USING GAMES TO TEACH SPEAKING TO ELEMENTARY

SCHOOL STUDENTS

Paper presented in
the 2nd National English Language Teachers and Lecturers
Conference,
State University of Malang, Indonesia,
March 20, 2010.

By

Diani Nurhayati & Agung Wicaksono

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

University of Nusantara PGRI Kediri, East Java

State University of Malang

 2010
USING GAMES TO TEACH SPEAKING TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
STUDENTS

Diani Nurhajati & Agung Wicaksono

University of Nusantara PGRI Kediri, East Java

A. INTRODUCTION

Speaking is considered as a difficult skill in teaching English to young learners.

Many teachers have problems to teach speaking. First, many teachers teach English in
serious atmosphere. They prefer spending the time in class reading textbook and writing
assignments. Hardly any time is devoted to speaking the language. Therefore, students do
not have enough change to practice speaking in the classroom. Furthermore, many
English teachers have limited reference and experience in providing speaking activity in
the class. Therefore, students do not pay attention to the class activity as they do not
enjoy the class.
One of the solutions of the above problems is by using games in speaking class.
Games are appropriate for teaching speaking to elementary school students for some
reasons. First, using games will create a relax situation that it will encourage the students
to practice speaking. It is suitable with the idea of enjoy learning. Next, young children
(elementary school students) are happy to work with their friends; and by taking parts in a
game they can cooperate with their friends. Besides, children learn something indirectly
through games. Playing a game has a purpose to make the students say something. So,
they have reasons to communicate rather than just repeat things back mindlessly. In
shorts, using games in the classroom give many advantages.
In this paper and presentation, the writers will share ideas and experience with
other English teachers, especially elementary school teachers, how to apply games to
teach speaking. The example of the game is Potato Game. It covers the theoretical
background underlined Teaching English to Young Learners and the preparation that
teachers need, the media, and the teaching procedure.

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B. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Teaching English to young learners is not easy. It needs a serious preparation.

Successful language instruction must be carefully prepared and implemented. The
English teachers to elementary students must understand who the earners are, how they
learn language, what materials they need, and so forth. Therefore, in this section the
writers try to discuss the characteristics of young learners, their learning strategy, games,
and teaching speaking.

1. Characteristics of Young Learners

Young learners means children from the first year of formal schooling (six to
seven years old) to eleven 9 or twelve years old. It means that they are equal to the
elementary school students of the Indonesian schooling system. The years of elementary
are extremely important in their development which influence the way they learn English.
Therefore, the characteristics of the children are very important to describe.
Talking about teaching a foreign/second language to young learners, there are some
theories underlying behind it. First, from the point of view of certain biological or
physiological characteristics, Penfield and Roberts (1959) and Lannenberg (1967) in
Larsern-Freeman (1991: 164) produced evidence to show that two halves of the brain
become specialized for different functions around puberty, a process called lateralization.
Prior to puberty, they argued, a critical period exists during which the brain is more
plastic and allows the transfer of a function from one hemisphere to the other. The
implication of this theory to the foreign/second language learning is that young learners
seem capable of attaining native-like second language abilities as their nerve and ability
to control the articulations are being developed. Furthermore, Krashen, Long and
Scarcella in Larsern-Freeman, 1991: 155) found out in their research that older learner is
faster, but younger is better in terms of accent-free and native-like performance in second
language acquisition.
On the physical side, Scott and Ytreberg (1990: 5-7) state that children at this age
need to develop balance, spatial awareness, and fine control of certain muscles in order to
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play sports and perform everyday action such as coloring, drawing, and writing. Then,
Philips (1995: 2-3) adds that the physical world of young children is dominant at all
times. Furthermore, he said their own understanding comes through hands, eyes, and ears.
In short, as the physical development of young learners is going on, it is better to consider
activities in the English class which involve active movement.
Based on the social and psychological explanation, children differ from adults. For
example, they might be inhibited or their identity as a speaker of certain L1 might not be
firmly established. Adult learners may prefer to speak accepted L2 speech which
indentifies them as speakers of a particular L1. Sometimes they have negative attitude
towards the L2, while children do not have such attitude.
Then, socially children need to develop a series of characteristics to enable them
to fit into the society they live in, to become aware of themselves in relation to others, to
share and co-operate, and to be assertive without being aggressive (Scott and Ytreberg,
1990). Besides, they are happy playing and working in the company of others. They like
to have other children around them, and sitting with others encourages co-operation
(Philips, 1995).
If the concentration spans between adults and young learners are compared, it can
be said that the first learners have a longer concentration span that the second (Philips,
1995 and Ur, 1996:226). They say that the concentration and attention spans of young
learners are short. Therefore, it is suggested to the English teachers should make variety
in teaching the language.
Moreover, young learners learn a foreign language because of the external
motivation. Most of them learn the language without knowing the purpose. Other people,
such as the school policy makers, the teachers, or their parents, make them learn English.
They do not know why they have to learn it. Therefore, the materials and techniques must
be designed carefully, to motivate the students.
In conclusion, by understanding the characteristics of young learners, the teachers
will select the materials carefully, vary the teaching techniques, and make the class
interesting.

