The Nature of the Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD

1. Positive Interdependence, which distinct into two concepts; Positive correlation, If two students have a positive correlation of outcomes, the success of one student is linked to the success of the other, and Interdependence means students are mutually dependent on one another. They have to rely on their teammates. 2. Individual Accountability. Individual accountability is created when the individual student is held accountable for some public display. 3. Equal Participations. Equal participation means participation is not voluntary. Everyone must participate about equally, instead of calling on one student to respond to a question. 4. Simultaneously Interaction. Thus the ability to apply the simultaneity principle is a key to maximizing positive outcomes in cooperative learning. Essentially, when all else is equal, pair work is better than teamwork, teamwork is better that whole-class work, and smaller teams are better than larger teams. 21 b. Techniques in Cooperative Learning There are number variations of the cooperative technique or model which have been developed in teaching activity or have been applied in classroom. According to Slavin, they are as follows: 1. Student – Teams Achievement Division STAD In STAD students are assigned to four member learning teams that are mixed in performance level, gender and ethnicity. The teacher presents the lesson and the students work with their teams to make sure all team members have mastered the lesson. Then all students take individual quizzes on material, at which time they may not help one another. 21 Spencer Kagan Miguel Kagan, Kagan Cooperative Learning, San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing, 2009, pp. 5.9 —5.11. 2. Teams – Games – Tournament TGT In TGT students play games at three- person “tournament table” with other with similar pas records in mathematics. The top score of each tournament table bring sixty points to his or her team, regardless of which table it is; this means that low achievers and high achievers have equal opportunities for success. 3. Jigsaw II It i s an adaptation of Elliot Aronson’s Jigsaw technique. Students work in the same four members. Each team member is randomly assigned to become an expert on some aspect of reading assignment. 4. Team Accelerated InstructionTAI In TAI, it combines cooperative learning with individualized instruction. Students enter an individualized sequence by replacement test. Each member works on different units and checks the others work by using the answer sheet, then the final unit test are gained without any help from the teammates and scored by students’ monitor. 5. Cooperative Integrated Reading Instruction CIRC In CIRC, teachers use novels or basal readers. Students are composed of pairs of students from two or more different reading levels. Students work in pairs, within their teams on a series of cognitively engaging activities including reading to one another, making prediction, summarizing stories and so on. 22 22 Robert .E. Slavin, Cooperative Learning, Second Edition, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon, 1995, pp. 5 —7. b. The Understanding of the Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD Technique The Cooperative Learning has numerous kinds of techniques, as Slavin stated on his book, “There are general cooperative learning methods adaptable to most subject and grade level: the Student Teams – Achievement Divisions STAD, the Teams Games-Tournament TGT and the Jigsaw II ”. 23 As it has been stated before, this research focuses on using the STAD technique in teaching simple past tense. This kind of teaching method let the team work learning has a goal that every team should reach including the reward that they will get so that it will create a spirit and unconsciously having an interaction among students. In STAD student will not only has a responsibility of his or her own learning yet the other’s learning as well as long as they are a part of their team. STAD might be the simplest technique and applicable technique in cooperative learning method that the teachers can use if they are new in Cooperative Learning methods as Slavin said, “STAD is one of the simplest of all cooperative learning methods, and is a good model to begin with for teachers who are new to cooperative learning approach ”. 24 Kagan and Kagan also stated on their book about the STAD as , “STAD is an extremely well searched, effective approach to mastery of basic facts and information. Research of STAD has also revealed very positive effects on ethnic relations and various types of prosocial development ”. 25 Here the emphasize is about the effect of the STAD technique which include in ethnic relation and a social development which the students will get. Furthermore Khan also stated, which cited from Rai 2007 stated that, “STAD Students team achievement division is one of the many strategies in cooperative learning, which helps promote collaboration and self-regulating 23 Ibid., p. 5. 24 Ibid., p. 71. 25 Kagan and Kagan, op. cit., p. 17.20. learning skills ”. 