Developing Speaking Materials Based On Traditional Javanese Games For The Students Of Senior High School In Indonesia

An Analysis of Character to Reveal The Theme in A Novel Bound Written By Okky Madasari

Developing Speaking Materials Based On Traditional Javanese Games For
The Students Of Senior High School In Indonesia
MENTARI SEKAR DEWI
Email: mentarisekardewi@gmail.com

Abstract:
The research aims at developing speaking materials based on traditional Javanese games
for the students of Fun English Club in MAN 2 Gresik. The main purpose of this study
is to help the English teachers to create fun activities in teaching English by
introducing traditional Javanese games as speaking instructional games to the students.
To reach the purpose of the study, the researcher employed Research and Development
method (R&D) and adapted Hylands’ model. The researcher used three instruments to
obtain the data such as interview, questionnaires and observation checklist. The
obtained data will be classified based on the instrument used. To show the results, the
researcher explained them in quantitative and qualitative approach. The results show
that most of FEC students give a good response toward the developed games. In
addition, the experts gave an excellent judgment to the developed materials. After
finishing all the stages, the researcher finally provided a handbook for the teachers to
teach speaking. The book entitled “Javanese Games for ELT” which comprises of 10

chapters and 26 traditional Javanese games which have been modified in order to be
applicable in teaching speaking.
Keywords: Speaking, Games, Traditional Javanese Games, English Club

Introduction
In teaching and learning language
process, the ability to speak is considered
as the main goal for EFL learners since it is
the basic for communication with Englishspeaking people. Furthermore, the EFL
learners are not exposed to English
language environment which allow them
to be accustomed to speak English.
Khamkhein (2010:184) defines that of all
four language skills, speaking is regarded
to be the most important in learning a
second or foreign language. In line with

38

the statement, Rahman (2009:4) also states

that in many situations ones’ aptitude in a
language is considered to the basis on
how well the learners improve their
speaking skill.
However, although a number of
efforts have been made to reform the
English language curriculum, it is very
hard to find high school students use
English in their daily communication. It
happens because English is regarded as a
language that is not easy for both students
and teachers to learn. Many students of
Senior High School are still afraid of

Developing Speaking Materials Based On Traditional Javanese Games For The Students Of Senior High School In Indonesia

expressing their thought and idea in
English. After more than twelve years
studying English at school, the students
still think that speaking English is

difficult. The obstacles faced by the
Indonesian learners are actually coming
from their communication habit. They also
do not get support from their
environment to get used to speaking
English.
It also happens to the students of
Fun English Club (FEC). Although the
program has 5 semesters to reveal English
instruction and the activities mostly
focused on ability of speaking, most of
them still lack of confident to speak
English with the tutors or even their
friends. They are often getting tired and
bored when the class is running. On the
other hand, energizing the students is also
one of the problems got by the teachers.
Those problems happen because the class
is begun after the formal school schedule.
The teachers should work harder to build

a fun situation during the learning
process.
One solution that can help the
teachers
to
awake
the
students’
motivation in teaching-learning process,
especially speaking activities, is through
games. Studying while playing always
becomes a technique which may get the
students’ interest. They are able to get a
joyful atmosphere when they are in
teaching-learning activities. Sanchez et al
(2007:50) state that a game is considered a
valuable technique, which includes three
principle elements: competition, rule(s)
and enjoyment, which should be well
established

by
a
teaching-learning
objective. Students usually get bored in
doing tasks from the teachers which only

prefer at monotonous activity. In this case,
games are added as technique which is
not only served as amusing activities but
also as a technique to overcome the
students’ boredom in doing tasks.
Introducing games in language-learning
class may create fun activities which can
help students to have an interaction with
their friends. Kiryk (2010:4) states that
games are considered as fun activities that
promote interaction, thinking, learning,
and problem solving. Everyone believes
that the main goal of teaching language is
to get the students have good

communicative
skill.
Good
communicative skill is proven when
students are able to express their thought
and ideas. Al-Nafisah (2012:22) defines
that games are activities which can
increase students-talk and promote
interaction among students for communicative purpose. From the statements
stated by some expert, the researcher
concludes that games are considered as
activities which are able to apply in
language-learning classroom and decrease
the students’ boredom during teaching
and learning activity.
The games that can be used to teach
speaking are traditional Javanese games.
Indonesia, especially Java, has so many
wise traditional games. Introducing and
playing traditional Javanese games means

that we have already saved our culture.
Furthermore, traditional Javanese games
contain moral values which are beneficial
to live in society such as learning about
life, responsibility and so on. Here, the
traditional Javanese games takes the
position as one of local intelligence as the
bridge to educate the students about the
character building. It is also appropriate

