INCREASING
THE STUDENTS’ LEARNING ENGLISH MOTIVATION BY USING CROSSWORD PUZZLE AT THE
EIGHT GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 4 PASURUAN
Lintang Puspitasari
Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa
Inggris STKIP PGRI Pasuruan
ABSTACT :
English is becoming more and more important in Indonesia as it is use
for different purposes. Moreover, English is as a one of foreign languages
which is taught in elementary school, junior high school, and senior high
school. However, learning English for students or teaching English for teachers
are not an easy case. As a matter of fact, Motivation is probably the most
important factor that teachers can target in order to improve learning.
Motivation has long been identified as one of the main factors affecting
English language learning (Gardner, 1985). With regard to students, very little
if any learning can occur unless students are motivated. That is, motivation is
important in the teaching and learning process especially in learning English.
This research was conducted to find out whether interactive method by applying
crossword puzzle can increase students’ learning english motivation of the
second year students of SMPN 4 Pasuruan. The subject of the research was the
students of class VIII F on first semester of 2016-2017 academic year. The
researcher used classroom action research as the design of her research. The
researcher conducted the researcher in two cycles. The first cycle was on 16th of
September 2016 and 19th of September 2016. Meanwhile, the second cycle was on 23rd of
September 2016 and 26th of September 2016. Every cycle consisted of two meetings. There were
four steps in each cycle i.e. planning, implementing, observing, and
reflecting. Based on the result of the test in
cycle two, it was obtained that there were 27 out of 32 students that managed
to pass the KKM getting a score that crossed 75. In other words, it was 84%
students who were categorized to be successful in the second cycle of the
research. It means cycle two was a success because the criteria of success of
the research was 80%.
Key Words: English, learning English, learning
motivation, crossword puzzle, and second year students
Motivation is defined as the extent ones strive
to acquire the language because of the desire to do so and the satisfaction
derived from it (Gardner, 1985). Motivation is considered significant in its
role in language learning success. Along this line of thoughts, students’
motivation toward English language learning can, to a certain degree, influence
their learning results. It is worth investigating how students become
successful or failed in learning English because it might affect their
motivation and the way they learn the language. Zoltan Dornyei (2002) stated
that the learner’s enthusiasm, commitment and persistence are the key
determinant of success or failure.
Student motivation is an essential element that
is necessary for quality education. How do we know when students are motivated?
They pay attention, they begin working on tasks immediately, they ask questions
and volunteer answers, and they appear to be happy and eager (Palmer, 2007).
Basically, very little if any learning can occur unless students are motivated
on a consistent basis.
English is becoming more and more important in
Indonesia as it is used for different purposes, such as teaching, cultural and
among others. In Indonesia, English is as a one of foreign languages which is
taught in elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school. Living
in a country where English is hardly spoken, if at all, a large number of
Indonesian students find it difficult in learning English and impossible even,
to effectively communicate in English. Thus, there needs to be an element to
help students in the learning process that can help not only their
comprehension of the subject at hand but also the satisfactory results of the
learning process. This element is none other than something that can trigger
students to actually be more involved in the learning process which is their
learning motivation, the motivation.
Based on the preliminary study that the
researcher conducted in SMPN 4 Pasuruan, she found out that the students of the
second year class VIIIF were strunggling in learning English which led them to
unsatisfactory results of the learning process. That explained the score data
where the average students’ score of class VIIIF happened to be under KKM.
Based on curriculum used in SMPN 4 Pasuruan which is curriculum K2013, the
minimun score criteria (KKM) for English subject is 75. There were 28 out of 32
students who still got the score of 30 to 65.
Ironically, if being compared to the students’
scores of the other classes, class VIIIF was the only one which scores of the
individual student did not meet any level of satisfactory at all. As the case
was observed more by the researcher, the topic of the subject being taught at
the moment was apparently not into a difficult category at all. It was about
“Invitation Card” and further observation showed that it was only this one
class that was strunggling in getting along with English class. On the other
hand, the teacher that taught the class was not of any category of a boring
teacher that can arise boredom in the teaching and learning process. She taught
enthusiastically and she explained the lesson really good to the point she
could make the explanation to be really clear to understand.
From that, the researcher took a conclusion
that the problem did not lie on the teacher but on the students. Moreover, the
researcher drew a conclusion again that when it comes to students’ problem in
the teaching and learning process, there has always been one problem and that
one problem only which is the motivation.
