia will help students give the correct answer. Remember (recognition), match,
list, sing, color, chant etc. are typical activities at this level.
Comprehending
At this level students can understand the facts. In primary we use this level of
questioning a lot. We ask students to describe, complete, illustrate or draw.
Applying
At this level students might need scaffolding and word banks to solve several problems
by using previously learned facts in a different way. We ask students to choose,
construct, explain, organize, plan, select, solve, and identify.
Analyzing
At this level students have not got enough vocabulary and language to express
responses in English. So they will need teacher scaffolding to classify, contrast,
categorize, sequence and interpret facts.
Evaluating
At this level teachers have to modify the language of the questions to be simplified, but
the task should remain the same. Some tasks at this level are giving opinions, making
judgments about stories, comparing and evaluating the work of classmates in English.
Creating
Students will need lots of support and scaffolding to answer questions at this level,
because they are asked to compile information in a different way by combining
elements in a new pattern. Synthesis is particularly difficult. Some tasks at this level are
to combine, create, design, develop, imagine, make up, predict and solve.
Five Steps of The Problem-posing Methodology
Describe the content of discussion
Define the problem
Personalize the problem
Discuss the problem
Discuss the alternatives of the problem
Sample Activity 1: Problem-posing
Sample activity 1: Problem posing
Topic: Cleanliness
Objectives:
Think creatively and critically
To find solutions to problems based on logical reasons

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Task: Based on the picture (a picture of unattended waste bin) given,

Why are there so many 'things' flying over the bin?
Where have you seen this scenery?
Do you feel that this picture reflects cleanliness? Why?
What is the one thing that is needed to ensure cleanliness in the places that you have mentioned?
Sample activity 1: Decision-making
Topic: Anwar Ibrahim's Corruption Trial
Objectives:
Think creatively and critically
Decision making based on logical reasons
Task: You are the judge for Anwar Ibrahim's corruption trial. You have heard the evidences and
closing submissions by the prosecutors and the defense counselors. You have to give your
verdict for this trial based on the evidences and submissions provided by both parties. (Note:
Teachers need to provide the evidences. They also need to display impartiality on this issue).
But before you give your verdict, consider these procedures:
Can this trial be thrown out? Why?
Does this trial have to go on? Why?
Is he guilty? Why?
Is he innocent? Why?
What is your verdict? Why?
If found guilty, what is the sentence that you want to pass?
SA in Genre-Based Approach
Stage
BKOF

MOT

JCOT

ICOT

GBA
Presenting the context through pictures, audiovisual material, realia, excursions, field-trips, guest
speakers, etc
Establishing the social purpose through discussions
or surveys
Cross cultural activities
Related research activities
Comparing the model text with other texts of the
same genre or contrasting type
presentation activities using devices
sorting, matching and labelling activities eg
sorting sets of texts, sequencing jumbled
stages, labelling stages.
activities focusing on cohesive devices
presentation and practice activities relating to
the grammatical features of the text
oral-aural, pronunciation, decoding, spelling,
handwriting or typing practice as needed for the
use of the text type
Teacher questioning, discussing and editing whole
class construction, then scribing onto board
Skeleton texts
Jigsaw and information gap activities
Small group construction of texts
Dictogloss
Self assessment and peer assessment activities
Listening tasks, e.g., comprehension activities in
response to live or recorded material, such as
performing a task, sequencing pictures, numbering,
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SA
Mengamati
Menanya
Mengumpulkan data
Menalar/menganalisis data
Mengomunikasikan

Mengamati
Menanya
Mengumpulkan data
Menalar/menganalisis data
Mengomunikasikan

Mencipta

ticking or underlining material on a worksheet,

answering questions
Listening and speaking tasks, e.g., role plays,
simulated or authentic dialogs
Speaking tasks, e.g., spoken presentation to class,
community organization, or workplace
Reading tasks, e.g., comprehension activities in
response to written material such as performing a
task, sequencing pictures, numbering, ticking or
underlining material on a worksheet, answering
questions
Writing tasks which demand that students draft and
present whole texts
Conclusion
SA is old in science but new in English language teaching. Science and English are
different. The way students learn and teachers teach science and English are different. SA in
ELT is still blurred. It is not clear yet how SA can be applied in ELT. Comprehensive examples
of SA application are available. SA is not a model of teaching, but a set of fixed steps that can
be used in teaching. SA cannot replace the existing approaches and methods in ELT.
References
Kementerian Pendidikan Dan Kebudayaan Direktorat Jenderal Pendidikan Dasar Direktorat
Pembinaan Sekolah Menengah Pertama. 2013. Kurikulum 2013.
Suyanto, K.K.E. 2008. Model-model pembelajaran. Malang: PSG Rayon 15 UM.
Model-model pembelajaran negara OECD-USA. N.d. A handout for workshop on KTSP of
RSBI/RSDBI.
Pendekatan Scientific dalam Implementasi Kurikulum 2013. Accessed from http://penelitian
tindakankelas.blogspot.com/2013/07/pendekatan-scientific-dalam-implementasi-kurikulum-2013.html, 5 November 2013.

IMPROVING STUDENTS' READING COMPREHENSION

THROUGH STAD MODEL BY USING FLASH CARDSIN CLASS
VII A SMPN 1 LANGKE REMBONG
Paskalis Aron
SMPN 5 Ruteng
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to find out (i)whether the use of Flash Cards in
Students Teams - Achievement Divisions (STAD) facilitates the students' memory to easily
recall the words in the context of English language learning at SMP Negeri I Langke
Rembong, and (ii) increases reading comprehension. The findings of the study indicate that
the use of flash cards in STAD increases the students' vocabulary building and their reading
comprehension.
Key Words: Flash Cards, Reading Comprehension, STAD, Vocabulary

There are so many factors that influence the students' learning motivation such as
conducive surrounding at home and school's good climate, the students' facilities at home and at
school, the teachers' approaches and methods in teaching and learning process. The good
atmosphere is shown in better school climates and better relations with schools' administrators
and the communities as well as greater parent involvement and parents with high expectations
for their children's future educational achievement (Taylor and Pearson, 2002). The use of
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suitable approach and method with proper media attracts the students' learning motivation.
According to Mateer (2001), the involvement of media can also be a part of active learning
strategies such as group discussions and case studies.
Many research results have shown that cooperative learning methods enhanced
understanding of many difficult concepts. Carson, Johnson and Johnson (cited in Abu, 1997)
stated that teachers have the option of structuring lessons competitively, individualistically, or
cooperatively. The decisions teachers make in structuring lessons can influence students'
interactions with others, knowledge, and attitudes. Although cooperative learning is as effective
as non-cooperative learning approach, the social competence to work with others within a group
and to develop interpersonal skills justifies for using cooperative learning strategies (Abu,
1997).
Reading, which is one of the most essential skills to develop due to some reasons
among the four language skills, is probably the most intensively studied skill by educators and
scholars in the language teaching field. Consequently, language teachers have many choices
regarding teaching methods and techniques that they can choose from teaching reading in the
Language(Bilokcuoglu, 2012). Reading comprehension seems too difficult to understand
because of the reader's different interpretations. Misinterpretation occurs when the readers do
not understand the meaning of key words in a sentence. The implication is that they cannot
answer the questions given related to the text they had read.
Teaching words come together with four major language skills: listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. It needs teacher's creative ways to move a word in a context to be
memorized in the students' thinking. This paper will discuss flash cards as one of attractive
media in doing enjoyable teaching learning activities.
Review of Literature
According to Baker and Brown; Block and Pressley; Pearson; Farstrup and Samuels;
Ruddell, Ruddell, and Singer (in Dorn and Doffos,2005), reading a complex process involving a
network of cognitive actions that work together to construct a meaning. A readers
comprehension is influenced by an extent of internal factors, including perceptions, beliefs,
motivation, and problem-solving strategies. In other words, we sense what our brain tells us to
notice. If we do not have the background experience in relating to the reading event, the
message can be meaningless.
Dorn and Doffos, (2005: 6) stated that comprehension results come from the minds
ability to make links and ask questions regarding the particular reading event. Reading can be
interpreted as the skillful execution of a number of processing phases such as word encoding,
lexicalaccess, assigning semantic roles, and relating the information in a given sentence to
previous sentences and previous knowledge (Just and Carpenter, 1980: 331).
There are two meanings in the terms of flash card. One is in the form of digital memory
that people call in the other name flash memory. It is an electronic non-volatile computer
storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. Another is related to
vocabulary cards in improving words in language learning that we are discussing in this topic.
This kind of card can be the same name as a vocabulary card or a sentence card. Flash card is in
this term defined as a set of cards bearing information, as words or numbers, on either or both
sides, used in the classroom drills or in a private study. Teacher writes a question on a card and
an answer overleaf. Flashcards can bear vocabulary, historical dates, formulas or any subject
matters that can be learned via a question and answer format. Flashcards are widely used as
a learning drill to aid students' memorization by way of spaced repetition.
Method
This research was done through meaningful learning integrated with Lesson Study. The
research was conducted in three stages namely Plan, Do, and See. The collaborative plan
activity produced a well-organized lesson plan. Do action allowed the model teacher to do the
activity of a learning process and at the same time the observation was done by observers. The
data of this research were collected by using observation sheet and the observer's reflection in
the activity of See. This was done by 5 observers during Do activity of Lesson study in SMP
Negeri 1 Langke Rembong on October 8, 2013. The students were divided into groups of
seven, then 5 observers divided themselves to observe group 1 until group 3,whilethe fourth
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observer noticed the next two groups and the last observer carefully examined group 6 and
7.The data also derived from the students' ability in answering some questions shared in the
group discussions. The observers resumed the whole process of Do activity collaboratively in
improving the students competency as well as the teacher. The STAD method lured the
students' attention and changed their perception about monotonous approach and lack of media
in teaching and learning process. The procedures of cooperative STAD are as follows:
1. Opening Activity
Apperception and motivation
Teacher greeted the students by saying "Good morning boys and girls. How are you
today? Let me introduce myself first".
Teacher informed the purpose of learning about an announcement text.
Teacher gave guided questions in terms of the material discussion.
2. Main Activities
Teacher divided the students into seven groups. Every group consisted of 5 and 6
heterogonous students.
Teacher gave stimulation by presenting the instructional material.
Students were given some questions to check their background knowledge about the
materials.
Teacher explained the general idea of announcement
Students were given some clear examples of announcement.
Students read the text on reading card spatched in the board in front of the class.
Students were shown another example of announcement and read the text altogether by
repeating after their teacher.
Each group was given the same text which had been written in some flash cards. They
arranged the sentences by putting the flash card in a correct order to form a good
paragraph
Students discussed in groups to find the answers of some questions related to the new
text written on flashcards. Then they presented their working front of the class and the
teacher gives some comments on it.
The students were given private questions to determine their personal understanding.
Teacher gave opportunities to the students to give their comments about understandable
material.
Teacher repeated a brief clear explanation about the material.
Teacher gave some questions to recheck the students understanding.
3. Closing Activity
Teacher gave a conclusion and home work
Findings and Discussions
It is found that there was still one group difficult to answer questions number 3 to 5 on
the student worksheet, because they lacked vocabulary building. This group did not have any
relevant or even simple dictionary to be consulted. According to BNSP (The National Board
Standard of Education), students grade seven of English class should be in the level of
functional. It means that they have already background knowledge in mind among other things
are basic levels of vocabulary. The fact is that some of students in grade seven were still at the
first level of English vocabulary.
Some groups were also impressed in guessing the
answers to arrange the gap-filling text without any deep comprehension of the content of the
text. Teachers and learners need some extra preliminary creativity to support the basic
knowledge before discussing a higher level topic settled in the curriculum. In other words, it
should be well prepared the learner's readiness through the scaffolding stage. This also occurred
as the effect of unclear instruction to do the task. The condition also needed a patient guidance
to the low achievement learners. In addition, the allocation of time allotment in each stage was
needed to well organize the activities in teaching and learning process.
In dealing with students, teachers as the instructors should be polite, helpful, and fair.
They should be aware of cultural factors, the students' characteristics that can affect learning,
and should attempt to help the students overcome any disadvantages. Teachers should maintain
an internal thing touching to the students. MK (2013)divided a cause to affect the adolescent's
1357

behavior as follows: Firstly, adolescents may suddenly act out simply because their best friends
or all their classmates do it. Secondly, the hormonal factors make them act out in the adolescent
way. Next, it is the pupil's family situation. Children reflect their home situation, quite often.
They are the mirrors of their parents. By the condition of learning disturbance and loss of
interest, a teacher's extra attention is needed for every students activities and make sthem
attracted to the teacher's messages or questions. Dealing with giving messages and questions,
clear and loud voice are expected in large and traditional classes.
Arranging sentences in the flash cardsevoked the students motivation and desire to
discuss the answers of the task. The examples of some flash cards using in the activities are
shown in the following pictures.

1. For seven grade students

2. Join the extracurricular program school
3. You are free to choose your favorite
program by filling the forms given
4. Don't miss it. Enjoy yourself !
5. OSIS Chairman
To avoid misunderstanding in this research, the writer used the terms ,and manual font
size to differentiate the font size in the electricity presentation with Power Point. The font size
used in manual flash cards may vary from one to another due to its function. The font size of
manual flash cards for students is smaller than those used in the examples displayed in front of
the class. It was advised to use Times New Roman with font size 80. The eye-catching media
are highly needed for attracting students attention in learning activities especially wall display
media in front of the class. Some teaching learning activities did not run well in the way of
using font size under 300 for class room 7 m x 9 m. It was better to use Times New Roman with
font size 300.
Noticing to the assessments result of group working, the strategies of cooperative
STAD model and flash cards improved the students comprehension. It was found that the tough
discussions in every group produced many correct answers. Six groups presented their correct
answers during the presentation activity. All groups succeeded in arranging the gap-filling
paragraph.
Conclusion and Suggestions
It is found that the STAD model by using flash card can be collaboratively used in
teaching and learning process. STAD promotes positive attitudes and motivates students to learn
English. It is concluded that the model teacher successfully delivers knowledge and the
messages of announcement of reading texts to the learners.
Some recommendations are shared to the readers in accordance with the findings as
follows:
1. Determining a proper method and suitable media to certain material helps the students
to involve their thinking process in a meaningful learning.
2. Using a suitable font size for wall display media
3. Informing students about the next coming materials and giving them tasks to read the
textand the difficult words.
4. Checking the students competency of language features related to the material and it
can be done for preparation to the next coming material.
1358

References
Abu, 1997.The Effective of Cooperative Learning Methods on Achievement, Retention, and
Attitudes of Home Economics Students in North Carolina. Journal of Vocational
and Technical Education.13 (2), 1-3 Accessed from
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JVTE/v13n2/Abu.html. November, 4
2013Bilokcuoglu. 2012. Significant Considerations in ESL/EFL Literacy - Theories
of Reading and Their Implications to The Teaching of Reading in ESL/EFL Classes
& The Places of Schemata Theory on Foreign Language Reading Comprehension.
Accessed from
http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/reading1_hasan.htm.
Monday, November, 4 2013.
Dorn and Doffos. 2005.Teaching for Deep Comprehension: A Reading Workshop
Approach.Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.
Just and Carpenter. 1980.A Theory of Reading: From Eye Fixations to Comprehension.
Carnegie: Mellon University
Mateer, C.A. 2001. An Integrative Neuropsychological Approach. Andover:Taylor and Francis
Books Ltd
MK. 2013.Teen Behavior.Accessed from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/ninamk/teenbehaviour. Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Taylor, B.M., Pressley, M., & Pearson, P.D. (2002).Research-supported characteristics of
teachers and schools that promote reading achievement.In B.M. Taylor & P.D.
Pearson (Eds.), Teaching reading: Effective schools, accomplished teachers (pp. 361374). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

PENERAPANGRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD

UNTUK MENINGKATKAN BAHASA INGGRIS
SISWA KELAS 4 SD PADA LESSON STUDY
DI SD NEGERI MODEL TERPADU BOJONEGORO
Fitria Antun Pangestuti
SD Negeri Terpadu Bojonegoro
Abstrak: Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris pada saat open class lesson study di 4 Cdi SD
Negeri Model Terpadu Bojonegorodilakukan dengan Grammar-Translation Method
(GTM). Vocabulary dan grammar sangat ditekankan dalam metode ini. Reading dan
writting adalah primary skillyang siswa lakukan. Sedikit perhatian diberikan pada
speaking,listening, dan pronunciation.Sebelum openclass, kegiatan plantelah dilaksanakan
untuk merancang perangkat pembelajaran. Pada saat open class, para observerberasal dari
para guru peserta lesson study dan kepala sekolah. Hasil refleksi menunjukkan bahwa
Grammar-Translation Method (GTM)dapat meningkatkan kemampuan siswa dalam
reading dan writing. Diketahui juga bahwa ketuntasan belajar siswa cukup tinggi
setelah menggunakan Grammar-Translation Method (GTM).
Kata kunci: lesson study, Grammar-Translation Method (GTM),
kemampuan siswa

Seorang guru harus memiliki kemampuan dasar dalam merencanakan dan

melaksanakan proses belajar mengajar yang didukung dengan kemampuan menerapkan dan
menggunakan IPTEK dalam upaya mengembangkan dan meningkatkan kualitas pendidikan.
Guru dituntut untuk memiliki seperangkat pengetahuan dan keterampilan teknis mengajar selain
menguasai ilmu atau bahan yang akan diajarkan. Guru juga harus mempunyai gagasan baru
serta mau menyempurnakan praktek pembelajaran. Jika seorang guru merasa tidak puas dengan
1359

