CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

           

1.1       Background of the Study

Language is the important part in communication. Language is being the way to transfer an idea,
thinking, opinion and feeling. In the world, there are so many languages and English is an important
language to be learned because it becomes an international language. English influences our daily
life; many sectors need English as the prerequisites. For example, English is widely used in mass
media and oral communication as means of exchanging information including science, education and
technology reasons. In Indonesia, English is the first foreign language. It is taught from elementary
school as an alternative subject until high school as one of the compulsory subjects. It means that
English has an important position so the Indonesian students need to learn English as well as
possible.

There are four important skills that students have to master in English. They are speaking, reading,
listening and writing. Furthermore, the students have to master English components such as
vocabulary, grammar, spelling and pronunciation. In current curriculum, the English literacy level of
junior high school is the ability to use English for communication in daily life. It means that the
objective of English teaching is the ability to speak English fluently. But in reality, there are so many
students are not able to speak English well. Commonly, they only have capability in grammar,
reading or writing. It is because English is not spoken in society, so the accuracy and fluency to speak
English is difficult for the students. Moreover, the use of conventional teaching techniques which
only use the same way for each section of teaching English becomes the second reason of the
problem in speaking English. Setiyadi (2006: 21) states that “speaking is the productive skill in the
oral mode. It likes the other skills, is more complicated that it seems at first and involves more than
pronouncing words.”

Based on the statements above, the researcher knows that the fluency in speaking becomes the
problem in learning English. Here, the using of appropriate techniques in teaching and learning
English is one of the ways to solve the problem. It is needed in order to make the students be
motivated in speaking English in the classroom and out of classroom. There are many techniques to
make English teaching especially speaking is fun, interesting and active. So the students are
encouraged to expose themselves to speak English. One of the techniques which can be used in
English speaking is cooperative learning technique, so the teachers have to analyze the most
appropriate technique to teach English in their class. Cooperative learning has so many techniques
which can be a good alternative to be applied in teaching English and it can make an interesting
teaching and learning for the students.

Based on the backgrounds above, the researcher will conduct a study in the form of Classroom
Action Research entitled “Enhancing the Eighth Students’ Ability in Speaking through Team-Game-
Tournament of Cooperative Learning Technique at SMP Negeri 3 Pajangan in Academic Year
2013/2014.”
1.2        Statement of the Problem

Referring to the background of the study previously presented, the researcher formulates the
statement of the problem as follows “How can the Team-Game-Tournament of cooperative learning
technique enhance the eighth students’ ability in speaking at SMP Negeri 3 Pajangan in academic
year 2013/2014?”

1.3              Objective of the Study

The objective of the study is to enhance the eighth students’ ability in speaking through Team-
Game-Tournament of cooperative learning technique at SMP Negeri 3 Pajangan in academic year
2013/2014.

1.4              Significance of the Study

The advantages that can be acquired from this research are:

1. For the students

This research can encourage them to learn English especially in learning speaking so that they can
enhance their speaking ability and find the interesting teaching and learning process. It can be new
experience for them in learning English so that their speaking achievement can be better.

1. For the teachers

It can be input and reference to the English teachers in teaching speaking. They can get an
appropriate technique so that they can enhance their students’ speaking ability and make the
students’ speaking achievement can be better than before.

1. For other researcher

It can be used to be reference in conducting further research to develop another technique to

motivate the students to speak English.

1.5              Hypothesis

If the Team-Game-Tournament of cooperative learning technique is applied well, it will improve the
students’ ability in speaking at SMP Negeri 3 Pajangan in academic year 2013/2014.  

1.6       The Definition of Key Terms

            To avoid misunderstanding and misinterpreting of any terms used in this class action
research, the researcher defines the key words as follow:

1. Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving

and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burn & Joyce, 1997). Its form and meaning are
dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participant themselves, their
collective experience, the physical environment and the purposes for speaking. However,
speaking is not always unpredictable.

2. Team-Game-Tournament is one of the games based on the procedure and developing of

cooperative learning technique. The major characteristic of the game is group work. The
 students study in group and assigned a task that involves collaboration and self-initiated
language.

