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As being planned in the previous cycle, the explanation above was also the summary of the lesson plan which had been implemented in the second cycle. In
fact, the researcher and the teacher knew about the new steps of using flash cards in teaching the students about the past forms of verbs.
b. Acting and Observing of the Second Cycle
In this step, the researcher was going to describe and observe the actions which had been done by the researcher and the students during pre activity, whilst
activity, and post activity.
1 Pre Activity of the Second Cycle
In the beginning of the class, the researcher and the students prayed together based on their own religion. The students looked enthusiastic when the
researcher greeted them. Then, the researcher checked whether there were students absent or not. Afterwards, the researcher opened the class by doing
“whispering game” which was used to lift the students’ energy in joining the lesson especially to sharpen their ability through some short sentences about the
past forms of verbs. According to Scrivener 1994: 123, grammar practice activities are designed to focus on particular items of grammar.
Firstly, the researcher explained the rule of the games. After explaining, the researcher started the game by dividing the class into three groups. Each group
should make a line. The students had to whisper to the students one by one from the back student until the front student. The back one was whispered a short
sentence by the researcher. Lastly, the front student had to write the short sentence which was whispered from hisher friends. It aimed to see whether the students
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could memorize a sentence about the past form of irregular verb or not. The sentence was she saw a shark in the sea yesterday. After doing the game, most of
the students told that the game was very exciting. Then, the researcher discussed the game which had been done by the students.
The researcher also reviewed the previous materials about the past forms of verbs. The aim of the reviewing materials was to recall the
students’ knowledge in understanding the past forms of irregular verbs. From all the activities which
were done in pre activity, t he researcher observed that “whispering game” could
increase the students’ interest in joining the lesson. From the observation, it could be seen that pre activity was successfully done in this meeting.
2 Whilst Activity of the Second Cycle
The procedure of the teaching and learning process was different from the previous cycle. In this cycle, the researcher gave the different verbs in the
materials. In the beginning of this second cycle, the researcher made a different way in the teaching and learning activities. Firstly, he gave a worksheet to know
the students’ understanding about the past forms of irregular verbs before
practicing flash cards. The next activity was discussing the worksheet. In discussing the worksheet, the students participated actively in both asking and
answering the questions. In fact, the students still found the difficult word, such as heated, but they were not afraid to ask the researcher about the meaning of it.
Afterwards, the researcher started to give the example of practicing the flash cards. On this occasion, the students were getting adaptable with the
activities. The researcher mentioned the regular and irregular verbs, and then he
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asked all of the students to guess whether the verbs were regular or irregular and to pronounce together about the past forms of the verbs. The researcher would not
change the verb if the students did not guess correctly and pronounce it well. It aimed to know the
students’ understanding about the past forms of verbs and the pronunciation of the verbs. Scrivener 1994: 118 states that drills provide oral
practices of selected sentences. Then, the researcher showed and explained his new procedure in
practicing flash cards so that the students were not bored in learning the past forms of irregular verbs. He asked the students to make a group which consisted
of three people to come in front of the class. After having the flash cards, the first student had to read louder the present form V1 of irregular or regular verb. Then
the second student had to guess and pronounce loudly the past forms of the verb which was read by the first student. Meanwhile, the third student had to guess and
pronounce loudly the past participle V3 from the verb given by the first student. That procedure had to be done by all members in each group. When a group did it
in front of the class, the other students listened to and paid attention to the performances seriously.
The researcher repeated these activities for several times. The researcher did not forget to correct if the students made some mistakes in pronouncing the
verbs. To make the students clear in learning the past forms of verbs, the researcher listed the vocabulary items in a whiteboard and he reviewed difficulties
more clearly. The researcher also explained the past forms and the pronunciations of irregular verbs. Then, the students repeated after him. The students felt
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interested in practicing the flash cards in the different way. Some of the students even said that the new procedure in practicing the flash cards made them
understand. From the students’ behavior, the researcher could say that the students
performed the improvements if it was compared to the previous one. They really showed a good progress in practicing the flash cards. The researcher showed a
good performance in teaching them. It could be seen when the researcher moved around to check whether the students could understand and pronounce the past
verbs applied in the flash cards or not see Appendix 10. After teaching the strategy to the students in the second cycle, the
researcher then gave a test. The test consisted of 20 sentences about the past forms of verbs. The researcher explained what the students had to do. The students
should fill in the blanks in some sentences using the correct past forms. It was aimed to evaluate the students
’ understanding about the past forms of irregular and regular verbs. Similar to the preliminary study and cycle one, the researcher
classified the test scores into three categories. They were the highest score, medium score, and lowest score. The highest score was 100, medium score was
85, and lowest score was 70. The test scores of students could be seen in the table below.
Table 4.4 The Results of the Test in the Second Cycle No
The number of students Score
1 1
100 2
7 95
3 9
90 4
10 85
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No The number of students
Score
5 5
80 6
2 75
7 2
70 Based on the result of the test in the second cycle on the previous page, the
students’ test scores increased if they were compared to the results in the previous cycle. The average of the studen
ts’ test result in the second cycle is 86.5. According to the passing grade as stated by the school, the second cycle is more
successful than in the preliminary study and the first cycle. It was proven that there were only two students who gained 70 and even there was one student who
gained 100. In this meeting, the average of the students’ test result was 86.5 see
Appendix 11, while the average of students’ test results in the preliminary study
and the first cycle were lower than the second cycle.
3 Post Activity of the Second Cycle
In the end of the class, the researcher told the result of the students’
average score increased. The students really showed their best in doing worksheet or test and practicing the flash cards. They looked enthusiastic and interested
joining the lesson. It might be caused by their willingness to practice the strategy of flash cards better than before. Most of the students told the researcher that the
different procedure made them easier to understand the meaning and the past forms of irregular verbs.
Before closing the meeting, the researcher did not forget to ask the students about the difficult things when they were learning the past forms of verbs
through flash cards in the second cycle. Moreover, the researcher asked the students’ feelings after the students did a test. In fact, the students answered
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confidently that the test which they faced was not difficult to do. Then, the researcher also advised the students to practice intensively at home by making the
simple flash cards and check the dictionary if they found the difficult words. In the end of the class, the researcher and the students prayed together based on their
own religion. During the research, the researcher asked his partner to help the researcher check and observe
the researcher’s performance and students’ behavior in the teaching and learning process through the field notes see Appendix 10
c. Reflecting of the Second Cycle