cara mengajar yang selama ini digunakan, maka ia harus mencoba strategi pembelajaran
lainnya. Dengan kata lain seorang guru diwajibkan mencari jalan keluar terbaik bagaimana
mengatasi kekurangan yang dimiliki agar kualitas pembelajaran dan hasil belajar siswa dapat
ditingkatkan.
Pada saat ini guru semakin ditantang untuk menjadi guru profesional dengan adanya
UU No. 14 Tahun 2005 tentang guru dan dosen, yang salah satunya berisi bahwa guru dituntut
menguasai 4 kompetensi dasar yaitu kompetensi pedagogik, kepribadian, sosial dan profesional.
Tantangan tersebut semakin berat bagi guru jika merujuk pada PP No. 19/2005 Pasal 19 tentang
Standar Nasional Pendidikan, bahwa proses pembelajaran pada satuan pendidikan
diselenggarakan secara interaktif, inspiratif, menyenangkan, menantang, memotivasi peserta
didik untuk berpartisipasi aktif, serta memberikan ruang yang cukup bagi prakarsa, kreativitas,
dan kemandirian sesuai bakat, minat, dan perkembangan fisik, serta psikologis peserta didik.
Tantangan tersebut harus dijawab guru dengan berusaha menunjukkan atau
membuktikan kemampuan profesionalnya untuk menerima amanah sebagai pendidik yang
tangguh. Guru ditantang untuk berpikir logis, kritis, kreatif dan reflektif dalam meningkatkan
mutu pembelajarannya dan melaksanakan hasil pemikirannya dalam pembelajaran di kelas.
Salah satu wahana untuk mengasah dan meningkatkan keprofesionalan guru adalah melalui
lesson study.
Lesson study adalah model pembinaan profesi pendidik melalui pengkajian
pembelajaran secara kolaboratif dan berkesinambungan berlandaskan prinsip-prinsip kolegalitas
dan mutual learning untuk membangun komunitas belajar. Guru secara kolaboratif, pertamatama menganalisis masalah pembelajaran, baik dari aspek materi ajar maupun metode
pembelajaran. Selanjutnya secara kolaboratif pula para guru mencari solusi dan merancang
pembelajaran yang berpusat pada siswa. Langkah berikutnya adalah menerapkan pembelajaran
di kelas oleh seorang guru, sementara yang lain sebagai pengamat keaktifan siswa yang
dilanjutkan dengan diskusi pasca pembelajaran untuk merefleksikannya. Jika prinsip-prinsip
lesson study ini dilakukan secara sistemik dan berkelanjutan dimungkinkan akan berdampak
pada peningkatan mutu pendidikan secara umum.
Menurut Zubaidah (2008), kegiatan lesson study dapat berperan pula dalam sharing
experience di antara guru. Seorang guru yang melaksanakan lesson study akan belajar dari
kegiatan pembelajaran yang telah dilakukannya melalui refleksi dari para observer atau
pengamat. Guru dapat memperoleh masukan tentang bagaimana cara mengatasi kelemahan
yang muncul dalam proses pembelajaran. Demikian pula, para pengamat yang terdiri dari guru
dan para undangan mendapatkan manfaat langsung dari kegiatan tersebut. Bila guru yang tampil
menunjukkan kinerja yang baik dalam membangun interaksi siswa, maka hal tersebut dapat
menjadi acuan bagi guru lainnya. Bila tampilan guru kurang dapat membangun interaksi di
dalam kelas, maka ini juga merupakan bahan pertimbangan untuk memikirkan model
pembelajaran lain yang lebih interaktif. Kegiatan ini dapat juga dijadikan wahana untuk
mengimplementasikan inovasi-inovasi pembelajaran yang semakin berkembang.
Pada umumnya dapat dijumpai bahwa pembelajaran di kelas dilakukan dalam bentuk
satu arah. Guru lebih banyak ceramah di hadapan siswa sementara siswa lebih banyak
mendengarkan. Guru beranggapan tugasnya hanya mentransfer pengetahuan yang dimiliki
dengan target tersampaikannya topik-topik yang tertulis dalam dokumen kurikulum. Pada
umumnya guru tidak memberi inspirasi kepada siswa untuk berkreasi dan tidak melatih siswa
untuk hidup mandiri. Pelajaran yang disajikan guru kurang menantang siswa untuk berpikir.
Akibatnya siswa tidak menyenangi pelajaran. Kegiatan pembelajaran di kelas juga sering
textbook oriented dan kurang dikaitkan dengan lingkungan dan situasi dimana siswa berada.
Seringkali kegiatan kelas melalui metode ceramah dan diikuti dengan latihan mengerjakan soal
atau pemberian tugas rumah. Hal ini sering membuat siswa merasa bosan dan motivasi
belajarnya juga menurun. Pada sisi yang lain, para guru seringkali menganggap bahwa mengajar
adalah pekerjaan yang telah menjadi kebiasaan dari hari ke hari, bulan ke bulan, sehingga
dengan tingkah laku guru yang seperti ini seakan guru telah membiasakan diri dengan cara dan
gaya mengajar yang sama. Dalam situasi rutinitas yang demikian maka sangat dimungkinkan,
tidak akan ada inovasi dan kreativitas untuk mengembangkan pengajaran ke arah yang lebih
baik, akibatnya hasil belajar yang dicapai oleh siswa dari tahun ke tahun relatif tidak jauh
berbeda.
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Guru selalu menggunakan metode pembelajaran yang kurang terorganisasi dan kurang
mengadakan variasi dalam pelaksanaan pembelajaran, akibatnya siswa kurang memperhatikan
penjelasan guru dan ramai sendiri bahkan ada yang mengantuk. Gaya mengajar guru yang
demikian kurang efektif dan bahkan menyebabkan kejenuhan. Dampak dari semua itu adalah
belum tercapainya ketuntasan belajar. Hal ini terbukti pada hasil ulangan harian untuk materi
subject pronoun, possessive adjactive dan possessive pronoun yang diajarkan pada tengah
semester ganjil tahun pelajaran 2013-2014. Dari 3 (tiga) kelas dengan jumlah siswa rata-rata
tiap kelas 20 anak, siswa yang mencapai tingkat ketuntasanhanya 9 anak pada tiap-tiap kelas.
Pada lesson study kali ini, siswa akan mempelajari transitive verb dan intransitive verb.
Sekalipun masih banyak kekurangan, kegiatan untuk meningkatkan kualitas proses
belajar mengajar terus diupayakan. Untuk mengurangi kejenuhan siswa dalam menerima materi
dan sekaligus sebagai upaya meningkatkan kegiatan belajar mengajar agar lebih aktif dan
variatif, beberapa guru mencoba menggunakan laboratorium alam. Khususnya pada materi
grammar. Namun demikian banyak sekali kendala yang sering dihadapi dalam proses
pembelajarannya, di antaranya keterbatasan alokasi waktu yang tersedia dan pemahaman siswa
yang lama dikarenaka siswa baru pertama kali mengenal grammar, karena itu guru harus dapat
menciptakan suasana kelas yang interaktif dan kondusif, yaitu kondisi kelas yang dapat
memberikan layanan terbaik bagi belajar siswa. Kelas adalah sebuah dinamika yang setiap
waktu dapat berubah. Perubahan suasana inilah yang akan mempengaruhi hasil belajar para
siswa.
Untuk mengatasi permasalahan di atas, perlu diterapkan satu model pembelajaran
yang sesuai. Model pembelajaran yang harus diterapkan hendaknya yang interaktif, kreatif,
efektif, menarik dan membuat siswa aktif. Salah satunya adalah model Grammar-Translation
Method (GTM). Metode ini diharapkan dapat membuat siswa tidak jenuh dan tidak bosan dalam
menerima materi yang dipelajari. Pada awalnya, metode ini dinamakan Classical Method karena
metode ini pertama kali digunakan dalam mengajarkan bahasa-bahasa klasik, Latin dan Greek
(Chastain 1988).
Di bawah ini merupakan deskripsi yang dikembangkan pada beberapa teknik ini:
Translation of a Literary Passage
Siswa menerjemahkan teks bacaan dari bahasa sasaran ke bahasa ibu mereka. Teks
bacaan tersebut kemudian menitikberatkan pada beberapa kelas:vocabulary dan
grammartical structures dalam teks tersebut dipelajari pada pelajaran berikutnya. Teks
tersebut boleh dikutip dari beberapa karya kesusastraan bahasa sasaran atau seorang guru boleh
menulis teks yang dirancang dengan hati-hati termasuk kaedah grammar dan vocabulary
yang khusus. Terjemahan boleh ditulis atau diucapkan atau kedua-duanya. Siswa tidak harus
menerjemahkan idiom dan yang semacamnya itu secara harfiah, akan tetapi cukup dengan satu
cara yang menunjukkan bahwa mereka mengerti artinya.
Reading Comprehension Questions
Siswa menjawab pertanyaan dalam bahasa sasaran berdasarkan pemahaman mereka
terhadap teks bacaan. Pertanyaan tersebut sering kali diurutkan sehingga pertanyaan pertama
menanyakan informasi yang terkandung dalam teks bacaan tersebut. Agar dapat menjawab
pertanyaan kedua, siswa harus membuat kesimpulan berdasarkan pemahaman mereka terhadap
teks tersebut. Artinya mereka harus menjawab pertanyaan tentang teks tersebut meskipun
jawabannya tidak terdapat dalam teks itu sendiri. Pertanyaan ketiga mengharuskan siswa
mengaitkan teks tersebut dengan pengalaman mereka sendiri.
Antonyms / Synonyms
Siswa diberi daftar kosakata dan diminta untuk menemukan antonimnya dalam teks
bacaan tersebut. Latihan yang serupa juga dapat dilakukan dengan meminta siswa menemukan
sinonimnya dari daftar kosakata tersebut. Atau siswa diminta mendefinisikan kosakata tersebut
berdasarkan pemahaman seingat mereka juga mungkin yakni meminta mereka mengerjakan
kosakata dari teks tersebut.

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Cognates
Siswa diajarkan mengenal kesamaan dengan belajar mengeja atau pola bunyi yang
sesuai. Siswa diminta menghafal kata-kata yang tampak sama akan tetapi memiliki arti yang
berbeda. Teknik seperti ini tentu akan bermanfaat.
Deductive Application of Rules
Kaidah grammar disajikan beserta contoh-contohnya, pengecualian di setiap kaidah
diberi tanda. Bila siswa memahami kaidah itu, mereka diminta menerapkannya dalam contoh
yang berbeda.
Fiil-in-the Blanks
Siswa diberikan sederatan kalimat dengan kata-kata yang hilang. Mereka mengisi
kekosongan dengan pembendaharaan kata baru atau dengan jenis grammar yang khas misalnya
prepositions atau verbs dalam tense yang berbeda.
Memorization
Siswa diberikan daftar pembendaharaan kata dari bahasa sasaran dalam bahasa ibu
mereka yang sepadan dan diminta mengingatkannya. Siswa juga diharuskan menghafal kaidah
dan pola tata bahasa seperti verb conjugations
Use Words in Sentences
Agar menunjukkan bahwa siswa memahami makna dan penggunaan kosa kata baru,
siswa merangkai kalimat dengan menggunakan kosa kata baru.
Composition
Guru memberikan sebuah topik kepada siswa untuk mengarang dalam bahasa sasaran.
Topik tersebut berdasarkan atas beberapa aspek membaca teks pelajaran. Terkadang sebagai
pengganti membuat karangan, siswa diminta membuat ikhtisar dari teks bacaan tersebut.
METODE
Pembelajaran ini dilakukan pada saat open class lessson study pada tanggal 19 Oktober
2013di kelas 4 C, SD Negeri Model Terpadu Bojonegoro pada semester ganjil tahun pelajaran
2013-2014 yang berjumlah20 orang.
Sebelum open class, telah dilaksanakan kegiatan plan untuk merancang perangkat
pembelajaran. Kegiatan ini dilakukan penulis satu bersama guru peserta lesson study dan kepala
sekolah. Pada saat open class, guru penulis bertindak sebagai guru model, sedangkan para guru
lain peserta lesson study bertindak sebagai observer. Fokus pengamatan adalah keaktifan siswa
dan dilihat hasil belajar siswa setelah pembelajaran.Berikut ini langkah pembelajaranGrammar
Translation method (GTM)yang dilakukan pada saatopen class.
a. Pendahuluan
Pada kegiatan pendahuluan, guru memberikan motivasi dan apersepsi pada siswa
denganmemberikan pertanyaan interaktif sehingga siswa siap untuk mempelajari materi yang
akan dibahas, kemudian guru menyampaikan tujuan pembelajaran yang ingin dicapai setelah
kegiatan pembelajaran.
b. Kegiatan inti
Pada kegiatan ini guru membagi 5 kelompok dengan cara siswa membentuk lingkaran
dan menyebutkan nomor 1 5. Siswa yang mendapatkan giliran nomor satu, maka ia adalah
kelompok siswa yang mendapatkan nomor satu juga. Begitu pula seterusnya. Setelah siswa
duduk sesuai kelompoknya, guru membagikan lembaran teks tiap kelompok. Tugas siswa antara
lain: (1) siswa mengamati dan mencari transitive verb dan intransitive verb, (2) siswa
mencari kosakata (vocabulary) yang belum diketahui, (3) siswa menerjemahkan bacaan dengan
cara diskusi tiap kelompok, (4)salah satu siswa perwakilan dari tiap kelompok membacakan
hasil terjemahan bacaan di depan kelas, (5) guru mengevaluasi hasil kerja siswa dalam
penerjemahan bacaan yang kurang tepat, dan (6) pada sesi terakhir, guru memberi worksheet
tentang transitive verb dan intransitive verb
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c. Penutup
Guru bersama siswa mengevaluasi tentang hasil terjemahan siswa di depan kelas.
Selanjutnya siswa diberi kesempatan bertanya apabila belum jelas. Untuk mengetahui sejauh
mana materi dipahami, guru mengadakan kuis untuk dikerjakan siswa. Sebelum mengakhiri
kegiatan guru memberikan penghargaan kepada kelompok yang yang rata-rata nilai kuisnya
tertinggi.
Sebagai review kegiatan yang dilakukan dalam open class maka diadakan refleksi.
Kegiatan ini dilakukan setelah open class selesai. Guru model diberi kesempatan untuk
menyampaikan pengalamannya selama kegiatan open class, dilanjutkan para observer secara
bergantian menyampaikan hasil observasinya terhadap keaktifan siswa selama open class.
HASIL DAN DISKUSI
Secara umum, data dari observasi menunjukkan bahwa siswa aktif dalam
pembelajaran bahasa Inggris di dalam kelas. Siswa memiliki motivasi kuat untuk bekerja baik
secara individu ataupun kelompok.Hal ini nampak ketika mereka melakukan tugas yang
meliputi (1) mengamati dan mencari transitive verb dan intransitive verb, (2) mencari
kosakata (vocabulary) yang belum diketahui, (3) menerjemahkan bacaan dengan cara diskusi
tiap kelompok, (4)salah satu siswa perwakilan dari tiap kelompok membacakan hasil terjemahan
bacaan di depan kelas, (5) guru mengevaluasi hasil kerja siswa dalam penerjemahan bacaan
yang kurang tepat, dan (6) pada sesi terakhir, guru memberi worksheet tentang transitive
verb dan intransitive verb
Secara khusus, hasil refleksi menunjukkan bahwa Grammar-Translation Method
(GTM)dapat meningkatkan kemampuan siswa dalam reading dan writing. Diketahui juga
bahwa ketuntasan belajar siswa cukup tinggi setelah menggunakan Grammar-Translation
Method (GTM). Ini membuktikan bahwa GTM, walaupun dianggap sebagai metode yang
tradisional, dapat meningkatkan kemampuan siswa dalam membaca (reading) dan menulis
(writing) dalam bahasa Inggris.

Gambar 1: Siswa menerjemahkan teks yang telah dibagi oleh guru secara berkelompok

Gambar 2: Siswa saling berinteraksi dan observer mengamati kegiatan belajar mengajar
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Gambar 3: Kegiatan refleksi setelah pembelajaran

DAFTAR RUJUKAN
Chastain, K. 1988. Developing Second - Language Skills: Theory to Practice. New
York:Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Zubaidah, S. 2008. Lesson Study. Makalah Disampaikan pada Pelatihan Peningkatan
Keprofesionalan Guru melalui Lesson Study untuk Guru-Guru Yayasan Pendidikan
Cendana Pekanbaru pada Tanggal 28-29 Pebruari 2008
Foto-foto pelaksanaan pembelajaran dapat dilihat pada Gambar 1 sampai Gambar 3

THE SNOWBALL THROWING TECHNIQUEIN IMPROVING

STUDENTS VOCABULARY: THE THEORETICAL
PERSPECTIVES
Siti Aisyah
Guru Bahasa Inggris SMP N 27 Tanjung Jabung Timur
Abstract : One of the students difficulties to express their feelings in writing and
speaking is that they have limited vocabulary. They have difficulties to remember
the meanings in their native language. In this case, they think thatEnglish is very
difficult.It happened because the teacher still was not able to make the learning
process fun.The students were not motivated to keep learning in the
classroom.Therefore, the teacher should use fun techniques to teach vocabulary.
One of the techniques is snowball throwing.
Key word: snowball throwing technique, vocabulary
Learning a language means learning its vocabulary. We use the vocabulary in
communication either in the spoken or written form. We try to send messages and share
information and ideas by using the language.Students often find difficulties in using English
because they lack vocabulary and often forget easily new vocabulary after getting the meanings
from the dictionaries.
In the speaking classess,students cannot speak Englishfluently as they lackvocabulary.
They can express only a few sentences. They cannot find the appropriate vocabulary to be used
in expressing their ideas. The same problem is also found in the writing classess. The students
cannot write paragraphs or essays easily because they have limited amount of of vocabulary.
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They find difficulties in choosing and using the appropriate vocabulary. Thiscan, of course,
cause problems in learning English. Hence, English teachers should always motivate their
students to keep practicing using the languaage. They should use many methods which can
make their students interestedin using the target language in classroom communication. This
paperis intended to discuss the theoretical aspects ofa snowball throwing technique in impoving
students vocabulary.
The Importance Of Vocabulary Learning
Vocabulary learning is the important aspect in learning a foreign language. Students
will improve much if they learn more words and expressions. A linguist David Wilkins (in
Thornbury, 2002:13) says that vocabulary learning is very important. Without grammar very
little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. Thus, vocabularyis the
flesh of a language while grammar is the skeleton. In order to be able to use the language
productively, students must know certain amount of vocabulary, not only for communicating
orally, but also in written forms. It is in line with the concept of communicative approach in
which learners have a big chance to use the language directly in the classroom activities. This
approach is useful in improving students vocabulary. Through the approach students are forced
to use the language directly in either spoken or written communication.
The questions related with the vocabulary acquisition are what kinds of words one
needs to know and how many words s/he must know. The vocabulary that should a student
know first includes the high frequency words. These are words that s/he uses most often in
communication either in the classroom activities or outside the classroom. The high frequency
words are called the general service vocabulary. Next, s/he also should know the academic or
sub technical words which are not in the general service vocabulary but occur frequently over a
range of academic texts.
Learning the vocabulary of English language presents the learner with firstly making
the correct connections when understanding the language between the form and the meaning of
words including discriminating the meanings of closely related words. Secondly, when
producing the language, the leaner uses the correct form of a word for the intended meaning.
A student of English language must know the words and word formations in order to be
able to understand the forms and meanings of words as well as to be able to use the correct
forms of words. The next discussion is about the definitions of word, word classes, and word
formations.
Definitions of Word
There are some definitions of the term word. Longman dictionary of American English
states that word is a written representation of one or more sounds which can be spoken to
represent an idea, object, etc. Crowley et.al (1995:7) states that the term word is a unit of
linguistic analysis which has these characteristics: (1) isolability, which means that words can
be pronounced in isolation from other words, (2) mobility, which means that words are items
which can be moved around within a sentence to form new sentences, and (3) phonological
independence which means that words are correspondent to the minimal units of phonological
analysis.
Classes of Words
The classes of words can be divided into eight different classes such as nouns,
pronouns,
verbs,
adjectives,
adverbs,
prepositions,
conjunctions,
and
determiners.Thornbury(2002:3) mentions that there are two crude divisions of words that are
content words (lexical words) and function words (grammatical words). Content words are
those that carry high information load such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The
membership is unrestricted and still allows for the addition of new members. Meanwhile,
function words are words that mainly contribute to the grammatical sentences such as
prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, and pronouns. The membership is restricted and
definite.

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Formations of Words
There are many ways of words formations. These develop and enrich vocabulary of a
language. In English, the common word formation processes are (1) derivation, (2)
compounding, (3) acronyms, (4) back formation, (5) blending, (6) clipping, (7) coinage, (8)
functional shift, (9) false etymology, and (10) proper names(Fromkin, 1988).The followings are
the explanationsof each process.
The first is derivation. It is the process that derives new words by using prefixes and
suffixes. Some common prefixes are anti-, dis-, in-, pre-, post-, un-, and re-. Some common
suffixes are ation, -able, -al, -er, -ed, -ful, -ity, -ing, -ly, -ness, and y. For instance, the word
believe (verb) can be derived into some adjectives by adding prefix and suffix like the
following: believable, unbelievable.
The second is compounding. It is the process that forms new words by putting together
two or more existing words. For instance, by combining a noun and a noun like girlfriend,
landlord, or mailman.
The third is acronyms. It is the process that forms new words by uniting the initial
sounds or letters of words pronounceable as a new separate word. For example, the word laser
from light amplification through the stimulated emission of radiation or UN from United
Nation.
The third refers to back formation: It is the process that uses analogy in a rather
backwards manner to derive new words. For instance, the word revise is derived from the word
revision.
The fourth is blending. It is the process that combines parts of two words, usually the
initial part of a word and the last part of another word. For example, the word brunch is the
blending from breakfast and lunch.
The fifth deals with clipping. It is the process that derives new words by shortening the
words so it is easy to be pronounced without paying attention to the derivational morphology of
the word. For instance, the word dorm from the word dormitory and the word lab from
laboratory.
The sixth has to do withcoinage. It is the process that derives new words by using no
morphological methods but just taking the brand of some products to name the things to refer to.
For example, the word aqua to name all bottled mineral water and the word Kodak to name any
kind of camera.
The seventh is functional shift. It is the process that derives new words by moving the
part of speech of a word and no changing of its form. For instance, the word run can be used as
a noun and also as a verb.
The eightis morphological misanalysis. It is the process that derives new words by
introducing new words taken from similar words. This can be because of actual
misunderstanding, or intentional (creative) extension of morphemes.For instance, the word
workaholic derives from alcoholic.
The ninth refers to proper names: It is the process that derives new words from names
of persons connected with them. For example, the word watt is from James Wattas the name of
the person who invented electricity.
These processes of word formations can be introduced to students in order to give them
the rules of deriving new words by which they can apply to improve their vocabulary. The
knowledge of words and words formation processes is beneficial to help the students in learning
vocabulary. First, they can learn the principles in forming words. Then, the knowledge leads
them to be productive and creative that is by applying the principles in order to create words.
As the result, they may improve their vocabulary.
Snowball Throwing Technique
This technique is not difficult to apply. The rule is very simple. The rule of teaching
with the snowball throwing method can be played like a game.The teacher gives an appreciation
(brainstorm students to the material that will be given) in the following directions: (1) the
teacher tells the function of the study process, (2) the teacher makes a group, and calls the
leaders of the groups to give them a briefing,(3) the teacher tells the rules to the leaders of the
groups, (4) the leaders go back to their groups and tell the member about explanation from the
teacher, (5) all students are given a paper sheet, (6) studentssqueeze the paperto become a ball
1366

shape or maybe folded to become a plane shape or another shape, (7) the ball or another shape is
thrown to other students in random and in the unspecified amount and timing, (8) students open
the paper sheet that is in a ball or another shape, (9) students answer the questions, and (10)
theteacher and students discuss all of the questions and the answers together.
The Snowball Throwingtechnique has several characteristics:(1) growing interest is
nurtured, (2) made or natural is the common experience that can bring all students to
understand, (3) frontage is to provide keywords, concepts, models, formulas, and strategies, (4)
demonstration is to provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate "that they know.", (5)
repeatationis to show students how to repeat the material and asserts,"I know that I did know it",
(7) celebration is a recognition for completion, participation, and the acquisition of skills and
knowledge (DePorter, Reardon, &Singer, 1999:10).
Snowball ThrowingTechnique To Improve Students Vocabulary
In every lesson, we have to establish new words and practice our students, making clear
the meanings and the ways in which each can be used. That is very common to teach vocabulary
through an interesting technique. There are of course many different techniques which can be
effectively used in teaching vocabulary for the elementary school students. In this paper, only
one technique of teaching vocabulary is discussed: teaching vocabulary through snowball
throwing technique.
Snowball Throwing is a learning technique used to get the answers created by
the students from the discussion with their friends (Zaini, et al, 2008:58). Snowball throwing
technique is one of vocabulary games which makes students enjoy and can decrease worry in
learning vocabulary. Snowball throwing encourages the students to be active in speaking
participation in the classroom, because this technique contains a rich communication where
students must be active. Snowball throwing technique has positive effects on the students
memory development. In addition, the purpose of this technique is appropriate in reviewing the
vocabulary for the students. In teaching learning process, snowball throwing technique can also
be a good medium in developing students vocabulary.
How to Play Snowball Throwing to Improve Students Vocabulary
The children write a word on a piece of paper. They crumple the paper into asnowball
and then - Ready - Set Go. The children start throwing the crumpledsnowballs at each other.
The teacher says STOP! The children pick up the nearestsnowball to them, open the
snowball and read the word. Each child must form sentences as described in the last exercise
above and then watch out! The snowballfight is on again! The game works best with a smaller
group. It is not recommended toplay this game with a large group since it will be very difficult
to stop the snowballfight part of the learning exercise.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Snowball Throwing Technique
The advantages of this technique include: (1) this technique can make the players or in
this case the students become more adroit and their ability about memorizing the English
vocabulary is more increased because they learn in an enjoyable way, (2) fun in learning with
snowball throwing technique brings a real word context into the classroom and enhances
students to use English in a flexible communicative way, (3) it can make students relax and fun
to study, (4) .the teaching learning process more attractive, and (5) the teacher can easilyteach
the vocabulary. The disadvantages of this technique cover: (1) the teacher should control the
situation of the classroom.This technique will make the situation more crowded because the
students will scream when the ball is running, and (2) this technique is not too effective to
measure the speaking skill because not all of the students will get the chance to speak because
of the limited time
Closing
Thesnowballthrowingis
expected
toimprovestudents'vocabulary
in
learning
English.This technique can make studentsactivelyexpresswhatever they want tosayin
speakingandwritingbecausetheyhavea lot ofvocabulary.
1367

