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should be conducted. In this case, the trend analysis based on the rating checklist and the single lesson time line record sheet showed positive trends during the
employment of those four techniques. The students’ achievement level could attain up to the level of proficient and fluent.
a. Repetition Drill
The repetition drill was employed in all three cycles. According to Larsen- Freeman 2000: 48, the repetition drill requires the students to repeat the
teacher’s model as accurately and as quickly as possible. In addition, Richards and Rodgers 2000: 60 state that in the repetition drill the students do not look at a
printed text. The utterance must be brief enough to be retained by the ears. Form and order is as important as sound. In other words, grammar and pronunciation
were important points. The trend analysis showed that the repetition drill mildly fluctuate in the cycle one. However, more positive trend was shown during cycle
two and three in which the repetition drill gradually increased as it was recorded in the rating checklist and the single lesson time line record sheet.
In the beginning of the research, the writer categorized the six observed students’ language proficiency into basic level. During the research, the writer
recorded that the students’ grammar accuracy improved up to the proficient level and fluent level according to the writer’s achievement level criteria. According to
the criteria, proficient was described that after being expose to a technique the students could fairly quickly repeat or produce sentence with correct subject-verb
agreement. Although sometimes they made mistakes, they could automatically PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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correct their mistakes. On the other hand, fluent level showed that after being exposed to a technique the students could quickly repeat or produce sentences
with correct subject-verb agreement without being prompted or given hints by teacher. Similarly, the students’ pronunciation accuracy also improved up to the
proficient level and fluent level in accordance with the achievement level criteria that the writer made. Proficient in pronunciation described that after being
exposed to a technique, the students correctly pronounce the [ ɪ]
,
[ ʃ]
or [ð]
.
Although sometimes they incorrectly pronounced the sounds, students automatically corrected their mistakes. On the other hand, fluent described that
after being exposed to a technique, the students were consistently able to quickly perform correct, clear and distinct pronunciation of [
ɪ]
,
[ ʃ]
or [ð] sounds
automatically without teacher’s promptness. Related to the grammar improvement, the writer noted that the students
did not only correctly but also quickly to repeat the teacher’s sentence or utterances. The students used to be slow in repeating the teacher’s sentences or
utterances. Certainly it was inappropriate in a normal conversation. However, the repetition drill improved their accuracy and their response agility. Besides
improvement of the grammar accuracy, the writer also noticed that the most noticeable improvement was on the pronunciation. In the meeting one, two, three
and four, the writer taught a topic in which it contained many near-close near front unrounded vowel [
ɪ] sounds such as doing, making and washing. Before, the research the writer noted that the students used to replace the near-close near front
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unrounded vowel [ ɪ] with close-mid front unrounded vowel [e]. However, as the
repetition drill employed, the students’ pronunciation on near-close near front unrounded vowel [
ɪ] improved and finally well established at the end of the cycle three. Besides, the students’ pronunciation also improved on the sound of voiced
dental fricative [
ð
]. The teacher noted that the students used to pronounce the [
ð
] sound as voiceless alveolar plosive [t], or voiced alveolar plosive [d] especially in
the word the and they. The employment of the repetition drill improved their pronunciation so that the students could pronounce the sounds accurately.
Similar result emerged on the field notes. The writer recorded on her field notes that students could repeat the sentence accurately during the employment of
the repetition drill. In addition, the field notes also provided the writer’s critical self reflection as a professional. Brown 2001: 98 argued that in the beginning
level such as elementary school students, students’ capacity for taking and retaining new words, structures, and concepts is limited. In this case, repetition
drill provided a tangible words and structures so that the students could retain the words or the structures Richards and Rodgers, 2000: 60.
Even so, the findings based on the trend analysis and the field notes should be triangulated to the interview to attain the certainty of the findings. The
interview emerged similar results to the trend analysis and the field notes. Based on the interview it was discovered that the students were not overwhelmed by the
repetition drill. The students thought that the technique required the students to repeat utterances which were acceptable to be retained by the students. The
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followings excerpts from the interview clearly illustrated the practicality of the repetition drill.
Guru : Tadi saya lihat kamu cepet mengulang dan merespon pas di awal
Teacher pelajaran. Itu lo, pas bagian repetition drill di mana Ibu kasih sebuah kalimat dan kalian mengulang bersama-sama. Today I
noticed that you quickly replied and responded at the beginning of the lesson. You know, in the part in which I gave a sentence and
you replied altogether Murid 1 :
La soalnya kalimatnya ga begitu panjang jadi gampang diinget. It Student 1 was because the sentence was short enough to be retained.
Murid 2 : Ehmm. Kalimatnya pendek. Miss. Jadi aku ga begitu sulit untuk
Student 2 ngingetnya Miss. The sentence was short so that I could easily remember
it.
Similarly, the interview also sustained that during the employment of the repetition drill, the students’ pronunciation accuracy also improved. The interview
also disclosed that the exposure of native like setting helped the students to improve their pronunciation accuracy. The following was the interview excerpt
related to the improvement of the students’ pronunciation accuracy.
Guru : Miss Meiske tadi amati pengucapan kamu bagus. Apa terbantu
Teacher dengan gambar dan suara yang Miss Meiske tayangkan di layar? I observed that your pronunciation was very good. Were you
helped by pictures and sound that were shown on the screen? Murid 1 :
Saya suka dengan gambar dan suara orang bulenya mudah Student 1 ditirukan. Suaranya jelas dan tidak terlalu cepat sehingga mudah
ditirukan. I like the pictures and the native speaker’s speech. The voice was clear and it was not very fast so that I could imitate it
easily. Murid 2 :
Saya suka dengan suara orang asingnya Miss. Tidak terlalu cepat. Student 2 Saya bisa mengikutinya. I like the native speaker’s speech. Not
very fast. I could follow it.
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The interview excerpt described that the native speaker speech helped the students to imitate the sounds of English. As the result, the students’ accuracy was also
improved. In addition, the visual aid appeared in the screen was a very good media to attract the students’ attention and awareness. Besides repetition drill,
substitution drill also improved the students’ grammar and pronunciation accuracy. The following was the complete discussion.
b. Substitution Drill
