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i r a

d riregula rverb.

i c n u k a t a

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLASH CARDS TO IMPROVE

IRREGULAR VERB MASTERY AMONG THE EIGHTH

GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 3 KLATEN

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By Wilda Prandika Student Number: 091214026

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLASH CARDS TO IMPROVE

IRREGULAR VERB MASTERY AMONG THE EIGHTH

GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 3 KLATEN

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By Wilda Prandika Student Number: 091214026

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

i

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLASH CARDS TO IMPROVE

IRREGULAR VERB MASTERY AMONG THE EIGHTH

GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 3 KLATEN

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By Wilda Prandika Student Number: 091214026

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of the other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, October 10, 2013 The writer

Wilda Prandika 091214026

v

There is nothing in this life that can destroy you

but yourself.

Bad things happen to everyone, but when they do,

you can’t just fall apart and die.

You have to fight back. If you don’t, you’re the

one who loses in the end.

But if you do keep going and fight back, you win.

Alexandra Monir.

“I can do all things throug

h Christ who lives in

me.”

Ricardo Kaka.

This thesis is dedicated to:

vi

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Wilda Prandika

Nomor Mahasiswa : 091214026

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLASH CARDS TO IMPROVE IRREGULAR VERB MASTERY AMONG THE EIGHTH

GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP N 3 KLATEN

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada tanggal : 10 Oktober 2013 Yang menyatakan

vii ABSTRACT

Prandika, Wilda. 2013. The Implementation of Flash Cards to Improve Irregular Verb Mastery among the Eighth Grade Students of SMP N 3 KLATEN. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.

Mastering grammar, especially simple past tense, is very important in learning recount. Recount is one kind of texts which uses simple past tense. It should be learnt by students of junior high school. Unfortunately, many students face difficulties to understand simple past tense. Based on the preliminary study conducted by the researcher, the students of VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten faced difficulties in filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. In accordance with the condition, the flash cards strategy was implemented to improve the students’ irregular verb mastery. This research is addressed to answer a question: How do flash cards strategy improve irregular verb mastery of students of VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten?

This research employed Classroom Action Research (CAR) in which the stages consisted of plan, action, observation, and reflection. This classroom action research aimed to help the students of VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten learn the past forms of irregular verbs through flash cards. There were one preliminary study and two cycles of this research. The research was carried out on February 26, March 6, and 8, 2013. The instruments used to gather the data were field notes, test, and interview.

The analysis of the data showed that there was a significant difference of the students’ average score in the preliminary study (51.2), cycle 1 (81.3), and cycle 2 (86.5). It could be seen that the students’ average score increased from 51.2-86.5. The students could motivate themselves to learn the past forms of irregular verbs well through the flash cards. It could also help the students increase their vocabulary.

The researcher concludes that teaching the past forms of irregular verbs through the flash cards is very beneficial for the students. Therefore, it is recommended that the flash cards be used to teach the past forms of irregular verbs.

viii

ABSTRAK

Prandika, Wilda. 2013. The Implementation of Flash Cards to Improve Irregular Verb Mastery among the Eighth Grade Students of SMP N 3 KLATEN. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Menguasai grammar khususnya simple past tense sangatlah penting dalam mempelajari recount. Recount adalah salah satu jenis teks yang seharusnya dipelajari oleh siswa SMP. Sangat disayangkan, banyak siswa yang mendapat kesulitan dalam mempelajari simple past tense. Berdasarkan pengajaran pendahuluan yang dilakukan oleh peneliti, siswa-siswi kelas VIIIB SMP N 3 Klaten menghadapi kesulitan mengisi bentuk lampau irregular verbs dalam sebuah teks recount. Sehubungan dengan kondisi tersebut, strategi flash cards diterapkan untuk meningkatkan penguasaan irregular verb para siswa. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menjawab pertanyaan: Bagaimana strategi flash cards dalam meningkatkan penguasaan irregular verb dari siswa-siswi kelas VIIIB SMP N 3 Klaten?

Penelitian ini adalah Penelitian Tindakan Kelas (PTK) yang langkah-langkahnya terdiri dari perencaaan, tindakan, pengamatan, dan refleksi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membantu siswa-siswi kelas VIIIB SMP N 3 Klaten dalam mempelajari bentuk lampau dari irregular verbs melalui flash cards. Dalam penelitian ini terdapat satu pengajaran pendahuluan dan dua siklus. Proses penerapan dilaksanakan pada tanggal 26 Februari, 6 Maret, dan 8 Maret 2013. Alat penelitian yang digunakan untuk mengumpulkan data adalah catatan lapangan, tes, dan wawancara.

Analisis data menunjukkan bahwa terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan dari rata-rata skor siswa-siswi dalam pengajaran pendahuluan (51,2), siklus 1 (81,3), dan siklus 2 (85,6). Dapat dilihat bahwa rata-rata skor siswa-siswi mengalami kanaikan dari 51,2-86,5. Siswa-siswi dapat memotivasi diri mereka untuk mempelajari bentuk lampau dari irregular verbs dengan baik melalui flash cards. Flash cards dapat juga membantu siswa-siswi dalam meningkatkan kosakata mereka.