Motivation is beyond important in the teaaching
and learning process. Without any motivation, students are impossible to get
themselves up for learning. Motivation helps students to be more engaged in the
teaching and learning process. That said, learning process cannot work properly
without motivation. That just goes to show how really is important a motivation
in the learning process for students. Having said that, the problem of class
VIIIF was due to the fact that class VIIIF lacked the motivation of learning
English. Hence, motivation was needed to be arisen for the students of class
VIIIF in order to help them get along with English in the teaching and learning
process in English class.
There may be a lot of factors that can lead to
unsatisfactory results of students’ learning process. Many factors had been
observed by the researcher when she did the preliminary study in SMPN 4
Pasuruan. The researcher observed the learning process happened in class VIII A
to VIII F, analyzed the results before finally taking conclusions from the
observation. After the observation was done, the researcher found out that a
significant difference in the learning English process among those six classes
of class VIII.
Based on the observation, it was obvious that
every class did not have any significant problem to be such a matter at hand
but the students of class VIII F. The students were strunggling in English
class and looked bored to death in the learning process when in contrast was
that the teacher had done her very best in teaching the class.
When the rest of the class aside from class
VIIIF seemed to be doing just fine in the learning English process, it
apparently happened to be the otherwise from the students of class VIIIF. When
the other classes were enjoying the learning English process and seemed to have
a good engaged in learning English process, class VIIIF just happened to be the
otherwise. They looked uninterested, bored to death and sometimes they
seemed to be lost with themselves when the learning process was going on. That
said, class VIIIF was at lost of motivation. The learning motivation was really
low to the point the results of the learning process was nowhere near
satisfactory at all. It was confirmed by the score data of the students at
class VIIIF where there were only 4 out of 32 students that managed to pass the
KKM. Thus, the learning motivation of students class VIIIF was really in need
to be arisen for their own good, once and for all.
There are dozens of ways in
triggering motivation for students in the teaching and learning process. By
ways, the researcher means the interactive ways that are creative and fun which
go both ways for the students and for the teachers. The researcher gives more
concern on the results of the learning process which in getting satisfactory
results, the researcher took a creative way
in delivering the assignments or students’ worksheets. There was almost
no problem at all in the way the teacher taught the students so it was just
more about pushing the students’ motivation so that they could be more involved
and engaged in the teaching and learning English process and finally they would
be able to get satisfactory results. Crossword puzzle is one of many creative
ways in delivering assignments or worksheets for students. It is due to the
fact that crossword puzzle is basically viewed as a game instead of anything
serious like students’ worksheets.
Based on the observation done in
class VIIIF, it was obvious that the students were not enjoying the learning
process. In order to change that, the researcher needed to deliver something
that could make them enjoy the learning process. This type of class is that
class that cannot be taken in a serious way. The atmosphere of the class needed
to be more relaxed in order for them being able to enjoy the learning process.
Especially when they had to do assignments. They cannot be taken seriously, it
should be more relaxing and fun for them. That is, crossword puzzle has this
familiarity to be known as a game but here is for the purpose of teaching, the
researcher modified the crossword puzzle to not just be about a game that is
fun but also about acquaring knowledge in a fun way. For that, the researcher
decided that crossoword puzzle would be best to use as the formula to trigger
students’ motivation in the learning process that finally could lead to
satisfactory results of the learning process itself.
According to curriculum K2013
for English subject, the eight grade students have to learn short functional
texts such as invitation card and greeting card. The researcher chose inviation
card as the object of the research in increasing students’ learning motivation.
Invitation card is one of the short functional texts which has to be taught to
eight graders in Junior High School.
William (2007) argued that the
use of educational games such as crossword puzzles, word search puzzles,
modified television game shows, or commercial board and card games make
learning fun and motivational. Weisskireh (2006), for example, noted that the
use of crossword puzzles as exam review tools garnered very favorable responses
from students. A crossword puzzle,
according to Wahyuningsih (2009) is a game in which words, guessed from their
definitions, are fitted into a diagram of white and black squares. The
crossword has words written horizontally (across clues) and words written
vertically (down clues). The pattern of black squares usually serves to
separate each word from adjacent words (Wahyuningsih, 2009). Correctly
deciphering a crossword requires correct spelling, which for students may mean practising
dictionary skills. Making inferences, evaluating choices, and drawing
conclusions are important skills required for completing crossword puzzles
(Wahyuningsih, 2009).