3. Cooperative learning technique is group learning activity organized so that learning is

dependent on the structured social exchange of information between learners in group and
in which each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to
increase the learning of other (Kesler 1992: 8). It means that cooperative learning technique
can enhance the motivation and spirit of the students to study with their friends in group.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

            This chapter presents some related literatures that support this class action research. It
includes English curriculum for SMP, learning English, speaking, cooperative learning and Team-
Game- Tournament.

2.1       English Curriculum for SMP

            English curriculum for SMP is The School Based Curriculum 2006 is called KTSP 2006. The
objective of KTSP namely KKM, it does include the indicator of competence that use for determining
the minimum score of passing grade in every school. As stated in the 2006 curriculum that every
school has full authority and responsibility for determining the subject matter and learning
instruction in line with the vision, mission, purpose, condition and characteristic of every school. 

            According to 2006 English curriculum: Pengembangan kemampuan siswa dalam berbahasa

Inggris  yaitu dengan memiliki empat ketrampilan dalam berbahasa Inggris (speaking, listening,
reading, writing) yang bertujuan untuk mengembangkan kompetensi berkomunikasi secara lisan
secara terbatas untuk mengiringi tindakan (language accompanying action).

The 2006 curriculum based on Depdiknas 2006 targets the students to be able to understand various
types of texts, i.e. descriptive, procedure, recount, narrative and report. Those kinds of text types
have to be mastered by the students in four skills; they are listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The standard competence especially in speaking the students should be expressing the meaning in
written functional text and short essay of descriptive and procedure to interact with the closest
environment. Moreover, the basic competence in speaking the students must express the meaning
and the steps accurately, fluently and acceptably in very simple short essay related to the closest
environment.

2.2       Learning English

            Learning English has an essential point in order to make the students master in English. As we
know that in Indonesia, English is the first foreign language. This section introduces and explains the
definition of learning and English language learning for SMP.

 
2.2.1    Definition of Learning

            The formal definition of learning describes the process as a relatively permanent change in
behavior based on individuals’ interactional experience with its environment. As such, learning is an
important form of personal adaptation. It means that learning is relatively permanent is to
emphasize that behavior is flexible and not genetically pre- programmed in form or function.  

2.2.2    English Language Learning for SMP

            In KTSP Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris (Depdiknas, 2006: 278) learning English in SMP has
aims as follows: (1) developing communicative competence either oral or written ways to achieve
literacy level; (2) having awareness of the essence and importance of English to enhance competitive
power of nation in global society; (3) developing understanding of the students about the
relationship between language and culture.

2.3       Speaking

            This section focuses in some important aspects of speaking as one of the skills in learning
English involves the definition of speaking and the importance of speaking.

2.3.1        Definition of Speaking

Of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most
important: people who know a language are referred to as ‘speakers’ of that language, as if speaking
included all other kinds of knowing; and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily
interested in learning to speak (Paulo, 2010:120). Moreover, (Shrouf in Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce,
1997) defines that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves
producing and receiving and processing information. It means that speaking is a crucial part of
language and it became a communicative skill for the students.

2.3.2        Teaching Speaking

Hornby (1995: 37) quoted that teaching means giving the instruction to (a person): give a person
(knowledge, skill etc). While speaking means to make use of words in an ordinary voice, so teaching
speaking is giving instruction to a person in order to communicate. Many students equate being able
to speak a language as knowing the language therefore view learning the language as learning how
to speak the language.

Speaking is fundamental to human communication. Just think of all the different conversation we
have in one day and compare that how much the written conversation we do in one day. In our daily
lives most of us speak more than we write, yet many English teachers still spend the majority of class
time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills. If the goal of
English course is truly to enable the students to communicate in English, then speaking skill should
be taught and practiced in the language classroom. Classroom activities that develop the ability of
learners to express themselves through speech would therefore seem an important component of a
language course and it is usually called an effective speaking activity.

2.4       Cooperative Learning

            This section focuses in some important aspects of cooperative learning that includes the
nature of cooperative learning and the five key elements of cooperative learning; positive
interdependence, face to face interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal small-
group skill and group processing.