Peneliti menyimpulkan bahwa mengajar bentuk lampau dari irregular verb melalui flash cards sangat bermanfaat bagi siswa-siswi. Oleh karena itu, direkomendasikan bahwa flash cards digunakan untuk mengajar bentuk lampau dari irregular verb.

ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank and praise my beloved Jesus Christ for His everlasting love, blessing, wonderful grace, mercy, power, and inspiration leading me to reach the completion of this thesis.

My great appreciation goes to the Head of the English Department and all lecturers of the English Department of Sanata Dharma University for their guidance and assistance during the study. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Caecilia Tutyandari, S.Pd., M.Pd. for her guidance, beneficial suggestions, motivations, valuable time, and encouragement in writing the thesis. I am truly indebted to Sunarto, S.Pd., M.Pd. and Tumarmi, S.Pd., as the principal and the English teacher of SMP N 3 Klaten, who have permitted me to conduct this research in SMP N 3 Klaten. I also wish to express my appreciation to the students of 8B of SMP N 3 Klaten 2012/2013 Academic Year for being very cooperative, fun, and friendly. I would like to thank Sr. Margareth, for being my proof reader. She is a very kind person who has given me constructive comments.

I really thank Drs. Barli Bram, M.Ed., Ph.D., Drs. F. X. Mukarto, M.S., Ph.D., and Laurentia Sumarni, S.Pd., the lecturers of the English Laguage Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University, who have given their positive-thoughts that can inspire me to always do my very best. I would also like to thank PBI secretariat staff, Mbak Tari and Mbak Danik, who have helped me to manage all of things related to administration.

x

I would like to give my deepest gratitude to my lovely parents, Sukaya and Sudarti, who always gives me encouragement, endless love, care, prayer, and support in finishing the thesis. I thank my younger brother, Rafael Adi Febianto, who always supported me when I was doing the thesis. I also thank my niece, Marita Agusta Maharani, who has inspired and encouraged me to work harder in finishing the thesis. I would also thank all of my big family who always care about and pray for me.

I truthfully want to thank my friend Agung Tri Nugroho, S.Pd., and Rr. Putri Pratiningrum, S.Pd., for their time to check the grammatical mistakes of the thesis, and support me in finishing the thesis. I thank Pipiet, Vita, Liliana, and Budi for their valuable time to share action research and be my partners who helped observe my research. My thanks go to all my best friends Umpluk, Dika, Lindung, Sita, Friska, Hana, Nana, and Ardek for making me smile when I am down.

I would also like to thank my great friends in PBI, especially Veronica Ulis, Shela Novitasari, Bayu Adi Pamungkas, and Bayu Wibowo, who have become my best friends during my study in PBI and I hope that our friendship will never end. I thank all my friends in PBI, especially class A of batch 2009. Finally, I also want to thank all the people who cannot be mentioned one by one and who supported and prayed for me to finish this thesis. I hope that this research will be useful to improve knowledge.

xi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ... i

APPROVAL PAGES ... ii

DEDICATION PAGE ... iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... v

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi

ABSTRACT ... vii

ABSTRAK ... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... xi

LIST OF TABLES ... xiv

LIST OF FIGURES ... xv

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xvi

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Research Background ... 1

B. Research Problem ... 5

C. Problem Limitation ... 5

D. Research Objective ... 5

E. Research Benefits ... 6

F. Definition of Terms ... 7

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description ... 9

1. Standard of Content of VIII Grade Students... 9

2. Recount Text ... 10

3. Teaching Grammar... 11

a. Definition of Grammar ... 12

xii

1) Integrating both Inductive

and Deductive Approaches ... 12

2) Using Tasks that Make Clear the Relationship between Grammatical Form and Communicative Form ... 13

3) Focusing on the Development of Procedural rather than Declarative Knowledge... 13

c. Nature of Grammar... 14

d. Models of Teaching Grammar ... 15

1) Drills ... 15

2) Written Exercises ... 15

3) Grammar Practice Activities ... 15

4. Teaching Media... 16

a. Definition of Teaching Media ... 16

b. Kinds of Media ... 17

1) Non – Technical Media ... 17

2) Technical Media ... 17

c. Reason of Using Media ... 18

5. Flash Cards ... 18

a. Definition of Flash Cards ... 19

b. Possible Case of Implementation of Flash Cards ... 20

c. Flash Cards in Teaching Irregular Verbs ... 20

6. Classroom Action Research ... 21

a. Definition of Classroom Action Research ... 21

b. Aims of Classroom Action Research ... 22

c. Characteristics of Classroom Action Research ... 22

d. Models of Classroom Action Research ... 22

xiii CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY

A. Research Method ... 25

B. Research Setting and Participants ... 29

C. Research Instruments ... 30

D. Data Gathering Technique ... 32

E. Data Analysis Technique ... 34

F. Research Procedures ... 37

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. The Description of Implementation of Flash Cards Strategy ... 41