References
Crowley, et al. 1995. The Design of Language, an Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics. New
Zealand. LongmanPaul Limited.
DePorter, Reardon, & Singer, 1999.Quantum teaching: Orchestrating Student Success. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon
Fromkin. 1988. An introduction to Language. Newmeyer, Frederick J. (ed.) 1988. Linguistics:
The Cambridge survey. Vol. 1 -. Linguistic
Thornburry, Scott.2002.How to Teach Vocabulary. England: Pearson Education Limited
Zaini, Hisyam,et al,2008. Strategi Pembelajaran Aktif.Yogyakarta:Insan Madani

PENGGUNAAN METODE TALKING-STICK

DALAM PEMBELAJARAN SPEAKING UNTUK
MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN SPEAKING SISWA KELAS VII
Muhammad Joni
Guru Bahasa Inggris SMPN Satap 9 Tanjung Jabung Timur, Jambi
m.joni18@yahoo.co.id
Abstrak: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan penggunaan metode talkingstick pada pembelajaran speaking guna meningkatkan kemampuan speaking siswa kelas 7
yang sebelumnya selalu diajar dengan metode ceramah dan tugas. Penelitian ini merupakan
penelitian tindakan kelas yang terdiri dari dua siklus. Setiap siklus terdiri dari empat
tahapan yaitu perencanaan, pelaksanaan, pengamatan, dan refleksi. Subjek penelitian ini
adalah siswa kelas 7 yang berjumlah 19 orang. Hasil penelitian siklus pertama
menunjukkan nilai rata-rata kelas meningkat menjadi 75 dengan persentase 42%,
sedangkan pada siklus kedua nilai rata-rata siswa meningkat menjadi 80 dengan persentase
89%, dari hasil penelitian ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa penggunaan metode talking stick
dalam pembelajaran speaking dapat meningkatkan kemampuan speaking siswa.
Kata kunci : Pembelajaran speaking, talking stick, kemampuan speaking

Guru sebagai pendidik dan pengajar harus mampu menciptakan tujuan pembelajaran
yang memuaskan. Guru dituntut menguasai banyak hal yang menyangkut proses belajar
mengajar yang menarik dan menyenangkan sehingga penjelasannya dapat dipahami dengan baik
oleh siswa. Purwanto (1984) menegaskan bahwa Untuk mencapai suatu tujuan atau tindakan,
ada semacam titik tolak yang mendahului tindakan itu yaitu motivasi. Semakin besar motivasi,
semakin kuatlah tindakan itu dan hasilnya akan semakin baik. Betapapun baik kemampuan
siswa dalam belajar, tetapi jika tidak didorong atau tidak digerakkan dengan benar, maka tujuan
yang diinginkan tidak akan tercapai.
Menjawab tantangan tersebut seorang guru haruslah memiliki prinsip terus belajar dan
haus akan ilmu untuk mencapai cita-cita yang diharapkan. Dalam mengajar dan mendidik
seorang guru memiliki banyak peranan. Adams dan Dicky dalam Hamalik (2008:123)
mengemukakan bahwa peran guru sesungguhnya sangat banyak, yaitu sebagai pengajar
(instructor), pembimbing (counselor), ilmuwan (scientist) dan pribadi (person).
Menurut Wright dalam Hamalik (2008), ada dua tugas yang harus dilaksanakan oleh
seorang guru dalam kegiatan pembelajaran yang efektif. Kedua tugas tersebut mencakup guru
sebagai pengelola pembelajaran (instruktur/pengajar) dan guru sebagai pengelola kelas (
manager/pengelola). Sebagai pengelola pembelajaran, guru bertugas untuk menciptakan
kegiatan pembelajaran yang memungkinkan siswa mencapai tujuan pembelajaran secara
optimal, sedangkan sebagai pengelola kelas, guru bertugas untuk menciptakan situasi kelas yang
memungkinkan terjadinya pembelajaran yang efektif. Sebagai pengajar guru bertindak sebagai
manusia sumber dalam menyajikan informasi kepada siswa, sedangkan sebagai
manajer/pengelola, guru hendaknya memiliki semangat dalam menyajikan informasi tersebut,
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agar siswa mau mendengarkan penjelasannya. Sebagai pengelola kelas guru harus bisa
menciptakan suasana belajar yang kreatif.
Untuk mencapai tujuan pembelajaran tidaklah mudah, seperti yang dibayangkan banyak
orang. Meskipun jumlah siswa di kelas dimana penelitian ini dilakukan hanya 19 orang, akan
tetapi faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi siswa belajar dengan efektif cukup banyak,
diantaranya tersedianya sarana, baik di rumah maupun di sekolah, cara belajar siswa, dan cara
mengajar guru. Penggunaan metode dan pendekatan yang kurang tepat oleh guru dapat
menimbulkan ketidakefektifan siswa dalam belajar. Untuk mengatasi hal tersbut perlu adanya
usaha guru dalam meningkatkan kemampuan dan motivasi belajar siswa. Apalagi dalam proses
pembelajaran di tempat penelitian ini diadakan para siswa membutuhkan dorongan dan
perhatian yang cukup besar dari guru karena sebagian besar siswa yang telah tamat dari sekolah
dasar di desa tidak melanjutkan ke sekolah tingkat pertama. Disamping tidak mendapatkan restu
dari orang tuanya, mereka juga tidak memiliki motivasi dari diri mereka sendiri. Disinilah
pentingnya peran guru. Dari permasalahan di atas guru ditantang untuk bisa berinovasi dalam
proses pembelajaran sehingga bisa menarik minat para siswa untuk belajar secara optimal.
Penelitian ini ingin memberi solusi atas masalah yang telah dipaparkan , yaitu dengan
menggunakan metode talking-stick pada saat pembelajaran Speaking
.
METODE
Metode penelitian ini adalah penelitian tindakan kelas (classroom action research) dan
pelaksanaan pembelajaran pada penelitian ini dilakukan dalam dua siklus. Setiap siklus terdiri
dari empat tahap yaitu: perencanaan, pelaksanaan, pengamatan dan refleksi. Pada tahap
perencanaan, peneliti menyiapkan rencana pembelajaran, sedangkan pada tahap pelaksanaan,
peneliti menerapkan rencana pembelajaran yang telah disusun. Pada saat mengajar, peneliti
diamati oleh teman sejawat sebagai kolaborator. Kemudian peneliti berdiskusi dengan teman
sejawat tentang hasil dari pengamatannya. Selanjutnya hasil dari diskusi tersebut dijadikan
sebagai dasar untuk penyusunan perencanaan siklus berikutnya.
Adapun langkah-langkah yang dilakukan guru dalam proses pembelajaran speaking
dengan metode talking-stick yaitu: menyiapkan sebuah tongkat; menginstruksikan kepada siswa
untuk mengucapkan kata sesuai dengan apa yang didemonstrasikan oleh guru; menjelaskan
tentang command expressions and the responses; meminta siswa mengulang beberapa contoh
dari commands serta responsesnya; dan akhirnya meminta siswa untuk melakukan command
yang mereka dengar. Setelah materi pokok dipelajari semua oleh siswa, siswa juga diberi
kesempatan untuk saling berinteraksi sesama siswa untuk membahas materi commands and
responses tersebut.
Langkah selanjutnya yang dilakukan dalam metode talking-stick adalah meminta siswa
untuk membuat sebuah lingkaran dan guru berada tepat di tengah lingkaran tersebut
memberikan stick kepada salah seorang siswa. Stick yang diberikan tadi harus diberikan lagi
kepada teman di sebelahnya dan seterusnya sambil menyanyikan sebuah lagu yang berhubungan
dengan materi pembelajaran. Pada saat lagu berhenti dinyanyikan, siswa terakhir yang
menerima/memegang stick diberi hukuman.
Siswa yang terkena hukuman diminta untuk mengambil salah satu kartu yang disiapkan
oleh guru, yang berisi kata kerja, dan harus dijadikan command, sedangkan siswa satunya lagi
diminta untuk meresponnya. Begitulah selanjutnya dilakukan secara berkelanjutan. Pada
akhirnya guru memberikan kesimpulan, evaluasi/penilaian, dan menutup pembelajaran.
HASIL DAN PEMBAHASAN
Berikut ini disajikan hasil dan pembahasan pembelajaran dengan metode Ceramah dan
Penugasan dan hasil dan pembahassan pembelajaran dengan metode Talking-Stick.
Pembelajaran dengan Metode Ceramah dan Penugasan
Proses pembelajaran dengan metode Ceramah dan Penugasan diawali dengan guru
mengabsen siswa kemudian mengajak siswa memulai pembelajaran. Guru menyampaikan
tujuan pembelajaran dan guru memberi appersepsi dengan mengingat kembali materi pelajaran
sebelumnya. Pada saat main activity guru menjelaskan penggunaan command beserta
responnya, dan di tahap akhir guru memberikan catatan kepada siswa sebagai kesimpulan dari
materi. Pada saat pembelajaran berlangsung siswa tidak diberikan kesempatan mengeluarkan
1369

pendapat mereka, siswa hanya mendengarkan penjelasan dari guru, dan mereka tidak diminta
untuk menemukan sendiri contoh dari command beserta responnya, sehinggga siswa cenderung
pasif. Hal ini tergambar dari hasil tugas yang diberikan. Dari 19 siswa, hanya tiga siswa yang
nilainya mencapai ketuntasan dengan rincian nilainya, yaitu 2 orang siswa mendapat nilai 70
dan satu orang siswa mendapat nilai 75, dengan presentase ketuntasan hanya mencapai 15%,
sedangkan 17 siswa nilainya dibawah KKM (Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal) dengan presentase
ketidaktuntasan mencapai 85%.
Pembelajaran dengan Metode Talking-Stick
Siklus 1
Hasil pengamatan pada siklus pertama menunjukkan bahwa penggunaan metode
talking-stick pada pembelajaran speaking hanya dapat diikuti 8 orang siswa (42%), sedangkan
11 siswa lainnya (65%) belum aktif, bahkan cederung bingung serta membuat kesalahan. Hal ini
disebabkan belum terbiasanya siswa tersebut mengikuti metode pembelajaran talking-stick.
Sebelum penelitian ini diadakan, pembelajaran speaking sering dilaksanakan dengan model
pemebelajaran dengan metode Ceramah dan Penugasan, sehingga siswa terbiasa hanya
mendengarkan penjelasan dari guru, sementara itu pada pembelajaran talking-stick, siswa
dituntut untuk aktif secara langsung dan menemukan sendiri ide-ide yang berkaitan dengan
materi pembelajaran. Adapun yang dimaksud dengan metode talking stick adalah suatu model
pembelajaran kelompok dengan bantuan tongkat, dan kelompok yang memegang tongkat
terlebih dahulu wajib menjawab pertanyaan dari guru setelah siswa mempelajari materi
pokoknya, selanjutnya kegiatan tersebut diulang terus-menerus sampai semua kelompok
mendapat giliran untuk menjawab pertanyaan dari guru.
Adapun langkah-langkah guru dalam metode pembelajaran talking-stick adalah sebagai
berikut:
1. Menyiapkan sebuah tongkat yang panjangnya 20 cm.
2. Menyampaikan materi pokok yang akan dipelajari, kemudian memberikan kesempatan
para kelompok untuk membaca dan mempelajari materi tersebut.
3. Meminta siswa berdiskusi membahas masalah yang terdapat di dalam wacana.
4. Meminta siswa membaca materi pelajaran dan mempelajari isinya.
5. Mempersilakan siswa untuk menutup isi bacaan.
6. Mengambil tongkat dan memberikan kepada salah satu siswa.
7. Memberikan pertanyaan kepada siswa yang memegang tongkat tersebut dan siswa tersebut
harus menjawabnya dan demikian sampai sebagian besar siswa mendapat bagian untuk
menjawab setiap pertanyaan dari guru.
8. Memberikan kesimpulan.
9. Memberikan evaluasi/penilaian.
10. Menutup pembelajaran.
Siswa yang belum terbiasa dengan metode pembelajaran ini mengakibatkan proses
pembelajaran menjadi terhambat. Hanya sebagian kecil dari siswa yang bisa menyelesaikan
dengan baik. Hal ini tergambar juga pada hasil tes di siklus pertama di mana hanya sedikit yang
melebihi KKM (Kreteria Ketuntasan Menimal) yaitu nilai 70, sehingga pencapaian indikator
hasil belajar yang diharapkan belum tercapai, dan hal ini otomatis mewajibkan penelitian
dilanjutkan ke siklus berikutnya.
Siklus 2
Pada siklus ini pembelajaran dilaksanakan dengan memperbaiki dan menyempurnakan
kekurangan di siklus pertama. Kekurangan tersebut dituangkan di dalam RPP (Rencangan
Persiapan Pembelajaran) yang dijadikan panduan guru dan asessmen yang digunakan pada
siswa. Hasil pengamatan pembelajaran pada siklus kedua menunjukkan perubahan yang cukup
segnifikan pada aktivitas belajar siswa. Siswa yang awalnya pasif secara perlahan ikut secara
aktif dalam kegiatan tersebut, bahkan siswa yang semula cenderung terlihat bingung menjadi
terlihat asyik dan terlibat secara aktif dalam proses pembelajaran tersebut.
Pada Siklus 2 ini juga terjadi interaksi yang sangat baik antar pasangan bahkan dengan
guru juga teman-temannya yang lain, dan hanya tinggal dua orang siswa lagi yang belum bisa
mengikuti proses pembelajaran dengan menggunakan metode talking-stick. Siswa juga sudah
dapat menyesuaikan diri dengan baik, dan pesan yang disampaikan cukup mudah dipahami,
1370

lancar, serta grammar yang digunakan sudah cukup akurat, dan intonasi sudah benar dan
ketapatan diksinya cukup baik. Hasil tes akhir pada siklus kedua ini mencapai rata-rata nilai 80
dengan ketuntasan belajar mencapai 89%.
Hal lain yang muncul pada siswa di saat metode pembelajaran talking-stick ini
dilaksanakan, command yang digunakan oleh siswa sangat bervariasi dan melebihi yang telah
diajarkan oleh guru bahkan siswa berinovasi sendiri memunculkan command-comand baru yang
sebelumnya tidak terpikirkan oleh guru. Perolehan ini menunjukan bahwa pembelajaran
speaking dengan menggunakan talking-stick dapat meningkatkan hasil belajar dan motivasi
belajar siswa serta kemampuan speaking siswa.
KESIMPULAN
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penggunaan metode pembelajaran talking- stick
pada pembelajaran speaking dapat meningkatkan kemampuan speaking siswa. Hal ini bisa
dilihat dari ketuntasan belajar pada siklus satu yang menunjukkan nilai rata-rata 75 dengan
persentase ketuntasan 42%, sedangkan pada siklus kedua siswa mengalami kenaikan pencapaian
dengan nilai rata-rata 80 dengan persentase ketuntasan belajar 89%, sehingga kenaikannya
mencapai 47%. Ini berarti ketuntasan klasikal yang diperoleh mengalami peningkatan yang
cukup besar.
SARAN
Berdasarkan hasil penelitian dalam pengajaran speaking ini, salah satu metode
pembelajaran yang bisa digunakan untuk meningkatkan kemampuan speaking siswa yaitu
pembelajaran dengan menggunakan talking stick.
DAFTAR RUJUKAN
Hamalik , Oemar . 2008. Proses Belajar Mengajar. Jakarta : Bumi Aksara.
Purwanto, N . 1998. EDUCATIONESIA : Psikolog Belajar
http://Jamaluddin/k1. blogspot.com/2011/07/Model-pembelajaran-kooperatif-tipe-htm.

INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO

SMP STUDENTS
Ervina
Muarojambi
Abstract: Instructional media is one of the important aspectsin ateaching-learning
process; it can influence the success of the teaching-learning process. Therefore, using
instrucional media in a teaching-learning process is an advantage.It bridges the gapof
intraction between teachers and students so as to make an effective teaching-learning
process. This paper explores the advantages of instructional media they are: (a) Media as
studentsattracker, (b) Media as a means of mass communication, (c) Media as efficient
tools, (d) Media as a means of knowledge transfer, and (e) Media as an icebreaker.
Keywords: Instructional media, manual instructional media, electronic media,

communication

Many aspects that

influence the success of a teaching-learning process in
generalincludeinstructional strategies, instructional materials, instructional media, instructional
methods, and other instructional components. However, regarding the general characteristics of
SMP students, who still need real and concrete stimulus to increase their understanding of the
concept of, among others, English, instructional media can be the most significant component in
the English class.
1371

. As Jean Piagetthe cognitivist asserts,SMP students,who are mostly at the age of 12 to14, are
still in the period of concrete operational. Being in this period, they are easier to understand a
concrete concept than an abstract one;they are not yet ready to accept something that is beyond
their understanding. Hence, there needsa delivery system that helps transfer an abstract concept
to a concrete onet and instructional media is an answer to this need. This paper explores the
advantages of using instructional media in teaching English to SMP students.Types of
Instuctional Media
Basically, there are two major types of instructional media. The first type is the manual
instructional media. The manual media are usually cheaper to produce and easier to find in real
life, such as photographs, pictures, and real objects.Photographs and pictures are usually handy
and so, teachers may find them easy to use in class. But, real objects are sometimes not really
effective and efficient; to illustrate, if the real object comes in a big size, it is difficult to bring
it into the classroom. .
The secondis the electronic media, such aspowerpoint slides, macromedia flash, and
videos. This type of instructonal media can be more effective and efficient as it does not need
much time to prepare or create the media This kind of media is easier to bring to class although
, of course, it requires one condition, i.e. the availability of electricity.
Advantages of Instructional Media
Instructional media is recommended for use in English class as it offers advantages
asMolendaand Russell(2002) assert.First, instructional mediais a students'attrackeror focus
compounder. In this case, instructional media has a function to attract students attention.
Mostly, when a teacher startsa class, students are generally busy with themselves and SMP
students are just alike; most of them donot pay attention to what the teacher says. If the teacher
is not aware of this classroom management problem and, instead, keeps talking and explaining
the materials in front of the class without trying to find any solution to solve this problem, the
result of the teaching-learning process will not be satisfactory.
Second, instructional media is a means of mass communication, meaning that
instructional can be usedwith any size of class To illustrate, the powerpoint slidescan be
really a help to both a big and a small classes as it accomodates any number of students.
Third, instructional media is an efficient tool. To illustrate, an electronic media, such
as powerpointslides, can be really efficient in terms of time and place. Using this instructional
media, a teacher does not need to spend much time and energy, because s/he must not write the
materials on the board in front of the classnor even rewrite the same materials for other classes.
In short, the teacher prepares the instructional media for the materials just once and s/he can
use it repeatedly. Fourth, instrucional media is advantageous for transfer of knowledge. To
illustrate, students are not usually attracted enough to read textbooks, as theyusually have less
colorful picturesl.In addition, textbooks cannot present moving pictures. Slide pictures and
videos can be compensate the incompleteness of textbooks. To illustrate further, , slide pictures
and videos can also concretely describe an objectthat cannot be presented in a classroom due to
its big size. Similarly, these instructional media can present extinct animals into a classroom.
Last, instructional media serves as an icebreaker and therefore it is advantageouswhen, for
example, there are barriers between students that prevent class participation or when there is a
communication block.Light-hearted stories or anecdotes in the form of funny pictures or videos
can make effective instructional media to overcome such problems.
Concluding Remarks
Instructional media plays a significant role in a teaching-learning process; with the
advantages it offers, teachers can liven up an English class and so, English may not sound
foreign anymore. In turn, students will be highly motivated to study it. Yet, teachers shall be
keen on appropriateness of a certain type of media before deciding to use it in class.
REFERENCE
Heinich, R. Molenda, M. Russell, J. D. 2002. Instructional media and technology for learning,
7th edition.New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

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THE APPLICATION OF AJEL METHOD IN ENGLISH

CLASSES IN PASER, EAST KALIMANTAN
Khusnul Khotimah
SMPN 3 Kuaro
The Regency Of Paser, East Kalimantan
Abstract: Active, creative, joyful and effective learning (AJEL) is suitable for junior high
students age. Therefore, this method has been adopted to improve students English
performance. This paper explores AJEL and its implementation in English classes in Paser,
East Kalimantan.
Key words : AJEL method, improved students English performance