2. The Learning Strategy

It has been stated above that children have unique characteristics which influence the
ways they learn a foreign language. Actually, children do not come to the language
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classroom empty-handed. As Haliwell (1994: 3-10) states that children bring with them
an already well-established set of instinct, skills and characteristics which will help them
to learn another language (L2). In other words, certain communication strategies to learn
a new language will be presented here.
Firstly, children are already good at interpreting meaning without necessarily
understanding the individual words. Intonation, gesture, facial expressions, actions and
circumstances will help children to tell what the unknown words and phrases probably
mean. By understanding the message in this way they start to understand the language.
This ability is highly develop when they come to elementary school. In short, interpreting
meaning is the way children understanding another language when they are not familiar
with the language they learn.
Second, children already have great skill in using limited language creatively.
They will bring their creativity when they come to a condition in which they urge to
communicate and interact with others ( Halliwell, 1994).
Then, frequently children learn a language more indirectly than directly. Indirect
learning means learning something unconsciously or acquiring it through continuous
exposure and use. At elementary school level the children’s capacity for conscious
learning of form and grammatical patterns is still relatively developed. As a result it is
better to provide tasks which give them an occasion to practice on real language use.
Furthermore, as social creature, most children like to have other children around
them. Sitting with others gives them a sense of assurance. Therefore, group-work or pair-
work activities will help them to learn the language better.
Repetition plays a very important role in giving exposure for children. They will
take the advantages by knowing repetitive action. The more they listen and practice to use
the new words, phrases and sentences, the more they are familiar with the new language.
In this case, the teacher is the person who is responsible to give the exposure. From the
repetitive exposure, children will make a generalization of the usage of words, phrases, or
the structures of sentences.
As a conclusion, there are some strategies used by children in learning a foreign
language. They include their ability, instincts, skills, and strategies that help them
understand the language. As a result, it is wise to consider these in designing the
teaching, including teaching speaking.

