A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING CIRCLE CHAIN GAME

IN TEACHING SIMPLE PAST TENSE

A. RESEARH BACKGROUND

Language is very important and crucial among

human being. Language is human and non

instinctive method of communicating ideas,

feeling, and desires by means of a system of

sound symbol.1 We know that English as

international language and a tool to communicate

oral and written has been taught at almost every

level of education as the second language or

foreign language. The purpose of teaching English

covers four language skill; listening, speaking,

reading and writing. In mastering those skills,

students also have to know the language

component; grammar, vocabulary, and

pronunciation.

As one of language component, grammar is

important to be learnt by student. Grammar is the

system of rules governing the conventional and

relationship of words in a sentence. Grammar may

be roughly defined as the way a language1 Hornby, Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, (New York:

Oxford University Press, 1987),p.473

1

manipulates and combines words ( in a bit words )

in order to form longer unit of meaning. There is

a set of rules which govern how units of meaning

may be constructed in any language.2 Victoria

Fromkin states that every grammar is complex,

logical, and capable of producing an infinite set

of sentences to express any thought.3 In fact,

English grammar has many different and difficult

rules of the language.

The simple past tense is one of English

grammar topics that is given to eigth grade

students of junior high school. As we know that,

the students still have difficulty in mastering

simple past tense since it also has the rule of th

changing of verb. For that reason, the teacher

need a good media in helping their students

understand and master grammar especially simple

past tense since teaching structure is not easy.

There are many media which can help the

teacher to make the students attracted to follow

the lesson. Game are kinds of subtances that are

used by a teacher during teaching process to

support the presentation of the lesson and became

a learning aid that make easier. The writer2 Penny Ur, Grammar Practice Activities; a Practical Guide for Teachers,(UK:

Cambridge University Press,1988),p.43 Victoria Fromkin, an Introduction to Language, ( US: Thomson

Heine, 2003)p.15

2

intends to prove that circle chain game can be

applied to teach simple past tense. The writer

hoped that by using such kind of teaching aid, the

students will not be bored and learn English with

full of motivation because language learning is

hard work, games help and encourage many learners

to sustain their interest work. Games also help

the teacher to create context in which the

language is useful and meaningful.4 Game play an

important role in teaching and learning process

and can be alternative media of language teaching.

They can often help the students understand

something presented better than telling verbally.

Based on the background above, the writer

want to research to know how is the effectiveness

of teaching simple past tense using circle chain

game in eight grader students in SMP N 1 Mejobo

Kudus in The Academic Year 2010/2011.

B. REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC

The reason for choosing the topic are as

follow:

1) Every language has its own characteristics. We

should understand each system of language in

order we could understand the language itself4 Andrew Wright,et,al., Games for Language Learning, (USA:

Cambridge University Press, 1984),p.1

3

2) Students usually have problem in understanding

tenses especially simple past tense

3) It is important to teach grammar effectively,

beneficial and interesting in the classroom

4) The English teacher still uses conventional

methods who has never used the media in

teaching process

5) Circle Chain is one of interesting game in

teaching to activate the students in learning

process

6) Most of Junior High School students think that

English especially grammar is one of the

difficult and boring subject.

C. RESEARCH QUESTION

The research question on this study can be

formulated as follow:

1) How is the effectiveness of using circle chain

game in teaching simple past tense with the

eight graders of SMP N 1 Kudus in the academic

year of 2010/2011?

D. HYPOTHESIS

In conducting my study, I propose the working

hypothesis of the study can be formulated as

follow:

4

(H1) Using circle chain game is more effective in

the teaching simple past tense to the eight

grade students of SMP N 1 Mejobo Kudus in the

academic year of 2010/2011 than using

conventional method.

(H0) Using circle chain game is not more effective

in the teaching simple past tense to the eight

grade students of SMP N 1 Mejobo Kudus in the

academic year of 2010/2011 than using

conventional method.

E. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1) To find out the effectiveness of using circle

chain game in teaching simple past tense with

the eight grader students of SMP N 1 Mejobo

Kudus in the academic year of 2010/2011.

F. PEDAGOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The significance of the study are:

a) For the students

To motivate students to be more careful

in understanding English grammar as we know

that English grammar has different rule to

Indonesian grammar that make us usually have

difficulty in applying it even in written and

spoken.

5

b) For the teacher

To motivate teacher in finding a new or

good media to teach English grammar and useful

to give contribution of developing English

teaching

c) For the reader

To give readers a reference in conducting

a research about media of teaching simple past

tense. Develop their knowledge and get many

experiences

d) For the writer

To motivate the writer in doing some

research as the contribution in developing

English teaching. As a research and an English

teacher, the writer is supposed to conduct some

activities or research that can make a

development in educational field especially in

English teaching.

G. LITERATUR REVIEW

1) Grammar

a. The meanings of grammar

Grammar has various meanings. Harmer

states that grammar is the description of the

ways in which words can change in that

language. In addition, Thornburry asserts that

6

grammar is the study of the way words are

chained together in a particular order, and

also of what kinds of words can slot into any

one link in the chain.

The writer also gives her definition of

grammar. According to the writer, grammar is

the study of words into a large order

( morphology and syntax) that relate each other

so that the large order can give information to

the reader and listener. We must aware of

grammar since it deals with not only words but

also the formation of words into a large order

and also its meaning.

b. The Importance of Grammar

The importance of grammar are as follows:

1) Grammar is important to be taught because it

affect students performance in all four skill

reading, listening, reading and writing.

2) Students are expected in comprehending

English either written or spoken, for that

reason, they must know the system rule of

grammar of a target language fluently and

acceptably since grammar is a tool for making

meaning as represented by Thornburry.

2) Simple Past Tense

a. The Definition of Simple Past Tense

7

We use tense to show when the activity

happen. We obviously know that simple past

tense is used to show an activity that is done

in a certain time in past.

Parrot gives more clear information of the

use of past tense. According to him, we can use

simple past tense are as follows:

1) Finished periods of time.

Parrott assert that “The past simple is

one of the tenses we use to refer to

completed events, states, or action. We

choose the past simple when we consider that

the event, state or action took place within

a finished period of time.

2) Precise detail.

We also use the simple past tense when

we provide precise circumstantial detail

about an event (e.g. we can say I’ve had my

appendix out but we have to use the simple

past tense as soon as we specify, for

example, where or how do not say I’ve had my

appendix out in Warsawa but I had my appendix

out in Warsawa).

3) Time anchor

In telling stories and describing what

happened in the past we use the past simple

8

as a “time anchor” to establish the key “time

frame” of events. We also use the simple past

to describe the key events that move the

story forward. We use other tenses ( notably

the past perfect and the past continuous) to

show the relationship of other events to this

“time frame”

b. The Pattern of Simple Past Tense

The simple past tense uses the form of

past tense verb (usually added by ed in

regular verb).

Sentence Pattern Affirmative Subject + past tense +

objectNegative Subject + did not +

infinitive + objectQuestion Did + subject +

infinitive + objectFor example:

Affirmative

I walked to school yesterday

I bought a new car three days ago

Negative

I did not walk to school yesterday

I did not buy a new car three days ago

Interrogative

9

Did I walk to school yesterday?

Did I buy a new car three days ago?

The simple past tense also uses be; was and

were

Sentence PatternAffirmative Subject + was/were +

ComplementNegative Subject + was/were + not

+ ComplementQuestion Was/were + Subject+

Complement

For example:

Affirmative

Sinta was sick yesterday.

They were absent a week ago

Negative

Sinta was not sick yesterday

They were not absent a week ago.

Interrogative

Was sinta sick yesterday?

Were they absent a week ago?