There has recently been growing expectations for improved student performance. In
attempts to improve student performance, especially in English, English teachers haveadopted
various improvement strategies. One improvement strategy that teachers in Paser, East
Kalimantan, have recently decided upon is by implementing the AJEL method.With this
method, teachers put into efforts to make learning meaningful and it is expected that students
will, in turn, improve their English performance.
What is AJEL?
Fachrurrazyand Mirjam Anugerahwati ( 2013:42 ) state that AJEL is a teaching model
which is active, creative, joyful and effective ( in Indonesia it is called PAKEM), which was
originally designed for kindergarten and primary school. Similarly, Departemen Pendidikan
Nasional ( 2009 ) states that PAKEM adalah proses pembelajaran yang dirancang untuk
mengaktifkan anak, mengembangkan kreativitas sehingga efektif namun tetap menyenangkan.
PAKEM menciptakan lingkungan belajar yang kondusif/bermakna yang mampu memberikan
siswa keterampilan, pengetahuan dan sikap untuk hidup.
Hence, it can be concluded that AJELis a learning model which rests on learning
principles that includeactive, effective and joyful. This learning model is accordant with
curriculum 2013, that is oriented on students activity (student centered learning). as Andayani
and Pratiwi( 2013:41 ) assert, Pandangan yang melatarbelakangi pendekatan ini yakni setiap
pengalaman belajar melalui objek-objek yang dilihat, didengar, dirasakan, dialami siswa setiap
detik, setiap hari, sepanjang tahun akan mempengaruhi perkembangan jiwanya dan membentuk
karakter dan sikapnya kelak.
AJEL is oriented on process and purpose. The process orientation in AJEL is intended
to increase learning motivation.Next, the autonomy and responsibility are encouraged early. In
addition, togetherness and work in group are for studentsto sharpen theiremotional
development. Finally, a healthy competition is grown by respecting each other and growingthe
leadership qualities.
The purposeorientation is to make students study more critically, and creatively. To
support this orientation, learning atmosphere is created to include more variation of learning
activities. It is also meantto increase emotional ripeness.One of the most important thing is for
sstudent to be ready to face the change and participate in change process.
CHARACTERISTICS of AJEL
Fachrurrazyand Mirjam Anugerahwati state that model of teaching with AJEL /
PAKEM will encourage learners to be physically, socially and mentally active, to comprehend
and develop life skills. This model requires that both teacher and learners are active.
Fachrurrazyand Mirjam Anugerahwati also list that:
a. An active teacher :
Monitors the learners learning activities
Gives feedback according to the learnersneeds
Asks challenging questions which invite learners to think critically
Questions the learners ideas by asking for reasons.
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b. While learners are active when they can :

Construct the concepts from their background knowledge
Ask about things they do not know
Suggest their own or groups ideas
Question new ideas
Do activities which are related to the topics they are learning
REASONS FOR CHOOSING AJEL
Learning method of AJEL is agood methods because it combines the participation on
the part of the students as well as the teacher. Focusing on active, effective, creative and joyful
learning, this method help students learn more easily.
The s With active learning, students develop their higher thinking skill such as
analyzing and doing evaluation to many learning event and applyingit in daily life. A creative
learning is a learning process that asks teacher to motivate and discover students creativity in
learning process. A creative learning demands teacher to be able to stimulate students
creativity, especially in developing their thinking skill or in doing something. Thinking
critically begins with activities such as finding and creating something new or soemthing that
has never been there before or repairing something Thinking creatively must be developed in
learning process in order to make studentshave the habitof developing their creativity. Students
can be creative if they can do something and create new activity and productwhich is the
product of thinking creatively.
The learning is effective if it can give new experiences to life, form the learners
competition and deliver them to the purpose which will be reached as optimallyas possible. All
students must be involved in the learning process in order to be more enthusiastic. By this,
learning atmosphere is truly conducive, focused on purpose and formedearners competition.
Joyful learning means that there is good relationship pattern that involves teacher and
learners in a learning process. A democratic atmosphere should be created in a class and should
not be seen as a burden whether to teacher or learners during the learning process.
THE IMPLEMENTATION of AJEL in ACTIVITIES
This section describes a teaching and learning procedure that employed AJEL, which
was a part of the TEQIP Ongoing Activity in SMP Negeri 3 Padang Parapat Tanah Grogot.
Prior to teaching, the teacher begins with planning session. In the planning session, the first
thingsthat should be done are :
a. Determine Standard of Competence and Basic Competence
b. Arrange Lesson Plan
c. Choose learning strategy
d. Determine appropriate visual aid
Standard of competence chosen was Understanding the meaning in simple short oral
conversation transactional and interpersonal to interact in daily life context and the basic
competence was To respond the meaning in the transactional conversation (to get things done)
and simple short interpersonal (interaction) accurately, fluently and acceptable to interact in the
daily life context included speech act, asking and giving the certainty, expressing and
responding the uncertainty .
The next step was the implementation session. In this session, the subject matter that
was given to students was using certainty and uncertainty expression. This learning activity
was divided into three sessions
A. Opening
B. Main activity
C. Closing
To create a joyful learning process, the teacher useed puppet hand as a visual aid.In the
opening session, teacher greeteds the students.. After greeting, the teacher asked thestudentsto
stand up and move themselves like when they were doing physical exercise.The teacher
guidesthe students in order for the students to move in good harmony. After that, the teacher
askedthe students to applause together. The idea of this activity was to activate the nerves and
stimulate students enthusiasm.
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In ongoing activity, writer taught in another school; so, the teacherfirstly introduced
herself. In this introduction, teacher asked questions related to certainty and uncertainty
expressions. For example : do you know my name ?........ are you sure that my name is
Syahrini ?........ are you sure that I am like Syahrini ?...... are you sure that my name is Sarmintul
?...........To the students answer whether certain and uncertain, the teacher used to ask reason
whether why were you certain ? and why were you uncertain ?.
The teacher then assign each studentto identify 5 kinds of fruit.It included of
strawberries, mangoes, mangoesteens, guavas and oranges. After that, the teacher stimulated
students with questions related to certain and uncertain expression.
The teacherthen chose questions which related to students experience or event that
students had undergone before. With these questions students would unconsciously enter their
sub consciousness power. In turn, , they would indirectly be ready to join the learning process.
By this activity, students had ability to aplicate the subject matter in real life. After the teacher
stimulated the students by giving questions referring to certain and uncertain expression,she
gave an example of a dialogueby using a hand puppet.
In the example, the teacher used funny examples. The purpose of presenting funny
examples was for the students get more comfortable. The teacher turned on LCD about how to
ask someones certainty,how to express certainty,and how to express uncertainty.
In the main activity, the teacher gave examplesof certain and uncertain expressions
again. Next, the teacher asked students to identify the pattern which was suitable with certain
and uncertain expression.The students anaged to make the pattern of certain and uncertain
expression easily. In this activity, teacher wrote the pattern of certain and uncertain on the
blackboard. Then, the teacher and student tried to make sentences together and pronoune them
correctly.After the students had understood, the teacher asked the students to get together, using
the fruit that each student had as a basis for grouping.For example, if they got strawberry, they
might gather with partner who got strawberry too, etc. Each group consisted of 4 students.
There were 21 students; so, they could make 5 groups. The teacher gave
styrofoamboard which was decorated in a frame. On the board, there were 2 papers for the
students to write their work. Firstly, teacher gave instruction of how to do the task. The teacher
then assigned the students.The students seemedvery enthusiasticin doing their task. Teacher
went around to look students activity. Teacherwould guide again to the student who was still
confused. Teacher gave plus score to the student who werefaster in doing the task and collecting
the task in front of the class. By giving plus score, student felt more conscious in finishing the
task. Learning process was being faster and in joyful atmosphere because each student had
feeling to be number one in collecting the task.
The styrofoam boardput in front class was shown off to other groups. After all groups
had finished the task, the styrofoam board was exchanged to another group and be corrected
together. It could stimulate the students to answer questions together. In this activity, each
studentwas given the chance to analyze other groups work.The analysisfocused on the use of
certain and uncertain expressions and and punctuation.
The teacher was fond of praising the group which got the higher score and gave
motivation to the group which got the lower score.Next, the teacher guidedthe students to
practice the pronounciation.
In closing activity, the teacher asked the students for their opinion about the subject
matter they had just learntand used functions in a real life. Both of teacher and student made
conclusion about the subject matter they had just learnt. After that, teacher asked student to
saythe yell I AM SURE, I CAN BE THE BEST, YES YES YES !!!!
From teaching and learning activities, it can be known that :
1. Learning readiness
The students were ready to receive the subject matter. In the main activity, they
showed enthusiasm in following the subject matter as the teacher identified from their
seriousness in doing the task in a group. The students tended to be active during the
learning process.
2. Closing activity
Both of teacher and student madeconclusion, strengthening and consolidation related to
real life.
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Closing Remarks Based on the experience of the teaching and learning activity useing AJEL it
can concluded that :
1. AJEL increases the quality of English learning.
2. AJEL makesthe students feel comfortable, interested and enthusistic when given the
opportunityto extend opinion, ideas and questions.
3. Student showed the ability of doing the task by her/himself or in group and be able to
beresponsible all the tasks, individually or in group.
4. Theclass atmosphere was joyful and attractive.
5. Students are encouraged to participate in a positive competition.
6. Students emotional and social maturity, self confidence, motivation and enthusiasm as
well as students productivity in learning activity increase.
7. The learning activity is more effective
8. Students are being active, critical and creative.
9. There is close relationship both of teacher and students
SUGGESTION
The teacher should give motivation and praise to the students. The purpose of giving
motivation is for the students to study hard and respond the subject matter which should be
applied in real life. Hence, they are ready to face the change and able to compete in
globalization era, withEnglish being international language.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Andayani,K and Pratiwi,Y. 2013. Pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia Kreatif dan Inovatif. Malang
: kerjasama PT. Pertamina Universitas Negeri Malang.
Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. 2009.Pembelajaran Aktif, Kreatif, Efektif & Menyenangkan
(Pakem). Jakarta : Depdiknas
Fachrurrazy and Anugerahwati, M. 2013. Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris Kreatif dan Inovatif.
Malang : kerjasama PT. Pertamina Universitas Negeri Malang.
Tim Penyusun Modul FKIP UNMUL. 2008. PAIKEM. Samarinda

TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY

USING FOLKTALE BOOKS
Amirudin
SMPN 1 Bunguran Timur Laut, Natuna
Abstract: One of the big problems faced by English teachers is the lack of the students
English vocabulary mastery. There are many ways which have been used to solve this
problem. In this article, the writer tries to offer the alternative way in teaching English:
using folktale books. The writer believes that using folktale books will improve student
mastery in English vocabulary because this technique is suitable for meaningful learning.
Key Words : Vocabulary Mastery, Folktale Books, Meaningful Learning

English is a means of oral or written communication. Indonesian national curriculum

said that the competence in English Learning for the junior high school students is to understand
and to express the information, thoughts, feelings, and to develop science, technology, and
culture using English. Thus, the function of English is a means of communication. By using
English the students can get more information. They also can use English to develop
interpersonal relation, to make information exchange, and to enjoy language esthetics in
English. Therefore, English subject has goals as follows (Standar Kompetensi Lulusan 2006):

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1. To develop communicative competence in English whether in oral or written

communication. This competence includes: listening skill, speaking skill, reading
skill, and wrriting skill.
2. To grow the students consciousnes on the language substance and the importance of
English as one of foreign languages as the main tool in learning.
3. To grow the understanding about the interrelation between language and culture and
to broaden the students cultural insight to make the students have cross-cultural
insight. Thus, they will be able to get involved in cultural diversity life.
One of the components in English teaching is vocabulary teaching. Vocabulary is a set
of words with their meaning and should be used by someone in a language. Vocabulary owned
by someone is defined as a set of the whole words which are understood by someone himself or
all of the words will be used by someone to arrange the new sentence. The individual
vocabulary richness in general, is regarded as a representation of individual intelligence and the
level of his education.
Vocabulary understanding in general is regarded as the important part of a language learning
process or in developing individual language competence. The student is often taught the new
words as a part of specific subject and many adult people consider the vocabulary mastery is
interesting and educative activity.
The vocabulary mastery is the basic element that must be mastered by someone who learns
English as a foreign language. How can someone use the language when he does not know the
language vocabulary. Moreover when he learns the foreign language, here the vocabulary
mastery is absolute for him. When a student has enough mastery in English vocabulary it will
support him to get four competences in English learning: listening skill, reading skill, speaking
skill, and writing skill.
To achieve the goal of English teaching that is able to communicate orally and in
written form, so the students is expected to have enough vocabulary mastery to be able to
communicate well in variety of contexts and themes.
Language-based learning activity basically depends on the students mastery on that
language vocabulary. The students must have access to the meaning that is used by their teacher
and the people arround them. The limitation of their vocabulary mastery will be the obstacle for
them to achieve language competency. However, the learning itself is depend on the language.
Becker (1997) gives more attention to the importance of vocabulary development. It is
the sum of the vocabulary that is mastered by the students. According to him, the weakness of
the student vocabulary mastery is the main cause of student academic failure.
A research said that the individual understanding of the text also depends on the sum of
vocabulary which is mastered by someone. In Grave opinion (1986), ideally, the beginner
student have to master between 2500 till 5.000 words to support his language learning. In fact,
the students in Indonesia, especially the student at SMPN 1 Bunguran Timur Laut, have less
than that. Moreover English is a foreign language and they have limited time to practice and
use this language in every day life. This fact makes English teacher face difficulty to bring
students to gain the basic competence as curriculum required.
Actually, there are some factors that make this happen. Among others are:
1. Method and technique used by the teacher is not proper and interesting.
2. Interesting and effective media for students vocabulary learning is not available.
3. Some students are not interested in learning English because in their opinion English is
difficult.
Based on this English learning context, the writer tries to offer an alternative technique
to improve the student mastery on English vocabulary. The writer call this technique the usage
of the folktale book.
THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY
In teaching English vocabulary, there are two popular approaches, namely : word list
approach and contextual approach. By using the word list approach the teacher gives the
students the word lists and their meaning directly. These word lists may be related to one topic
and may be not. This approach has some weaknesses and also has some strengths. Some of its
strengths are:
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1. It is practical
2. It is easy to be done
3. It does not need much time to apply it.
While the weaknesess of this approach are:
1. It is regarded as usual note by the students
2. It is easily forgotten by the students.
3. It is not impressive for students.
4. The students have to open the word lists too often.
The second is the contextual approach. By using this approach the teacher does the
related activity to look for the meaning of the word. This approach also has the strenghts and the
weaknesses. Its strenghts are:
1. It is applicable in varied contexts
2. It makes the students impressed and fun in the learning process
3. It is easy for the students to remember.
While the weaknesses of this approach are:
1. It needs specific technique to use it
2. It needs much media
3. It needs much time in applying it.
But, in the writers opinion, apart from the strengths and the weaknesses of the two
approaches, the most fun for the children is the contextual approach. Because in this approach
all of students can be directly involved in variety of activities to look for and to find the
meaning of vocabulary under the guidance of the teacher. It does not mean that the writer
always uses this approach whenever s/he comes to the class. The writer uses the approach of
the word list when the students ask about the meaning of the word that has been uttered by the
writer as the teacher. In context of the contextual approach, the writer has used folktale books in
teaching vocabulary.
According to Endayani (2012: 34), there are 3 indicators which can be seen to know
that the student has mastered in vocabulary, namely: when the student has mastered the meaning
of the word, the spelling of the word, the pronunciation of the word, and the usage of the word.
While Baker and Westrup (2000: 37) said that there are seven things that must be paid
attention to in teaching vocabulary:
First, when the teacher presents one new word then teacher must teach the meaning and
the pronunciation. Second, the precise meaning of of new words in specific contexts, is
very important..Third, the meaning of the new words can be taught through pictures,
mime, real objects as well as from a situation in context..Fourth, teachers need to ask
question to check that students understand the meaning..Fifth, Students need lots of
varied practice of new vocabulary. Sixth, Students need to revise new vocabulary
regularly. Seventh, Students need to record and store new vocabulary in helpful way.
Well-recorded new vocabulary can improve students learning
Besides the above techniques, here we can show another techniques. First, the
teaching technique of vocabulary form. This technique can be done by three ways.
1. Visually
Teaching vocabulary visually can be done by showing the writing form of the
word, showing the movement related to the pointed word by moving our hand on
air while writing letters, or by showing the letters made of wood or plastic to be
spelled..
2. Touch
Teaching vocabulary by touch can be done by using the letters made of wood, sand
paper, and so on so that the students can feel the form of the letters which are
arranged to be a word. Besides that we also can use writing system like for blind
people (braile) or we can write a word letter per letter on the student hand.
3. Orally
Teaching vocabulary orally can be practiced as pronouncing a word or other
oral form.
Second, teaching technique of vocabulary meaning
To do this technique, there are three ways which can be referred to:
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1. Demonstration
This technique can be done by showing something.
2. Picture
This technique can be done by using photo, drawing something on the white board,
and illustration from news paper and magazine.
3. Explanation
This technique can be practiced by explaning synonym or antonym of the word,
defining or translating it.
Fahrurrazy and Anugerahwati suggest some points in teaching vocabulary (Fahrurrazy
and Anugerahwati, 2013: 34):
1. Train students to use dictionary
2. Find meanings of closely spelled words
3. Find synonyms or antonyms the given words
4. Teach idioms and special exspressions, in addition to single and compound words
5. Introduce prefixes and suffixes in English
6. Use collocation or word association
7. Use jumbled letters or anagram
8. Make pyramid words
9. Write a chain of words
10. Introduce word series
11. Use puzzles
12. Memorize a number of words per day / per week
13. Introduce blending, clipping, acronym, and loan words
14. Ask students to read intensively and extensively
15. Learn vocabulary in contexts
16. Use demontsration or realia to show word meaning
One of the teaching techniques in teaching of English vocabulary by contextual
approach is using story book or in this context, the folktale books. In the the references of
teaching of English vocabulary, there have been many
discussions on English vocabulary
teaching using the stories. But so far the writer cannot find discussion on using folktale books in
teaching vocabulary.
Before discussing the usage of folktale books in teaching English further, it is better to
talk about what folktale is. The Dictionary of Merriam-Webster (1983: 371) says that Folktale is
a characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among a people.
Thus, folktale is the story is anonym in the context of the author, not clear in the context of the
publishing time and the time it appears in the middle of society. It circulates from mouth to
mouth. But in future development those stories have been written and compiled in printed
book.
While folktale books are printed book containing folktales. Because those books contain
folktales which are close to the students and even written in English, they are good to be used in
teaching English vocabulary.
WHY FOLKTALE?
Using Folktale books in the effort of improving the student English vocabulary mastery
is more effective than the usage of another books, like text books for natural sciences, social
sciences, and mathematics. When we as a teacher use those kinds of books, the writer believes
that the student will fall asleep soon. Because the students are not so familiar with the material
in those books. As we know, in general the students are more interested in story reading.
In teaching vocabulary, we must use Folktale books containing local story which is
close to the students life context, not the story from the far country, nor the story from abroad.
For example, we know the story about Malin Kundang. It is suitable for the students
from Minang Land, the legend of Sangkuriang may be suitable for the students from Pasundan
Land, the tale of Joko Tingkir may be suitable for the student from Central Java, the story of
Calon Arang may be suitable for the student from Bali, but all of those stories are not suitable
for the students from Natuna. For Natuna students, the suitable stories for them may be the
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stories about Senua Island, Batu Sindu, the legend of Tok Nyong, the legend of Batu Kapal, the
legend of Pulau Sahi, and so on.
Those folktales are more interesting for Natuna students because they have recognized
those folktales from the beginning of their life. In their childhood, they had been told by their
grand fathers or grand mothers. So, those folktales have been near with them. In other words,
the students already have the background knowledge so that it is easy for them to relate the
material that they have learned to the things that they have known before.
By reading the familiar folktales in English, if they find difficult word it is easy for
them to guess the meaning, so that they do not need to open the dictionary continously. When
they must open the dictionary continously it will make them bored. And it is, of course,
disadvantageous for teaching vocabulary process.
These Folktale books are usually attache the meaning of the difficult word on the back
pages of the book, not placing directly on the page under text. This way makes the advantage in
strengthening the students capability to remember the meaning of the word. Because the time
gap and the effort distance used by the students to look for the meaning of the difficult word
influence the student capability to remember.
Of course, the results will be different when the meaning of the difficult word is placed
directly under the text. The time gap and the short distance for the students to look for the
meaning of the difficult word make student capability to remember become weak.
Related to the meaningful learning, this technique is very meaningful because this technique
always places the word in context, not in isolation. The vocabulary does not stand for it self as
in teaching vocabulary by memorizing word by word. Here vocabulary constructs the meaning.
HOW TO USE THE TECHNIQUE
The effort to improve the student English vocabulary mastery by using folktale books
can be integrated with the teaching of narrative texts. By this integration, we, as a teacher, can
get double advantages. Besides we are able to achieve the goal of the narrative text teaching, we
also can improve the student English vocabulary mastery.
Before we begin with the teaching of narrative texts, we must prepare the folktale books
containing the story that is relevant to teaching materials to be taught. The teacher can use the
folktale books published by Gramedia. In the writers experience, the folktale books from
Gramedia Publisher fulfil the requirements needed in using folktale books to improve the
student English vocabulary mastery. If the teacher finds a difficulty to get the printed book, he
can create it himself using local stories.
In the class room, after finishing with his activity to introduce the narrative texts to
students, the teacher can distribute the folktale books to the students as a sample of the
narrative text. If the books are not enough for all students, the teacher can ask the students to
make groups. After distributing the folktale books to each group, the teacher asks the students to
read the book by giving enough time for them to read.
After that the teacher give some student worksheet to each group.This student
worksheet contains questions related to the text to be read. It is needed to assess the student
comprehension toward the text to be read. It is also useful for assessing students mastery on
English vocabulary in the text. Therefore, the student worksheet given by the teacher must
include questions which are able to assess student mastery on English vocabulary.
In the next step, the teacher can ask every group to deliver their report to the class by
reading their answers to the questions in the student worksheet. To give motivation to the class,
the group report can be competed.
The task to read this folktale books can also be given by the teacher as a home work.
But the students must be given student worksheet in order to be able to assess students mastery
on English vocabulary in the folktale books that they bring to their home. In the writers
experience, this technique can improve the students English vocabulary mastery.
CONCLUSION
Based on the above description, it can be concluded that:
1. One of the big problems faced by the teacher in teaching English is the lack of student
English vocabulary mastery.
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2. In Teaching English vocabulary, there are two approaches. They are the word list
approach and the contextual approach.
3. The contextual approach is more efective in improving students English vocabulary
mastery because it is suitable for the meaningful learning.
4. One of the effective techniques in improving the student English vocabulary mastery is
the usage of folktale books because it uses the contextual approach and this approach is
suitable for the meaningful learning.
REFERENCES
Allen, Janet. 1999, Words, Words, Words Portland: Stenhouse Publishers.
Baker, Joanna and Westrup, Heather. 2000, The English Language Teachers, Handbook, New
York, VSO.
Hamid, Fuad Abdul. 1987. Prosedur Belajar-Mengajar Bahasa. Jakarta: Depdikbud,.
Nation, I.S.P. 1974, Techniques for Teaching Vocabulary. English, Teaching Forum, 12,3:18-21
Tb. Endayani. 2012, Meningkatkan Penguasaan Vocabulary Melalui Metode SAVI, Tesis,
UNS.
Working with Words, http://www.wfu.edu/cunningh/fourblocks/block4.html.