2.4.1    The Nature of Cooperative Learning

As humans we are social animals and have an inherent social nature. It is not in our nature to life
alone (Johnson and Johnson, 1975: 1). Based on the statement above we can conclude that make a
group is needed in our life. It seems for the students that they need to learning together through
group work.  Group work is a generic term covering a multiplicity of techniques in which two or
more students are assigned a task that involves collaboration and self initiated language (Brown,
2001: 177). Group work is usually called cooperative learning. (Kessler, 1992: 8) states that
“cooperative learning is group learning activity organized so that learning is dependent on the social
structured exchange of information between learners in group and in which each learner is held
accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of other”. It means
that cooperative learning can increase the spirit of the students to study with their friends in group.

2.4.2        Key Elements of cooperative Learning

It is only under certain conditions that cooperative efforts may be expected to be more productive
than competitive and individualistic efforts. Those conditions are positive interdependence, face to
face interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small- group skill and also
group processing. Then this section focuses on explanation of each key element is defined below:

2.4.2.1  Positive Interdependence

Positive Interdependence exists when each member realizes that success is impossible without the
support and interaction of all members, that is, each one has an awareness of “sink or swim
together” (Burns- Roe- Ross 1996: 588). It is also can make the students have responsibility to
themselves and also to their groups’ member. Each member tries to give the best for his or her
group.

2.4.2.2  Face to Face Interaction

Face to Face Interaction promotes each other’s success. It has five points, they are: (1) orally
explaining how to solve the problem, (2) teaching one’s knowledge to other, (3) checking for
understanding, (4) discussing concepts being learned and (5) connecting present with past learning.
The students share each other to solve the problems. They share their knowledge and their
experience with the other members in the group.

2.4.2.3   Individual and Group Accountability

Individual and Group Accountability exist when the performance of each individual is assessed and
the results are given back to the group and the individual in order to as certain who needs more
assistance, support and encouragement in learning (David & Johnson, 2009). Individual and group
accountability refer to the teachers’ monitoring of each group members and provision of feedback
to ensure that each student is learning (Burns- Roe- Ross, 1996: 588).

2.4.2.4  Interpersonal and Small- Group Skills

Interpersonal and Small- Group Skills also called Collaborative Skills include such group interaction
skills as leadership, decision- making, trust- building, communication and conflict- management
skills. The purpose of learning together in group work is that they can make collaboration of the skills
with their friends in the group and share those all collaborative skills.
2.4.2.5   Group Processing

Group Processing occurs when the students discuss their progress in reaching goals and analyze their
working relationship within the group. Group processing exist when group members discuss how
well they are achieving their goals and maintaining effective working relationship. The effective
working relationship shows and describes what member actions are helpful and not helpful.

2.5              Team- Game- Tournament

Basically, Team- Game- Tournament is one of the techniques of cooperative learning. Then this
section presents the definition of Team- Game- Tournament and the characteristics of Team- Game-
Tournament.

2.5.1    Definition of Team- Game- Tournament

               Team Game Tournament (TGT) is a cooperative learning technique that enhances students’
academic achievement and attitudes towards the content material. The purpose of the Team- Game-
Tournament is to create an effective classroom environment in which students are actively involved
in the teaching process and are consistently receiving encouragement for successful performance.
The Team- Game- Tournament structure encourages competition and cooperation in a way that
promotes peer group rewards for academic achievement and this strategy is appropriate for
secondary school students of all abilities especially speaking ability (Abrami, 1991: 83).

2.5.2    The Characteristics of Team- Game- tournament

            Team- Game- Tournament has three basic elements: (1) teams— students are assigned to
equal teams categorized by equivalent academic levels; (2) games —skill exercises relating to
content material are played during weekly tournaments; (3) tournament —students represent their
teams and compete individually against students from other teams. The winnings are brought back
to their teams. Total winnings are tallied across teams and team champions are announced. Not only
is Team- Game- Tournament a fun activity, it also helps students review what they have just learned
in the unit for a future test. There is an incentive for playing the game. The team that wins the
tournament gets a reward. For example, stickers or extra time to play outside.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

Research method is a significant element in the research activity. In this chapter, some aspects will
be used to conduct the study. They include the research design, research procedure, setting and
subject of the study, data collection method and data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

To conduct a useful research, a systematic way or a well-done plan must be made in order to obtain
the valid answers of the research questions. It means that the appropriate research design has to be
selected. In conducting this study, classroom action research would be used. It was designed to
describe a condition objectively and information concerning the status of phenomena of the sample.
This study also attempts to describe the analysis of improving the eighth grade student’s ability in
speaking through one of the cooperative learning techniques that is Team- Game- Tournament. The
research design is used to find out the result of “enhancing the eighth grade student’s ability in
speaking through Team- Game- Tournament at SMPN 3 Pajangan in Academic Year of 2013/2014”
using Classroom Action Research.