26 Furthermore, Arends also highlights that the STAD technique is a technique developed by Slavin which is the simplest and most basic technique in cooperative learning. Students are given the materials each week or in regular basis. Then students will be divided into a group and each group consists of four to five members who represent sexes, various racial or ethnic groups and high average, and low achievers on each team. Each groups are learning through worksheet or other devices and help each other to master the academic materials. The weekly quizzes are given for students individually. 27 There are three concepts which are central in student team learning methods including STAD from Sharan which is proposed by Slavin, they are; a. Team Rewards Teams may earn rewards if they achieve above a designated criterion. b. Individual Accountability Referring to the fact in all students team learning methods, the team’s success depends on the individual learning of all team members. c. Equal Opportunities for Success What students contribute to their teams is based on their improvement over their past performance. 28 If can be inferred from some statements above that this kind of technique let the students work cooperatively with their friends so that it will make the students as the center of learning activity. Students could share the materials that the teachers have already given in group and each member are responsible of the group progress whether they have already understood the materials or not. The achievement of the lesson will be seen individually from the students’ individual test. 26 Gul Nazir Khan, Effect of Student’s Team Achievement Division STAD on Academic Achievement of Students, Asian Social Science Vol. 7, No. 12., Canadian Center of Science and Education, 2011, p. 212. 27 Richards .I. Arends, Learning to Teach, 7th Edition, New York: McGraw – Hill, 2007, p. 352 28 Shlomo Sharan, Handbook of Cooperative Learning Methods, Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 1999, pp. 3 —4. c. The Components of Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD Technique The STAD technique is different and has its own characteristics from all others cooperative learning methods, one of its characteristic is that it has an individual quiz. This quiz is intended to show how far students’ understanding of the materials individually without having any help from others. Besides, the STAD also has its own components procedure. There are five major components in the STAD technique which proposed by Robert Slavin: 29 1. Class Presentation The material is presented in the classroom as a primarily phase of STAD technique. In this case teacher gives the material directly or as a lecture – discussion. Students need to pay a careful attention during the teacher presentation so that it will help them later on the quiz. 2. Teams There are about four or five students in each teamswho represent a cross section in the class including academic performance, sex and race or ethnicity. The members use the worksheet or any devices to help each other mastering the material. 3. Quizzes The quiz is taken by students individually after they got the teacher presentation and team practice. Students are not allowed to help their friends of the team during the quiz in order to know they have responsible in knowing the materials individually. 4. Individual Improvement Scores Each student is given a ‗base’ score, derived from the student’s average performance on similar quizzes. 29 Robert .E. Slavin, op. cit., pp. 71 —73. 5. Team Recognition The team which has reached the average score exceeded certain criteria will get the reward. The criteria are based on: Improvement Points Students earn points for their teams based on the degree to which their quiz scores percentage correct exceed their scores. This score will be contributed for each member to hisher team score. Table 2.4 Improvement Score Table Quiz Score Improvement Points More than 10 points below base score 5 10 points below to 1 point below base score 10 Base score to 10 points above base score 20 More than 10 points above base score 30 Perfect paper regardless of base score 30 Recognizing Team Accomplishment Three levels of awards are given. These are based on average team scores, as follows: Criterion Team Average Award 15 Good Team 20 Great Team 25 Super Team d. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD Technique Resembling to any other technique, the Student Teams Achievement Divisions technique has several advantages and disadvantages as well. Armstrong and Palmer cited from Slavin stated that STAD is generally positively affected; cross race relation, attitude towards school and class, peer support, focus of control, time on task, peer relationships and cooperation. 30 Students will get the new experience to have a chance get more interaction with hisher friend which might come from different background and support each other as a team learning. Further, Slavin 1977 and Nichols 1996 indicated that Student Team Achievement Division effects on percent of time-on-task, motivation, liking of others, number of classmates named as friends, and peer support for academic performance. 