1. Preliminary Study ... 43

2. First Cycle of CAR ... 48

a. Planning of the First Cycle ... 49

b. Acting and Observing of the First Cycle ... 52

c. Reflecting of the First Cycle ... 57

3. Second Cycle of CAR ... 61

a. Planning of the Second Cycle ... 62

b. Acting and Observing of the Second Cycle ... 64

c. Reflecting of the Second Cycle ... 69

B. Discussion of the Implementation Flash Cards... 74

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions ... 78

B. Suggestions ... 79

xiv

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

3.1 The Result of the Students’ Test Score ... 31

4.1 Teaching Schedule ... 42

4.2 The Results of the Test in the Preliminary Study ... 45

4.3 The Results of the Test in the First Cycle ... 55

4.4 The Results of the Test in the Second Cycle ... 68

4.5 The Average Score of the Students’ Results ... 75

4.6 The Percentage of the Students’ Test Result in the Preliminary Study ... 75

4.7 The Percentage of the Students’ Test Result in the Cycle One ... 76

xv

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure Page

3.1 The “action research spiral” (based on Kemmis and

xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Page

Appendix 1. Covering Letter for the Head of SMP N 3 Klaten ... 83

Appendix 2. Research Official Statement from SMP N 3 Klaten ... 85

Appendix 3. Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials of the Preliminary Study ... 87

Appendix 4. Field Notes of Preliminary Study ... 98

Appendix 5. The Result of the test in the Preliminary Study ... 102

Appendix 6. Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials of Cycle One ... 105

Appendix 7. Field Notes of Cycle One ... 115

Appendix 8. The Result of the test in the Cycle One ... 119

Appendix 9. Lesson Plan and Teaching Materials of Cycle Two... 122

Appendix 10. Field Notes of Cycle Two ... 132

Appendix 11. The Result of the test in the Cycle Two ... 136

Appendix 12. Sample of the Students’ Irregular Verbs Test in the Preliminary Study... 139

Appendix 13. Sample of the Students’ Irregular Verbs Test in the Cycle One ... 143

Appendix 14. Sample of the Students’ Irregular Verbs Test in the Cycle Two ... 147

Appendix 15. Interview Guide ... 154

Appendix 16. Interview Results ... 157

Appendix 17. Samples of Flash Cards ... 167

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

Chapter I presents a discussion of the thesis background which motivates the researcher to write the thesis. There are six major concerns presented in this chapter. Those are the research background, research problems, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms.

A. Research Background

Based on the 2006 Standard of Content, English teaching in Junior High School covers four skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In teaching English, there are some important language components (structure and vocabulary) to help the learners in acquiring these English four skills.

Structure or grammar is one of the basic components of language which must be learned. Gerot & Wignell (1994: 2) state that grammar is a theory of a language, of how language is put together and how it works. However, the structural differences between Indonesian and English cause the students to make some grammatical errors. In other words, Indonesian students may find difficulties in using the correct English structure. It might be predominantly caused by the students’ L1 interference when they are learning a second language. Since the students’ learning English is still affected by their L1 interference, they often find the problems in grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. Nevertheless, the

2

students usually face difficulties in English grammar, for instance in doing an exercise related to the use of the past forms of verbs.

There are many parts of grammar that cannot be ignored, such as articles, parts of speech, modal auxiliaries, tenses, etc. However, there is a part of the grammar that can be considered to be the most difficult thing to learn by Indonesian students, namely, tenses. Simple past tense is an example of the problem which is faced by eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Klaten especially in doing an exercise about filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. The use of simple past tense often makes the students confused with its complexity. Based on the researcher’s experience while doing an observation in SMP N 3 Klaten, it was noticed that the students faced difficulties in filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. Some students wrote

“Last year, I leaved New Zealand for Bunaken Island,”instead of “Last year, I left

New Zealand for Bunaken Island.”, when they were learning a recount text.

Simple past tense is one of the tenses which must be learned by the students grade VIII in Junior High School. They are expected to be able to master it since simple past tense is the basic knowledge to make a recount text. By mastering simple past tense, students grade VIII will be helped to understand short recount texts easily. The teacher has to teach simple past tense clearly to the students in Junior High School.

Due to the previous phenomenon, the researcher tries to help the students master simple past tense in order to be able to write the correct past forms of irregular verbs in a recount text. However, after several times, the students could

3

not master simple past tense. For instance, the students actually did not know the past forms of irregular verbs (such as swam, blew, and shone) when they did an exercise although the words have already been provided. Therefore, the researcher wants to implement flash cards as a teaching strategy to help the students memorize the past forms of irregular verbs. The researcher chose flash cards because this teaching media has never been used in class. Moreover, Tafani (2009: 86) states that one of non-technical media is flash cards. Using a tool or media is an appropriate way which makes the students easier in memorizing the past forms of irregular verbs, especially using the flash cards.

The eighth grade students should learn English grammar to improve their ability before learning four important English macro skills. According to Long and Richards (1987), grammar plays a central role in the four language skills and vocabulary to establish communicative tasks. In fact, most of the students had less interest in learning grammar. This occurred when the researcher did an observation. The students faced difficulties in understanding the language feature of a recount text which used simple past tense. It was proven when the students did not know the past forms of irregular verbs which were asked by the teacher. Some students filled the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text incorrectly, for instance, “The sun shined brightly and the scenery was very beautiful there”. It can be seen from the example that the students did not understand the verb which must be changed into the past form and the verb which must be added by –ed/d in the past form. In fact, they forgot vocabulary easily which might be caused by the students’ mistake in memorizing the verbs in a

4

large amount. In conclusion, there are many students who face difficulties in writing the correct past forms of irregular verbs. This phenomenon will affect the students in arranging or writing a sentence such as using the past forms of verbs.