Carr and Kemmis (2005:7) state that action research is a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken
by participants in social (including educational) situation in order to improve (a) the rationality and
justice of these practices; (b) their understanding of the practices, and the situations in which the
practices are carried out. It can be said that an action research is a “learning by doing” action a group
of people or person (researcher), identifies a problem, does something to resolve it, sees how
successful the efforts which has been made, and if the result is not satisfying, that group or that
person will try again the efforts in the next action. 

            Applying the principle of an action research design, the researcher took the model of an
action research proposed by Kemmis and Mc.Taggart model Aqib (2006: 23). The action research
consists of four main steps, namely planning, acting, observing, and reflecting in which the cycle is
shown in figure 3.1.

   

Figure
    3.1
the
Procedure of Classroom Action Research

(Adapted from Kemmis and Mc Taggart’s model)

The explanations of the figure above were presented more clearly as the following:

 3.1.1  Cycle I

Planning Finding an institution to do an action (Eighth  students of

SMPN 3 Pajangan).

Asking permission to the headmaster and English teacher to

carry out the research there.

Designing a well-prepared plan (lesson plan and test).

Acting First Activity (Pre-test)

Giving a pre-test to the students.

Second Activity (Treatment 1)

The researcher Students

The researcher distributes Students give their

the practice version of the attention.
test to each student and
instruct them to answer
the question orally and 
cooperatively as a team,
ensuring that all team
members understand how
each answer was obtained
the intension.

The researcher evaluates Students who know, then

and corrects the students’ answer the question orally
answer then displayed a then check their answer
copy of the answer on the and attention the teacher’s
data projector and get each explanation.
team to check their answer
and resolve any issues with
their answer. 

The researcher asks the Students rank their

students to sort there team members on the basis of
on the basis of their their understanding.
understanding of the topic
from very good
understanding (A students)
to poor understanding (E
students).

After that,  the researcher Students regroup their

regroups all of the teams selves.
and asks them to seat all of
the A students in one area
of the room, B students in
another area, etc.

The researcher gives out Students answer the

the test version question to question orally.
each student and instructs
them to individually answer
the questions under formal
test conditions. 

The researcher evaluates Students give their

and corrects then displays a attention and rank their
copy of the answer on the scores.
data projector and get each
student to mark their
answers and then to rank
themselves amongst the
 group of students they are
group with. That is, the A
students will rank
themselves from best to
worst score. The students
with best score is given a
score of 5 points while the
students with the lowest
score is given a score 1
point.  Students with equal
scores receive the same
number of points (e.g. the
point’s distribution could
be 5, 4, 4, 4, 1, if three
students have same score).

The researcher gives Students give attention and

feedback for the students’ improve their speaking
activity within teams, so ability.
that the researcher can
give evaluation for their
speaking activity.

Third Activity

The researcher Students

The researcher plays the Students do the rule once

rule once more. more with increase
attention.

The researcher gives a Students do the cycle I test.

cycle I test to check the
students’ progress.

Monitoring Collecting and analyzing the result of the action. Its purpose
was to know to what extent the result of the action reached
the objectives.

Reflection Finding out the progress from the first activity to the last
activity.

3.1.2  Cycle II
 

Planning Designing a well-prepared plan (lesson plan and test).

Acting Fourth Activity (Treatment 2)

The writer Students

The researcher distributes Students give their

the practice version of the attention.
test to each student and
instructs them to answer
the question orally and 
cooperatively as a team,
ensuring that all team
members understand how
each answer was obtained
the intension.