PEMBELAJARAN VOCABULARY BUILDING

DENGAN METODE VOCABULARY GAME
Muhammad Munip
munif_java@yahoo.com
Abstrak: Metode vocabulary game untuk mengatasi pembelajaran vocabulary building
yang kurang menarik, ternyata memberikan pengaruh yang cukup signifikan untuk
meningkatkan kemampuan siswa dalam menguasai vocabulary.Makalah ini menyajikan
peningkatan penguasaan vocabulary siswa melalui vocabulary game.
Kata kunci: vocabulary building dan vocabulary game.

PENDAHULUAN
Dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris, siswa dikatakan menguasai aspek Writingini
apabila mampu menulis dan yang ditulisnya bisa dipahami orang yang membacanya.
Salah satu ketrampilan yang diajarkan adalah aspek writingdengan materi vocabulary
buildingdengan metode yang unik dan menarik agar siswa mampu memahami dan menguji
kemampuan vocabulary mereka khususnya dalam aspek writing..
Dalam pembelajaran vocabulary building ini diterapkan metode vocabulary game.
Adapun penerapan metode ini adalah sebagai berikut :
Vocabulary Building
- Guru contoh-contoh vocabulary yang diawali huruf A Z.
- Guru memberikan sebuah vocabulary test individu kepada siswa
- Guru membentuk kelompok untuk bermain vocabulary game
- Guru menyampaikan hasil pekerjaan siswa
- Guru memberikan penguatan
- Guru melakukan penilaian
PERENCANAAN PEMBELAJARAN (RPP)
Dalam penyusunan perencanaan pembelajaran vocabulary building dengan metode
vocabulary game dengan menekankan aspek recalling (mengingat) bukan memorizing
(menghafal). Pada kegiatan perencanaan pembelajaran juga dirancang langkah-langkah
pembelajaran yang digunakan dalam kompetensi dasar tersebut. Langkah tersebut dipilih dalam
metode pembelajaran ini adalah vocabulary game.
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Selain materi, media pembelajaran yang disiapkan pada perencanaan juga dirancang
instrumen penilaian. Instrumen ini disesuaikan dengan kompetensi dasar dan indikator yang
akan dicapai serta ditujukan untuk membantu guru untuk menilai secara objective dengan
indikator yang jelas.
Setelah perencanaan sudah disusun, maka guru menerapkan RPP yang terulis dalam
pembelajaran di kelas. Pelaksanaan pembelajaran dimulai dari kegiatan awal, kegiatan inti dan
kegiatan akhir. Langkah-langkah kegiatan tersebut dapat dijabarkan dibawah ini.
KEGIATAN AWAL
Pada kegiatan awal pembelajaran, guru membuka dengan ucapan salam dan bertanya
apakah siswa siap mengikuti pelajaran yang akan diberikan. Semua siswa kelas 7 siap dan
antusias mengikuti pembelajaran. Setelah keadaan kelas kondusif guru meminta ketua kelas
untuk memimpin doa, selesai berdoa kemudian guru memeriksa daftar hadir selanjutnya guru
berdiri dari tempat duduk dan memulai proses awal pembelajaran. Untuk memulai proses
pembelajaran tersebut, guru memberikan apersepsi dan motivasi kepada siswa dengan bertanya
nama salah satu murid, kemudian guru bertanya bagaimana cara mengeja huruf-huruf dari nama
siswa tersebut. Selain itu, guru juga memotivasi kepada siswa untuk menguasai kosa kata.
Setelah memberi apersepsi dan motivasi selesai disampaikan, guru melanjutkan kegiatan
pembelajaran.
KEGIATAN INTI
Pada kegiatan inti, dipilah menjadi tahapan eksplorasi, elaborasi dan konfirmasi. Pada
kegiatan eksplorasi, guru memberikan contoh-contoh vocabulary yang diawali dari huruf A Z
dengan metode sederhana, kemudian guru memberikan vocabulary test. Pada tahap elaborasi,
guru memberikan pertanyaan-pertanyaan tentang nama siswa kemudian menanyakan contohcontoh vocabulary yang lain sehingga para siswa mencoba berusaha untuk menemukan katakata baru. Setelah itu guru memberikan vocabulary game. Pada tahap penguasaan vocabulary
(kosa kata) siswa diberikan worksheet (lembar tugas) untuk mengerjakan beberapa test dan
game yang berhubungan dengan alphabet dan yang lainnya. Diantara test dan game yang
diberikan adalah :
1. Find vocabulary-based name (mencari kosa kata berdasarkan nama)
Dalam proses pembelajaran ini ada beberapa tahapan, diantaranya:
a. Siswa diberikan sebuah worksheet untuk dikerjakan
b. Kemudian guru menjelaskan dan memberi contoh tugas yang akan diberikan
(sesuai presentasi terlampir)
c. Dalam proses ini siswa diberi alokasi waktu selama 15 menit.
2. Find vocabulary based alphabet (mencari kosa kata berdasarkan huruf
alphabet)
Dalam proses pembelajaran ini ada beberapa tahapan, diantaranya:
a. Guru membentuk kelas menjadi 4 kelompok dengan cara memberikan kertas
origami berwarna sama kepada 8 siswa dengan diberikan secara acak,
kemudian siswa mencari teman yang mempunyai warna yang sama.
b. Guru memberikan worksheet untuk dikerjakan pada setiap kelompok
c. Kemudian guru menjelaskan dan memberi contoh tugas yang akan diberikan
(sesuai presentasi terlampir yaitu lagu-lagu yang berhubungan dengan
vocabulary)
d. Dalam proses ini siswa diberi alokasi waktu selama 15 menit.
3. Chain word (kata berantai)
a. Masih dengan kelompok yang sama, guru memberikan worksheet untuk
dikerjakan pada setiap kelompok
b. Kemudian guru menjelaskan dan memberi contoh tugas yang akan diberikan
(sesuai presentasi terlampir)
c. Dalam proses ini siswa diberi alokasi waktu selama 15 menit.
Pada tahap konfirmasi
4. Linking word (kata yang berhubungan)
a. Masih dengan kelompok yang sama, guru memberikan worksheet untuk
dikerjakan pada setiap kelompok
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b. Kemudian guru menjelaskan dan memberi contoh tugas yang akan diberikan
(sesuai presentasi terlampir)
c. Dalam proses ini siswa diberi alokasi waktu selama 15 menit.
Pada tahap konfirmasi
Setelah vocabulary test dan vocabulary game diberikan, maka guru memaparkan hasil
test siswa secara individu dan kelompok. Pada tahap konfirmasi, guru dan siswa kembali
bertanya jawab tentang hal-hal atau vocabulary yang belum diketahui dan kata-kata baru yang
didapat.
KEGIATAN AKHIR
Pada kegiatan akhir, siswa dibimbing oleh guru untuk menyimpulkan pelajaran yang
telah dipelajari. Akhir dari pembelajaran, guru memberikan homework.
HASIL DAN PEMBAHASAN
Dalam pembelajaran vocabulary building melalui metode vocabulary game adalah
metode pilihan yang menarik dan memberikan semangat kepada siswa untuk belajar, dengan
mengerjakan tugas-tugas yang diberikan dan dikerjakan secara bersama-sama dan bersaing
dengan teman-teman yang lain.
Dalam metode penguasaan vocabulary para siswa sangat antusias karena dengan pola
vocabulary test dan vocabulary game yang sangat menarik, dimana metode ini lebih
menekankan recalling (mengingat) daripada memorizing (menghafal) dan dengan penugasan
berkelompok tersebut para siswa akhirnya bisa saling melengkapi kelemahan dari teman-teman
sekelompoknya, kemudian dalam pembelasan ini pastinya siswa banyak sekali menemukan
kata-kata baru yang sebelumnya tidak diketahui.
PENUTUP
Pemilihan metode vocabulary game ini sangat tepat diterapkan pada materi vocabulary
building. Selain itu, media pembelajaran menarik dan unik berperan penting dalam
pembelajaran. Kreatifitas guru untuk mengajak siswa aktif dan memotivasi siswa belajar sangat
berperan penting. Penerapan metode ini dapat meningkatkan motivasi dan semangat siswa untuk
mengikuti pembelajaran.

OUT OF THE ENGLISH CLASS OF MADRASAH TSANAWIYAH

SURYA BUANA MALANG AND SMP NEGERI 4 PENAJAM
PASER UTARA: CONTRASTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
STUDENTS
Abdul Muis
Abstract: This article contrasts the differences of the characteristics between the students
of Madrasah Tsanawiyah Surya Buana Malang East Java and those of SMPN 4 Penajam
Paser Utara East Kalimantan in English class The differences include the aspects of
Punctuality, Exposure in the Classroom, Behavior toward the teacher, Attention in the
Class, Support for English Study and Learning atmosphere.
Key words: charcteristics of students, differences, English class

Teachers have always tried to understand students characteristics as teaching and

learning management is not easy, because the teacher-student interaction is often complicated
by many factors which include characteristics of learners.
This article contrasts the differences of the characteristics between the students of
Madrasah Tsanawiyah Surya Buana Malang East Java and those of SMPN 4 Penajam Paser
Utara East Kalimantan in English class. .
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By contrasting the students characteristics of the two different schools, the writer
expects to learn student characteristics that positively influence learning. In turn, the witer can
help the students of SMP Negeri 4 Penajam Paser Utara build their characters. Based on the
class observation during ToT I and Tot II of TEQIP 2013, the writer identifies six main student
characteristics in English between Students of MTs Surya Buana and those of SMP Negeri 4
Penajam Paser Utara. They are punctuality, exposure in the classroom, behaviour toward the
teacher, attention in the class, support of English study and learning atmosphere.
PUNCTUALITY
The reason why the writer put this variable in the first condition is because punctuality
is the main key for success. Indonesian people are common to turn down the importance of
being on time. This made Indonesia left behind the advance countries. , students of the MTs
Surya Buana Malang are more punctual students. When the bell rings as the code to start
teaching and learning process, they all have been in the classroom. It makes the learning process
will not be late. Before the break comes, they are still in the class. This also happens when they
enter the class after the first or the second break. They will remain come on time. Even, when
the class is about to end, they are still in the classroom. They will not go home when the class is
not yet over.
The students of the MTs Surya Buana Malang have tried to be strict with time. If the
teachers are late to enter the class, they will immediately to go to the office to call the teacher.
Compared to the students of SMP Negeri 4 Penajam Paser Utara, it is very often the
writer experiences that the students come late in the first subject of the day. Their main reason is
the probelm with transportation, i.e. absence or lateness of the angkot. The fact is most of them
are late to go to bed the night before and so, they get up late. They are also busy with thing not
dealing with their study. For example, wasting their time for texting . It also happens when the
class starts again after the first or the second break.; they come to class late. They reason that
they are late because the canteen is full so they have to stand in line for snacks. . In fact, if they
manage their time for break, they will not deal with the problem. Even, in the last lesson, they
will go home earlier when the teacher is not in the classroom due to some reason. If the teacher
are late to go to the classroom, they just wait until the teacher comes to their class. Based on all
those things, the students of the SMP Negeri 4 Penajam Paser Utara are less punctual.
EXPOSURE IN THE CLASSROOM
. The writer identifies that the class wall of MTs Surya Buana Malang were full of
pictures and or hand writing about students motivation or class rules. The richness of the wall ex
hibition make them more interested in the classroom. The feeling of self-esteem are fulfilled by
exposing the students work in the classroom wall. They made it by themselves. They are not
only the printed work, but also the media that made from students own hand writing. It can be
seen in the figure 1.

Figure 1. The Hand Writing Exposure of MTs Surya Buana Malang

It is very different from the students of SMP Negeri 4 Penajam Paser Utara. In their
class wall, there are only 3 classes which have herbarium as the exhibition and iIt is because
the teacher asks them to install it on the wall, not because of their own consciousness. The
students are lack of exposure. The lack of the creativity of the teacher drives to less exposure in
the classroom. If the teacher is creative, s/he will ask the students to stick the works of the
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students in the classroom wall instead of buying. This will make the students having more
sense of belonging because they make them by themselves. They also will be proud of because
their works are appreciated by the teacher. So they will keep them until the teacher asks to
change the their works. Figure 2 shows the picture of classroom condition of SMPN 4 Penajam
Paser Utara

Figure 2. The Classroom Condition in SMPN Penajam Paser Utara

BEHAVIOUR TOWARD THE TEACHER

The students of MTs Surya Buana are really respectful to the teacher. If they pass by the
teachers, they greet them. This also happens when they receive lesson in the class, they will be
active but still respect the teacher. They also will not disturb their friends. They remain
respectful when they answer the teachers question. If they meet their teacher on the way, they
salute the teacher. They may be close with the teacher or even the headmaster but they l always
respect them. They will not do something that is impolite with the teacher.
On the contrary, some of the students of SMP Negeri 4 Penajam Paser Utara, them do
not really respect the teacher. It is very common they forget togreet when they pass the teacher.
They do the same thing when they want to enter a class to take or give something to the student
inside the class. They prefer not to do that rather than asking for permission to the teacher who
teaches the class. When they receive the lesson, they sometimes disturb their friends even when
the teacher is still in the class. Sometimes, they make joke with the teacher acting like the
teacher is their friend.
ATTENTION IN THE CLASS
The students of MTs Surya Buana Malang pay a deep attention when the teacher gives
explanation. They will not talk to their friend especially the desk-mate. The students are really
active. If the teacher asks about their condition, they will answer it clearly. This also happened
when the teacher check the attendance list. They enthusiastically answer their own or their
friends presence. If the teacher give them a text, they will read it carefully. If they were given
question or assignment, they will do it seriously. When the model teacher asks them to work in
group, they are prompt to do it. They are not hesitate to ask the teacher if the the instruction is
not really clear for them. Even, in the last session of the instruction that is closing, they will ask
the teacher about what they havent understood or if there is learning objectives that they
havent understood. Meanwhile, the students of SMP Negeri 4 Penajam Paser Utara is less
active. They will not enthusiastically answers when the teacher asks their condition. It is very
common they study reluctantly from the opening until the closing. Most of the students are less
to give feedback for instance. Based on the writers experience, this one quite often also
happened in the best class. The school in Penajam Paser Utara use the classification of the class
based on the the score from their report of book. The students of smart class is mostly passive
students. The lower achiever students in the lower class will be even worse.
SUPPORT FOR ENGLISH STUDY
The students in MTs Surya Buana have an ease to support their lesson in the English
class by joining an English course. When they have a long holiday after the final semester test,
some of them join the English village in Pare, Kediri. This kind of English course is effective
because the students have the place to feel the English environment.

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Another thing that supports the education in the Madrasah Tsanawiyah Surya Buana
Malang is about the Information Communication Technology application in class. Each of the
MTs Surya Buana Malang classrooms has the LCD projector. Different from MTs Surya
Buana Malang , the students in SMP Negeri 4 Penajam are limited having the facilities to
support their English learning. They are common to rely on the learning in the classroom. The
students and the parents seldom to back up the education with English course. Moreover about
the English environment. There is no place like Kampung Inggris near the Penajam Paser Utara
regency. Some of the parents and children have realized this, but the option is they can only go
to the English course held by their own teacher or go to local English course. Besides, the
facilities of the English class. SMP Negeri 4 Penajam Paser Utara is State school. It means all
the supporting facilities can be demanded to the government. If the government does not supply
the facilities or if the principle did not think the importance of the facilities such as LCD
projector, the English class will be conducted with the facilities for granted. It means that they
will use the manual media instead.
LEARNING ATMOSPHERE
The learning atmosphere in MTs Surya Buana Malang is very conducive. As we know
that in Java island, most of the students have special time for studying. The time from 6 p.m
until 7.30 p.m is allocated for the students to study for example checking the home work from
the teacher. It is special time to study. The TV is forbidden to turn on. The parentss duty is to
observe the student when they study. The parents will get involved in the learning process by
asking the material they have got in the classroom. Even though they can not help the students
to understand the instruction. The attention will be enough for the student that the parents
support their study. Unlike with the students of MTs Surya Buana, the students of SMP Negeri
4 Penajam Paser Utara have the different atmosphere. They dont have good learning
atmosphere. They dont have special time to study. The time at 7 until 8.30 p.m, they will use
their time to watch the TV, texting or updating status or checking social media such as
Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media. This all took place because the parents do not
get accustomed to control the students time for study at the house. They do not give any
attention to the teacher by asking the material that the students achieve in the school. In fact,
there is no success for the students if they dont have the balance condition of time between the
school time with the teacher and the time at the house with their parents. The time at the house
is the most affective one because most of the time is at the house. If the parents do not control
the children, they will get loss because they are responsible for the students education. The
successful of the students education will make the parents happy because it is the children the
one who will take care of them in the future. The facilitator of the education should think that
this kind of cooperation between the teacher to their parents can be synchronized for the sake of
the students. Unfortunately, the learning atmosphere has not worked well in SMP Negeri 4
Penajam Paser Utara.
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
The writer concludes that the six conditions in English study of the students of MTs
Surya Buana Malang above can be applied to his students of SMPN 4 Penajam Paser Utara, it
can make the education in SMP Negeri 4 Penajam Paser Utara step forward o, it develop to
catch its shortcomings to those of MTs Surya Buana Malang. By making this article, the writer
expect this article can be useful for the student to improve the way they study. For the teacher,
the writer hopes this article will give big contribution in teaching the students and also for the
next researcher to find more related aspects that is substantial to improve the teaching learning
process.
REFERENCES
www.dictionary.com, accessed on November 5, 2013
www.wikipedia.com, accessed on November 5, 2013
Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary 3 (CALD3), offline dictionary

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APPLYING MIND MAPPING STRATEGY IN TEACHING

WRITING DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS
Hamidah Ulfah
SMP Negeri 5 Tanah GrogotKab.PaserKaltim
Ulfahamida2013@gmail.com
Abstract: Writing is one of the four language skills which is very important to learn.
Writing is not easy. Among other the skills, writing is the most difficult skill to learn,
because it needs hard thinking in producing words, sentences,and paragraphs at the same
time.The difficulty lies not only in generating and organizing ideas, but also in translating
these ideas into a readable text. The preliminary observations show that the eighth grade
students of SMP Negeri 5 Tanah GrogotPaserfind difficulties in writing descriptive texts.
They have limitedvocabulary and minimum grammar. They do not like English either.
Therefore, the writer tries to use a mind mapping method to solve the problems. This
method is quite interesting as it uses pictures which can be created by the students.The
students can also color and decorate as they want and show ideas in writing.The result of
the observation shows that the students look eager to attend the lesson when mind mapping
method is used in learning writing a descriptive text. When they did the tasks in group, they
could complete and submit their tasks in time. The results of tasks show that they can do
better after using mind mapping.
Keywords: Writing, Mind Mapping, Descriptive text.

English Language subject has different characteristics with other subjects. This
difference lies in the language function as communication tools. In addition to indispensable
mastery of vocabulary and grammar, it also requires skills in applying it in the communication
activities, either written or oral (Mone, 2003: 2). In the study of competence of writing, the end
purpose is to produce a text either functional or monologues based on the genre of texts; the
student is expected to be able to understand the characteristics of a text, and can express it with
vocabulary and grammar.
Writing is one of the four language skills which is very important to learn. Writing is
not easy. Among the skills, writing is the most difficult skill to learn, because it needs hard
thinking in producing words, sentences,and paragraphs at the same time. As Jack C. Richard
and Willy A. Renandya (1986:1) said, writing is the most difficult skill for second language
learners to master. The difficulty lies not only in generating and organizing ideas, but also in
translating these ideas into a readable text.
In the second years of junior high school, the basic competence that should be achieved
in the writing English subject is that the students have an ability to develop and produce a
writtensimple functional text in the descriptive text, recount text, and narrative text. (BSNP,
2007).
A descriptive text is one of the texts which is difficult enough to learn by the students.
A descriptive text is a text that describes the features of someone, something, or a certain place.
A descriptive text consists of introduction and description. Introduction is the part of paragraph
that introduces the character, and description is the part of paragraph that describes the
character. The students can use simple present tense and adjective clause in writing a descriptive
text. In writing the descriptive text, students often find some difficulties. The students usually
feel difficult to organize their ideas. Furthermore, many students make some mistakesand face
difficulties to build and develop their imagination.
The English teachers of SMP Negeri 5 Tanah Grogot inPaser regency state that most
of the students complain that they do not understand how to start writing English and feel
uneasy to try it. For illustration, the students feel confused when the teacher asks them to write
some sentence in English. In addition, they say that learning English is a confusing activity. For
them, English is different from Indonesian. The students also say that they frequently get bored
when learning English, especially writing. Some of the teachers state that it is caused by the
teaching method which is applied by them. They are unable to create an interesting classroom

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situation. The teacher tells that the teaching learning process occurs in the classroom, the
students often seem unwilling to learn.
Based on the writers experience when she taught in her school, the process of teaching
learning in the classroom was still passive. The students did not understand clearly about a
descriptive text, how to identify the descriptive text, and how to describe persons, places, and
things in English writing. Besides that, the teacher usedone technique in teaching descriptive
text which made the students feelbored and difficult to understand the material when learning.
Therefore, the teacher needed to be more creative in teaching, including selecting the technique.
In teaching learning process of a decriptive text the teacher was still dominant so that the
students did not have chance to express their ideas to make a descriptive text. Besides that the
teacher seldom gave students the vocabulary and explained the phrase which focus on a
descriptive text so that the students had difficulties in organizing their vocabulary to be a good
paragraph.
The teachers strategy in teaching a descriptive text was not detailed so that students
had difficulties in understanding a descriptive text more detail and there was no key words
which must be understood by students, because the teacher only focused more on evaluating the
descriptive texts than making students understand about the descriptive texts.
Based on the statement above, teachers must be able to organize learning teaching
activities. They have to master the material, method, technique or strategy to make the students
understand and apply descriptive writing matters in practice. A good technique can help the
students in comprehending and mastering the lesson. One of the teaching failures is caused by
an unsuitable method or technique in teaching learning process, the writer would like to
propose an alternative technique, that is the one which is commonly known under the term
Mind Mapping. Mind maps came into vogue in the 1970s with Tony Buzan as their unofficial
spokesman. He hosted the popular BBC show Use Your Head! and extolled the benefits of
mind maps for academic, business, and personal use. Buzan argued that traditional outline
methods donot jive with the way people actually learnby scanning entire pages in a non-linear
fashion. He figured that mind maps were the best option, as they combined the logical and the
abstract in an eye-catching way. Mind maps are an incredible tool for many scenarios, but
especially for creative writing.
Moreover, the mind mapping technique can motivate the students to write and to
stimulate their ideas. Beside that, this technique will help the students to organize their thinking
before they develop in a paragraph.
MIND MAPPING STRATEGY
Mind mapping is a registered trademark of the Buzan organization (1993). The
writer uses the term on this web site solely for informational purposes and to spread the word
about the tremendous value of mind mapping. Tony Buzan is credited as being the founder of
the mind mapping discipline. Mind Maps use letters and numbers and they also use color and
image, which means that they engage the left and the right sides of the brain. This is why you
can increase your thinking power synergistically when you use Mind Maps. Each side of the
brain simultaneously feeds off and strengthens the other in a manner which provides limitless
creative potential.
Mind-mapping is a fairly simple technique which will appeal particularly to visual
learners. Some students may already have encountered Mind-mapping before in the guise of
spider diagrams or concept mapping. Before introducing a class to Mind mapping, I have
found it useful if they have previously been introduced to brainstorming and are also familiar
with working together co-operatively in small groups.
Mind mapping is a strategy for helping students order and structure their thinking
through mentally mapping words or/and concepts. A mind map is as a way of helping students
makes notes that used only key words and images. They are much quicker to make, and
because of their visual quality much easier to remember and review. The difference between
concept maps and mind maps is that a mind map has only one main concept, while a concept
map may have several. (blog.thinkbuzan.com/imindmap/mind-map-for-st..)