Completion of a crossword puzzle can require
students to use resource materials to locate answers. When used as a course
assignment, the instructor may choose to assign point values to each correct
response or for completion of the entire crossword puzzle. If used as an assessment
tool, instructors may create small puzzles as examination components.
Instructors may also assign groups of students to the task of creating puzzles and
grade them on the basis of creativity. Crossword puzzles can also be used as a
learning reinforcement tool or interactive game before administration of a
conventional
examination (Berry, 2008).
RESEARCH METHOD
The design of this research is classroom action
research (CAR) which was done at SMPN 4 Pasuruan. It is located at Jl. R.W. Monginsidi
56, Pasuruan. This is a research study in which scientific approach was used
for classroom action research design (CAR). The research was done in two cycles
starting from 16th of September 2016 to 26th of
September 2016 in which the object of the research was the
students of class VIIIF which consists of 32 students with 14 females and 18
males.
This research was conducted using a pre-test/post-test paradigm to
see what crossword puzzle can do to help in gaining satisfactory results from
learning process and whether the use of crossword puzzle is really effective in
increasing students’ learning motivation. The instruments, were pre-and post-tests
and a questionnaire surveying the students’ attitudes toward learning. The
results of the learning process in this research were measured by the scores of
the students that were passed the tests based on the KKM of English in SMPN 4
Pasuruan which is 75. Moreover, the criteria of success in this research is
that if the whole class could have 80% of the students who could manage to get
at least 75, or even better, pass 75.
In conducting the research, the researcher did
the following procedures. The first was conducting the preliminary study to
analyze and identify the problem of the teacher and the students. The second
was preparing a plan to solve the problem of students in the learning English
process. In this stage, the researcher prepared the material, instructional
media, lesson plan, test, criteria of success. The third was implementing the
the plan, it would be related with the plan which had been prepared by the
researcher. The fourth was observing the result of the implemented plan. The
last was reflecting, whether the strategy was a success or not, and finally the
researcher would take action for the follow up result. If the plan is not a
success, the researcher has to revise the plan and go to the second cycle until
the criteria of success is achieved.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
The researcher conducted the research in increasing the students’
learning English motivation in two cycles. Before conducting the research, the
researcher did the preliminary study first. After that, the researcher
conducted the research in two cycles. Every cycle consisted of two meetings and
each of them took 80 minutes. That is, this research was done is four meetings
in total. There were four steps in each cycle i.e. planning, implementing,
observing, and reflecting.
Firstly, the researcher did the preliminary study before doing cycle one
of her research. It was conducted on the 6th and 9th of
September 2016. In the first meeting, the researcher gave the students the
material about invitation cards which invitation cards are the short and simple
ones that the studenets are familiar with. Grammar Teaching Method (GTM) was in
use in the teaching and learning process.
The preliminary study showed that it was only this one
class, VIIIF, that was strunggling in getting along with English class. On the
other hand, the teacher that taught the class was not of any category of a
boring teacher that can arise boredom in the teaching and learning process. She
taught enthusiastically and she explained the lesson really good to the point
she could make the explanation to be really clear to understand.
From
that, the researcher took a conclusion that the problem did not lie on the
teacher but on the students. When the rest of the class aside from class VIIIF
seemed to be doing just fine in the learning English process, it apparently
happened to be the otherwise from the students of class VIIIF. When the other
classes were enjoying the learning English process and seemed to have a good
engaged in learning English process, class VIIIF just happened to be the
otherwise. They looked uninterested, bored to death and sometimes they seemed
to be lost with themselves when the learning process was going on. That said,
class VIIIF was at lost of motivation. The learning motivation was really low
to the point the results of the learning process was nowhere near satisfactory
at all. It was confirmed by the score data of the students at class VIIIF where
there were only 4 out of 32 students that managed to pass the KKM.
That said, in the first meeting, the students
were passive for they are looked bored to death because it was way more like
teacher-centered when it was supposed to be students-centered in the teaching
and learning process. The students only waited n listen to the explanations
given by the teacher and that made the class became boring. The students did
have low motivation to learn, they were even lazy to open their dictionary and
did not really give their all attention to the teacher and they did not even respond
or give any feedback to the teacher’s questions when the teacher was trying to
have some interaction with the students during the teaching and learning
process.