31 On the contrary, the disadvantage of STAD according to Cohen, Brody and Sapon-Shevin is , “In STAD, certain problems may surface as well. For some teacher candidates, maintaining accurate records and keeping up with improvement points becomes difficult. Teacher candidates also may fail to capitalize on the team recognition component of the model through giving public attention to students and thus weaken the positive effects of cooperative learning ”. 32 It is simply the matter of keeping the score record of either from students or from the group accurately and maybe unsuccessful in team recognition. 30 Scoot Armstrong and Jesse Palmer, Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD in a Twelfth Grade Classroom: Effect on Students Achievement and Attitude, Journal of Social Study Research 22, 1998, p. 4. 31 http:files.eric.ed.govfulltextED502845.pdf retrieved March 10th, 2014. 32 Elizabeth G. Cohen, Celeste M. Brody, Mara Sapon –Shevin, Teaching Cooperative Learning: The Challenge For Teacher Education, New York: State University of New York Press, p. 72. e. Procedure of the Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD Technique There are general procedures which proposed by Slavin which is used in Student Teams Achievement Divisions technique includes the following steps: 33 1. Materials The materials should be prepared by the teachers that they will present in the classroom, whether based on textbook or the teachers made materials. 2. Assigning Students to Teams The teams in STAD should be shared heterogeneously, means that all groups represent all students either from academic achievement and or sex. Students shouldn’t choose the team members by their own because they are likely to choose the one as them, but follows this: a. Making a copy of team summary sheet for each team. b. Ranking students from the highest into lowest students based on their previous achievement score. c. Deciding the amount of teams in the classroom based on the number of the students. Team should be composed about four members each. d. Assigning students to teams. Use the list of students rank above to determine the team members. e. Filling out the team summary sheets. 3. Determining Initial Base Score Beginning scores represent students’ average scores from their past quizzes. Otherwise, teachers use students’ final grades from the previous year. 33 Robert .E. Slavin, op. cit., p. 73 —75. 4. Team Building Try to start the program by using any practices or create something for the team just to make each members of the team having fun and getting know one another. f. The Procedure of the Using Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD Technique in Teaching Simple Past Tense The steps that can be applied in teaching and learning of the simple past by using the STAD technique based on the procedure of the STAD proposed by the expert are as follows: Step 1: Introducing and explaining the students about the concept of Student Teams Achievement Divisions technique. Tell them about how to study in group is. Further, tell them the rules of the teamwork that; each member of the group has responsibility to make sure that all the members has mastered the simple past tense and the study will not finish until all the member mastered the material. Step 2: Presenting the simple past tense. The presentation includes the opening, development and guided practice component. 1. Opening is to let the students what they are going to study and discussing about and trying to attract them with some strategy. 2. Development. Stay on the objective that the teacher wants the students to achieve to maintain the classroom byusing some demonstration, using visual aids and so on so that students will get the meaning of what they are learning about, to give students a chance to ask as much as possible or give them questions to assess their comprehension. Finally, eliminate some interruption. 3. Guided practice. Asking students some questions by calling them randomly which will make them to be prepare. Step 3: Assigning students to teams. Each team consists of 4 or 5 members, which include a high, a low and two average performers. Then ranking and listing the student from lowest, average and highest based on their previous test score and or grades. From the ranking list, the teams letter are assign for each students, for example start the top of the list by letter A and continuing the letter. Step 4: Team study. After the students get their team, students start to master the material simple past tense. Each team has two worksheet and answer sheet paper to practice and assess each member and the team comprehension. In this practice they may test each other with partner in turn by using quiz. Warn students not to finish study, before all of the members have mastered the material. While students working on team, teacher circulate the class, sitting with each teams and make sure if teams are working well. Step 5: Test. Distribute the quiz for every each students and give them a time to complete. Make sure that shehe does the quiz alone without any help of other member because at this point they have to show what they have mastered as individual. Step 6: Team recognition. Teachers figure the students individual improvement and team score. Students earn points for their team based on their quiz scores which pass the base score. Student’s improvement point will be contributed to team point and the best team will get a reward.