39

Developing Speaking Materials Based On Traditional Javanese Games For The Students Of Senior High School In Indonesia

with the National Education System
objective in Indonesia that the goals of
national education are to create a person
who is faithful and fears of God, is noble,
healthy, knowledgeable, skilled, creative,
independent, and a democratic and

responsible citizen of Indonesia (UU
No.20/2003).
Implementing
the
traditional Javanese games in the
instructional materials can be one of the
best ways taken by the teachers to reach
the objective of National Education
System.
In Indonesia, one of the socialcultural conditions of its people is
reflected in traditional games. These
games contain traditional ways of life of
Indonesian
society
(Setyaningrum,
2012:1). In this case, English takes its
position as the main language which must
be mastered by everyone. In line with the
statement, Mulyadi (in Yulianti, 2012:196)
also states that character building and

education through traditional games is the
way to develop the students’ positive
character such as honesty, respecting
others and teamwork. Considering those
statements, the researcher will take a
challenge to involve traditional Javanese
games in her final product in learning
activities. In this study, the researcher
wants to develop the instructional
speaking materials based on traditional
Javanese games for the students of Fun
English Club in MAN 2 Gresik.

Method
The research was conducted on
March – May 2016 at MAN 2 Gresik. The
school is located in Jl. Raya Metatu, Ds.
Metatu, Kec. Benjeng, Kab. Gresik. The

40

subject of this research is the students of
Fun English Club in that school.
All the students of Fun English
Club come from the excellent classes.
They are divided into four classes. Each
class contains of 20-30 students. In this
research, the researcher determines the
sample of this research is the XI graders
which are in the second semester of
academic year 2015/2016.
The research design used by the
researcher is classified into Educational
Research and Development (R&D) that is
principally designed to develop English
speaking materials based of traditional
Javanese games for the students of Fun
English Club (FEC) in MAN 2 Gresik.
R&D is an educational research in which
the researcher uses the findings to

configure new products and procedures,
which then are methodically fieldexperimented, assessed and selected until
they have specific criteria of effectiveness,
quality, or similar standards (Meredith,
2003:569).
The researcher uses the
statement as the theory which supports
the conducted research.
This research is conducted based
on the stages in materials development
adapted from Hyland (2003). There are ten
stages which will be described one by one
after showing the scheme. The first stage
is conducting needs survey in order to
obtain lots of information related to the
students’ needs, their learning needs and
their expectation toward the materials,
through the questionnaire. The result of
the need survey helps the researcher to
decide which speaking materials will be
developed. This step is addressed to the
students of Fun English Club in MAN 2
Gresik.

Developing Speaking Materials Based On Traditional Javanese Games For The Students Of Senior High School In Indonesia

The second stage is developing
speaking materials. The result of need
survey is used as the basis of the
development product. In this stage, the
researcher will follow the five ways of
organizing materials subject to Graves’
model (2000:149). They are determining
the organizing principle(s), identifying the
course units based on the organizing
principle,
sequencing
the
units,
determining the unit content and
organizing the units content and
developing materials. The third stage is
validating the developed materials by
giving the materials to the expert. The
goal of this stage is checking the materials
whether there are some parts of the
developed materials need to be changed
or revised to fill the specific needs. After
getting revision, the next stage is
implementing the revised materials. The
development
materials
will
be
experimented to the students. During the
trial of development materials, the
researcher will take the observation fieldnote. The result of the researchers’
observation is used as the basis of the
second revision until it becomes the
specific product and applicable to the
students of Fun English Club.
To collect the data, the researcher
uses three instruments which will be
distributed to the teachers and students of
Fun English Club. The instruments are
questionnaires, interview guidelines and
observation checklist. The obtained data
in needs analysis will be presented in
different ways. The interview data will be
clarified descriptively, and to analyze the
questionnaires and checklist result, the
researcher will calculate them in the form
of percentage.

Result
The developed materials were
formed in printed book call “Javanese
Games for ELT”. The researcher listed 26
traditional Javanese games and modified
them based on the chosen topics or
materials. The researcher also sequenced
the materials into ten chapters in one
book. The division of the book is
presented in Table 1;
Chap
ter
1

Level

Material
focus
Introduction,
Alphabet,
Spelling and
Numbers
(Cardinal
and Ordinal
Numbers).
Months,
Dates, Days
and
Direction.

