i. The media were not maximally used.
j. The task and activities were monotonous and uninteresting.
k. There were limited sources.
l. The English teaching and learning process was teacher centered.
2. Determining the Research Problems
After identifying the field problems, the researcher and the teacher discussed to figure out the problems to be solved. The problems were
related to the students’ speaking ability. Considering some problems stated above, the researcher and the teacher determining the problems to be solved
as follows: a.
The students had low confidence to speak. When the teacher asked a question, no one raised his or her hand and
answered the question. Even when the teacher asked to read a dialogue or sentences, no one be a volunteer. The teacher should call their name first
to make them speak. From the interview, the students said that they were ashame and not confidence to speak English. It was because they were
afraid of making mistakes when they speak. b.
The students had low vocabulary mastery. The students had difficulties in implementing an expression in a sentence
or dialogue. They were also found difficulties to express their idea orally or written because they did not know how to say it. It shows that the
students had low vocabulary mastery.
c. The students had low ability in pronunciation.
There were many stops and hesitation when the students speak English because they often found difficulties to pronounce some words. They
rarely opened the dictionaries when they found difficulties in pronouncing some words.
d. The students paid less attention to the teacher.
Some students were busy to talk with their friends when the teacher explaining the materials. They looked bored and not interested to the
lesson. The teacher often asked the students to be quite and pay attention to the lesson.
e. There were limited source of the lesson.
During the English teaching and learning process, the researcher found that the LKS was dominantly used. Even some materials in the LKS were
not appropriate with the SK-KD. The teacher also rarely used addititional materials from other sources.
f. The activities were monotonous and not interesting.
Since the teacher only used the LKS during the lesson, the activities were only based on it. Most tasks and activities were in the form of answering
questions based on the text, filling in the blank, arranging jumbled words and sentences, and making dialogue. The teacher was less creative in
teaching speaking, and the material used was uninteresting
g. There were few speaking practice.
Writing and reading were dominant in the teaching and learning process. The teacher rarely employed speaking activities so that the students had
less opportunity to practice their English orally. After determining the problems stated above, the researcher proposed
communicative games to improve the students’ speaking ability. There were
some considerations why the researcher chose communicative games in teaching speaking. First, communicative games can motivate the students to
speak English and make them participate actively in teaching and learning process. Second, communicative games give the students the opportunity to
practice their speaking. The last, communicative games can help to make the classroom more relax and enjoyable so that the students can learn what they
need and what they want.
B. Implementation of the Research
After knowing the field problems, the teacher and the researcher decided to collaborate in implementing communicative games in order to
improve the students’ speaking proficiency and to change the classroom atmosphere during speaking class. The researcher implemented the action by
teaching the students using communicative games. Those communicative games were addapted from Advance Communication Games and Intermediate
Communication Games by Hadfield. The teacher, as the observer, also helped in preparing and collecting the materials.
The classroom action research covered two cycles. The first cycle was held in three meetings and the second cycle was held in one meeting, and every
meeting spent 80 minutes. It was carried out from May to June 2014. Topics discussed in the first and second cycles were asking and giving agreement,
telephoning, and responding to a statement. The specifications of games used in the first and second cycle are presented as follow:
Table 4.1. The specification of games used in the first cycle Features of the
game Asking and
giving agreement Telephoning
Responding to a statement
Purpose Asking for and
giving agreement To get
information from others
Give response to a statement
Space to play Small space
Small space Small space
Time allocation 40 minutes
40 minutes 40 minutes
Number of students
34 students 34 students
34 students Age of students
Early teen Early teen
Early teen Game type
Role play Role play
Role play Properties
Information cards Information cards
Information cards Necessary
rewards Oral
compliments, hands-clap
Oral compliments,
hands-clap Oral compliments,
hands-clap
Relevancy Enabling the
students to practice the
expressions of asking and giving
agreement Enabling the
students to practice the
expressions of telephoning
Enabling the students to
practice the expressions of
responding to a statement
Table 4.2. The specification of games used in the second cycle Features of the
game Telephoning mix of asking and giving agreement
and responding to a statement
Purpose To get information from the others
Space to play Small space
Time allocation 60 minutes
Number of students 34 students Age of students
Early teen Game type
Role play Properties
Cards information Necessary rewards
Oral compliments, hands-clap, school stuff Relevancy
Enabling the students to practice the expressions of telephoning, asking and giving agreement, and
responding to a statement
In each cycle consist five steps, they are 1 planning the action, 2 implementing the action, 3 observing the action, 4 reflecting the observation
result, and 5 revising the plan. The more detail description of the implementations can be seen in the following section.
1. Cycle 1 a. Planning the Action
The action plan for the first cycle was made based on the problems identified in reconnaissance. To overcome these problems, the teacher and
the researcher decided to conduct an action research by using communicative
games to improve students’ speaking proficiency. The communicative games activities were supported by the teaching aids,
game cards and papers to help the students in comprehending the lesson. Before the action was implemented, the researcher and the teacher
prepared the materials, lesson plan, teaching aids, and everything related to the action. The researcher implemented the action plan and the teacher