3) Media

a. Definition of media

Media are necessary in order to have

efficiency and effectiveness in teaching

10

learning. Based on Oxford Learner's Pocket

Dictionary, medium (plural media) is

"something which is used for a particular

person."5 Education association defines media

as thing that can be manipulated, can be

seen, can be heard, can be read, and can be

talked with instrument which is used well in

the teaching learning process, and can

influence effectiveness of instructional

program.6 Audiovisual aids and teaching

material are other terms of media that are

generally used in teaching learning process.

According to writer, media are means

that can be used to deliver or receive

something.

b. Types of media

According to Oemar Hamalik (cited from

Asnawir, 2002: 29), there are four

classifications of teaching media:

a.Visual media, such as filmstrip,

transparency, micro projection, bulletin

board, pictures, illustration, chart,

graphic, poster, map, and globe.

5Oxford Universiy, Oxford Learner's Pocket Dictionary, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 3rd Ed, p. 268.

6 Asnawir and M. Basyirudin Usman, Media Pembelajaran, (Jakarta: Ciputat Pers, 2002), p. 11.

11

b.Audited media, such as phonograph record,

electric transcript, radio, recorder of tape

recorder.

c.Audio visual media, such as film, TV, and

three dimensions things.

d.Dramatization, role play, socio drama, etc.

Those media can be used in teaching

according to the materials and students' level

and interest.

c. The Functions of Teaching Media

Media in the classroom are appropriate for

triggering ideas, making difficult subjects

more understandable, and for holding attention

on important ideas. It should lead students to

remember ideas by becoming more involved with

them. What is not always obvious is that

students should first know what media is and

ways to think about it. Critical skills in

understanding media are extremely important;

without them the film, video, record or slide

presented in relation to a subject is only one

dimensional.

According to Levie and Lentz (cited from

Arsyad, 2003: 16), there are four functions of

teaching media, especially visual media as

following:

12

a.Attention Function

Media can attract students’ attention to

concentrate on lesson content related to

visual meaning showed. Sometimes in the first

lesson, students are not interested in lesson

material. So, they don’t pay attention to the

lesson.

b.Affective Function

This function can be seen from students’

interest when they learn or read pictured

text. Picture or visual sign can endow

students’ attitude and emotion.

c.Cognitive Function

This function can be seen from research

finding that states that visual sign or

picture can achieve the aim to understand and

remember information or message contained in

picture smoothly.

d.Compensatory Function

Compensatory function of teaching media

are seen from result of research that visual

media, which give context to understand the

text help students who are weak in reading,

organize information of the text and remember

it. In other words, teaching media has

function to accommodate students who are weak

13

and difficult to understand the lesson

explained.7

4) Game

a. Definition of game

A Game is structured activity, usually

undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used

as an educational tool. Games are distinct

from work, which is usually carried out for

remuneration and from art, which is more

concerned with the expression of ideas.8

English is different from our language.

Therefore it is not easy to learn it. One

must make an effort to understand, to repeat

accurately, to manipulate newly understood

language and to use the whole range of known

language in conversation or written

composition. Games help and encourage many

learners to sustain their interest work.

b. Circle Chain Game in Teaching Process

Game is one of media that can be applied

in language teaching and learning. All people

are like games either young up to adult. But

different age are group requires various

topic material, competence, and model of7 Azhar Arsyad, Media Pembelajaran, Jakarta : PT Raja Grafindo

Persada, 2003, p. 16-17.8 HTTP://WWW.LINTASBERITA.COM/GO/742531

14

game. For example, children like fun game,

then adult more like challenging game. So, as

teacher should choose the appropriate game

for all students in order to be fun learning

and active class.

Circle chain game is one method which is

effective to be used in foreign language

learning especially in teaching grammar. It

is important for the teacher to be creative

and innovative. There are many aspects to be

considered in playing this game. The

following steps in teaching simple past tense

using circle chain game are:

Preparation:

1. Have students sit in a circle

2. Give students a minute to remember what

they did yesterday

3. After giving instruction appoint one

student to begin

Direction:

1. You will have one minute to remember

what you did yesterday

2. Then one player will be chosen to

tell you what they did

15

3. The next player will repeat what the

previous players did using and I and add

what he or she did

4. Each player will repeat all of the

previous players activities and add their

own statement.

H. PREVIOUS RESEARCH

In making this thesis, the writer has some

relevant previous research that support her

researcher this is:

Thesis entitled “ Stimulating Students Oral

Use of Simple Past Tense Through Story Telling

( An Experimental Research with 8 Grade students

of MTs Sumber Payung Batal Barat Gading Sumenep

Madura in The Academic Year of 2009/2010” written

by Siti Fannah 053411204. The research was

quantitative which attempt how to motivate

students in stimulate students oral use of simple

past tense. In this research shows that using

story telling can improve student’s motivation in

stimulate students oral use of simple past tense.

Through story telling the students felt interest

and tried to speak English.

Second, the thesis entitled The Teaching of

Simple Past Tense For Junior High School Through

16

Task-Based-Learning by Dina Pratiwi of English

Department Language and Art Faculty Semarang State

University in her study she compared the teaching

by using conventional method and by using task-

based-learning. The result of her study show that

using task-based-learning is more effective in

teaching simple past tense.

In this research, the writer tries to

offer one of teaching media that is circle

chain game to teach simple past tense with

experimental study. The writer need two

classes, experiment group and control group.

There is any difference between experimental

class and control class in teaching and

learning process. It means that experimental

class were taught using circle chain game and

control class were taught using conventional

method. What I mean by using conventional

method is that the teacher explains orally to

the students about simple past tense.

I. RESEARCH APPROACH

In this research, the writer conducted an

experimental study. An experimental is a situation

in which one observes the relationship between two

variables by deliberately producing a change in one

17

and looking to see whether this alteration produces

a change in the other.9 In addition to that,

according to Western Michigan University,

experimental research is scientific investigation in

which an investigator manipulates and controls one

or more independent variables to determine their

effects on the outcome (dependent) variable.10

Variable is the object of research or something

that become the concern of research.11 In this study

there are two variable.

1. Independent Variable

It is a variable that influences or causes of

change or emergence of the dependent variable.12

Independent variable in this research is the use of

circle chain game in teaching simple past tense.

2. Dependent Variable

It is variable that is affected resulting,

because of the existence of the independent

variable.13 Dependent variable in this research is

the achievement of the eight grade students of SMP N

9 Rodgers and Brown, Doing Second Language Research, (Cambridge: Oxford Press 2002) p. 211.

10 Western Michigan University: The Evaluation Centre, “Glossary”, http://ec.wmich.edu/glossary/prog-glossary.htf, 3 August 2009.

11 Suharsimi Arikunto, Prosedur Penelitian: Suatu Pendekatan Praktek, Jakarta: PT. Rineka Cipta, 2006., p. 118

12 Sugiyono, Statistika Untuk Penelitian, (Bandung : CV Alfabeta, 2005), p.3

13 Ibid.

18

1 Mejobo Kudus in the academic year of 2010/2011 in

simple past tense.

In this study, researcher used pretest-posttest

control group design. Two groups are employed in

this design; one group, the experimental group,

receives a treatment (X) while the second group,

does not. Both groups are given a pretest and a

posttest.

The pretest-posttest control group design can

be diagrammed as shown below:14

R O1 X O2

R O3 O4

The subjects of this research are divided into

two groups: experimental group, which were taught by

using circle chain game and control group, which

were taught without using circle chain game.

In this study, the approach used by writer is

quantitative approach. It is quantitative because

the data will be gained are numeric and will be

analyzed by using statistical computation.

Quantitative approach is that stressed the analysis

to the numerical data that is processed by

14 Bruce W. Tuckman, Conducting Educational Research, (USA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978), p. 131-132.

19

statistical method.15 It will explain the result of

pre - test and post – test.

