Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

In curriculum 2013, English may not be included in the subjects to be taught in primary school but it does not mean that children no longer need to learn English. Starting the language learning in the young age is beneficial for the children. Chomsky 1959 in Brewster, et al. 2002 believes that all children are brown with LAD Language Acquisition Device. It functions as a tool to gain or learn a language and how children learn a language and how children learn a language. LAD develops when the children are at the age or infant until childhood. It has low development as long as the children grow up. Considering the benefits that the children can get LAD, some primary school still include English as subject to be taught. Teaching English to children as foreign learners is challenging. There are many differences between English and Indonesian that make the students find it difficult. The first difference is pronunciation. The sound of pronunciation that they read is completely different from what they say. Secondly, the structure and the grammar are different. Children do not have the same access as older learners understand about grammar Cameron, 2001:1. It is supported by Clark and Clark 2 1997: 320 who say that young children know very little about structure and function of the language adults’ talk to use communicate each other. To make the students reach communicative competence, a variety of practices is needed. Brewster et.al 2004: 27 states that the characteristic of young learners are different from those of older learners. The young learners need more repetition and practice, as they have not yet learned to analyze grammatical utterances. They are still developing literacy in their first language. Moreover, Pinter 2006: 18 adds that children will pick up and learn a foreign language when they are having fun and they experience meaningful contexts in the learning. The teacher should improve their ability to teach, choose the suitable activities, be more creative in designing material and media. So, the teaching and learning process will run effectively and efficiently. However, in fact, the English teaching to the fourth grade students in SDN 1 Pandak rarely focused on speaking skills. The activities were monotonous. Even though language functions had been introduced, the teaching still focuses on written form. The teacher did not provide interesting and appropriate activities such as game, song, and stories. These phenomena lead some questions for the researcher on how to solve the problems. One solution that can be conducted so that the students are more in teaching and learning process in the classroom, especially in speaking activities, is through game. Paul 2007: 49 who states that games play a central role in a child- centered lesson and make it possible for children to fully immerse themselves in learning supports this. Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. One game that can be used is board game. It is effective and appropriate to use since it can be applied in groups so the students can express their idea with their friends in fun way. Board games are flexible games. Chang and Cogswell 2008 state that board games are adaptable asset in the classroom because board games can be used as intended for native speakers. Based on the background above, the researcher chooses to improve students’ speaking skills by using board games.

B. Identification of the Problem