Therefore, language feature used in a recount text should be taught clearly by the teacher. According to Standard of Competence 11 and Basic Competence 11.1, the students grade VIII should understand a recount text. This generally tells about how the students can understand the meaning of short functional texts and simple essays, namely, recount and narrative. (See appendix 3).

In order to make the teaching of a recount text for the eighth grade students successful, there are some important factors. One of them is media. According to Deflaur (1985: 33), media is used in teaching information and instruction. Besides, Tafani (2009: 82) states that media provide teachers and students with creative and practical ideas. The creativity can be shown by improving or developing materials, media, and techniques of teaching. The flash cards can also be an alternative way which helps the teacher to teach the past forms of irregular verbs in the class. Bard (2002: 164) says that flash cards are effective tool for memorizing spelling words, multiplication tables, and other information that does not require analysis. Based on the opinions above, the flash cards are media of teaching and enriching grammar.

There are two reasons why the researcher focuses on this area. Firstly, the flash cards have not been implemented in the class. According to the researcher’s opinion, the strategy of using flash cards is going to help the students keep the past forms of verbs in their mind. Secondly, the researcher wants to help the

5

eighth grade students improve the past forms of irregular verb mastery, so they can understand the past tense about the correct past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in some sentences in a recount text well.

B. Research Problem

In order to attain the objective of the research systematically, the following question is raised: How do flash cards improve irregular verb mastery of students of VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten?

C. Problem Limitation

This research focuses on discovering how the flash cards improve the

students’ irregular verb mastery. The researcher will conduct the research using the flash cards to know how the flash cards improve the students’ irregular verb mastery. The reason why the researcher chose SMP N 3 Klaten as the place to conduct the research is because the researcher finds out the problem where the eighth grade students face difficulties in filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text when he is doing the observation.

D. Research Objective

This research is intended to see the process of how the flash cards improve irregular verbs mastery of the students of VIIIB of SMP N 3 Klaten.

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E. Research Benefits

The study is expected to give a useful contribution to the students, teachers, and other researchers.

1. The students

The students are expected to improve their abilities to understand the past form of irregular verb by using flash cards, so that students not bored if the learning process is done through interesting media. Therefore, they will be interested to learn the past forms of irregular verbs.

2. The teachers

This study is expected that the English teachers will be able to improve, motivate, and help the students learn the past forms of verbs through the flash cards. The study may also provide information needed by the English teachers about using the flash cards in teaching the past forms of verbs in English class. Hopefully, the teacher will teach better in order to solve the students’ problem. 3. Other researchers

The result of the research, hopefully, can be used as the research reference for the next researchers who are interested in the same area and want to conduct classroom action research in their own class. It is also expected that the next researchers will acquire a new experience in applying methods and strategies used in this research.

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F. Definition of Terms 1. Flash Cards

Mukalel (2004: 147) explains that flash cards are small cards, big enough to carry; (1) part of sentences, (2) phrases, (3) single words, (4) minimal pairs and so on. This card is added by single words of the present form, past form, and past participle of irregular verbs. The students can pronounce and memorize the irregular verbs well through the flash cards. Flash on the past form of irregular verbs can be defined implies to flash for learning tool which can help the teacher in teaching irregular verb. This flash card is especially used to teach the past forms of irregular verbs.

2. Irregular Verbs Mastery

According to Greenbaum & Quirk (1990: 29), irregular verb mastery can differ from regular verbs in that either the past inflection, or the –ed participle inflection, or both of these, are irregular. Irregular verbs either do not have the regular –ed inflection, or else have a variant of that inflection in which the /d/ is devoiced to /t/, for instance, send-sent-sent. Irregular verb mastery is a knowledge to understand the present verb that is changed into the past form without having the –ed/d inflection in the end of the word. In this research, the participants can differentiate whether the verb which is added by –ed/d inflection (regular verb) or the verbs which is added by a variant of the inflection.

3. Eighth Grade Students

The eighth grade students are those who are in the second year in SMP N 3 Klaten. The age of the students ranges between 13-14 years old. Based on the

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observation done by the researcher, the students of VIIIB in SMP N 3 Klaten had difficulties in understanding the past form of irregular verbs. As a result, the students cannot write the correct past form of verbs in filling in the blanks in a recount text. Therefore, the use of flash cards can help the students improve their irregular verb mastery.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the researcher presents a discussion on some theories as the foundation of this research. It will be divided into two parts. They are the theoretical description and theoretical framework. The theoretical description discusses the underlying theories which are related to the implementation of flash cards to improve the students’ irregular verb mastery. Meanwhile, the theoretical framework concludes all relevant theories which can help the researcher to answer the research problem.

A. Theoretical Description

The theoretical description contains related theories to this research. This part presents five major topics. They are theories of standard of content VIII, theories of recount text, theories of teaching grammar, theories of teaching media, theories of flash cards, and theories on classroom action research.