In the second meeting, the students were given
a test. It was done by the researcher in order to know the results of the
students’ learning English process and in this very case was on Invitation Card
at class VIIIF. The researcher used the invitation cards which are short and
simple that the students must already be all familiar with. There were 10
questions. The test specification of the test was that 5 questions were related
to the invitation cards while the 5 others were related to the knowledge of the
material, the invitation card. From the test, it was obtained that there were
28 out of 32 students who got the score of 30 to 65. In other words, there were
only 4 out of 32 students that managed to pass the KKM.
Based on the observation done in
class VIIIF, it was obvious that the students were not enjoying the learning
process. In order to change that, the researcher needed to deliver something
that could make them enjoy the learning process. This type of class is that
class that cannot be taken in a serious way. The atmosphere of the class needed
to be more relaxed in order for them being able to enjoy the learning process.
Especially when they had to do assignments. They cannot be taken seriously, it
should be more relaxing and fun for them. That is, crossword puzzle has this
familiarity to be known as a game but here is for the purpose of teaching, the
researcher modified the crossword puzzle to not just be about a game that is
fun but also about acquaring knowledge in a fun way. For that, the researcher
decided that crossoword puzzle and scientific approach would be best to use as
the formula to trigger students’ motivation in the learning process that
finally could lead to satisfactory results of the learning process itself.
Cycle One
Cycle one consisted of two meetings. The first meeting was conducted on
16th of September 2016. Meanwhile, the second meeeting was done on
19th of September 2016. Cycle one covered with four stages. They are
planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Before implementing the action,
the researcher produced the tools of the teaching and learning process. Such as
the lesson plan, the material, the instructional media, the students’ worksheet
which is in the form of crossword puzzle and the observation check list related
to the action. After that, the researcher did the action in the classroom. It
consisted of three activities. They are pre activity, whilst activity and post
activity. The material that was used by the researcher was Invitation Card, the
short and simple ones that the students are familiar with.
In the first meeting, the researcher gave the students the material by
using the scientific approach. There were five stages in this activity, they
are observing, questioning, exploring, associating, and communicating. The
students were divided into a group of four people. The students in each group
have the same role to do the students’ worksheet which was in the form of
crossword puzzle because each one of them would get the chance to presentate
their answers in front of the class and finally the whole class would discuss
the crossword puzzle together guided by the teacher.
In the first meeting of cycle one, the researcher gave the students the
material about invitation cards which invitation cards are the short and simple
ones that the studenets are familiar with. Grammar Teaching Method (GTM) was in
use in the teaching and learning process. The researcher
also used power point slide presentation (PPT) as one of her media in the
teaching and learning process. She also put a video related to the material
being taught in the PPT. The video aimed for brainstorming the students before
getting into the material, also, it was on the purpose of attracting the
students’ attention and it apparently really did.
The
researcher got the students’ attention real well during the lesson by using
video and a creative PPT. the researcher also tried to build interaction with
the whole class during the lesson. The class seemed to start going in on the
flow of the learning English process even though the students still did not
have a really good engaged in learning English process. It sure was a progress
already that they seemed to be giving attention to the teacher’s explanation of
the material.
They
did not look as much uninterested as they looked in the preliminary study, they
did not look that bored either. Some of them were starting to give feedbacks
during the lesson. Although, of course not all of them became an active student
in the class in a blink of an eye, some of them was definitely showing that
they were into the learning process and some others were still ashamed in being
involved in the learning process. However, the researcher kept on building the
interaction between the teacher and the students and between the students and
the other students so that the students became more active than passive, so
that they could be involved in the teaching and learning process.
Eventually,
that was a good progress because the class was not boring anymore for the it
was not teacher-centered anymore. The students were given a worksheet which is
in the form of crossword puzzle by the end of meeting one. And the results were
very satisfactory. The students were divided into a group of four people before doing the
task. The students in each group had the same role to do the students’
worksheet which was in the form of crossword puzzle because each one of them
got the chance to presentate their answers in front of the class and finally
the whole class discussed the crossword puzzle together guided by the teacher.
As the process was going on, the students seemed to be more into the
learning English process. They became more engaged during the learning process,
they even got interested in doing the task with their group. They became more
enthusiastic than they were before. It was obvious that they were motivated by
the use of crossword puzzle instead of the usual students’ worksheet. It is
believed that the students who are motivated will be easier to learn than the
students who are not motivated.