J. SOURCE OF DATA/PARTICIPANT AND SETTING

a. Population

The population of this study is All of the

eight grade students of SMPN 1 Mejobo Kudus in

the academic year of 2010/2011 has seven

classes.

b. Sample

The writer will take two classes from the

eight grade students of SMPN 1 Mejobo Kudus in

the academic year of 2010/2011 as a sample the

writer uses V IIIA as an experimental class and

VIII B as control class.

K. TECHNIQUE OF DATA COLLECTING

In gaining the data, the researcher attempts

to employ these following methods.

a) Documentation

The documentation method is used to look

for the data concerning matters or the

variable that took the form of the note,

transcript, book, newspaper, magazine,

15 Prasetya Irawan, Logika dan Prosedur Penelitian, (Jakarta: STIA-LANPress, 1999), p. 92.

20

inscription, ledger, agenda, etc.16 It refers

to the archival data that helps the researcher

to collect the data needed. In this research,

this method was used to get the data of

students’ name list that become respondents,

syllabus, lesson plan, etc. The data was

gained by the help of the English teacher.

b) Test

It is a set of questions and exercises

used to measure the achievement or capability

of the individual or group.17 In this research,

the post-test will be given to the students as

participant after being taught and will be

given to both groups, either experiment group

or control one. It is aimed to assess their

achievement on the grammar mastery. The test

which is used to assess will be examined in

advance to know the validity, reliability,

degree of test difficulty, and degree of

question distinction.

Instrument Test

Measurement is said well if it has good

validity, reliability, degree of test

difficult, and degree of question distinctive.16 Ibid., p. 158.17 Suharsimi Arikunto, Op.Cit., p. 158

21

a) Validity

Is measurement that shows the

validity of instrument. It is counted

using product moment formula.18

Notice:

Rxy : question correlation coefficient

N : number of students

X : number of each item score

Y : number of total score

Calculation result of rxy is compared

with r table of product moment by 5% degree

of significance. If rxy is higher than r

table, the item of question is valid.

b) Reliability

It means can be believed. Besides having

high validity, a good test should have high

reliability too. Alpha formula is used to

know reliability of test.19

R11 : correlation index

18 Suharsimi Arikunto, Dasar-dasar Evaluasi Pendidikan, (Jakarta: PT. Bumi Aksara, 2002), p.65

19 Ibid, p. 170.

22

R ½ ½ : rxy that has been said as correlation

index between instrument.

c) Degree of test difficulty

A good question is a question that not

really difficult and not really easy. Formula

for degree of test difficulty is:20

Notice:

P : difficulty’s index

B : number of students who has right answer

JS : number of students

The criteria are:

P = 0,00 too difficult question

0,00 < P ≤ 0,03 difficult question

0,00 < P ≤ 0,70 average question

0,70 < P ≤ 1,00 easy question

P = 1 too easy question

d) Degree of question distinctive

It is used to know how accurate the

question differ higher subject and lower

subject is. The formula is:21

D = PH – PL

Notice

D : degree of question

20 Ibid., p. 20821 Ibid., p. 213

23

PH : degree of difficulty from higher

group

PL : degree of difficulty from lower

group

The criteria are:

0,00 < D ≤ 0,20 bad degree of distinctive

0,21 < D ≤ 0,40 average degree of distinctive

0,41 < D ≤ 0,70 good degree of distinctive

0,71 < D ≤ 1,00 very good degree of

distinctive

D < 0 question is not good and should be

deleted

L. TECHNIQUE OF DATA ANALYSIS

a) Normality Test

It is used to know the normality of the

data that is going to be analyzed whether both

groups have normal distribution or not.

Chi square is used here22

Notice:

: chi square

: frequency from observation

22 Sujana, Metode Statistika, (Bandung: Tarsito, 1996), p. 273.

24

: expected frequency

Calculation result of is compared with

x table by 5% degree of significance. If is

lower than x table so the distribution list is

normal.

b) Homogeneity Test

Is used to know whether experimental

group and control group, that are decided,

come from population that has relatively same

variant or not. The formula is:23

Notice:

Vb : bigger varian

Vk : smaller varian

The hypotheses in homogeneity test are:

Ho : homogeny variant:

Ha : non homogeny variant:

If calculation result of F is lower than

F table by 5% degree of significance so HO is

accepted, it means both groups have same

variant.

c) Test of the average

Is used to examine average whether

experimental and control group that has been23 Ibid., p. 250.