The researcher evaluates Students who know, then

and corrects the students’ answer the question orally
answer then displays a then check their answer
copy of the answer on the and attention the teacher’s
data projector and get each explanation.
team to check their answer
and resolve any issues with
their answer. 

The researcher asks the Students rank their

students to sort there team members on the basis of
on the basis of their their understanding.
understanding of the topic
from very good
understanding (A students)
to poor understanding (E
students).

After that,  the researcher Students regroup their

regroups all of the teams selves.
and asks them to seat all of
the A students in one area
of the room, B students in
another area, etc.

The researcher give out the Students answer the

test version question to question orally.
each student and instructs
 them to individually answer
the questions under formal
test conditions. 

The researcher evaluates Students give their

and corrects then displays a attention and rank their
copy of the answer on the scores.
data projector and got each
student to mark their
answers and then to rank
themselves amongst the
group of students they are
group with. That is, the A
students will rank
themselves from best to
worst score. The students
with best score is given a
score of 5 points while the
students with the lowest
score is given a score 1
point.  Students with equal
scores received the same
number of points (e.g. the
point’s distribution could
be 5, 4, 4, 4, 1,  if three
students have same score).

Third Activity

The writer Students

The researcher plays the Students do the rule once

rule once more. more with increase
attention.

The researcher give a cycle Students do the cycle II

II test to check the test.
students’ progress.

Monitoring Collecting and analyzing the result of the action. Its purpose
was to know to what extent the result of the action reached
the objectives.

Reflection Finding out the progress from the first activity to the last
activity.
From the cycles above, the main difference of each cycle is the role of the teacher in giving the more
motivation to the students in speaking. The researcher motivates the students to do their best
within team. The students give more attention for their team. Then researcher gives another form of
test in cycle 2, so that the students will beyond the previous failure in the cycle 1 from this class
action research.

3.2 Research Procedure

   The procedure of this classroom action research will be conducted in cycle covering four steps of
activities, namely the planning, acting, monitoring and reflecting.   

a. Planning

            Before conducting the action, observation is done to find out the condition of the student
performance in English teaching learning process. The researcher consulted her thesis advisor to find
information wether the situation of the eighth year students, which the researcher found while she
did the preliminary study, could improved students’ speaking ability  in English teaching learning
process through Team- Game- Tournament.

b. Acting

            In this study, the researcher acted as the practitioner who implemented the proposed
strategy by referring to the activities done in class. The study was conducted in two meetings in
which each meeting had a different focus. The first meeting was focused on introducing teaching
with Team- Game- Tournament. In the step, the researcher divided the class into teams of four or
five. A class of 40 would have 9 teams of 5. The  second meeting was focused on the teaching and
learning process using Team- Game- Tournament.

c. Monitoring

            Monitoring is the process of recording and collecting data about any aspect which happened
during the implementation of the action. This active is done by the observer. In conducting the
observation, the observer is equipped with observation sheet and field notes to record the required
data.  Thus, the data of this research were obtained from the result of the observation and
interview.

d. Reflection

During the process using Team- Game- Tournament, the researcher got data. The researcher tried to
criticize the strengths and weaknesses of her procedure in implementing the research plan. After the
analyzing of data, she made the reflection from the action in cycle 1, based on observation sheets, to
decide and plan the next cycle’s step. The result of the analysis from next cycle had matched the
criteria of success, the action was finished.

3.3 Researcher Attendance

            The researcher needs to conduct this class action research in order to increases the eighth
students’ ability in speaking. The researcher found the students’ difficulty in pronouncing the word
correctly and their fluency in speaking English is decrease. In this class action research, the
researcher acts as a practitioner and observer. In order to making success this activity, the
researcher also collaborates with the English teacher and the head master of SMPN 1 Rejotangan.
3.4 Setting and Subject of the Study

Each person or participant in the study was considered as a subject (Brown, 1993: 48). The subjects
of the study of this research were the eighth students of  SMPN 3 Pajangan in academic year of
2013 – 2014. The school is in the Jl. Raya Kandung- Tanen Rejotangan 66293 and it leads by the head
master that is Bpk. Haidar Alwi Zamzamy, M.Pd. 