1. Standard of Content of VIII Grade Students

In Indonesian curriculum 2006, Junior High School students are expected to be able to communicate or to participate in the creation of text that serves their daily needs to entertain themselves, to read manuals, to carry out transaction exchange and to write simple narratives, descriptions, reports, and recounts (Depdiknas 2006.) Unfortunately, there are some Junior High School students who encounter the problem in comprehending English in many forms of text

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genres (Sutikno, 2004). For instance, to obtain the objective in learning a recount text, the students should achieve what are expected in standard of content. Based on the Government Regulation No. 19, 2005, standard of content is a range of learning materials and competence level in criteria of graduation competence, lesson competence, and syllabus that must be completed on a certain education. By looking at standard of content VIII, there are standard of competence and basic competence in learning a recount text especially for reading skills are as follows:

11. Understand the meaning of short functional texts and simple essays in a form of recount and narrative to interact with surrounding.

11.1. Read short functional texts and simple essays loudly in a form of recount, and narrative with pronunciation, and intonation acceptably related to the surrounding.

2. Recount Text

According to Curriculum 2006, a recount text is a text which retells past events for the purpose of informing and entertaining. Meanwhile, Anderson (1997: 48) states that recount is a piece of writing which tells past events usually in order in which they happen. The purpose of recount is to give the audience a description of what occurred and when it occurred. Hammon et al. (1992) states that the social function of recount is to record for the purpose of informing. Generally, a recount text explains about two important parts, namely, generic structure and language feature. Firstly, by looking at the generic structure of a recount text, it begins with an orientation which gives the background knowledge

for the reader in order to understand about the text (i,e. who was involved, where it happened, and when it happened). Then, a recount text unfolds with a series of events (ordered in chronological sequences). At various stages there may be some personal comment on the event which is called as reorientation. Secondly, it is about the language features, language features in a recount text are: (1) Proper nouns to identify those involved in a text, (2) Descriptive words to give details about who, when, where, what, and how, (3) The use of past tense to retell the events, (4) Words which show the order events (for example: first, next, then).

From the explanation above, it can be concluded that a recount text has three elements, namely, orientation, events, and reorientation or concluding statement of the story. In a recount text, one of the language features is past tense.

3. Teaching Grammar

Chen (2009) states that grammar learning should be given enough attention and great importance in the classroom. Besides, Gerot & Wignell (1994: 2) state that grammar is a theory of a language, of how language is put together and how it works. The students should focus on how grammar is taught in the classroom. However, teaching grammar in Junior High School is an important part of language learning which is not taught as detail as in the Senior High School. By mastering grammar, the students will be able to understand English well in communication. By looking at the situation, the researcher elaborates the definition of grammar, principles of grammar learning, nature of teaching grammar, and model of teaching grammar.

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a. Definition of Grammar

Before going to know the principles of teaching grammar in learning English, it will be better to have some definitions of what grammar is about. Richard et al. (1985) as cited in Nunan (2003: 154) define that grammar is a description of the structure of a language and the way in which units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language. Besides, Joyce & Burns (1999: 4-5) also define that grammar is essentially about the systems and patterns that are used to select and combine words.

b. Principles of Teaching Grammar

Nunan (2003: 158-160) states that there are three principles for teaching grammar. They are integrating both inductive and deductive methods, using tasks that make clear the relationship between grammatical form and communicative function, and focusing on the development of procedural rather than declarative knowledge.

1) Integrating both Inductive and Deductive Approaches

According to Nunan (2003: 158), the teacher uses the deductive and inductive approaches absolutely in teaching grammar. In inductive approach, the teacher teaches the lesson from an example to grammatical point in the learning process and then the teacher is going to give an exercise to help the students in mastering grammatical rules. On the contrary, in deductive approach, the teacher gives the lesson by teaching a grammatical point and giving some examples. It also allows the students to do exercises in order to master grammar. Therefore, by

applying the inductive or deductive approach, the students will find it easier in learning grammar.

2) Using Tasks that Make Clear the Relationship between Grammatical Form and Communicative Function

In this principle, the teacher has to give students the tasks related to grammatical form as much as possible in order to make students accustomed to learning grammar. On the other hand, Nunan (2003: 159) states that however, it is expected that grammar tasks given by the teacher do not only focus on grammatical form but also are able to be related to the communicative context. In other words, grammar is used in a context which shows the correlation between communicative function and grammatical form as clear as possible.

3) Focusing on the Development of Procedural rather than Declarative Knowledge

Declarative knowledge means knowing language rules, whereas procedural knowledge means being able to use the knowledge for communication as stated by Nunan (2003: 160). He also explains that the teacher should focus on the procedural knowledge in order to make the students be able to apply knowledge which they have in daily conversation in learning grammar. In other words, it is also aimed to help the students in communication.

By looking at the three principles in teaching grammar above, the researcher decides them as guidelines in doing the research. Moreover, those are helpful principles for the researcher in teaching grammar.