Therefore, the learners must have or even improve their motivation to get the better result in learning. And this
was what exactly happened to the students of class VIIIF.
The
crossword puzzle gave them the sense of this
more relaxing and fun atmosphere for them in the class in the learning
English process. The crossword puzzle has them feeling like they were just
doing a game instead of doing a task by a teacher in school. The crossword
puzzle used by the researcher is for the purpose of teaching, so the researcher
modified the crossword puzzle to not just be about a game that is fun but also
about acquaring knowledge in a fun way and it seemed to be going as the
expectation. Furthermore, this led to the very
satisfactory results of the learning process itself. Every group got a good
score that passed the KKM.
Although it seemed that the first meeting of cycle one was fine, actually
there were some problems that the researcher needed to be handled. It was
mentioned already that not all of them was active enough during the lesson. There were
still some of them that were still very ashamed in being involved in the
learning process. Some of these students were still struggling in the learning
English process. While the others were starting to show their interest in the
teaching and learning activity, these students were sometimes still lost with
themselves instead and sometimes they even bothered their friends not to be
into the lesson. They made a distraction out of themselves, the troublemakers.
And these students were needed to be stopped and handled, they could give bad
impacts to their peers. For that, the researcher needed to take account for
that and do the following actions in order to avoid such problems to occur
again, they are :
1)
The teacher
should give more of her attention to these students, the troublemakers, because
they indeed need more attention and so that they would not hold themselves to
be involved in the learning English process.
2)
The teacher
should keep an eye out to every student in each group so every individual would
be motivated in the teaching and learning process.
3)
The teacher
should give the same amount of attention and treatment to their students during
the lesson when she would try to build interaction with the students.
In
the second meeting of cycle one, the students were given a test. It was done by
the researcher in order to know the results of the students’ learning English
process in this cycle whether it was a failure or a success. The researcher
used the invitation cards which are short and simple that the students must
already be all familiar with. This time was not in the form of crossword puzzle
anymore but it was 10 questions related to invitation cards. The test
specification of the test was that 5 questions were related to the invitation
cards while the 5 others were related to the knowledge of the material, the
invitation card, just like the specification for the preliminary study test.
From
the test, it was obtained that there were 25 out of 32 students that managed
to pass the KKM getting a score that crossed 75. In other words, it was 78%
students who were categorized to be successful in the first cycle of the
research. It was already a success for the progress of the students of class
VIIIF. However, the criteria of success of the research was 80%. The researcher
took a further analysis and figured that it was caused by the similarity of the
material used in the crossword puzzle and in the examples of invitation cards
shown on PPT.
That
said, the similarity of the material used in the test made it easier for the
students. Then, the next possible question that could be arisen from this
result was that whether the students really were in a good comprehension of the
material, invitation card, or was it just because of the similarity that made
got them a good score? What if the material is completely different then? Will
they get a good score too?. Eventually, the researcher decided to do the second
cycle which means the researcher would need to revise the plan before
conducting the next cycle of the research.
Cycle
Two
The
cycle two was conducted on 23rd of September 2016 and 26th of September 2016. After analyzing the problems in cycle one, the
reseacher revised the plan first before going to the next step which was
conducting the second cycle. The purpose of revising the plan was to avoid the
same mistakes / problmes to take place again.
In the first meeting of cycle two, the researcher did pretty much the
same thing as what she did in the first meeting of cycle one. However, in
regard of the problems in cycle one, the researcher now gave
more of her attention to the students that were considered to be the
troublemakers of the class, because they indeed need more attention and so that
they would not hold themselves to be involved in the learning English process. The teacher also kept an eye out to every student in each group so
every individual would be motivated in the teaching and learning process. Also, the teacher gave the same amount of attention and treatment to
their students during the lesson when she would try to build interaction with
the students.
The researcher gave the students the material about invitation cards
which invitation cards are the short and simple ones that the studenets are
familiar with. Grammar Teaching Method (GTM) was in use in the teaching and
learning process. The researcher also used power point slide presentation (PPT) as
one of her media in the teaching and learning process. She also put a video
related to the material being taught in the PPT. The video aimed for
brainstorming the students before getting into the material, also, it was on
the purpose of attracting the students’ attention and as it was a success in
cycle one it was also a success in cycle two.
