Background of Study INTRODUCTION

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter covers the introduction of this study as follow background of study, formulation of the problem, objective of study, limitation of the study, and significance of the research.

A. Background of Study

English is an international language spoken in most countries in the world as a tool of communication in daily life and functioned as the first, second or foreign language. In Indonesia, English is considered as a foreign language and it is taught formally in schools. Then, the curriculum is designed by Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan Committee of the Education National Standard. Most students learn English from elementary up to university. Students are supposed to master all English language skills that are listening, speaking, reading, and writing and to master sub skills such as pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, etc. Meanwhile, many students face difficulties in understanding English grammar. Consequently, it is important to learn grammar intensively. According to David Nunan, acquiring the grammatical system of the target language is important, because an inadequate knowledge of grammar would limit the capacity to understand the language. Grammar exists to enable the meaning and without grammar it is impossible to communicate beyond a very basic level, 2 so that it has to be mastered by students. 1 From that statement, it can be seen that studying grammar is one of necessary aspects in understanding English. Furthermore, the second year students of Junior High School are expected to learn and to understand past continuous tense. Based on the result of students’ achievement in SMPN 1 Pasar Kemis, there are some students who get the score below the criterion minimum completeness KKM gains score sixty five. Meanwhile, the teacher teaches the material based on the competence based curriculum KKM which is stated on the sylabus. The change of curriculum from the content-based curriculum to competence-based curriculum gives the effect in learning process paradigm. According to Sumarna Supranata and Muhammad Hatta in Penilaian Portofolio: Implementasi dan Kurikulum, curriculum, learning process and assessment are integrated dimensions in education. Those three dimensions cannot be separated each other. Curriculum describes in detail what the objective of education is. Learning process is an effort from the teacher and the students to obtain the objective that is formulated in curriculum. Assessment is one of activities to measure the level of curriculum achievement. It also used to know strengths and weaknesses that can be found in learning process. 2 According to Zaenal Arifin, assessment in the classroom occurs for three major domains. The cognitive domain encompasses intellectual activities such as memorizing, interpreting, applying knowledge, solving problem, and critical thinking. The affective domain involves feelings, attitudes, values, interests and emotions. The psychomotor domain includes physical activities and action in which students must manipulate. 3 To support students’ learning process, teacher not only emphasize in completing herhis subject discussion but also in the students product. To know students ’ achievement, teacher uses an assessment. 1 David Nunan, Language Teaching methodology: A Textbook for Teachers, New York: Prentice Hall, 1991, p.153. 2 Drs. Sumarna Supranata dan Dr. Muhammad Hatta, Penilaian portofolio:Implementasi kurikulum 2004, Bandung: PT.Remaja Rosdakarya, 2007, p.2. 3 Drs. Zaenal Arifin, Evaluasi Pembelajaran: Prinsip, Teknik dan Prosedur, Bandung: PT. Remaja Rosdakarya, 2009, p. 197. 3 Furthermore, Daniel Muijs and David Reynolds stated types of assessment, that are standardized tests, teacher-made tests and alternative forms of assessment such as performance assessment and portfolio assessment. 4 Portfolio assessment technique is concerned to the students’ systematically document related to the topic of learning activity during the certain time. It has strategic function and role to improve students’ achievement accurately and objectively. 5 In conclusion, by using portfolio document, the students can get more knowledge to correct the next assessment. In the classroom, the teacher does not understand the function of class-based assessment and choose the easier way to assess the students. They only teach the material with some methods and ignore the way to get students’ achievement. Teachers give the score without any notes that can be remark to their students to develop their achievement eventually. They do not have enough information about students’ learning development. Consequently, students only do the assignment based on their knowledge about the material and lack of motivation to raise their achievement in the some material especially English subject. Therefore, in learning process, assessment is absolutely needed as a measurement to raise students’ comprehension. Furthermore English has become an obligatory subject and as one of the subjects examined in the Ujian Nasional National Examination. The using of portfolio assessment helps the students to evaluate the assessment that is completed by them. Based on the observation about the students’ achievement in past continuous tense, the writer is interested to make an action research using portfolio assessment technique to improve students’ achievement in Past Continuous Tense. The writer chooses this material because past continuous tense familiar with the students and often appear in National Examination but they get 4 Daniel Muijs and David Reynolds, Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice, London: Sage Publications, 2006, second edition, p. 231. 5 James H. McMillan and Sally Schumaher, Research in Education: Evidence-Based Inquiry, Boston: Pearson Education, Inc, 2006, sixth edition, p. 193. 4 low achievement. Therefore, in this research the writer would like to use process portfolio assessment that is discussed in the next chapter.

B. Formulation of the Problem