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c. Nature of Grammar

According to Larsen (2003: 13), there are six statements about the nature of grammar. One of them is that grammar is arbitrary which is related to the problem of irregular verbs in this research. He also states that English language employs a particular form to convey a particular meaning. For instance, in understanding the past forms of verbs, the English uses –ed, -d, or –ied to mark the past tense of regular verbs. In other words, it can be said that those are arbitrary.

On the other hand, the researcher wants to explain further that irregular verbs are the real problem faced by the students. Irregular English verbs are one of the important features of English. It is because the students use a lot of irregular verbs in speaking and less in writing. Rozakis (2003:29) states that irregular English verbs are those verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjunction in the language in which they occur. Irregular English verbs are often the most commonly used verbs in the language. Rozakis (2003:33) also says that no pattern is followed when the past and past participle are formed. Instead, there are many different forms.

For instance, there are some irregular English verbs in which vowel changes and is added by – n in the end of the word, such as begin, began, begun. Meanwhile, in other verbs, there is a consonant change from – d into – t, such as lose, lost, lost. Irregular English verbs are those verbs that do not end in – ed in the past tense. In other words, the endings of irregular verbs differ from those of regular verbs.

d. Models of Teaching Grammar

In order to give the students some oral or written practices, the teacher should use the activities carefully to restrict the language needed and require the use of the target items in teaching grammar. According to Scrivener (1994:118), there are some typical restricted which use activities, such as drills, written exercises, and grammar practice activities.

1) Drills

Scrivener (1994:118) states that drills provide oral practices of selected sentences. It is used to make the students accustomed to use grammar point. It also helps the students to memorize the change of sentence pattern in part of subject, object, or verb. The aim of drilling is to improve accuracy in doing oral practices of selected sentences.

2) Written Exercises

Written exercises are a common and useful way of giving the students concentrated practices of language items as stated by Scrivener (1994:121). Written exercises aim to help the students become familiar with the use of verbs in English especially in filling in the blanks in a text.

3) Grammar Practice Activities

Scrivener (1994:123) states that grammar practice activities are designed to focus on particular items of grammar. For example, a teacher gives a grammar quiz for two teams. The teacher asks the students to write a verb on the board. The first team who puts the past participle correctly on the board gets a point.

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By doing the three activities, the teacher can help the students understand the models of teaching grammar, so that the students are easier in learning grammar and do not get bored easily.

4. Teaching Media

In order to have a clear understanding about the teaching media, the researcher provides explanation on the definition of media, kinds of media, and three reasons for using media.

a. Definition of Teaching Media

Before discussing the flash cards as a teaching media, the researcher is going to discuss the meaning of media. In general, media can be any object or agreement of object which is used as a device by human with the parallel meaning. Media is used in teaching instruction and information (Deflaur, 1985: 33), therefore, media is on decision whether it is used in teaching instruction or giving information for the students in learning.

Using media in language teaching process is one of the common things which is used to achieve the goal of learning in the school. Besides, a teacher should have variety in teaching by using interesting media. It makes the students not get bored. Certainly, using media in teaching language is a technological innovation that prevails nowadays to help the teacher give the information or transfer the knowledge to the students. Tafani (2009: 82) says that, “media provides teachers and students with creative and practical ideas. In other words, media enables teachers to meet the various needs and interests of their students”.

Dawson (2003: 2) also says that, “the use whatever methods or media were appropriate for the learners and the task, acknowledging that words can be a powerful and efficient means of conveying ideas even for the youngest children”. Therefore, the components of teaching and learning process are related to one another. One of them is media. Using media is helpful in the teaching learning process to transfer the material to the students. One of the important things of the use of media is to make the students be more interested and motivate them in learning the subject.

b. Kinds of Media

Media help the teacher to present the material in efficient time and stimulate students in getting information more readily. According to Tafani (2009: 86), “in the teaching English as a second or foreign language, there are two kinds of media in the language teaching process”. They are:

1) Non-Technical Media : Blackboards, whiteboards, magnet boards, flannel boards, pegboards, flash cards, index cards, wall charts, posters, maps, scrolls, board games, mounted pictures, photos, cartoons, line drawing, object regalia, pamphlets, leaflets, flyers, equipment operation manuals, puppets, newspapers, and magazines. 2) Technical Media : Audiotapes, audio recorders, record

players, videotapes, video players, radio television, telephone, films, film projector, computer software, hardware, multimedia lab, filmstrip, and so on.

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Flash cards which are one of non-technical media are going to discuss in different part.

c. Reason for Using Media

Lueck (1988: 48) expresses that teachers must use media because the use of auditory stimulation in the classroom makes the impression vague. Therefore, the use of visual and the involvement of other senses are needed.

The eighth grade students of Junior High School, who learned English, need a help from the teacher to have a clear insight. Media is one of the tools which can be used by the teacher to present the material. Media are used to help the students in achieving the desire of learning outcomes. It is because the use of media in the teaching and learning English can help the students to recall the material that has been given easily. The students will be helped during the teaching and learning process by using media in the classroom. They are also able to retain most of the words given and recall them later in the next activities. Therefore, media are very helpful for the students. In other words, media of education is able to put the important basic for development in studying and memorizing the material stay permanently in the students’ memory.

