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considers young learners’ characteristics to support the employment of the techniques. The stage three is the process of collecting data during actual teaching
Sagor, 2005: 6. Finally, the stage four is the stage where the action researchers adjust their practice to attain improvement on the next meting. After the
researchers finish the stage four, they return to the stage three by adjusting and improving their action.
B. Theoretical Framework
The research would like to answer four questions as they are stated in the problem formulation. In order to improve the students’ grammar and
pronunciation accuracy, two important aspects should be considered in advance of the teaching practice. They are students’ characteristics and teaching techniques.
Teaching English to young children requires vigilant practice because children are more fragile than adults in some degree. Therefore, in explaining rules, patterns of
sentences and other abstract concepts about language to children must be done carefully. Children are centered on the here and now, on the functional purposes
of language. They certainly cannot grasp the terms, definition or linguistics concepts which explain about language. In addition, children attention span can be
short when they have to deal with boring, useless or too difficult teaching material. Since language lessons can be sometimes difficult for children, teachers’
job is to make the lessons interesting, lively, and fun. Children in many ways are much more fragile than adults because their egos are still being shaped. In the
practice of teaching, they are extremely sensitive to peers. Therefore, the slightest PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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differences of communication can be negatively interpreted. Additionally, children are focused on new language which can be used here and now. They will
not give effort with language which does not hold immediate reward for. Therefore, classroom activities will not run as it is planned unless the teachers
provide authentic and meaningful language. Therefore, techniques such as repetition drill, single-slot substitution drill,
multiple-slot substitution drill, complete the dialog, chain drill and dialog memorization can be employed to improve the students’ grammar and
pronunciation accuracy. Those techniques could maintain the students’ attention, provide interesting activities and they expose the students with the language that
the students will use in real life. In addition, those techniques also enable the teacher to control the students during the teaching learning activities.
On the other hand, action research facilitates the writer to reach another goal of this research that is to answer how to improve the students’ accuracy on
grammar and pronunciation. The nature of the action research which enables the writer to do systematic data collection and to do self-reflective enquiry will
emerge various pattern how the students’ improvements are attained. Therefore, employing various techniques based on the characteristics of the young learners in
the framework of the action research will discover techniques to improve the students’ grammar and pronunciation accuracy at the same time depict the process
on how the improvements are attained. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The writer elaborates the methodology of the research in this chapter mainly to put forward the rationale of using certain research method. It also
provides the elaboration the research participant, research instruments, data gathering technique, data analysis technique and research procedure.
A. Research Method
The method which was used in this research was action research. According to Burns 1999: 24, action research focused on concrete and practical
issues of immediate concern to particular social groups or communities. This research was conducted by the writer as an English school teacher of SD BOPKRI
Gondolayu who taught fourth graders. The immediate concern and practical issues were the improvement of the students’ grammar and pronunciation accuracy.
In practice, although there are many models of action research, the writer followed the action research model and cycles proposed by Sagor 2005: 4-7. The
writer selected the model because it provided clear-cut research stages so that it was easily implemented during the research. The model also provided details on
every stage to be followed to attain the certainty of the research. Therefore, the teacher was guided during the research to establish clear vision, to select
appropriate theories, to implement the action, and to make critical reflections based on her research. In other word, this model is practical for teachers as
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