improving speaking skills by using games

Citation : Dewi, Ratna Sari; Kultsum, Ummi; Armadi,Ari (2016) : “Using Communicative Games in Improving Students’ Speaking Skills”, Canadian Center of Science and Education,p.63-71

 

Speaking in English is very important since English is acceptable in almost every country. However, in several Asian countries, English is taught as foreign Language. Somehow Asian learners are afraid in making mistake and being laughed by their classmates when they try to speak in English. According to Harmer when the teachers want to encourage students to speak, they have to use communicative approach that avoids the concentration towards grammar and vocabulary but emphasizes on the significance of language function (Harmer, 2001). In other words, these activities will involve students in real communication, where the achievement of their communicative task is more important than the accuracy of language they are using. Therefore, the researcher will use Communicative Games in order to improve students’ speaking ability. It is expected to improve students’ motivation and enthusiasm. The researcher use classroom action research in doing this research. The research was taken place at Junior High School of 6 South Tangerang, Jakarta, Indonesia. There are 2 cycles in this research in which it is done by the researcher and the English Teacher who acted as not only an observer but also taking actions by making lesson plan and giving assessment. In collecting the data, the instruments were interview, observation, questionnaire and test. In the preliminary study, the mean score of students on speaking before the research was 60.42. The class percentages which pass the minimum criterion were 13.9%. It means there were only 5 students who could pass the minimum score of 75. The mean score of post test 1 at the first circle was 69.02. The class percentages were 41.7%. It means 15 students who could pass the minimum score. The mean score in the post test 2 at the second circle was 78.77. The class percentages were 83.33%. It means there were 30 who passed the minimum score. This means that the communicative game is success in improving students’ speaking skill. Clearly, It gives positive improvement on students’ active participation, confidence and their fluency in speaking skill. In short it can be described that the strategy of teaching and learning creates good, enjoyable circumstances and reduces the boredom and stress of learning process.