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The goal of this strategy is to help the students quickly relate a central word or concept.
The mind forms associations almost instantaneously and 'mapping' allows you to write your
ideas quicker, using only words or phrases. To make a mind map, start in the center of the page
with the main idea, and work outward in all directions, producing a growing and organized
structure composed of key words and key images. The key features are organization, keywords,
association, clustering, visual memory - print the key words, use color, symbols, icons, 3Deffects,arrows and outlining groups of words, outstandingness - every Mind Map needs a unique
centre, and conscious involvement
Mind Maps help organize information. This can allow students to develop a strategy for
note-taking, creative writing, report writing, studying the easy way, studying as a group,
meetings, and think tanks and can alleviate writer's block.
The Example Of Mind Mapping
Sunday

Playing
In Garuda field

football

3 pm

A Singer
Profession or
Job

Beautiful face

Good wife
Long hair

A Singer

orJob

ger
Personality

Physical

A Singer

Pointed nose

appearance
White skin

Humble
Tall
Family

A Singer

ger
A Singer

Husband

Children

A Singer

A Singer

ger
The Process of Mind Mapping Strategy
Start with a huge piece of paper and Aturn
it sideways (into landscape orientation).
Singer
This provides most space for writing (which tends to go from left-to-right rather than top-tobottom) and also corresponds best with the way that our eyes view the world. Try to write
most of your words in a generally horizontal direction.
Starting with the central idea or theme, write this in the centre of the paper in capital
letters (or other distinctive lettering) and illustrate it, using colour. Draw branches for each
of your main sub-themes, using different colors for each branch, and write the word along the
branch, adding a suitable illustration. It may be helpful to brainstorm sub-themes and
associated ideas before committing them to the map.
Work on each of these branches systematically or jump about all over the place but
try to organize each new idea so that it connects with previous ideas. If ideas recur in different
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parts of the map, thats OK. If you get a mental block just draw in a blank line to remind
yourself to come back to the relevant section. You may want to re-work your original Mind
map (or use the post-it note technique) so that you get it just right.
(http://www.brainboxx.co.uk/)
THE PROCEDURES OF LEARNING PROCESS
In the second years of junior high school, the basic competence that should be achieved
in the writing English subject is that the students have the ability to develop and produce a
written simple functional text in the descriptive text, recount text, and narrative text. In this
case, the writer focuses on producing a written simple functional text in the descriptive text
using a mind mapping.
After Standard of competence and basic competence is determined, the next step is
developing the indicators. The indicators are finding the various information of the text,
identifying the linguistics features of text and writing a simple descriptive text. The learning
objectives of this teaching activity are at the end of the lesson, the students are able to find the
topic and others information of the text, find nouns, adjectives, phrases, verbs and write a
simple descriptive text.
This learning process is also explained inthe learning procedures and the strategy that
is used in teaching a descriptive text. The strategy is using mind mapping. The teacher also
uses some media such as flash cards, pictures or photo related to the topic to support and make
it easier for students to understand the topic.
Besides the material, media that are prepared, the writing assessment is also designed,
as well as rubric and indicators assessment that will be achieved. It is expected to help the
teacher to make objective assessment related to the indicators. After organizing the planning of
teaching learning, the teacher practices the lesson plan that starts from opening, main and
closing activity. The following learning activities are:
OPENING ACTIVITY
At the beginning of the session, the teacher opens by greeting, giving warming up by
asking the students: are you ready to study now? The teacher focuses the students attention
and also arouses their motivation by giving illustrations about the advantage of learning the
materials to take an active part in the learning process. After making the nice situation, the
teacher continues to the main activity.
MAIN ACTIVITY
Main activity refers to the process of learning towards the achievement of basic
competence. They consist of steps that are arranged systematically. The activities are to be
done systematically through the process of exploration, elaboration, and confirmation.
In exploration, teacher does the following activities such as asking the students some
brainstorming questions related to the material. The teacher shows some pictures or photo about
famous people and asks the students to identify who she/he is. The teacher puts one of person
photo on the centre of whiteboard and then gives the questions related to the picture or photo.
The teacher makes some branches and asks the students to write the answers that are related to
the picture. After that teacher asks the students to identify the kind of words such as nouns,
adjectives, phrases and etc. The teacher explains how to make good sentences by using those
words to help in making paragraph and also about descriptive text.
In elaboration, the teacher does the following activities such as giving instruction to
make a group of four students. The teacher gives one photo to each group and asks them to
make mind map based on the picture as the main centre of branches with different color. The
students describe by writing the name of famous person, his/ her profession or job, hobby,
physical appearance, personality and etc. The teacher then assigns them to make a simple
paragraph based on the picture in groups.
In confirmation, the teacher does the following activities such as giving feedback to the
students by giving enforcement to those who finish their assignment, and asking them to put
their work on the wall. After that, the teacher asks the students to give any comments to other
groups work.
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CLOSING ACTIVITY
Closing activity is the last activity in a session. In this learning activity the teacher gives
reflection and conclusion. The teacher checks the results of students learning. The teacher asks
some questions what they have learnt and difficulties in learning process. After that the teacher
gives a follow up activity such as homework to make a simple paragraph by describing their
family (father, mother, brother or sister) using their familys photo individually.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
In learning process of teaching Adescriptive text by using mind mapping, in the
beginning of activity the students felt enthusiastic when the teacher gave some questions about
their hobbies. Some students answered swimming, travelling, fishing and others. One of the
students said that she liked writing a diary and the teacher gave motivation that from the hobby
can be earn money for example the author of Harry Potter, JK Rowling. The students should
develop their hobby: writing. writing was AN important skill that must be mastered by the
students. After the teacher gave motivation and apperception, the students were shown some
pictures and asked them to identify the picture. Some students answered the teachers questions
related to the picture actively.
In the main activity of learning process when the teacher explained by using mind
mapping, put one picture on the whiteboard that was given clues by making some branches with
different color, some students came forward to write down the keywords. Some students follow
the activity enthusiastically. From this activity, there was interaction between the teacher and
the students by using picture media. After that the teacher explained how to make some
sentences using some keywords and simple present tense. The students paid attention and
listened to the teacher explanation enthusiastically. There was also interaction between other
students when they made a group to make a simple paragraph to describe a famous person. They
discussed to make mind mapping based on the picture before they arranged into good sentences
to make a simple paragraph.
At the end of main activity, their works were put on the wall and other groups gave the
comments to their writing product. After that the teacher gave confirmation by checking the
grammar, words choice, and organizing of their paragraph. Based on the teachers observation
of their works, there werefew mistakes about grammar, words choice and organizing of their
work compared when they wrote before using the mind mapping strategy.
The closing activity is when the teacher made a reflection. The students were asked
about what they have learnt; almost 75% can answer about linguistic features of descriptive text
and how to start of making a paragraph of describing people using mind mapping.
It can be concluded that mind mapping can improve students ability in writing a simple
paragraph of descriptive texts. Using media is also important to support and make the students
easier to understand the material. Beside that, the using of strategy must be suitable with the
material that will be taught by the teacher. The interaction between teacher and students,
students with other students, the students with media have essential roles in learning process.
CONCLUSION
Using the mind mapping strategy is appropriate to assist the students in improving their
ability especially in writing a paragraph of descriptive texts. It uses some keywords to introduce
their brainstorming and also familiar with working together co-operatively in small groups.
Beside that the media are also important in teaching learning. The teachers creativity to support
the students to be active learners and give motivation is essential too. Applying the mind
mapping technique and using appropriate media can improve the students ability in writing
descriptive texts.
REFERENCE
Buzan, Tony, Buzan, Barry. 1993. The Mind Map Book. United States: Penguin Group.
BSNP. 2006. Silabusdan RPP Mata PelajaranBahasaInggris. Jakarta: Depdiknas.
(blog.thinkbuzan.com/imindmap/mind-map-for-st..)diaksespada 4 November 2013
(http://www.brainboxx.co.uk/)diaksespada 4 November 2013
Hernowo.2007.
Brain-Based
Writing,
diakses
pada
4
November
2013.
(www.smartdraw.com/.../strategic-planning-proces...
2013
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THE COMPARISON ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

ACTIVITIES BEFORE AND AFTER JOINING TEQIP
Fransiskus Jemani
SMPN 3 Komodo
Abstract: Lesson study has been practiced in the activity of TEQIP. Even though the
activities of a teacher have been going on for years, the level of satisfactory of a teacher is
still low and the skill of students is still low too. It needs a good strategy or model to get
good result. The purpose of this writing is to compare the teachers activities and the
students response before and after joining the TEQIP.
Keywords: Comparison, model, TEQIP

Comparison means to see the similarities and the differences between two model
activities. Teaching is an activity in transferring the information or knowledge. Learning is a
process of receiving and recording information or knowledge. TEQIP is a program which aims
to increase a quality of teacher in teaching and learning, and to make the students enjoy in
learning. And the most important thing is the students understand well and are interested in the
subject they learn. So far, the Government has tried hard to increase the quality of teachers
through workshop or training. Now lesson study model is being used to increase the quality of
teachers. Lesson study is a systematic process used by teacher to know the effectiveness of
teaching in order to improve or to increase the result of teaching. It means that the teachers work
together to develop lesson plan and its instruments, observation, reflection and review. Lesson
study is not a method in teaching, but it is a training to increase the teachers professionalism
through collaborative and collegiality in learning community. TEQIP for SMP started in 2013.
One of the TEQIP programs is ongoing where the model teacher is the trainee. In an open class,
the model teacher uses cooperative learning where the students are grouped in doing exercises
or task and the result is very positive.
There are 3 steps of lesson study activities.
The first is Planning.
Before TEQIP
In this step, the teacher has an important role in preparing the lesson such as
determining the Competence Standard, Basic Competence, Lesson Plan, the strategy of teaching
and, preparing or choosing media. Those are prepared by the teacher himself individually.
After TEQIP
In this step, the model teacher does not prepare the lesson plan alone such as
determining the Competence Standard, Basic Competence, Lesson Plan, the strategy of teaching
and preparing or choosing media but there are some other people who may join him.
According to TEQIP model it is possible the other teachers work together in preparing the
lesson plan. Then, they will be the observers, when it is in doing activity. The team may discuss
the material of teaching and determine the media of teaching. Even they can try out among the
team. The team makes sure that the materials and the other component of lesson plan are good.
The purpose of planning is to obtain a good lesson plan which enables the students to study
effectively and take part actively in learning. So the aspects which should be paid more attention
to are, the organizing of materials, pedagogic aspects, and the use of media.
The second step is Doing
Before TEQIP
So far, before entering the classroom to teach, a teacher has to prepare the lesson plan
him/herself. A teacher has authority and responsible to prepare the lesson plan. There is no
observer in the classroom. Sometimes the teacher himself does not know the weaknesses of the
Lesson Plan. There are no other people in the classroom, except the teacher and the students.
Before the teacher explains the material or the topics, he greets the students, checks the
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attendance list and asks the students preparation to join the class. And then manages the class
until it ends.
AfterTEQIP
First of all in the learning process, a model teacher greets the students, asking the
students condition, checking the students attendance and asking some questions as
apperception. In the main activities, a model teacher asks some questions dealing with the topic
they are going to learn. And then explains the topic and group the students if they have to work
in group. In closing activities, a model teacher asks the students problem in learning the topic.
The teacher and students conclude the material they have learned, and give the students some
test as homework.
In this step, besides the model teacher, the other teachers act as observers. They observe
the students activities during the teaching and learning process, started from the beginning until
the end of the class. Observers may not disturb the students. They just record and collect the
information during the class.
In teaching and learning process, the similarities between activities before and after
joining TEQIP are that the teacher greets the students, checks the students attendance and asks
about the students condition. It is introductory activities. In main activities, the teacher tells the
students about the material they are going to learn, and present the material. According to
Lesson Study model the teacher leads the students to the real life facts or activities, the facts or
the situation around them, while giving some questions as apperception. After that the teacher
tells the students about the topic of material they are going to learn. Before TEQIP program the
components in the classroom are teacher and students, but after TEQIP program, the
components in the classroom are, model teacher, students and observers. The job of the
observers are to observe and record the students activities. Then, before TEQIP Program, the
teacher lets the students sit in pairs, listen to the teacher explaining the materials, and asking the
students do the exercises taken from the book. The teacher is not necessary to make media of
teaching. When the teaching hour finishes, the teacher asks the students to do exercise as
homework. There is no reflection. It goes week to week. The students skills are not changed,
and they think that English is a very difficult subject to learn.
The Third is Seeing or Reflecting
Before TEQIP
There is not any reflection. After the class hour finishes, the teacher leaves the students
in the classroom and the teacher teaches another class or come back to the office.
After TEQIP
Reflection is very important for a model teacher and also for the observers. Reflection
means to find the superiority and the lack of teaching and learning process. The model teacher
gets the first chance to tell his experience. In this case he evaluates his performance. After the
model teacher tells his activities during the class, the observers tell or report their notes about
students activities during the class. This is important to know whether the students took part
actively during the class and a model teacher can know the real situation, since opening class,
main activities, and closing activities.
Based on the observers report, the model teacher knows whether the goals are
achieved or not, the method or media used. By using lesson study, the teacher can develop
creativity, be innovative, and enjoyable.
Conclusions and suggestions
Conclusion
After comparing the superiority and the lack of teaching and learning process before
and after joining the TEQIP, some points can be concluded as follows:

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Bofore TEQIP
Model teacher composes the lesson plan

After TEQIP
Model teacher composes lesson plan

Model teacher composes lesson plan alone

Model teacher composes lesson plan with

other teachers
The model teacher enters the classroom
together with the other teachers as
observers.

Model teacher do the activities of teaching

alone

There is no reflection of teaching process

After teaching, there is a reflection

activities to evaluate the teaching and
learning process especially about the
students activities during the class.

The lesson study activities is more enjoyable in teaching and learning process, rather
than the former teaching and learning activities.The students are more active because they can
share their ideas in their group work. The usage of lesson study can increase the students
interest in English. The model teacher can increase his confidence.
Suggestions
The teachers have to try to use the steps/activities of lesson study and should be familiar
to work together with the other teachers. The usage of media is very important to help students
understand the topic they are going to learn.

IMPROVING STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT IN SPEAKING

SKILLSTHROUGH MIND MAPPING AT
SMPN 1 MELONGUANE TALAUD
Naiman Setiani Taalendo
Smpn 1 Melonguane
Abstract: One of English skills that has to be learned by students is speaking. Although it
maybe difficult to learn, students have to do it. Without it, learning English will not be
completed. Therefore, students speaking ability has to be improved. To improve it, the
researcher as the teacher applies mind mapping in teaching speaking. One of the materials
that has to be taught is a report text.This research is to improve students achievement in
speaking skills through mind mapping at SMPN 1 melonguane.This research is classroom
action researchthat is conducted in two cycles. Collecting data is done by the writer as the
teacherthrough a rubric of speaking.Pronunciation, content, and accuracy are the criteria of
evaluating students achievement in speaking. The data are analyzed usingKriteria
Ketuntasan Minimal. So, the achievement of students can be seen if their score is equal to
or higher than Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal
Key words: speaking, mind mapping, report texts

Language is devided into two forms. They are written and spoken. We can
communicate through those ways. The written can be stated through symbols and spoken can be
through sounds. This form is also used in English as one of subjects that has to be taught at
schools.
One of the English skills taught to students is speaking. It is stated by Jones, R (in
Hafitsa 2010) that speaking is a form of communication, so it is important that what you say
conveyed in the most effective way. Therefore, the students have to learn how to communicate
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well through a spoken way so that there will not be a misunderstanding between the speakers
and the listeners. They have to tell ideas through sounds by using the right rules because the
rules make the sounds have meanings.
One of the English materials that has to be taught in junior high schools is a report text.
It is a text which presents information about something in general as the result of systematic
observation and analysis.As stated by Priyana, J.
( 2008 : 70 ) that information reports
are used to present information about something.Theygenerally describe an entire class of
things, whether natural or made such as mammals, the planets, rocks, plants, computers,
countries of the region,transport, and so on.
In learning report texts, especially about endangered mammal, the students are lack of
interests in learning the topic. It makes the results of their learning not achieve the minimal
achievement criteria. So, it means that the objectives of learning are not achieved and are
needed to be revised.
According to the observations during learning, many factors influencethe learning of
report texts. Some of them are (1) they are not used to telling report texts in English orally in
order, (2) they are not familiar with the topics, (3) lack of understanding on the aspects in the
report texts, and (4) lack of teachers guidance in understanding the text to be presented orally.
Based on the facts, the writer uses a mind mapping technique in learning report texts to
improve students ability in speaking. Through this learning, students are expected to inform
orally what they know from what theylearn. They are also expected to be creative to make
learning more interesting for them. Hofland( 2007:5) states:
I believe that we dont make the best use of our brains. At school pupils
mainly use the left halves of their brains. The left half is used for rational
and logical thinking whereas the right half is used for creative thinking. If we would use
both halves together, we would make up to five to ten times better use of our brains.
That is why I think we should stimulate pupils to use the right half as well as the left
half. Mind-mapping is a technique that
stimulates both parts of the brains.
It can be concluded that the optimal use of the two parts of brain together can make learning
more creative and interesting.
Students will feel free to learn the given materials. If they feel free in learning, they will
be motivated . It is supported by Hofland ( 2007: 5):
I think that creativity enhances motivation. Subjects that involve a creative aspect - e.g.
drawing, drama, music and art- are all time favourites. Most pupils like these subjects
because they involve a certain level of freedom. They are free to use their minds in
different ways and to create things or make things up that relate to their own feelings
and experiences. Mind-mapping allows pupils to make a connection between the subject
material and their own feelings and experiences.
So, the creativity aspects of mind mapping can motivate students in learning.
METHOD
This researh is classroom action research which is conducted to students grade nine of
SMPN 1 Melonguane in Talaud.All steps are done by the researcher. The problems are
experienced by the researcher and it is designed by followingthe classroom action research
procedures. According to Aqib in Basiroh (2013:63) In action research, there is a sequence of
steps in a spiral form . Every step has planning, acting, observing, and reflecting..Based on the
objective of research, it will describe and interprete data, facts, the conditions and analyze the
learning process by applying a mind mapping techniquein learning. It is conducted through 2
cycles. The first cycle is done through steps: planning, acting, observing, and refelecting . In
planning, the researcher arranges some research instruments which will be used on the applying
of mind mapping technique in learning report texts. They are syllables, lesson plans, and
questions for evaluating the first cycle.
In conducting acting step, the researcher shows some pictures of endangered animal
and asks simple questions. Then, they are asked to sit in small groups (consisting of 4 students)
and given one report text and one animal picture on a piece of paper as their worksheet for
every group . They are asked to work together in drawing the animal and fill the blanks in the
map of the worksheet. Afterthat , they have to anwer the questions based on the text in groups.
1395

Finally, the answers are presented in front of the classroom as the spoken report individually.
The aspects of speaking have to be evaluated to achieve the minimal criteria . They are
pronunciation, content, and accuracy. These aspects support each other in learning and teaching
speaking.
In conducting observations, the researcher teaches and observes the learning process.
The observations are focused onapplying mind mapping steps. It starts from observing students
in doing mind mapping and how they express ideas through drawing based on the text given.
The researcher teachesaccording to the procedures designed in the lesson plan.
The reflecting step is done for evaluating the learning processwhether it is successful or
not according to the plan. The result of mastering the materials such as students results (test
grade) through the speaking rubric can be explained whether it is successful or not. So,
theobservations and theevaluation of the first cycle are taken as the reflection for the second
cycle.
The second cycle is revising of the first cycle. What is needed to be revised will be done
in this cycle. The steps are such as planning, acting, observing, and reflecting are done too in
this cycle. The revised lesson plan is needed to manage well in doing teaching and learning .
After that, the observation is done to get the data and reflection to know that there is an
improvement in students speaking ability.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
This research is conducted in two cycles. In the first cycle,the researcher applies lesson
plan consisting of acting of mind mapping. The plan is to conduct students- centered learning.
The action is to apply mind mapping technique to improve students achievement in speaking
about report texts.
The result of the observation and evaluation in the beginning shows that students are
lack of self involvement in learning and lack of enthusiasm. Besides, they are not motivated
because they just wait for what teacher said without active responses on the learning
process.After conducting mind mapping or revising the first cycle, students look enthusiasm
and motivated to follow the learning process. The result of the first cycle shows that there are 6
students getting score under 75 (criteria of minimal score). It happens because they are not used
to learning with mind mapping . They are used to learning with a conventional method that is
teacher-centered . The following is the percentage of students accomplishment and
unaccomplishment .