Basic

2

Basic

3

Basic

Time, Daily
Activity,
Introduction,
Colors and
Vocabulary

4

Interm
ediate

5

Interm
ediate

6

Advan
ce

7

Advan
ce

Quiz,
Showing
Talent and
Vocabulary.
Vocabulary
Mastery,
Sentence
Building,
Greeting and
Asking
Codition.
Vocabulary,
Invitation,
TV Programs
and Telling
Identiy
Telling a
message,
listening
comprehensi
on, sentence,

Games
Boi-Boian, ABC
Lima Dasar
(Alphabet),
Tek-Dung and
Dong-Dongan.

Shoe Keeper,
Blind-Deaf
and Dumb,
Dhingklik
Oglak-Aglik.
Maju Satu
Langkah (One
Step Closer),
Running
Marbles, Kotak
Pos.
My Dream
and Who Sits
Behind?
Cino Buto and
Ci luk Baa.

Ular Tangga,
Donal Bebek.

Petak Jongkok,
Delikan (Hide
& Seek),
Bongkar
Pasang.

41

Developing Speaking Materials Based On Traditional Javanese Games For The Students Of Senior High School In Indonesia

Advan
ce

9

Advan
ce

10

Advan
ce

Instruction,
Look/Look
Like,
Describing a
person,
Yes/No
Question.
Interview,
discussion,
vocabulary
and TV
program.
Invitation,
describing a
Person and
something.

Luncatan,
Jamuran.

Ingkling/Abaka
n and Mi Atas
Mi Bawah.

Ular Naga,
Cublek-Cublek
Suweng and
Jaring Ikan
(Fish Net).

Table 1 : Division of Book Chapters

In every chapter, the researcher
presented each game in procedural text
which contained topic, level, duration of
the
games,
objectives,
materials/equipment and steps how to do
the games. The researcher also put a
picture below the topics. The appendices
were also available in the last page of the
book.
After designing the product, the
researcher continued on delivering the
first draft of the product to the expert. It
was intended to obtain the experts’
justification about the product. Expert
Validation was divided into two types, as
they were instructional review and
technical review design.
The instructional review was divided
into three types, as they were instructional
content appropriateness, instructional
materials effectiveness and instructional
materials feasibility. The first expert
argued that the content appropriateness

42

was categorized in Very Good scale since
the mean value was 3.8 from 3.1-4. The
materials effectiveness also reached 3.6
and it was categorized in Very Good scale.
The first expert also gave high scores for
the materials feasibility. Thus, it got 4 and
it was categorized in Excellent scale.
The second expert validated the
technical design of the product. The expert
argued that the product obtained 3.3 score
and it was considered as Very Good scale.
In addition, the two experts give some
suggestions which made the product more
applicable. They suggested making the
visual design more interesting, correcting
some ill sentences and adjusting the
character size to content of the book.
To know how the games worked for
the students, the researcher employed the
questionnaire about what games they
liked and what games were helpful to
improve their speaking skill. The
researcher presents the result in table. The
students were allowed to give checklist in
every game they liked and every game
which was helpful. The result can be
inferred in Table 2;
No

Name of Games

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

ABC Lima Dasar
Boi-Boian
Dong-Dongan
Tek Dung
Ci Luk Baa
Cita-citaku (My Dream)
Donal Bebek
Dhingklik Oglak-Aglik
Cino Buto
Who Sits Behind?
Ular Tangga
Blind, Deaf and Dumb
Maju Satu Langkah

15
16
14
17
14
16
16
14
17
13
17
17
13

2
1
3
0
3
1
1
3
0
4
0
0
4

17
17
15
17
15
14
13
12
16
17
16
16
16

Unhelpfu
l

8

Games

Helpful

Material
focus
telling story
and
describing.

Dislike

Level

Like

Chap
ter

Table 2 : the Students’ Response about
Games

0
0
2
0
0
3
4
5
1
0
1
1
1

Developing Speaking Materials Based On Traditional Javanese Games For The Students Of Senior High School In Indonesia

From Table, it could be inferred that
the games theyliked most were Tek Dung,
Cino Buto, Ular Tangga and Blind, Deaf
and Dumb. Those games gained 17 points
from all the students. Then, the games
which got more point as dislike were Who
Sits Behind and Maju Satu Langkah.
The researcher went on analyzing
the students’ response by checking the
highest point. She thought that all the
games were helpful. It was true since the
researcher found the students noticed that
the games applied were very helpful. The
games which were considered as the most
helpful games were ABC Lima Dasar, BoiBoian, Tek Dung and Who Sits Behind? It
was supported by the high percentage
obtained in Agree and Agree Strongly
scale. 58.8% of FEC students strongly
agreed and 42.1% agreed that the games
were fun. The researcher also foun that
most of FEC students wished to play the
games again. It was supported by the high
percentage given by the students. 53% of
students wished to play the games again,
41.1% of students strongly agreed.

