Memory Games Question and Answer Games Guessing and Speculating Games Board Games in Language Teaching and Learning Process

h. Word Games

In these games, the focus is initially on the words rather than the sentences such as spelling, words for sentence making, words as inferred from contexts, or words as categorised according to grammatical usage.

i. TrueFalse Games

These games require the learners to decide whether someone’s statement is true or false, so this game can benefit from the sort of challenge.

j. Memory Games

Memory Games challenge the players’ ability to remember, so the inevitable differences between what players remember lead to discussion in which opinions and information are exchanged.

k. Question and Answer Games

These games are variety of games designed to create contexts in which the learners ask questions in order to find something out, for example: general knowledge quiz.

l. Guessing and Speculating Games

In guessing and speculating games, someone is required to know something and the others must find out what it is. In this research, the games chosen to be used in the language teaching and learning process were Board Games. Board Games could benefit much for the students. Moreover, these games were easy to do for the young learners so, these games could be easily followed by the eighth grade students of Junior High School although they never used these games in language learning process. Board Games chosen were called “What Did You Do Yesterday?” adapted from www.ESLprintables.com by Roeland 2013.

2.2 Board Games in Language Teaching and Learning Process

There are so many kinds of games that can be applied for language teaching and learning process. One of them is Board Games. According to Wright et al. 1996:81, Board Games are kinds of games that use boards as the main part of the games. The games are played in a special designed board where the design can be adapted with the students’ lesson. Furthermore, Treher 2011:3 explains that Board Games as important media in learning something because the use of Board Games provides hands-on and heads-on skill and knowledge development for people of all ages on all subjects. Board Games also create an engaging atmosphere because they provide a non-threatening, playful, yet competitive environment in which to focus on content and apply learning. Supporting the explanation above, the use of Board Games is suggested in language teaching and learning process because it can be appropriately use based on the students’ lesson. Armstrong in Sigurdardottir, 2010 suggests the use of Board Games as a teaching medium that might suit students with interpersonal intelligence because they provide an excellent setting for interaction between students. The use of Board Games in language teaching and learning process is also supported by Jones 2005 who states that the games can be used to review anything, to practice any grammar structure, to go over individual sounds, word stress or intonation, to provide conversation topics, and to review vocabulary. Thus, Board Games can be used for any lesson especially in speaking class. In line with the idea above, Treher 2011:9 states some reasons why Board Games are chosen for speaking class. Board Games provide many educational and teaching benefits and have proven their value when designed appropriately for learning. Board Games provide exceptional, cost-effective resources. They also incorporate heads- and hands-on learning, summarize and reinforce important information in an easy-to-grasp format, reduce the time needed to learn, remember, and apply new information. Further, they also promote discussion, collaboration, and build communication. Furthermore, Khusnah 2013:26 also states some advantages of Board Games. Board Games enable to encourage students’ speaking confidence, develop students’ speaking fluency, and encourage the development of short conversation. In application, Board Games can be arranged easily, based on the students’ material. From the statements above, it is known that the use of Board Games gives a lot of benefits in language teaching and learning process. They do not only provide practice and activities for students to build communication among each other but also give opportunities and motivation to acquire the language in a meaningful way. In short, the teacher can use Board Games as teaching media to improve the students’ proficiency in foreign language, that is, English especially in the teaching of speaking. In this research, the Board Games used were called “What Did You Do Yesterday?” adapted from www.ESLprintables.com by Roeland. It was used to build communicative competence in classroom speaking activities. These games were played by 6 students in each group in which they played the game from a square marked “Start” until they reached the last square marked “Finish”. In this game, the players took turns rolling the dice and talking about the topic specified in the squares on which they landed.

2.3 Speaking Skill in Foreign Language Classrooms