The Percentage of Students'

Accomplishment Result in Cycle I
unaccomplishment

accomplishment

32%
68%

Based on the result of cycle I, it is informed that there is a spirit and motivation from
students to improve their speaking ability through mind mapping. They are encouraged to
participate in learning report texts . They feel happy because they can draw their imagination
into a picture in completing the frame of mind mapping. So, they look relax and still focus to do
their given task.
1396

In the diagram, we can see that there are still some students whohave not achieved the
standard score. It is caused by the fact that they are confused with the questions about the
reproduction of the reported animal. They are still confused to differentiate between when they
give birth and how long they are in the gestational period. Therefore, it needed to be revised in
the cycle II.
In cycle II, there are some aspects prepared by the researcher such as developing
concepts about report texts, interesting pictures related to the reported endangered animals ,
asking them to bring tools for drawing, students worksheets that consist of questions covering
all informations that have to be reported, and observation sheet and rubric of speaking. The
action step is the application of mind mapping as the following action of cycle I. In the
observation and evaluation steps, it is found that students are already enthusiastic and having
high motivation to improve their speakings ability . They feel free and confident in reporting
the information got from the texts orally.
The results of analysis of cycle II show that there is an improvement in students
achievement of speaking report text at nine grade students of SMPN 1 Melonguane. It is proved
that all students scores achieved are higher than KKM. It means that all of them reach the
accomplishment score and they are not confused anymore with the questions related to the
reproduction of the reported animals. The revision done by the researcher in cycle II improves
students achievement deeply and their comprehensions of the materials increase.
The improvement of students achievement in speaking happens because of the
revision in cycle I and the reinforcement done by the researcher in cycle II. The result of the
cycle II shows that the percentage of the accomplishment becomes 100 %.The following is the
diagram about students accomplishment in this part of this material.

The Percentage of Students'

Accomplishment Result in Cycle II
unaccomplishment

accomplishment

0%

100%

Actually, the beginning condition of nine grade of SMPN 1 Melonguane in learning

report textsis that they are not active and having low learning results. It is caused of many
factors. Some of them are that the teacher has not applied the suitable methods in teaching and
learning process, sothe learning becomes the teacher centered , lack of involvementof students
in learning process,anduninteresting learning designs. All of them influence the result of
learning. Therefore,learning many methods is a must, not only to know ,but also to practice
them because practice makes better, especially in mastering teaching methods and developing
them. The students achievements are detemined by the activities done by the teacher and the
students.
Teaching and learning process is not released from both teachers activities and
students activities. Teachers creativities are to make students become more creative and
inovative in learning something. As stated by de Bono, E in Hofland, C ( 2007 : 5) Creativity
is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives
hopex that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of
achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.So, the students
1397

can construct their knowledge step by step by doing something freely but still achieving the
learning objectives.
Certainly ,the effective learning process can improve students ability in comprehending
the learning materials . As stated by Institute of Education at university of London( 2002:4)
effective learning is all of these at their best plus the monitoring and review of whether
approaches or strategies are proving effective for particular goals and context. The word
these in the sentence effective learning is all of these. . . is an activity of construction,
handled with others, and driven bythe learners agency. In this case, the achievement of
students speaking ability in learning report texts through mind mapping is improved. Through
this action, students are more confident in reportingsomething orally.
To make students work together, the researcher asks them to sit in small groups to do
their worksheets. Working with others can develop ideas and encourage them to help each other.
They can share ideas to do their task better. It is stated by Kelly and Stafford (1993:18) Small
groups can be an effective learning situation in which students learn both through instruction
from their teachers and from interaction with each other. The group also provides opportunities
for individuals to speak in front of others and to receive feedback from teachers and peers..
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
The application of mind mapping can improve studentsachievement in speaking skills
of nine grade students at SMPN 1 Melonguane. The improvement of students achievement in
the first cycle is 68 %. In the first cycle , there are six students who cannot achieve KKM. It
means that their score is below 75 as the score of KKM. In the second cycle, with the revision
and reinforcement of materials in cycle 1 and 2, the percentage of students accomplishment
become 100 %.
Based on the findings, it is suggested that the teachers use mind mapping in teaching
speaking to improve their achievement. Besides, students are expected to be creative in drawing
to support their imagination.
REFERENCES
Hafisah,N.M.2010. Improving the English Speaking Skill of the Students by Using paikem
Approach with Use in Focus Media. Accessed from http://universityofibnkhaldunbogorindonesia.blogspot.com/2011/02/improving-english-speaking-skill-of.html November
4th 2013
Hofland,C.2007.Mind-Mapping in the EFL Classroom.Accessed from http://hbokennisbank.uvt.nl/cgi/fontys/show.cgi?fid=4166 November 4th 2013
Institute of Education University of London.2002.Effective Learning.Accessed from
http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/2819/1/Watkins2002Effective.pdf November 4th 2013
Kelly,M and Stafford,K .1993.Managing Small Group Disscussion. Accessed from
http://teaching.polyu.edu.hk/datafiles/R19.pdf November 4th 2013
Priyana,J. dkk.2008.Scaffolding : English For Junior High School IX.Jakarta: Pusat Perbukuan
Departemen Pendidikan Nasional.

USING REPETITION DRILLS TO IMPROVE THE SEVENTH

GRADERS ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION AT SMP NEGERI 4
BEO, TALAUD
Selmyaty
Filadelfialt2@yahoo.com
Abstract: Pronunciation is the act or manner of pronouncing words. In teaching speaking,
the teacher always finds the students pronouncing the words incorrectly. This study aimed
to improve the pronunciation skill of 20 students of SMPN I Beo, Talaud by using

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Repetition drills. This paper is intended to report the writers experience of using repetition
drill to improve the seventh graders at SMP Negeri 4 Beo, Talaud.
Keywords: Repetition Drill, pronunciation, speaking

Learning for some students is still deemed to be a boring activity, because it consumes
much time, attention and thought. Learning activity is deemed as a burden not as a necessary
activity for their future. There are three factors that cause students not eager to follow the
teaching-learning activities: 1. lacking the ability to formulate their own ideas, 2 . not having the
courage to express their opinions, 3. not being accustomed to competing with other students
(Soli Abimanyu, 1995: 8-9). But the issue cannot be charged to the student; the most
responsible person in teaching and learning activities both in the classroom and outside the
classroom is the teacher. Therefore a teacher must have a good understanding of the learners
and the main objectives of the assignment. The meaning of this course include readiness, ability,
disability and background of the students.
In relation to English language learning, the teacher should really pay attention to
students to honing their skill in learning the English language (listening, reading,speaking and
writing). Based on the above issues, the teachers need to pay great attention to the students
activity during the learning activities including providing opportunities for students to convey
reflections in the form of questions, opinions, suggestions, objections or answer.
The results of observations on the subjects of English language of seventh graders
SMP Negeri 4 Beo Talaud Islands in North Sulawesi Province, showed that the ability to speak
English skills is still very poor. Students get difficulty in pronouncing words in the English
language correctly. Students do not dare to speak in the classroom with the teacher or with
friends in school because they do not know how to pronounce it correctly, then learning English
in SMP Negeri Beo 4 is dominated by the use of nativelanguage. The teacher is forced to use
Indonesian or local language while teaching, to make the students better understand the lessons
being taught.
Drill and practice
Drilling is a technique that has been used in foreign language classrooms for many
years. It was a key feature of audio lingual approaches to language teaching which placed
emphasis on repeating structural patterns through oral practice (Drilling 2 Teaching English,
BBC, 2004).When learners are getting used to the sounds of English it may be easier for them
not to see the language written down before they practice saying it, so get them to listen the
model and then repeat. The steps to use drilling are a s follows:
Make sure you give clear, natural sounding and consistent models.
Use hand movements to indicate intonation, use your fist to beat the stress, and join or
separate fingers to show word boundaries and where linking occurs in phrases. This
kind of gesturing is particularly useful for visual learners since it helps them visualize
the language they are practicing.
Back chaining helps learners to pay more attention to correct pronunciation and
intonation and is also effective to grab students attention. For example, when you are
modeling a phrase, start at the end, getting the learners to repeat.
Whisper drills (to quieten down a rowdy class)
Shouting drills (for enlivening them up) these ideas work particularly well with young
learners. Or you can liven drills up by saying things in different ways. For example,
sound very happy, very sad, very bored, very excited with a facial expression to match as
you model the language and get the learners to do the same. Putting expression into it
and exaggerating the intonation helps make the language more memorable.
Drilling is not a new or a fashionable classroom technique, but, when it is used appropriately in
the classroom, it can be very valuable for our learners. The following are some principles in
using repetition drills.
Only drill language that will benefit from being drilled (for example if it causes
pronunciation problems or if it is a useful chunk of language to be memorized)
Don't drill too much and keep drilling stages lively.

1399

Respond to your learners' needs - drill if you, or they, think it will help them pronounce
or memorize words or language chunks.
Vary the way in which you do drills to help make the language more memorable.
Drilling is a form of pattern practice which involves the repetition by learners of teacher
models of restricted amounts of oral language input. It is a basic teaching technique of the
methods developed around the Second World War in the United States (Army Method, Oral
Approach) which eventually developed into the Audio-Lingual Method associated with Charles
Fries and Robert Lado. There are several models of drills ( Larsen-Freeman, 1986):
In a repetition drill, students simply repeat the teacher's words, for example lines of a
dialogue.
A substitution drill requires learners to change a word in an utterance, using a cue given
by the teacher.
In transformation drills, learners systematically change a given structure, for example
converting a question into a statement.
A drill may also be simplified to avoid errors by back-chaining - presenting the end of
an utterance first, then gradually adding earlier parts.
It may also be varied in the chain drill, which offers a departure from the teacher model
by requiring individual learners to ask and answer each other in a conversation chain
around the class.
To overcome the obstacles that occur in the learning, the teacher uses Drill Repetition
technique to help students pronounce words in the English language with good pronunciation.
This technique is expected to improve students' ability to pronounce English words correctly.
Method
This research is done in SMP Negeri 4 Beo. There are 20 students in this school, 11
girls and 9 boys with the ability to speak in English is still deficient. This researchs plan is
implemented by the stages planning, doing (implementation), observing and reflecting.
Reflection
See

Plan
Do
Figure 1. The diagram of research

The activities in the planning stages include: preparing teaching materials and lesson
planning, determining strategies or teaching methods, selecting media and how to evaluate and
determine the stage of implementation. On the do stage the researcher chose repetition drill
technique. Repetition Drill is a simple technique done by the students of grade 7 as beginners in
learning language. The technique was implemented in two cycles. On the see step (observation),
the observers made a note for the superiority and drawbacks of the learning activity. The last
step is reflection. In this step the superority and drawbacks in the learning activity were
discussed. The shortage found was useful to reflect for the next activity.
Research results
Lack of ability of the students in pronouncing English words is seen in the results of the
oral test on the skills of speaking, when the students were told to pronounce words in English,
many still made mistakes in pronunciation. The scoring rubric that has been prepared on
average did not achieve the results that satisfy. Out of 20 students, only 3 people were able to
pronounce it correctly and the rest still made incorrect pronunciation.
For the problems that were mentioned, the teacher must act to improve the learning
activity that is to find a method, the media or the exact model of learning and effective and
innovative ways to improve students' lack of ability to pronunce words in English. Repetition
Drill is the old method adopted by generations of teachers to train English speaking. Repetition
Drill technique can improve the ability to say English words for 7thgrade students of SMP
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Negeri 4 Beo. However, the results of the first cycle were unsatisfactory; only 3 students could
pronounce English words correctly.
In cycle two, the teacher specifically guided students in pronouncing English words.
From the second test results better results were obtained because the teacher became a model in
the sample directly imitated by the students. Students tried to say the English words like what
the teacher said. Results obtained after the learning cycle two showed increased ability from
only 3 students who could pronounce the words well into 18 students who could pronounce
English words properly.
Conclusion
Based on learning outcomes it can be concluded that the use of repetition drill technique
can enhance speaking ability of English words students of SMP Negeri 4 Beo.So with this
conclusion it is recommended that the teacher choose the appropriate technique to help the
students improve pronunciation ability to speak English correctly.
References
Abimanyu, Soli. 1995.
Anugerahwati, Mirjam. And Fachurrazy. 2012.Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris Kreatif dan
Inovatif. Malang: UniversitasNegeri Malang.
Larsen-Freeman, Diane. 1986. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

TEACHING PROCEDURE TEXT TO STUDENTS OF SMPN 3 PPU

BY USING NUMBERED HEADS TOGETHER
Sri Ambarwati
SMP Negeri 3 Penajam Paser Utara
sriambarwati_inul@yahoo.co.id
Abstract: This paper is aimed to describe the teaching of reading comprehension of
Procedure texts by using the Cooperative Learning model of Numbered Heads Together.
The technique implemented on Grade 9 Students of SMPN 3 PPU have good result: the
students were very enthusiastic to give attention from the opening. The score average is
80%. We can conclude that NHT model can help the students have high motivation and
achievement.
Key words: Cooperative learning, Reading , Procedure Text, Numbered Heads Together

English as an international language is spoken in most international events and is used

as the medium of information flow on science, technology and culture. As we understand,
learning a foreign language is more difficult than learning a national language or learning a
mother tongue. It is because the foreign language has completely different aspects and systems,
which should be understood by the students or the learners, such as pronunciation, spelling, and
the cultural background of the language. Besides that we also remember that there are some
important factors in foreign language learning, which will mostly influence students, or learners
in mastering the language.
There are four skills in language term, namely reading, speaking, listening, and writing.
Each skill has special characteristics whether it is in teaching strategies or in the way to study
them. From the four skills of language above, the writer is eager to choose reading
comprehension because the researcher regards that reading is as the primary skill which is
taught to the students in school. Reading skill is always given the main emphasis. As it is stated
in the Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) curriculum of English for SMP, the main
1401

goal of teaching English is to make students able to read. It means that the main goal of English
teaching and learning for Indonesian students is to comprehend, that is to fully understand
written or printed information.
Reading is a receptive language process. It is a psycholinguistic process in that it starts
with a linguistics surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which the
reader constructs. Zints in Wiryodijoyo (1989 : 11) states that membaca pemahaman adalah
kemampuan menerjemahkan kata-kata penulis sehingga menimbulkan pikiran-pikiran atau ideide yang berguna bagi pembaca, seperti yang terkandung dalam bacaan . Because reading is a
psycholinguistic process, it may be an active and passive reading. However, reading process is
an attempt to drill or explore the textual passage in reading text. An active reading condition
depends on the way in teaching it to the students. Many reading methods have been used in
classrooms alternately. The results show that some are successful with a particular group of
students but some are not. Actually, what should be taken into consideration now is the way the
knowledge is presented. As we know, teachercentered approaches taking place in traditional
classrooms do not produce active recipients and result in fossilized language learning. It is not
effective enough to promote language acquisition. During the past decade, a new approach
called Cooperative Learning seemed to attract a lot of attention and became popular. This
conceptual approach is based on a theoretical framework that provides general principles on
how to structure cooperative learning activities in a teachers specific subject area, curriculum,
students, and setting. Teachers can use this approach to stimulate students to acquire the
knowledge as well as create interpersonal and team skills.
By reading, the students can enlarge or enrich their knowledge and experience because most
of information they need is served in written form. Traditionally, classes always consist of good
students and weak students. The weak students sit in isolation as they lose confidence in their
ability to learn English. Working in groups, therefore, is believed to help solve this problem.
Key terms
In this paper several key terms are used, whose meanings are as follows:
1. Cooperative learning (CL) is the concepts and techniques for helping students learn together.
2. Reading Comprehension is reading to get information in the text.
3. Numbered Heads Together is one of cooperative learning models used in this study, where
students in a group are given specific numbers for the teacher to call on them to answer
questions.
Definitions of Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning is a generic term for various small group interactive instructional
procedures. Students work together on academic tasks in small groups to help themselves and
their teammates learn together.
Cooperative learning is one strategy for group instruction which is under the learner-centered
approach. Many educators give the definitions of cooperative learning:
Cooperative learning is an instructional program in which students work in small groups
to help one another master academic content. ( Slavin, 1995).
Cooperative learning involves students working together in pairs or groups, and they share
information .They are a team whose players must work together in order to achieve goals
successfully. (Brown, 1994).
In addition, Kessler (1992) proposes the definition of cooperative learning particularly
in language learning context:
Cooperative learning is a within-class grouping of students usually of differing levels of
second language proficiency, who learn to work together on specific tasks or projects in
such a way that all students in the group benefit from the interactive experience.
According to Johnson (2005), cooperation is not assigning a job to a group of students
where one student does all the work and the others put their names on the paper. It is not having
students sit side by side at the same table to talk with each other as they do their individual
assignments as well. It is not having students do a task individually with instructions that the
ones who finish first are to help the slower students. On the contrary, cooperative learning is a
teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a
variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a
1402

team is responsible not only for learning what is being taught but also for helping teammates
learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work through the assignment until
all group members successfully understand and complete it.
Cooperative learning (CL) can be defined as "concepts and techniques for helping
students learn together.
Elements of Cooperative Learning
Cooperative efforts are expected to be more productive under certain conditions. The
followings are the five basic elements of cooperative learning. ( Lie, A. 2003)
a.

Positive Interdependence
The first requirement for an effectively structured cooperative learning environment is
that students believe they sink or swim together (Johnson, Johnson & Stanne, 2000) That is,
cooperation occurs only when students perceive that the success of one depends on the success
of the others. Whatever task students are given to perform, each group member must feel that
his or her contribution is necessary for the groups success. Students have to learn to work
together in order to accomplish tasks. This is why learning task must be designed in a way that
makes them believe, they sink or swim together. Through the assigned material, students learn
to achieve the goal.
Therefore, a number of ways of structuring positive interdependence are carried out such as
reward, resources, or task responsibilities to supplement goal interdependence. Each group
member has a unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his or her resources or
role or task responsibilities.
b.

Face-to-Face Interaction
The second element of cooperative learning requires face-to-face interaction among
students within which they promote each others learning and success. Johnson (2005) suggests
that it is necessary to maximize the opportunities for them to help, support, encourage, and
praise each other. Such interaction helps to promote the following:
-orally explaining how to solve problems
- teaching ones knowledge to other
-checking for understanding
-discussing concepts being learned
-connecting present with past learning
c.

Individual and Group Accountability

The third element leads to the belief What students can do together today, they can do
alone tomorrow. The purpose of cooperative learning groups is to make each member a
stronger individual. Individual accountability exists when the performance of each individual
student is assessed, and the results are given back to the groups. Therefore, the group knows
who needs more assistance, support, and encouragement in completing the job. Johnson &
Johnson (1991) suggest some common ways to structure individual accountability. These
include giving an individual test to each student, randomly selecting one student to represent the
entire group, or having students teach what they have learned to someone else.
Interpersonal & Small Group Skills
Students must be taught the social skills and be motivated to use them. Social skills
which are needed for both teamwork and task work include leadership, decisionmaking, trust
building, communication, and conflictmanagement skills. (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec,
1993).
d.

e.

