Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, I would like to present background of the study, reasons for choosing the topic, statement of the problems, objectives of the study, hypotheses, significance of the study, limitation of the study, and outline of the study.

1.1 Background of the Study

PPL Praktik Pengalaman Lapangan is an obligatory intra-curricular activity which must be followed by Unnes students in the department of education. PPL is conducted in order that university students can apply all theories which they have learned in previous semesters. However, there are some problems which are faced by university students, especially me, in doing PPL. In school life, like what I have observed when I did PPL, there were a lot of students who were not motivated to learn English. They thought that in learning English, they would face a big number of complicated formulas which are called as grammar. By all means, it can discourage the students. The students should be motivated in learning grammar because there are so many units that they have to understand. Learning grammar will benefit the students in both academic and professional life. One of the units in grammar that the students have to learn is conditional sentences. Conditional sentences are not only explicitly written on syllabus design which should be taught for intermediate learners, but also they are frequently used in s tudents‟ daily life to communicate. The students often use them in any expression, such as to express real possibility, unreal possibility, advice or warnings, politeness markers, and regret. In reality, the students find some difficulties in understanding conditional sentences. First, for Indonesian, conditional sentences are difficult for them because of grammatical differences. There is no distinguishing grammar in expressing conditional sentences in Indonesia. However, there are a number of tenses used to express English conditional sentences. Second, there are some types of conditional sentences. In school curriculum, there are three types of conditional sentences which should be taught. They are type 1, type 2, and type 3. Those three types use different formulas and reflect different meaning. Moreover, in learning conditional sentences, the students are confused to decide which tenses that they should use in each type. They will find out some difficulties if they are asked to find the meaning of conditional sentences. It happens because the tenses which are used in each type are speculative. For example, if the students speculate about the present, they use the past tense. Therefore, the students should be exposed to the use of conditional sentences concerning their daily life to make them familiar. Another problem is that teachers still often applied the teacher centered technique in teaching and learning process. If it is applied in teaching and learning grammar, especially conditional sentences, it will make the students bored and sleepy easily in class. Moreover, there are also some students who are occasionally afraid to pose questions whenever they do not understand the materials. This traditional classroom learning environment can fit into competitive and individualistic categories. According to Burton 2004, competitive traditional classrooms are based on the concept of ranking. Thus, only one student can be at the head of the class. They often work individually to try getting the best among t heir friends, so students‟ success depends on individual action. The teachers can try to involve cooperative learning to engage the students in class in order to create a better learning environment. Cooperative learning is a kind of learning in which students work together in heterogeneous groups. This technique is very effective because it applies students‟ centered technique, so it will make the students more active. In cooperative learning, students have many opportunities to ask each other when they do not understand the materials well. There are many techniques in cooperative learning that teacher can use in teaching English as a second language. Tea party is one of techniques in cooperative learning. This technique will benefit both faster learners and slower learners. Faster learners will consolidate their understanding of materials when they explain what they know to their teammates. Slower learners will benefit from their friends‟ tutoring in group. Based on the statements above, I decide to investigate the effectiveness of tea party technique to teach conditional sentences. By using this technique, the students‟ mastery of conditional sentences is expected to be improved.

1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic