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The findings of the first cycle would be elaborated into four stages of CAR. Those were planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. However, the
researcher did the action and observation at the same time because the researcher thought that it would be more effective by conducting the implementation of flash
cards to teach the students about the past forms of verbs and observe the teacher’s
performance and students’ behavior through the field notes in the learning
process. The researcher also thought that the action and observation would be one stage based on the consideration mentioned above. In other words, while the
action was implemented, the researcher could observe well what was happening during the teaching and learning process.
a. Planning of the First Cycle
After doing the preliminary study, the researcher decided that the main factor which occurred during the learning process in VIIIB class was the lack of
students’ ability to understand the correct past forms of irregular verbs. It could be proven from the students’ test scores which were under the passing grade. The
average score of VIIIB students in the previous test was 51.2 see Appendix 5. After having found the problem, the researcher began to conduct
classroom action research CAR by asking permission for the headmaster of SMP N 3 Klaten. Then, the researcher also asked permission for the teacher who
handled the classroom which was used to conduct classroom action research. After having the permission, the researcher prepared for the first cycle, such as the
lesson plan, model of the test, and flash cards. The main focus of this step was
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how to prepare a good method in teaching the past forms of irregular verbs through the flash cards.
In this step, the researcher reviewed a little bit about a recount text to the students. He taught the generic structure and the language feature of a recount
text. The students were asked by the researcher to use the past forms in writing the verbs in a recount text. He gave the further explanation about simple past tense as
the language feature in a recount text. It became a focus to overcome the problem which was faced by the students. Besides, the researcher planned to provide the
flash cards in teaching the past forms of irregular verbs to the students. He also planned to provide some verbs in Italic that were translated into Indonesia and
some verbs to be changed into the past form. Those aimed to help the students improve their mastery about the past forms of irregular verbs. Martin 1987: 54
states that flash cards can really help the students who have difficulties in learning English words.
Then, the researcher attempted to arrange a set of learning activities in a form of the lesson plan. Developing the lesson plan, the researcher referred to the
standard of competence and basic competence which focused on reading skills stated in the syllabus of English lesson for VIII grade in semester 2 see Appendix
6. The researcher also wrote three indicators based on the learning activities which wanted to be achieved. The first indicator stated that the students were
expected to be able to choose the appropriate words to complete the text given. The second indicator stated that the students were expected to use proper tenses in
learning a recount text. The last indicator stated that the students were expected to
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mention vocabulary especially regular and irregular verbs which were used appropriately in the text given.
After writing the indicators, the researcher decided to choose the learning methods which were appropriate in teaching the past forms of verbs. The learning
methods planned were questions-answers, discussions, individual work, and group work. The interactions which were used in the learning process were students
– teacher and students
– students. The researcher also made a handout and a worksheet for the students. The handout contained a brief explanation about the
materials which were taught especially giving the further information about the past forms of regular and irregular verbs. Meanwhile, the worksheet was about
choosing the appropriate answer in completing a recount text by filling the past forms of verbs in the blanks.
The activities in this learning process would be divided into three activities, namely pre activity, whilst activity, and post activity. In pre activity, the
researcher explained about what would be achieved by the students in the learning process and reviewed a little bit about materials given in the preliminary study. In
whilst activity, the researcher gave the handout and worksheet to the students about the past forms of verbs, and the teacher explained the details of the
instructions and the way in using the flash cards in the learning process. Then, the students were expected by the researcher to practice it correctly and implement it
in the test given. Finally, the students were given a test about filling in the blanks involved the past forms of regular and irregular verbs in some sentences. In the
post activity, the activity seemed like a closure. According to Baeur Sapona
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1991, the researcher usually used the time to check the students’ understanding
and summarize the materials being studied. The researcher reviewed the materials and asked the difficult things which were faced by the students in the teaching and
learning process. Those were the summary of the lesson plan which was implemented in the
first cycle. Before using the flash cards, the researcher and the teacher had to discuss the learning materials, learning activities, and the assessment. Afterwards,
the researcher and the teacher also knew about the steps of using flash cards in teaching the students about the past forms of irregular verbs.
b. Acting and Observing of the First Cycle