Group Processing
Group members should think about how well they have cooperated as a team and how
to enhance their future cooperation. Some of the keys to successful processing are allowing
sufficient time for it to take place, emphasizing positive feedback, maintaining student
involvement in processing etc. To be cooperative, group members must promote each others
learning and success face-to-face, hold each other personally and individually accountable to do
1403

a fair share of the work, use the interpersonal and small group skills needed for cooperative
efforts to be successful, and process as a group how effectively members are working together.
These five essential components must be present for small group learning to be truly
cooperative. There needs to be an accepted common goal on which the group will be rewarded
for their efforts (Johnson & Johnson, 1991).
Numbered Heads Together
Cooperative learning can be structured in many different models. As Olsen & Kagan
(1992) state, all cooperative learning models share the idea that students work together to learn
and are responsible for their teammates learning as well as their own.
The general ones are Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD), Teams-GamesTournaments (TGT), and Jigsaw II. Moreover, some are designed for use in particular subjects
at particular grade levels such as Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) for reading and
writing instruction and Team Accelerated Instruction (TAI) for mathematics.
The model used in this research is based on Numbered Heads Together, which is a
cooperative learning strategy that holds each student accountable for learning the material.
Students are placed in groups and each person is given a number (from one to the maximum
number in each group). The teacher poses a question and students "put their heads together" to
figure out the answer. The teacher calls a specific number to respond as spokesperson for the
group. By having students work together in a group, this strategy ensures that each member
knows the answer to problems or questions asked by the teacher. Because no one knows which
number will be called, all team members must be prepared.
This cooperative learning strategy promotes discussion and both individual and group
accountability. This strategy is beneficial for reviewing and integrating subject matter. Students
with special needs often benefit when this strategy is used. After direct instruction of the
material, the group supports each member and provides opportunities for practice, rehearsal, and
discussion of content material. Group learning methods encourage students to take greater
responsibility for their own learning and to learn from one another, as well as from the
instructor (Terenzini & Pascarella, 1994). There are some steps to do Numbered Head Together:
1) divide the students into groups of four and give each one a number from one to four, 2) pose
a question or a problem to the class, 3) have students gather to think about the question and to
make sure everyone in their group understands and can give an answer, 4) ask the question and
call out a number randomly, 5) the students with that number raise their hands, and when called
on, the student answers for his or her team.
Teaching reading comprehension
As stated by Hornby the term teaching means to cause somebody to know or be
able to do something . Teaching a child to read a story book, for instance, means causing the
child to be able to read the story book (Hornby, 1986: 886). Reading is an active and interactive
activity to reproduce the word mentally and vocally and tries to understand the content of
reading text. It is important to bear in mind that reading is not an invariant skill, that there are
different types of reading skills, which correspond to the many different purposes we have for
reading (Zins, 1989:33). In classroom, in students reading activities, the writer is sure that they
have many purposes, among others are to graduate from their school and to provide themselves
with the knowledge to continue their studies whatever their purposes are. In order to achieve the
goal, the comprehension ability in reading is needed. According to Olson and Diller (1982:42),
reading comprehension is a term used to identify those skills needed to understand and apply
information contained in a written material.
Reading competence is essential to personal enrichment and the development of
intelligent citizenship. By reading, the students can enlarge or enrich their knowledge and
experience because most of information they need is served in written form. The curriculum of
English for SMP states that the teaching of English should cover the four language skills;
(listening, speaking, reading and writing). Reading skill is always given the main emphasis. As
it is stated in the 2006 curriculum of English for SMP, the main goal of teaching English is to
make students able to read. It means that the main goal of English teaching and learning for
Indonesian students is to comprehend, that is to fully understand written or printed information.
If we say that a certain student is good at comprehension we mean that the student can read
1404

accurately so as to get the maximum information from the text with the minimum
misunderstanding (Swan,1992: 1).
The teacher can use some methods of teaching reading so that the students can enjoy
and be stimulated in learning EFL reading comprehension.
Lesson plan
The design of lesson plan is oriented to the reading skill. Standard competence of
reading is (5) Memahami makna teks tulis fungsional dan esei pendek sederhana berbentuk
procedure dan report untuk berinteraksi dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari
The Basic Competence for this reading skill is (5.2) Merespons makna yang terdapat
dalam teks tulis fungsional pendek sederhana secara akurat, lancar, dan berterima untuk
berinteraksi dalam konteks kehidupan sehari-hari
The Indicators for these activities are :
Finding out the meaning of new words in the text
Identifying the detailed information in the text
Identifying the generic structure in the text
Identifying the language feature in the text
Learning objectives:
At the end of lesson, after the students read the text, they are able to:
1. Identify the meaning of new words correctly
2. Identify the detailed information of the text correctly
3. Identify the generic structure of the text correctly
4. Identify the language features of the text correctly
The material is the procedure text content of title, material, tool and step how to make
or cook food. This procedure text is very simple that can be done of the students in their daily
lives. The teacher can download the material from the internet, take from magazine, cut from
newspaper or just take in the text book (BSE). The teacher must be creative in using pictures or
media that attract the students to understanding of the lesson. After preparing the material the
teacher should make the students evaluation and scoring. The evaluation design is in the form
of written test.
After the lesson plan is done, the teacher practices the teaching learning activity according to
the planned steps.
Learning activities
Opening
Teacher starts the lesson with greeting, teacher checks the attendance list ask the absent
students reason to their close friend, then teacher delivers the learning objectives that will be
taught and teachers gives apperception to the students with pictures of food (pecel, pukis, bakso,
martabak, etc) for about ten minutes.
Main activity.
Teacher needs forty minutes to give the main activity because this consists of three
parts.
Exploration
In exploration students are divided into groups which consists of five students, each of
the students is labeled or tagged with number on their pocket provided by the teacher, then each
of the students group are given procedure text (work sheet). Each group is asked to list the
difficult word and students who gets number one for each team are asked to find out the
meaning of difficult words
Elaboration
To elaborate teacher helps the students to answer the question of each group and walks
around the groups. As the facilitator the teacher only gives guidance how to answer the
students problems; each of the student groups is given questions about the content of the text

1405

depend to their number. For example student number 1 answer question number 1, number 2
also does the question number 2, etc.
Confirmation
After the students answer the questions given, teacher gives reward to the group who can
answer correctly. Then teacher gives feedback to the students about procedure, after that teacher
elaborates what becomes the students difficulty and she concludes about text procedure, such
as the generic structure and time sequence used in procedure text.
Closing
Closing activity only takes ten minutes. The teacher reflects the result of students work
they have done and gives homework to find another text related to the procedure text from
magazine, newspaper, tabloid, download from internet, etc.
Result and discussion
The result of this activity is the students were very enthusiastic to give attention from
the opening. They tried hard to find the answer together in their group, because the answer
would be compared with other groups. When their answered correctly the said hooray because
the teacher gave a star in their answer.
The students could share with their friends whether their answer was correct or not.
Teacher can give the guidance to make students find out the answer easily. From the students
answer, it showed that most of their answers were correct. The score average was 80%. So this
teaching learning activity was a success. The KKM in this grade is 70, and the students
exceeded it.
The class consisted of 6 groups, each group had 5 members, the number of students in
this class was 29. Four groups could answer all the questions correctly. One group had two
mistakes and one group had only one mistake.
This activity as the new experience for the students because the teacher never used this method
before. Giving label, make a group and divide the question for the same number and discuss
together.
Suggestion
From the result we know that the most creative teacher will produce the best students.
We must make our classroom with variety of teaching learning models and make them always
get new experience in daily lesson.
References
Arsyad, A. 2009. Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada.
Lie,A. 2003. Cooperative Learning. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Widiasaran Indonesia.
Johnson D., Johnson R., and Holubec, E. 1993. Advanced Cooperative Learning. Edin, MN.:
Interaction Book Company.
Slavin, R.E. 1991. Cooperative Learning. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

IMPROVING THE STUDENTS'ABILITY IN SPEAKING

WITH A ROLE PLAY
Srya Martha
Srya_edam@yahoo.com
Abstract : This article is a report of the result of an action research intended to improve the
students English sepaking performance. The writershares the effectiveness of role play
method in the teaching-learning process with the topic of expression of asking and giving
opinion. The datais taken by the teacher in two cyclus through rubric. It is consist of some
criterias, they are Pronunciation, Fluency, Quality of communication and Amount of

1406

communication and the result shows that it is method effective for the students to improve
their speaking ability.
Keywords :Speaking, Role playing, Asking and Giving Opinion.

Speaking is considered as one of difficult skills, but the studentsmust try to speak or
communicate in English. It is very important to be practiced by the students who are learning
English as a foreign language. That is why, it is necessary for the teachers to find out the
appropriate technique to help students in developing their speaking ability.
According to the writers observation in teaching speaking at SMP N 2 Manganitu,
especially when teaching the expressions of Asking and Giving opinions,it was found that the
students had difficultiesincommunicatingtheir ideas. In order to overcome this problem,
therefore, the writerapplied a Role Play techniqueto make the students speak up .
Johnstone&Percival( 1976:49 ) staterole playing is a technique used in the learning
process to provide participation and involvement in the learning process. In a training
environment, role playing allows the learner to receive objective feedback about one's
performance. Role playing techniques can be used to diagnose interactive skills, to provide
models and practice, and to motivate individuals to pay more attention to their interpersonal
impact. One of its primary benefits is that it allows the learner to experience a real life situation
in a protected environment. The writer used it to make the students try to speak in English.
The Advantages of Using Role Play
The advantages of using role play in learning speaking depends on how the positive
attitudes of teachers help to further the students' speaking skills.Role play technique hasbeen
enthusiastically accepted by the students as it challenges their creativity and ability to think
critically, which enables them to speak more logically and confidently in the classroom. The
students' performance will be observed by the teacher while doing the role play in front of the
class. It also helps students to overcome inhibition when it comes to speaking in front of others..
METHOD
This research was conducted in SMP N 2Manganituwhen the writertaught about
asking and giving opinions by using Role Play. With this role play, the studentslearned how
to act and how to communicate with each other in the different situations through the dialogs.
In teaching and learning process, the writergave some dialogues and the students
learned with their friends how to demonstrate the dialoguesand discussed about the
pronunciation. But, when they practiced the dilogues, some of them did not enjoy and feel
interested. The writer felt that she should do the second cycle.In the first cycle, the writerfelt
that some of the students could notdo practices seriously. So, she taught themhow to act and
how to communicate the expressionswhen applying the role playing technique, with correct
pronunciation. She gave more explanation about the topic and the situation in the dialogues. So,
they started to understand their characteristics in the role play.Finally, they could give a good
performance.
The data were collected based on the two cycles. In the first cycle, the writer assessed
the students performance with a a scoring rubric that included the criteria, such as
Pronunciation, Fluency, Accuracy, and Quality of communication.
RESULT AND DISSCUSSION
FIRST CYCLE
In teaching and learning process, the writer gave some dialogues and the students
learned with their friends how to demonstrate themand discussed about the pronunciation. But
in a fact, they did not feel interested because the topic and situation in the dialogues did not
interest them . So, the result was not satisfactory because eight studentsonly gotKKM and the
other were below KKM as can the following table shows

1407

Table1. Students Speaking Performance in Cycle 1

No

Name of Students

Fluency

Pronunciation

Accuracy

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

FebriantiLaumbure
April Husein
Yusuf Sarageti
Dian Mapia
RiniKaengke
JoliverNgantung
ReineSaselah
Christy Paramulia
RismaDalekes
Oktavianti
YuliaHoromaeng
LeisonLahose
AldiBimbanaung
IvanaSolang
IrenneManiku

20
10
10
10
10
20
10
10
10
20
10
10
10
20
10

20
20
20
20
20
20
10
10
20
20
20
10
20
20
10

20
10
20
20
20
20
20
10
20
10
20
20
20
10
20

Quality
of communication
20
10
20
20
10
10
10
20
20
20
10
20
20
20
10

Score

Statement

80
50
70
70
60
70
50
60
70
70
60
60
70
70
50

K
BK
K
K
BK
BK
K
BK
K
K
BK
BK
K
K
BK

K = achieved KKM ( Tuntas ) BK = Below KKM ( Tidak tuntas )

SECOND CYCLE
The first cycle turned out to fail; so there needed the second cycle.She started from
taught themhow to act,how to communicate and how to pronunce, correctly. So that, when they
applied the role playing technique.Then, she is given more explanation about the topic and the
situation. Finally, they started to understand theircharacteristic in the dialogue and they shown a
good performance. It was very different fromthe first cyle, because the result in the second cycle
all of the students got the good score, passing the KKM, as shown in the following table.
Table2. Students Speaking Performance in Cycle 2
No

Name of Students

Fluency

Pronunciation

Accuracy

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

FebriantiLaumbure
April Husein
Yusuf Sarageti
Dian Mapia
RiniKaengke
JoliverNgantung
ReineSaselah
Christy Paramulia
RismaDalekes
Oktavianti
YuliaHoromaeng
LeisonLahose
AldiBimbanaung
IvanaSolang
IrenneManiku

10
10
20
20
20
10
20
20
20
10
20
20
20
20
20

10
30
20
20
20
10
20
20
20
30
20
20
20
20
20

20
20
20
30
20
30
20
20
20
20
20
10
20
30
20

Quality
of communication
20
10
20
10
20
20
20
20
20
30
20
30
30
10
20

Score

Statement

70
70
80
80
80
70
80
80
80
90
80
80
90
80
80

K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K

K = achieved KKM ( Tuntas )

The result of this observation shown based on the following fact that the student's ability
in speaking through this technique is increased. It means that, we can used this techniquein
teaching speaking.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
Conclusion
By using role play technique in learning expression of asking and giving opinion,
especially improve the student's ability in speaking is effectiveness because the result of this
observation shown that the student's score in the second cycle is higher than their score, first. It
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means that role play can be used to overcome the student's problem in teaching speaking to
learn Asking and giving opinion.
Suggestions :
- English teachers of Junior High School are suggested to apply Role Play in their
teaching and learning process. I order to make students interested in speaking.
- English teachers are suggested to choose suitable technique and method in teaching
English especially in developing speaking ability of the students, like as Role Play.
- English teachers of Junior High School are suggested to prepare their good lesson plan.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Depdiknas. 2004. Kurikulum 2004. StandarKompetensiPelajaranBahasaInggris SMP
danMadrasahTsanawiyah.Jakarta : DEPDIKNAS
Lado, R.
1961. Language Testing. The constructural and use of Foreign Test.
London:Longman Group Ltd.
Johnstone, A.H & Percival, F . 1976. Attention breaks in lectures .Education in Chemistry,
accessed from http:/www.newlink.com/-donclark/hrd/history/roleplay13, 49.04 Nov 2013

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT IN

ENHANCING STUDENTS PARTICIPATIONS IN THE
TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS AT SMPN 2 MELIAU
SANGGAU
Suryanti
SMP N 3 Sanggau, Kalimantan Barat
yantiahmadi@gmail.com
Abstract: This aim of this writing is to investigate the effectiveness of classroom
management in enhancing students achievement in teaching learning process in SMP N 2
MELIAU SANGGAU at the lesson study activity at on going 2. The data from
observationsshow thatthe effectiveness of classroom management should include (1) the
teacher has to be able to master the material which has been delivered to the students, (2)the
teacher uses attractive media in the classroom, (3) the teacher uses the appropriate strategy,
and (4) the teacher rises up her/his voice.
Keywords: effectiveness, classroom management, achievement

Teachers are the central parts in EFL classroom anda classroom management is the
main concern of the teachers.Being a good teacher affects the atmosphere in the learning
process. A classroom management is like a cycle process that includes planning,
implementation, assesment, and final evaluation(Tal, 2010cited in Rahimi and Asadollah). This
cycle is carried out into the class that is neededby the students.
Harmer (2007) believes that if EFL teachers want to manage their classroom
effectively, they have to be able to handle the organization of the classroom space, organization
of the classroom time, and whether the students are working on their own groups. Moreover, the
teachers should consider how they appear to the students, and how they use their voice to attract
the students attention.
Based on the writers experiences inconducting ongoing 2 in teaching learning process
in SMPN 2 Meliau Sanggau,it is found that the teacher did the following things. Firstly, the
teachermastered the material to be delivered to the students.Secondly, the method orstrategy
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which was used by the teacher was not appropriate and compatible with the material.Thirdly,the
teacher used attractive media that were suitable with the classroom atmosphere. Fourtly,when
the teacher delivered the material,her voice rose up to attract the students attention.
This article is to report the writers experiences in finding out the effectiveness of
classroom management in enhancing the students participation in learning English at SMP N 2
Meliau Kab. Sanggau.
Review of Literature
Classroom management is perceived as a cyclical process that includes advanced
planning, implementation, assesment during the implementation, and final evaluation that takes
into account factors related to children and their environment, intended to bring about progress
in the activities carried out for the learning and emotional well-being of the children in the class
(Tall, 2010 cited in Rahimi and Asadollah)).
Thus, the classroom management needed the advanved planning, and therefore before
coming to the class, a teacher has well organized about the class including the preparation of the
material. Beside the teacher has to master and prepare the material well, the choice of strategy is
very important.
Teaching method or strategy is appropriately chosen in line with the subject and the
student needs. Different methods are used in accordance with the learning needs of the students
and the size of the group (Kayikci, 2009), therefore the choice of strategy in line with the
material and the condition of the students is important to make the teaching process run well and
the students study easily.
The teachers main job in the classroom management is to facilitate learning. What a
teacher should do is to make something difficult or uninteresting easier to digest in the class.
Sometimes, it is difficult for students to get the ideaswhich are delivered by a teacher.In order to
represent the teachers ideas a medium is then needed. According to Heinch et al., (1982)in
Rahmajanti et al., (2013), the term media refers to anything that carries information between a
source and a receiver.Such things as film, television, radio, audio recordings, projected visuals,
computer, printed materials and the like are called media of communication. They are classified
as instructional media when they are used to carry messages for instructional purposes. When
the writer did on going 2 in teaching learning process, the writer used an audio recording and
computer.Gerlach and Ely (1992) cited in Rahmajanti et al (2013)exclaim that instructional
media refer to anything employed to function as media for the implementation of particular
teaching methods/strategies in order to accomplish instructional goals/objectives. So, it is clear
that using media can easily reach the instructional objectives.
Besides instructional media for the effectiveness of classroom management, the
teachers voice is very helpful to attract the students attention.The learners are easy to lose
their consentrations if the teachers voice isnot clear enough. Hormer (2007) states that the
teacher should consider how she/he appears to the students, and how she/he uses his/her voice to
attract the students attention. As a teacher has to be able to manage his/her voice to get the
students attention or if the teachers voice didnot support the class atmosphere, the students
would lose the information which is delivered by the teacher and it makes the students busy
with their friends or do something annoying.
Method
The data were collected in SMPN 2 Meliau Sanggau.There were 24 students in that
school and the writerwas a teachers model. The material was about listening skill (Expression
of certainty and uncertainty) The data werecollected when the writer became a teachers model
at on going 2. The data werecollected through observations by 5 observers. The observers were
English teachers, two teachers were from SMPN 2 Meliau Sanggau and the three teachers from
SMPN 1 Meliau and SMPN 3 Meliau.
The data were analized after the observers observed the class. It means that the data got
from the observers after the end of the class were discussed in the reflection.When the teacher
taught in the class the observers made some notes about the teaching process. From the data,the
writer found some information in the teaching-learning process in accordance with the
classroom management.
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Findings and Discussions

To motivate the students in teaching learning process, the teacher prepared well the
media such asthe pictures, CD audio, and students worksheet.The activities in teaching are in
the following.
A. Pre activity
- The teachers showed the students the pictures. The fisrt picture is about the
wheather. The teacher asked the students: Are you sure? Is it going to rain?
The students answered
: yes, Im sure
The second picture is about a birthday party:
The teacher asked the students: Are you sure you that you are going to go to the
birthday party?
The students answered: yes Im sure. And another student answered: no, Im not
sure.
The teacher wrote the students answer on the white board
B. Main Activity
- After that the teacher elaborated the aim of the study.
- Teacher explained the material to the students. Teacher gavethe example how to
express certainty and uncertainty.
Teacher asked the students to answer the questions orally related to the expressions
certainty and uncertainty.
C. Post activity
- After the teacher believed that the students understoodthe material, the teacher
explained the next step, namely to listen to the dialog based on the CD.
- The last was that teacher checked the students answers.
As mentioned above, after the teacher taught in the class, and 5 observers made some
notes. A teacher and observers did the reflection, and the results of the observations are as
follows.
According to the observers, in the reflection activity, In pre activity when the teacher
showed the picture, the students were motivated and they automatically answered the teachers
questions.It means that when the teacher used the media the students motivated, The media
could help them to catch the teachers instruction.

Picture 1 : Pre activity The teachers model showed the students the picture

When the teacher explored the material,some students looked uptight. It would be better
that the teacher used the game or sang a song. Still in the whilst activity, the teacher played the
CD and asked the students to complete the dialogues immediately based on what they had
heard. In this activity, the observer said that the students were interested because they heard the
dialogues in the audio.

Picture 2 The students were listening the dialogue through CD computer

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Based on the findings,firstly, the teacher has to give many examples about the
expressions of certainty and uncertainty.It is believed that through many examples and drillings
the students will get better understanding and the class atmosphere will be more
attractive.Secondly,to avoid the monotenous teaching-lerning process, the teacher has to use
many strategies. When the writer taught the class, the learners seemed to be so serious.
The data showthatin order to make the students enjoy, the teacher should add other
strategies, such as a game and a song.The students will get bored if the strategy is not
challenging enough. Thirdly, the use of media can assist the students to comprehend the
material. The last is that there were 24 students in the class when the teacher expalained the
material.The teachers voice has to reach all students in the class.If the voice and the instruction
are not clear,the students do not only catch the ideas, but also disrupt his/her friends.
Conclusions and Suggestions
The effectiveness of classroom management in enhancing students participation at on
going 2 at SMPN 2 MELIAU SANGGAU can be concluded as follows:
a. The material has to prepared well in enhancing studentsparticipation in the
classroom management.If the material is not prepared well, it can be out of the
context and the instructional objectives cannot be reached succesfully.
b. The appropriate method or strategy has to maintained well. The strategy or method
that will be applied in the class has to merit to the material and students behavior.
The appropriate strategy will make the classroom effective, the students will motivate
to learn.
c. The exertion of mediaassists the students, the function of media is to represent the
material. When the students are difficult to understand the material which is
delivered by his/her teacher,the function of media is needed. So the media represent
the material.
Raise up the voice.As a teacher speaks in the class as the main activity, he/she has to
maintain her/his voice, so that the students can hear clearly what the teacher wants
his/her students to do.
Based on the conclusions, several suggestions are needed: (1) The effectiveness of
classroom management in enhancing the students participation in teaching-learning process
mustbe kept, (2)the teacher has to be able to master the material, (3) the teacher should use the
appropriate strategy, (4) the teacher should use the interesting media, and (5) the most important
thing is the teacher has to raise up the voice, so that the information which is delivered will be
successfully transferred.
References
Fachrurrazy, Anugerahwatywati,M 2013. Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris Kreatif dan Inovatif.
Penerbit Universitas Negeri malang.
Kayikci K. 2009. The Effect of Classroom Management Skills of Elementary School Teachers
on Undesirable Discipline Behaviour of Sstudents. www. Science Direct Journal.
Rachmawaty, Sri. Dkk (2013). Media Pembelajaran Inggris. Penerbit Universitas Negeri
Malang.
Rahimi M. And Abdollah. F (2011). EFL Teachers Classroom Management Orientations:
Investigating the Role ofIndividual Differences and Contextual Variables. Accessed
from www. Science Direct Journal, November 12, 2013

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