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necessarily become very involved with the language: the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eye, hand, and brain is a unique way to reinforce learning.
p. 3 Therefore, the students learn and practice how to apply language features
and construct correct sentences in writing English texts. It is more challenging to the English teachers who taught EFL classes because English is not the
students’
daily language. Therefore, the students will be able to compete in global era in which English is a global language.
2. Short Functional English Texts
Based on the competency standard in School Based Curriculum 2006, some short functional English texts that are taught in vocational high school grade
X are menus, public transportation departures, memos, and invitation letters. In this study, the researcher focuses on an informal memo and an informal invitation
letter. Informal memos and informal invitations have similar grammatical features. Both of them focus on simple present tense and simple future tense.
a. Informal Memos
Informal memos are a kind of letter used to give instructions to do something, respond to previous questions, or share new information to someone
that is close to the writer Bovée Thill, 1995. Voss 2011 says that a memo should be easy to read and understand. Based on Raimes 1983, informal memos
require
“associated vocabulary, sentences structures and appropriate choice of
13 words
” p. 85. Based on Sularto 2008: 68, the elements of an informal memo
are as follows: 1
addresse 2
addresser 3
content 4
complimentary closing 5
signature 6
s
ender’s name
Those elements are summarized in the following figure.
Figure 2.1 An Informal Memo Based on Sularto 2008: 68
1 2
3
4 5
6
14
b. Informal Invitation Letters
According to Rosenblatt et al. 1977, informal invitations are invitations in a letter form to invite someone to attend some informal activities, namely:
dinner, lunch, and party annual gatherings. Himstreet et al. 1993 state,
“In
informal invitation letters, wording should be conversational, as though were
extending the invitation orally” p. 478. In other words, the writers use informal
words in writing informal invitation letters. However, according to Raimes 1983, informal invitation letters have their
“associated vocabulary, sentences
structures and appropriate word choice
” p. 85. Therefore, it is important to apply
correct tenses, elements and use appropriate vocabularies in writing an informal invitation letter. Rosenblatt et al. 1977 state that to show informality, the writer
uses the first personal pronouns “I” and “we”. It means that informal invitation
letters are sent to people who have close relationship with the writer. For example, the letters are sent to close friends or colleagues. Based on Suryana 2006: 126,
the elements of an informal invitation letter are as follows: 1
date: the day, date and year of the letters 2
greeting salutation 3
content body 4
complimentary closing 5
signature 6
s
ender’s name
15
Those elements are summarized in the following figure:
Figure 2.2 An Informal Invitation Letter Based on Suryana 2006: 126
3. Games in Language Learning