B. Conceptual Framework

It cannot be denied that in learning or mastering language English students need to learn its grammar rule as well in order to know how to put the words all together correctly. One of the categories of grammar is tense, which indicates to the times reference. There are a couple of tenses in English and one of it is Simple Past tense. The simple past tense is a tense which describes activities that happened and finished in the definite times in the past. The simple past tense is included in a linguistic component that the students need to learn. Teaching the simple past tense is likely a challenge for teacher since there is no tense in students’ first language bahasa. Thus, sometimes gives students some difficulty to learn the simple past which could bring the teacher to find the best way in teaching. One of the teaching methods the teacher can use is by grouping students in learning. This kind of method is commonly called Cooperative Learning. The Cooperative learning methods has several techniques which can be chosen and the technique is the Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD technique. The STAD technique is a technique where teacher present the material to the students first, then after the teachers feel that the students already understood the material, they will share the material with their friends in a group. Each student has responsibility of their own teammate learning because at the end of the study they will be tested and gain score from the test either for the group or individual score. The researcher believed that this technique is the effective one to be applied for students in understanding the simple past tense, because the STAD technique emphasis on learning in group to solve problems of learning and makes students actively involved in learning process; it likely could give a significance improvement of the students’ understanding of the simple past. The technique does not only encourage students in learning but also engage them to support and to increase a good interaction among students in classroom. Further, it is one of the simplest techniques in cooperative learning to be used in teaching and learning activity.

C. Theoretical Hypothesis

Hypothesis is a temporary answer or conclusion of a research. It has to be tested at a later time to prove the validity of the test. Based on some of the theoretical study that has been explained, the researcher’s hypothesis to this research is, that the using of STAD is effective for students of SMP Trimulia Jakarta in understanding of the simple past tense.

D. Previous Study

There were some research which relevant to this study. The first one has been conducted by Wini Widyaningsih with her research title, The Teaching of Simple Present Tense Through Cooperative Learning The Experimental Study at the Eight Grade Students of MTs Subono Mantofani, Ciputat. In this research, the writer used Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD as one of the cooperative learning techniques. There are about 70 students from two classes. She took the sample by using the purposive cluster sampling technique. The data were collected from the test pre and post test which has been given to both treatment and control classes. Based on the result of the calculation that the t o = 1.93 and df = 70 there is no df = 68, with the df = 70 the degree of significance in level 5 = 2.00. The result is t o : t t = 1.93 2. 00 where t o t t . From the data, it can be concluded that there are no significance differences between students who have been taught Simple Present by STAD technique and Grammar Translation Method. The second related research was written by Galuh Kartika Prabandari with the title Improving Students’ Mastery of Simple Past Tense Through Cooperative Learning of Student Teams Achievement Divisions STAD type at the Second Grade of SMPN 3 Tangerang Selatan. The research method that was used in this study is a Classroom Action Research which was conducted into two cycles. The data were collected by observation data and students’ test score from about 40 students. The data was analyzed by using qualitative and quantitative analysis. The result of the study showed that there was an improvement of students in mastering the simple past tense. Students gained the good score in the last cycle that is about 87, 80. Moreover there was a positive response from both students and teacher about the implementation of the STAD technique. Those two previous studies have been conducted with the similar technique namely STAD technique. The focus of the first study was on the simple past tense as well but it used a different method that was a classroom action research and its data were collected by observa tion data and students’ test score from about 40 students. The second previous study used an experimental study which concerned in the research of simple present tense. The difference of this research and those previous researches are; the research design, the concern of material and the place where the research will be conducted. This study is a quasi- experimental study with the concern of the simple past tense. The study will take place in SMP Trimulia Jakarta.