This time, the researcher really got the students’ attention real well during the
lesson by using video and a creative PPT. Apparently, there was a good progress
again during the teaching and learning process as the researcher was following
the steps gotten from the problems in cycle one in hopes that they would not
happen again in the next cycle.
The
progress was shown when the researcher built interaction with the whole class
during the lesson. Now, almost the majority of the class seemed to start going
in on the flow of the learning English process and the students were starting to
have a really good engaged in learning English process. They looked more
interested compared to what they looked in the preliminary study and in cycle
one, they did not even look bored anymore. The majority of them were giving
feedbacks during the lesson. The whole class was definitely showing that they
were way into the learning process compared to cycle one. The students that
used to be ashamed in getting involved or to answer or ask questions were also
showing their interest. The whole class was basically became more engaged now
in the learning English process. More students became more active in the class
and it was obvious that this was not teacher-centered at all anymore, it was
students-centered instead and that was just exactly how it should be in regard
of the curriculum used in SMPN 4 Pasuruan which is K2013.
The
students were also given a worksheet which is in the form of crossword puzzle
by the end of meeting one in cycle two. And the results, again, were very
satisfactory.
This
time, the worksheet was in regard of the problems found in cycle one which are
the researcher tried to erase the the similarity of the material used in PPT or
in the previous meetings. This is due to the fact that the researcher wanted to
know whether the students did comprehend the material or not, with or without
the similarity of the material of the invitation cards.
The students
were divided into a group of four people before doing the task. The students in
each group had the same role to do the students’ worksheet which was in the
form of crossword puzzle because each one of them got the chance to presentate
their answers in front of the class and finally the whole class discussed the
crossword puzzle together guided by the teacher. As this process was going on, the
students seemed to be more into the learning English process. They became more
engaged during the learning process, they even got interested in doing the task
with their group. They became more enthusiastic than they were before. It was
obvious that they were still well motivated by the use of crossword puzzle
instead of the usual students’ worksheet.
The
crossword puzzle still gave them the same effects. It gave them the sense of this more relaxing and fun atmosphere for
them in the class in the learning English process. The crossword puzzle has
them feeling like they were just doing a game instead of doing a task by a
teacher in school. The crossword puzzle used by the researcher is for the
purpose of teaching, so the researcher modified the crossword puzzle to not
just be about a game that is fun but also about acquaring knowledge in a fun
way and it seemed to be going as the expectation.
Furthermore,
this led to the very satisfactory results of the
learning process itself. Every group got a good score that passed the KKM.
However, this does not just stop here to see whether crossword puzzle really
was a help in increasing students’ learning English motivation and the results
of the learning process itself. Therefore, a test was needed to measure effectiveness.
In
the second meeting of cycle two, the students were given a test. It was done by
the researcher in order to know the results of the students’ learning English
process in this cycle whether it was a failure or a success. The researcher
used the invitation cards which are short and simple that the students must
already be all familiar with. Just like in cycle one, the test was not in the
form of crossword puzzle anymore but it was 10 questions related to invitation
cards. The test specification of the test was that 5 questions were related to
the invitation cards while the 5 others were related to the knowledge of the
material, the invitation card, just like the specification for the preliminary
study test.
From
the test, it was obtained that there were 27 out of 32 students that managed
to pass the KKM getting a score that crossed 75. In other words, it was 84%
students who were categorized to be successful in the second cycle of the
research. It means cycle two was a success because the criteria of success of
the research was 80%.
Based
on the analysis data from the result of the test ; the result of observation
check list as well as the result of questionnare, the researcher concluded that
using crossword puzzle could indeed increase students’ learning English
motivation with the help of scientific approach. Apart from that, the students’
feedbacks to the use of crossword puzzle in the learning English process was
very positive.
In
cycle one, it was revealed that there were 81% (26 out of 3) of the students
gave positive feedbacks. Whereas in the second cycle, there were a perfect 100%
(32 out of 32) of the students who gave positive feedbacks. Based on that
result, it was safe to say that the use of crossword puzzle was effective and
appropriate in helping the students of class VIII F to be motivated in the
learning English process. Eventually, based on the whole data analysis from the
result of the test, the result of observation check list, and the result of
questionnare, the researcher took a conclusion that using crossword puzzle
could increase students’ learning English motivation.