Discussion
As mentioned in introduction, the
purpose of this research is to develop
speaking materials based on traditional
Javanese games for the students of Fun
English Club in MAN 2 Gresik. The
research produced a book entitled
“Javanese Games for ELT” which was
developed with Hylands’ model (2003).
The games were submitted in line with the
materials taught in Fun English Club. The
researcher found 52.4% of FEC students
agreed to have more games in their

speaking class. Therefore, traditional
Javanese games were modified in order to
be applicable as English instructional
teaching. From the teachers’ interview
result, traditional Javanese games are very
suitable given to FEC students since most
of them had already forgot their culture.
Traditional Javanese games had
become a great culture which should be
perpetuated. Applying the games in
teaching-learning process is one of the
ways. Some games probably need some
equipment but over the try-out, the
researcher didn’t find difficulties in
providing them. Most of all the equipment
was easy to find and make. From the
observation checklist, some items were
not available but most of FEC students
like playing the games. They gave very
positive response towards the games. It
indicates that the games in book “Javanese
Games for ELT” are able to awake their
motivation in learning English especially
in speaking class.
The games were very helpful for
them to improve their speaking skill. They
also like most of the games tested to them.
It was supported by the statement
declared by Long et al (2011). They define
game as an activity that can help the
students relate the topic to enjoyable
learning experiences and important study
skills. They also define game as an activity
that can make learning more memorable,
fun and successful. From the display table
in the findings, it can be inferred that one
of the most favorite games is Cino Buto.
The games’ objective was to enable the
students to make a sentence based on the
word mentioned by their friends. Here,
the student was invited to come in the
middle of the circle. Then, her/his eyes

43

Developing Speaking Materials Based On Traditional Javanese Games For The Students Of Senior High School In Indonesia

should be covered with a handkerchief.
She/he should touch her/his friend and
guess who. If he/she succeeds, the one
who had been touched should give one
word and the player should make a
sentence based on the word mentioned.
The researcher also found the very helpful
game is ABC Lima Dasar which is in this
game the students are able to mention
some words which then should be spelled.
“Javanese Games for ELT” book is
suggested for the teachers as a handbook
to teach speaking since most of the games
are developed to help the students
improve their speaking skill. In addition,
the book also contains some traditional
Javanese Games which are already
ignored by the young generation. Thus,
the book acknowledges again the Javanese
culture by adding some traditional games
as the instructional materials to teach
speaking for senior high school students
in Indonesia.

1.

2.

Conclusion And Suggestion
After the entire of the research, the
study produced a teachers’ handbook to
teach speaking entitled “Javanese Games
for ELT”. The researcher also concluded
that all students enjoyed the games
activity. The researcher believed that the
developed materials and the games had
been appropriate to the students. FEC
students gave positive response to all the
activities in “Javanese for ELT” book.
They were appreciate and feeling helpful
during playing traditional Javanese games
in speaking class.
After experiencing the research, the
researcher gave suggestions for the
following object:

44

3.

The teachers are recommended to be
innovative in providing fun activities
in English class. To create a joyful
atmosphere, the teachers should find a
way to motivate the students. One of
the ways is using games. Since most of
the students would rather to play
games than read a textbook, the
teachers may use “Javanese Games for
ELT” as handbook to teach speaking.
Through this book, the teachers are
also expected to introduce again the
original culture of Java to the
students.
The researcher suggests to the
students to always improve their
speaking ability. They do not feel
hesitant and afraid of speaking
English anymore. There are many fun
ways to practice their speaking and
one of them is playing games.
“Javanese Games for ELT” book
contains some traditional Javanese
games which have many advantages.
Therefore, the students are expected
to learn English more without
ignoring their original culture.
The
next
researchers
are
recommended to develop more
traditional Javanese games and apply
them in English class. Since the
researcher had limited time to practice
the games, the next researchers are
expected to do a research in sufficient
time in order to get the best result. In
addition, the next researchers are also
expected to keep their motivation in
learning and creating fun way to teach
English.

References

Developing Speaking Materials Based On Traditional Javanese Games For The Students Of Senior High School In Indonesia

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