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 3. Games
A game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element for fun. There are two
kinds of games: competitive games and cooperative games. Competitive games are games
in which the players or teams race to be the first to reach the goal, while cooperative
games are the ones in which players or teams work together towards a common goal.
According to Hadfield (2001: 4) language games can be divided into two
categories: linguistic games and communicative games. In linguistic games, the goal of
the game is linguistic accuracy: in the case of these grammar games, using the correct
grammatical forms. Communicative games have a goal or aim that is not linguistic:
successful completion of the game involves carrying out a task such as exchanging
information, filling in a picture or chart, or finding two matching card, rather than the
correct production of language. However, in order to carry out this task it will be
necessary to use language and, by careful construction of the task, it is possible to specify
in advance what language will be required.
Games can be used at any stage of the lesson once the target language has been
introduced and explained. They serve both as a memory aid and repetition drill, and as a
chance to use language freely and as a mean to an end rather than an end in itself. They
can also serve as a diagnostic tool for the teacher, who can note areas of difficulty and
take appropriate remedial action.
Using games in language class gives many advantages. First, games make the
class fun. As stated above that young learners learn foreign language because of external
motivation. They do not know the goal of learning the language. By giving fun
experience, it will attract and motivate them to know more about the new language they
learn. In other words, games make learning fun so the class and children are willing
participants and not just there because they have to be.
Second, playing a game has a purpose to it, an outcome, and in order to play
students have to say things. By playing a game children have a reason to communicate
rather than just repeat things back mindlessly. Therefore, they want to know and learn
more.
Furthermore, young learners get to use the language all the time during the games.
They involve a lot of repetition. In fact, repetition is the basic skill, but it can be boring.
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However, using games will give opportunity for children to do repetitive activity in a fun
way.
Naturally young learners have a lot of energy and are not good at sitting for long
periods. Moreover, they have a short attention span. Injecting lively varied games into the
classes to practice the language will keep the children alert and enjoying themselves.
Therefore, games will prevent them from getting restless and bored.
Knowing that games give many advantages for language teaching and learning, it
is suggested for the English teachers to choose games to provide elementary school
students to practice speaking. As the students are getting bored easily, have short
concentration and attention span, like working with other children, language game is
suitable for young learners.

4. Teaching Speaking
English subject has different characteristics from other subjects, for examples
science, mathematics, or social subjects. The differences happen as a result that the
function of a language is as a means of communication. This indicates that learning a
language does not mean that the students only memorize numbers of vocabularies,
sentence-patterns, and know the meaning or the words. They must also capable to use and
apply the knowledge in real communication. The ability to use the knowledge above is
very important in learning speaking. Therefore, English teachers should provide many
activities for young learners to practice speaking
In fact, speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of
verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of context (Chaney, 1998 in Kayi: 2008)
Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching. Despite its
importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English
teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of
dialogues. However, today’s world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should
improve students’ communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express
themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each
communicative circumstance.
Teaching speaking means teaching the students to use the language in real
communication. The English teachers should teach them to produce the English speech

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sounds and sound patterns. The students should be able to use words and sentences which
are appropriate with the contexts.

C. CONCLUSION

In principles for designing speaking techniques according to H. Douglas Brown

there five points where using game (potato game) in line with them.
First, covering the spectrum of learner needs, from language based focus on accuracy to
message-based focus on interaction, meaning and fluency. The potato lesson is designed
to help students to perceive and use the building block of language. The teacher will write
the language target and provide the vocabulary which relate to the topic
Second, provide intrinsically motivating techniques. The potato game provides the
students the autonomy to express themselves. When the teacher asks the students to make
their own animal this is the starting point where they have freedom to express about
animal they like.
Third, provide feedback and correction. When the potato game applied, the
teachers only listen and give feedback when they finished doing presentation. The
correction in the middle of the student’s presentation it makes the student losing their
idea and confidence. Assessment of performance can be explicit when we say’ that’s
brilliant’ or implicit when, during a language performance for example, we pass on to the
next student without any comment, there is always the danger that the student may
misconstrue our silence as something else.
Forth, capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening. Many games
or interactive activity involve speaking and listening. The linguistic complexity of
communicative listening-speaking goals increases steadily. Along with creation of novel
utterances, students can participate in short conversations, ask and answer questions etc.
Fifth, give students opportunities to initiate oral communication. When Potato game
applied the students can initiate what animal they want to talk about.

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References

Halliwel, Susan. 1992. Teaching English in primary classroom. London Longman

Hadfield, Jill. 2001. Elementary Grammar Game. Longman, Malaysia.

Clark, John. 1990. Teaching children: is it different? In JET. October 1990.

Larsen-Freeman, Diane and Michael H Long. 1991. An Introduction to second Language

Acquisition Research.

Philips, Sarah. 1995. Young Learners. Oxford University Press

Scott, Wendy A and Lisbeth H. Yterberg. 1990. Teaching English to Young Children.
Oxford University Press.

Ur, Penny. 1996. A course in Language Teaching. Great Britain: Cambridge University
Press.

Kayi, Hayriye. 2008. Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote Speaking in a Second

Language. Accessed at: http//unr.edu/homepage/hayriyek

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