CONCLUSION
Crossword puzzles can be utilized as
a nontraditional teaching method. They can be used in any course to provide a
fun and interactive method for reinforcement of cognitive information presented
in lectures, introduction of new concepts, or assessment of student learning.
Crossword puzzles provide an instructor with a mechanism to supplement course
materials, to address different learning styles, to promote student motivation,
and to engage students in the learning process. This research was conducted to
examine the use of crossword puzzles in increasing the students’ learning
English motivation. Specifically, the use of crossword puzzles in increasing
the students’ learning English motivation at the eight grade students of SMPN 4
Pasuruan class VIIIF.
The
finding of the research showed that the teaching and learning process by using
crossword puzzle gave really positive effect in improving the student’s learning
English motivation at the eight grade students of SMPN 4 Pasuruan class VIIIF. This
is shown by the significant different occurred in the teaching and learning
process from the preliminary study to the cycle two of the research. The students
showed their enthusiasm in doing crossword puzzle as the worksheet of their
task and most of the students not only got a good comprehesion of the material
being taught but also a good score.
There
was a lot of progress in the teaching and learning process by using crossword
puzzle. The students became more engaged during the learning
process, they got very interested in doing the task with their group. They
became more enthusiastic than they before. It was obvious that they were
motivated by the use of crossword puzzle instead of the usual students’
worksheet. It is believed that the students who are motivated will be
easier to learn than the students who
are not motivated. Therefore, the learners must have or even improve their
motivation to get the better
result in learning. And this was what exactly happened to the students of class
VIIIF.
The
crossword puzzle gave them the sense of this
more relaxing and fun atmosphere for them in the class in the learning
English process. The crossword puzzle has them feeling like they were just
doing a game instead of doing a task by a teacher in school. The crossword
puzzle used by the researcher is for the purpose of teaching, so the researcher
modified the crossword puzzle to not just be about a game that is fun but also
about acquaring knowledge in a fun way and it seemed to be going as the
expectation both in cycle one and cycle two. However, the success of the use of
crossword puzzle was completely reached in cycle two with a calculation of 84%
of the students that passed the KKM regardless of the fact that the criteria of
success was 80%. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the
crossword puzzle usage has led the students to the very satisfactory results of
the learning process itself. Each group and each individual got a good score
that passed the KKM.
Having revealed that, it is safe to say that the student’s
achievement of the teaching and learning English process has improved really
well by using crossword puzzle in teaching and learning process. With that
being said, it is obvious that it indicates that by applying crossword puzzle,
the students’ achievement in English class has improved a lot better. It means
that crossword puzzle provides a significant contribution in improving the
students’ learning English motivation. Finally, the researcher concludes that
crossword puzzle is appropriate for the second year students of SMPN 4 Pasuruan
to learning English motivation.
REFERENCES
Berry, David.
2008. Crossword Puzzles as a Tool to Enhance Athletic Training Student
Learning: Part I. (Online)
(http://
human_performance_and_health_education_faculty_research/crossword-puzzles-as-a-tool-top-enhance-athletic-training-student-learning.html/)
Dornyei, Z.
(2002). Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge:
University
Press. (Online)
(http://ZDornyei/2002/motivational-strategies/html)
Gardner, R.C.
(1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of
attitudes and
motivation.
London : Edward Arnold Publishers. (Online)
(http://RCG/1985/social-psychology-motivation.html)
Palmer, D.
(2007). What Is the Best Way to Motivate Students in Science? Teaching
Science-The
Journal
of the Australian Science Teachers Association,
53(1), 38-42. (Online)
(www.jouranlsofausteachers.com/motivation/for/students/)
Wahyuningsih,
N. (2009). A study on the role of crossword puzzle in developing speaking
proficiency. Bistek Journal Bisnis dan Teknologi,
Volume 17, (1), 44-50. (Online)
(www.bisnisjurnaltekno.com/crossword/puzzle/study/)
Weisskirch, R.
S. (2006). An analysis of instructor-created crossword puzzles for student
review. College Teaching. 54 (1), 198 – 201
(Online)
(http://collegeteaching/html/analysis-of-instructor-created-crossword-puzzles-for-student-
review.html/)
William, D.
(2007). A unique review strategy that motivates student learning. Student
Motivation,
Volume
2, (pp 64-69) (Online)
(www.williamstudentmotivation.com/unique/review/strategy/motivates/student/learning)
No comments:
Post a Comment