This school has 24 classes from the seven classes up to nine classes. As the sample, the researcher
took the eighth students of SMPN 3 Pajangan. In the eighth grade class, English was taught two
times a week. The time was divided 2×45 minutes twice a week.

The school was chosen because it has applied the School Based Curriculum 2006 which is suitable
with the implementation one of the strategies from cooperative learning that is Team- Game-
Tournament. The setting is chosen because based on the preliminary study conduct by the
researcher, it was found that the students have low score and difficulties to mastery the speaking
ability. As shown on the students’ score list, this score is only on the average of less than 75. The
passing grade is 75 in the students’ score.

3.5 Data Collection Method 

Data collection method is manner, used by researcher in collecting the data. In this research writer
used interview, questionnaire, observation sheets, test and documentation. The following are the
explanation of each method that is used in this class action research.

3.5.1 Interview

            Interviewing is a technique that primarily used to gain and understanding of the underlying
reasons and motivations for people’s attitudes, preferences, or behavior (Thames Valley University).
In this research the researcher used the free-guided interview. It is an interview in which the
interviewer uses a set of questions and each question, is developed to gain detail information.

 The interview was conducted at preliminary study. At the preliminary study, an informal was done
to find out what kind of teaching and learning process in English speaking were faced by English
teacher. So the researcher found the most appropriate technique or strategy in this class action
research.

3.5.2    Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a form containing a set of questions, especially one addressed to a statistically

significant number of subjects as a way of gathering information for a survey The American Heritage
(2003).

The researcher distributed questionnaire to the students at preliminary study. It was enabled to
know the students’ difficulties in learning English skills especially mastery speaking. The result was
enabled to find out the suitable strategy to solve the problem in class.

3.5.3 Observation Sheets

            Observation sheets were used to see and the note the real activities proceeded in the
classroom.  There were two sheets of observation sheets used in this study. The first set was for the
teacher and the second one was for the students. The observation sheets contained some important
steps that the teacher and students had to do during the implementation speaking class through
Team- Game- Tournament in teaching learning process.
3.5.4 Test

Test is a series of questions, problems or physical responses design to determine knowledge,

intelligence, or ability (The American Heritage: 2003). The tests use in this study was pre-test test
and post-test. The pre-test was use in the preliminary study to find out information dealing with the
students’ speaking ability. To obtain data about the students’ progress in learning speaking after the
strategy apply, the researcher conducted an evaluation by administering a post-test to the students
individually at the end of each cycle.

3.5.5 Documentation

American Heritage (2003) states that documentation is act or instance of the supplying of
documents or supporting references or records. The researcher print in some information such as:
attendance list of the students in the classroom and the score list.

3.6 Data Analysis

            Data analysis is an important aspect of the reflectivity of action research. The reflecting steps
use to analyzing whether the action success or failed. The whole of action research is that analyzing
the data, interpreting it, and developing theories about what it means are constantly feedback into
practice Burn (1999:155). The researcher  used descriptive analysis and score analysis in analyze the
action research data.

            The descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data of interview, observation and
questionnaire. The data gained through field interview were analyses and report descriptively. While
the data collect through interview, questionnaire and documentation were reported in the form of
table, in order to make it easier to compare the result and analyses descriptively.

            The score analysis was used to analyze the students’ speaking ability after implementing the
plan. The score analysis consists of preparing the instrument of scoring, the tabulation of the data
and the summarizing of the data (Arikunto,1993: 205). The writer prepared the students’ score list. It
contains three score data: they are score of preliminary study, score of cycle I, and score of cycle II.
This step calculated the individual degree of score and subject’s mean score. The formulation will be
described as follow:

            Individual Degree of Score    =    Sum of Score Earned        x 100              

                                                                        Maximum Score                     

            Subject Mean Score                =    Sum of Students’ Score    x 100

                                                                        Sum of Students

            Percentage Gain Students       =          Gain Students             x 100%

                                                                     Total of Students

The conclusion of the data is whether the research could improve the students’ ability in speaking or
not. It described that the research categories’ in success if (1) the students’ post- test mean score on
speaking ability is improved not less than 75 and no students got the score under 75; and (2) 75% of
the students test in cycle I until cycle II test go up.