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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Writing skills are important for students both for their academic and real life requirements. Writing skill are not some matters that can be underestimated as many
important things human beings depend their lives on are carried out in written forms. Brown 2003: 218 states in his book that business transactions, records, legal
documents, political and military agreements are written by specialists that work specifically in writing. Since all the aspects mentioned before require good writing
skills, only people with good writing skills are allowed to carry out the writing tasks. Thus writing skill becomes one of the skills learned at schools and other academic
institutions so that students will be ready to meet the demands in the real life. In addition to this, The American National Commission on Writing in 2004 published a
report regarding to the importance of writing in the workplace. They state that writing is considered as a “threshold skill”, since it would determine matters like
employment, promotion and salary rise. Also, in the working life, people who cannot write appropriately will not be hired or promoted compared to the ones who master
writing skills. The survey also found that job applicants with poorly written letters usually will not be called to the interview. Therefore, due to its importance, it is not
something uncommon to have many writing projects in teaching and learning activity. The more we practice to write, the better our writing will be.
Besides for preparing the real life future, we also need to learn writing to enhance our ability to share and to communicate our knowledge. Writing letters, blogging,
keeping journals and instant messaging have become normal ways of communicating NCTE. Mastering writing skills will enable us to present our ideas effectively in
written forms which, due to the development of the technology, have many ways these days.
As writing is considered as an important matter, the standard of good writing also has many requirements. In making a written text, there are many matters we have to
consider such as the content, the word choice, text organization, the mechanics, the grammar, and syntax. However, students might get bored if they are taught all of
them explicitly. Learning only from course books and student worksheets like mostly Indonesian English classes apply will only create passive learning and
lower students’ engagement to the lesson as the learners are being overwhelmed with explanations
and tasks. However, creating a fun English classroom is not an easy thing to do. This might be due to the lack of time that the teachers have to prepare the media for the
teaching and learning activity and the lack of facilities of the schools. Games is said to be effective in improving positive attitudes towards learning
English Lee, 2012: 5. Read 2007, in addition, states that games improve interest and motivation for learners. Games add interest to things that students find it
uninteresting, and increasing interest mean increasing effort Wright et al., 2005: 11. The students will not feel insecure due to the pressure of the lesson, but they also will
still learn from the activity. They will have more time to learn with their friends during the games, and they will have more chances to share their knowledge and
understanding. Being able to interact with their peers will make them more active and
engaged to the learning rather than being asked to listen to teacher’s explanations.
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Games have so many types and teachers can choose one they think compatible for the students. One of the simple games can be applied to English class is board
games. Studying with board games might be more exciting since it also requires students’ competitiveness. Their eagerness to become the best among their groups
will motivate them to study better.
B. The Identification of the Problems
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