25

decided having significant different average

from the mark grammar in previous time before

the treatment.

(has same variant), the formula is:24

: average of experimental group

: average of control group

N1 : number of experimental group

N2 : number of control group

: standard deviation of experimental

group

: standard deviation of both groups

If (has no some variant), the formula

is:

24 Ibid., p.239

26

The hypotheses are:

: average data of experimental group

: average data of control group

Ho is accepted if calculation result of t

is lower than . Degree of freedom for

data t is (n1 + n2-2) with probability .

IF Ho is refused and Ha is accepted, so the

average of first group is better than the

second one.

d) Test of Research Result

To examine the hypothesis that have been

stated, these following steps are used.

a. normality test

The steps are same with the steps on data

analysis technique.

b. Homogeneity test

The steps are same with the steps on data

analysis technique.

c. Hypothesis test

The steps are same with the steps on

data analysis technique that is to prove the

researcher hypothesis about the difference

of students’ achievement on the grammar

27

mastery between the students taught using

circle chain game from those taught using

non circle chain game. Here, the t-test

formula is used.

M. PROCEDUR AND TIMELINE

In collecting data, there are some steps was

taken by the researcher, they are as follow:

No Task description Time Schedule

week1st 2nd 3t

h

4th

1. Asking permission to the

headmaster to do research and

getting familiar with the school

situation.2. Contact the English teacher3. Doing pre test4. Giving treatment for both

groups. The experimental group

will taught by using circle

chain game. Otherwise, the

control group will taught by

28

using conventional method.5. Doing Observation 6. Doing post test

N. OUTLINE OF THE THESIS

In order to make this research comprehends;

the researcher will give the thesis into five

chapters as follows:

Chapter I is introduction. In this chapter

consist of background of the study, reason for

choosing the topic, the research question,

objectives of the study, and outline of the

thesis.

Chapter II is review of the related

literature. In this chapter, the writer discusses

about some theories which have relevant and

supporting to the topic.

Chapter III is methodology of the research. In

this chapter, the writer presents subject of the

study, technique of data collection, instruments

of the research and technique of data analysis.

Chapter IV is analysis of the research. In

this chapter the writer discuss the research of

the study and discussion.

29

Chapter V is conclusion. In this chapter

consist of conclusion of the research and

suggestion for the better future research.

30

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Arsyad, Azhar, Media Pembelajaran, Jakarta :PT Raja Grafindo Persada, 2003

Asnawir and Usman, Media Pembelajaran, Jakarta:Ciputat Pers, 2002

Fromkin,Victoria, an Introduction toLanguage, US: Thomson Heine, 2003

Hornby, Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionaryof Current English, New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1987

Irawan, Prasetya, Logika dan Prosedur Penelitian,Jakarta: STIA-LAN Press, 1999

Oxford Universiy, Oxford Learner's Pocket Dictionary,Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003

Rodgers and Brown, Doing Second Language Research,Cambridge: Oxford Press 2002

Sugiyono, Statistika Untuk Penelitian, Bandung : CVAlfabeta, 2005

31

Sujana, Metode Statistika, Bandung: Tarsito, 1996

Tuckman, Bruce W, Conducting Educational Research,USA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publisher, 1978,2nd Edition.

Ur, Penny, Grammar Practice Activities; aPractical Guide for Teachers, UK: CambridgeUniversity Press,1988

Western Michigan University: The EvaluationCentre, “Glossary”,http://ec.wmich.edu/glossary/prog-glossary.htf, 3August 2009.

Wright, Andrew, et, al. , Games for LanguageLearning, Cambridge: Cambridge university press,1993, New Edition.

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