Conducting Needs Analysis The Elaboration of the Steps in Designing Grammar Instructional
49 the tasks.
3 Students’ Interaction during the Lesson The students were not actively interacting with the teacher. They would
interact with the teacher when the teacher asked them. The students would give their answers and opinions after the teacher appointed them. In other
words, the students were pasively interacting with the teacher. However, when they were asked to discuss with their friends or do something in group,
they interacted with others properly and enthusiastically. They really discussed the lesson not about something else. However, due to their lack
proficiency of English vocabulary, commonly they did not speak in English. 4 The Use of Media in the Lesson
Although the teaching and learning media were limited, the teacher along with the students took the advantages of them. During the lesson, they used
the available teaching and learning media such as blackboard, chalk, pictures, and many others to support their lesson. Individually, the students brought
their own dictionary to assist them in learning English in class. They would use the dictionary to find the meaning of a new word or difficult vocabulary.
Sometimes, the teacher distributed additional handouts to give other sources to the students.
The results of the observation about the teacher’s activities in the class were presented below.
a. Pre-activity Teacher opened the lesson by greeting, checking the presence of the stu-
50 dents, and preparing the teaching and learning media such as blackboard,
chalk, handouts, and any other media. Then the teacher did pre-test by asking them some questions or giving a short quiz. The teacher did not directly
explain the topic to the students but she delivered some inquiry questions related to the topic. From the inquiry questions from the teacher, the students
could predict what topic they would learn. However, sometimes the teacher asked the students to do apperception activity such as singing a song, play a
game, or short class discussion to introduce the topic. Then, the teacher explained about the goals of the topic to the students to give them brief
description about what would they learn and conquer at the end of the lesson. b. Whilst-activity
The learning strategy, the teaching method, and the use of media were focused in the whilst-activity phase. Each of them would be briefly discussed
below. 1 Learning Strategy
The teacher applied a proper learning strategy which was appropriate to the students’ needs and development. Specifically, the teacher suited the
learning stategy with the students’ vocabulary proficiency. Moreover, the teacher chose fun and chalenging learning strategy such as group work activity
during the lesson. The teacher related the materials to students’ daily life and experiences in order to ease them in understanding the materials. Talking about
something they had known would ease them to join the class activities. Implementing group activities would give the students time to work with others
51 because in their age they were interested to interact with their friends. Relating
the materials with the students’ favorite activities could also attract their attention to the lesson for example, male students were interested to football
while female students were interested to Korean style and so on. Having a close relation with the students would also assist the teacher in attracting the
students’ attention. It could be done by memorizing the names of the students and calling them with their names familiarly. In encouraging the students to
participate in the class activities, the teacher could deliver them some leading questions. Motivating the students to learn through giving reinforcements was
also needed. Verbal and nonverbal reinfocrements were addressed to the students who correctly answered the questions or delivered their opinions in
class. Common verbal reinforcements such as “Good job, Well, Perfect,” and so on were addressed to the students. In delivering the materials to the students,
the teacher firstly prepared the lesson plan. It was arranged to make sure that the teaching and learning activity in class were proportional and suitable with
the time allotment. 2 The Teaching Method
Common teaching methods that were implemented in class were drilling, question and answer activity, and group discussion. Drilling method was
particularly chosen to teach grammar. The teacher expected that the more exercises the students did, the better comprehension they would reach.
Question and answer activities between the teacher and students or among students with their classmates were chosen to encourage the students in
52 speaking English. Moreover, the teacher expected that through question and
answer activities their interaction ability could also be built. Meanwhile, group discussion was offered to train the students working with others and build their
team work skill. 3 The Use of Media
Although the teaching and learning media in the school were limited, the teacher tried to maximize them in supporting the teaching and learning activity
in class. Conventional teaching and learning media such as blackboard and chalk were still used. Moreover, the teacher provided pictures, flascards, table,
and other teaching and learning media to assist the students in learning English in class. The teacher also facilitated the students with textbook and module.