5. Flash Cards

In order to get a clear insight about flash cards, the researcher provides the definition of flash cards, possible case of the implementation of flash cards, and flash cards in teaching grammar especially the past forms of irregular verbs.

a. Definition of Flash Cards

Charles (2009: 123) states that flash cards are especially useful for memorizing vocabulary words and their definition, dates in history and their significance, and picture artwork or other items that you will be responsible for identifying. The flash cards can be used at the beginning of a unit to present and practice new vocabularies. Mukalel (2004: 147) states that flash cards are small cards, big enough to carry on them, such as part of sentences, phrases, single words, minimal pairs and so on.

Besides, the flash cards also have some advantages in the learning process. According to Micheloud (2009), there are some advantages of using the flash cards in the classroom, namely, (1) the system is effective to use for distinguishing tenses, (2) the cards are easy to be prepared (everyone can make flash cards by drawing any illustration according to the purpose of teaching), (3) the cards are easy to be carried around (as they are only a stack of card, it is easy to be carried), and (4) the cards are easy to be used (cards are only transferred of flash from back to front).

Generally, the flash cards are study tools, pieces of paper that are used as a learning aid. The purpose of using flash cards is for memorizing the words. Flash cards are useful for teaching grammar, especially at the meaningful/ communicative step. A teacher can prepare the flash cards easily and store them easily in well grouped packs. The flash cards do not need a specific size. The flash cards can be displayed casually and easily by the teacher or the students in group works.

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b. Possible Case of the Implementation of Flash Cards

By looking at the example of the implementation of teaching irregular verbs throughout flash cards, the researcher finds a possible case of the implementation of flash cards in the teaching process based on Dewi’s journal (2011). A teacher can explain the lesson by showing the cards (which contains picture or written words) toward the students. The cards have been arranged for the students. While showing the cards, the teacher asks the students to read the words loudly. It is aimed at knowing the students’ pronunciation. If the students make some mistakes, the teacher gives the example of pronouncing the words correctly. The teacher is not going to change the flash cards before the students pronounced it correctly. Then, he asks them one by one to pronounce. They have also to change the irregular verbs of the words from the first form into the second form and the third form. After finishing that activity, the teacher gives an examination in order to evaluate the teaching and learning process.

c. Flash Cards in Teaching Irregular Verbs

A teacher as a facilitator should accommodate the students by finding out some interesting ways of teaching. It is done in order to make the students feel interested in the lesson. The teacher can use flash cards for teaching irregular verbs in a recount text. The role of flash cards will make the studying process be easy to demonstrate a serious attitude and go through all classes attentively. Flash cards can really help the students who have difficulties in learning English words (Martin, 1987: 54). Therefore, flash cards are suggested to provide an input of teaching irregular verbs.

In the beginning of the class, the teacher will explain the flash cards. If the teacher uses the flash cards to drill the past forms of irregular verbs, she/he should show them in front of the class, so the whole class can see the cards easily and go through the drill. After the students start to pronounce the past form and past participle of irregular verbs in the cards, the teacher can start to flash the cards for a second and the students have to tell what the card is. That is why they are called flash cards.

6. Classroom Action Research

This part presents the discussion of classroom action research. They are the definition, aims, characteristics, and models of classroom action research. a. Definition of Classroom Action Research

Kemmis and McTaggart as quoted by Nunan (1992: 18) state that action research is a group of activity and a piece of descriptive research carried out by the teacher in her/his own classroom, without changing the phenomenon under investigation. Meanwhile Harmer (2001: 344) argues that action research is a series of procedures in which teachers can engage to evaluate the success of certain activities and procedures.

By the definition of classroom action research above, it can be concluded that action research is research carried out by the teacher in the classroom in order to improve the aspects of the teaching or to evaluate the success of certain activities and procedures in the learning process.

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b. Aims of Classroom Action Research

Each kind of research must have a goal in order to solve the problem which is being researched. Elliot (1991: 49) states that the fundamental aim of action research is to improve practices rather than to produce knowledge. Meanwhile, according to Cohan and Manion as cited by Nunan (1992: 18), “the aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within the educational context in which research is being carried out”. Therefore, classroom action research is used since the aim of the study is to improve the students’ irregular verb mastery through the flash cards.

c. Characteristics of Classroom Action Research

Kemmis and McTaggart arguments as quoted by Nunan (1992: 19), there are three characteristics of classroom action research. They are: (1) it is carried out by practitioners (for the purpose, classroom teacher) rather than outside researchers, (2) it is collaborative, and (3) it is aimed at changing things.

d. Models of Classroom Action Research

In this research, the researcher decides to adopt Kemmis and McTaggart’s model (1988: 14). The steps of classroom action research are based on Kemmis and McTaggart model’s, namely planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Those four steps are included in one cycle. Therefore, the researcher who conducts classroom action research should follow those steps.

B. Theoretical Framework

By looking at the Indonesian curriculum 2006 which is implemented in teaching and learning process, the researcher should be able to understand various types of recount texts. The researcher decided to use a recount text which became the basic in making the materials in the teaching and learning process. Hammon et al. (1992) state that a recount text is both spoken and written text. In learning recount, the students must learn the language features of recount. One of them is simple past tense. Simple past tense is part of the grammar that can be considered to be the most difficult thing that must be learnt by the eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Klaten. However, grammar learning should be given enough attention and great importance in the classroom as stated by Chen (2009).