Both of them were used as the primary teaching and learning materials sources. However, the students were also distributed additional references such as
student’s handouts. In assisting the students to more comprehend the mataerials, the teacher suggested them to use English dictionary. Although the
school had provided the dictionary, the students were expected to bring their personal dictionary because of the limited dictionary that the school owned.
c. Post-activity Before closing the lesson, commonly the teacher gave some post-test to
the students. The post-test was conducted to measure their understanding of the previous materials they had learned. Commonly, the teacher gave individual
post-test by giving short quiz or delivering some questions to the students. However, the teacher also asked the students to sum up the materials. The
53 teacher gave some leading questions to assist the students in summarizing the
materials. The teacher also gave extra assignments or homework to the students. The assignments and homework could be individual or group work
which were taken from student’s textbook, module, or the teacher’s own assignments.
The results of the interview with the English teacher of SMP Negeri 1 Jogonalan Klaten were explained below.
a. The Teacher’s Background The teacher of SMP Negeri 1 Jogonalan Klaten was S1 graduates. The
teacher was graduated from Teachers Training Faculty. Therefore, the teacher had had proper educational background to teach English in the school. The teacher had
six years experience in teaching English in the school. It indicated that the teacher had known about the students and the school itself.
b. The Students’ Characteristics and Interest Most of the students had low motivation in learning English. They
entrusted their English ability to their teacher. They had low motivation to enrich their English ability outside the class. Their interests in learning English depended
on their teacher’s techique in delivering the materials. They were interested in English if the materials were related to their favorite and hobbies such as sports
and entertainment. The students were enthusiactic to learn English in group because they liked to work with others and shared their knowledge with their
classmates. Particularly in English grammar, the students felt that it was difficult to learn English grammar individually. Moreover, because of their lack
54 vocabulary mastery, they could not do grammar exercises without any dictionary
with them. c. The Students’ Difficulty
The students told the teacher that there were many patterns in English grammar and they were used in every different situation and time. They were also
confused of the difference between Verb 1, Verb 2, and Verb 3. Their lack of vocabulary mastery, once more, affected their grammar comprehension.
Therefore, usually the students did the grammar exercises with their dictionary and notes. They had also tried to remember the English patterns by making
colorful notes and brought it with them in class. d. The Teaching Technique
Commonly, the teacher became the central focus and source of the lesson. It sounded conventional but it was still employed in class. The teacher
played important role during the lesson. Mostly, the teacher talked a lot in front of the class from the beginning until the end of the lesson. Relating to English
grammar, the teacher usually employed drilling teaching technique to give more exercises and time for the students to comprehend the pattern.
e. The Teaching Media As the references of the materials, the teacher along with the students
used Interactive English from Yudistira as the textbook in class. They also used Mandiri to support their materials reference. However, the teacher also took other
sources to complete the provided materials. Other English books and internet sources were used to give more references and knowledge to the students.
55 f. The Teaching Activity
Considering the students’ interests of certain learning activities in class, the teacher varied the teaching and learning activities to attract students’ attention.
Common activities which were implemented in class were group activities, games, and discussion. The students told that they liked to have group activities
because they could interact with friends and shared their knowledge and difficulty in learning English with others. They also liked to learn through games because
they could learn in fun and relaxed situation. Moreover, discussion was also recommended by the students because the students could solve the problem of the
discussion together as well as build their team work skill. g. The Teaching Obstacle
Basically, the teacher found it was difficult to encourage the students to memorize forms of verb. Therefore, the teacher should remind them many times
to always memorize them. Moreover, the teacher should also review the previous materials because usually the students had forgot it when they learned another
grammar item. Relating to those obstacles, the teacher gave some solutions to the students. The teacher sometimes distributed the summary of the previous
materials and asked the students to do more exercises to train their grammar mastery. The teacher also informed the students to learn English grammar from
other sources such as English grammar book and internet. h. The Teaching Curriculum
It was rather difficult to teach grammar separately in KTSP. The English teacher should teach grammar contextually because there was no special time to
56 teach grammar in KTSP. Although it was an effective way to teach grammar and
directly used it to construct a text, it would be different toward students who had low grammar mastery. Therefore, the teacher modified the materials with the
students’ comprehension level and school condition. i. The Expectations for the Designed Materials
The teacher of SMP Negeri 1 Jogonalan Klaten expected that the designed materials were based on students’ needs and suited with students’
characters and interests in learning English. The type of activity on the designed materials should also be varied to keep attracting the students’ attention.
Interesting layout was also important to raise students’ learning motivation. However, the teacher also suggested the designer to carefully consider the time
allotment in every lesson. Students’ level of comprehension should also be considered to develop the designed materials.