Based on the observation, the eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Klaten faced difficulties in understanding the past forms of irregular verbs. It could be seen that the students could not write the correct past forms of irregular verbs in filling the blanks in a recount text. It became the teacher’s responsibility to help students master grammar especially the simple past tense.

Knowing the real condition in the class, the researcher used flash cards to improve the students’ irregular verb mastery. The researcher used a theory of flash cards proposed by Charles (2009). Flash cards are especially useful for memorizing vocabulary words and their definition, dates in history, and their significance, and picture artwork or other items that they will be responsible for identifying. In order to apply the strategy of flash cards, the researcher conducted classroom action research based on Kemmis and McTaggart’s model (1988: 14).

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There are four stages which are used to conduct the research using flash cards, namely planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The researcher put the stages of acting and observing into one step.

Through the condition in practicing the strategy of flash cards, most of the students could not memorize the past forms of irregular verbs which they had learned before. It is caused by every student having their own capacity in memorizing the past forms of irregular verbs. After the flash cards are implemented in the teaching and learning process, the researcher is going to see whether students’ irregular verb mastery has improved or not. In this research, flash cards were being concerned to improve the students’ irregular verb as the theory proposed by Charles (2009). In conclusion, by applying the strategy of flash cards in the research, it was expected that the student could increase their irregular verb mastery.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methodology used in the research. To achieve the objective of the research, the writer applies the following methodology which is divided into six sections: (1) research method, (2) research setting and participant, (3) research instruments, (4) data gathering technique, (5) data analysis technique, and (6) research procedure.

A. Research Method

In this study, the researcher employed classroom action research (CAR) as the research method. Kemmis and McTaggart as quoted by Nunan (1992: 18) state that action research is a group of activity and a piece of descriptive research carried out by the teacher in his or her own classroom, without changing the phenomenon under investigation. This classroom action research was conducted to overcome the problem encountered in class and to help the teacher increase the quality of learning and teaching process.

In this research, the researcher conducted CAR based on Kemmis & McTaggart’s model (1988: 14). According to Kemmis and McTaggart (1988), action research process shows a self-reflective spiral of planning, acting, observing, reflecting, and re-planning as the basis for understanding how to take action to improve an educational situation. There are two cycles applied in conducting this research through action research. The figure of action research cycle is on the next page:

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Figure 3.1 The “action research spiral” (based on Kemmis and mcTaggart 1988: 14)

Based on the Kemmis and McTaggart’s model, there are the basic activities in conducting action research. The activities can be elaborated as follows:

1. Planning

Planning was the first stage of the research procedure. This activity covered the problem identification. It was the most important stage in conducting the research because by knowing the problem, the researcher could find a good solution to solve it. After identifying the problem, the researcher started to make a lesson plan as a planning before doing an action in the teaching and learning process. The lesson plan consisted of the activities which had been done by the researcher and the students. The activities were divided into three activities, namely pre activity, whilst activity, and post activity. In this research, the researcher conducted the preliminary study and two cycles which aimed to know the improvement of the students’ irregular verb mastery in VIIIB class of SMP N 3 Klaten.

2. Acting and Observing

After making a plan, the researcher combined the action and observation as one stage. Those stages were done together when the researcher explained the lesson. The researcher acted out the lesson plan which was arranged in the teaching and learning process. The problem faced by VIIIB students of SMP N 3 Klaten was filling in the blanks by using the past forms of irregular verbs in a recount text. The researcher did the action by explaining the past forms of verbs used in a recount text. For instance, the researcher taught the students to memorize

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the past forms of irregular verbs and pronounce the verbs by using the flash cards. The action was aimed to solve the problems.

In the observation time, there were the teacher and the researcher’s partner who aimed to monitor and observe the researcher when he was doing the action. The observation consisted of some aspects, such as the researcher’s performance, students’ behavior, and students’ response in the learning process. The researcher also observed what was happening in the teaching and learning process by taking a note about the class situation including the students’ participation and students’ response.

3. Reflecting

After implementing the action and observation, the researcher interviewed three students who gained the highest score, medium score, and lowest score in doing the test. The interview was done when the students had break time after their class. The result of interview became a reflection for the researcher to do what would be improved on the lesson plan in the next cycle. Besides, the researcher also shared with the teacher who became the observer in doing action research. He wanted to know the teacher’s view during the learning process. Those purposed to know what was needed to improve during the implementation of flash cards. In this stage, the researcher could observe whether the acting activity had resulted any progress or not in the teaching and learning process.

Besides, the researcher provided the test related to the past forms of irregular verbs. It aimed to see whether the students improved their abilities in understanding the past form of irregular verb or not. It was done by the students in

the preliminary study and two cycles. The test score was very useful to help the researcher make a reflection for what should be improved in the next cycle. Through test score, the researcher could know the individual’s ability, so he could give more practice during implementing the flash cards.

B. Research setting and participants

The research aims to describe how the process of the activities in the class using the flash cards can increase the students’ irregular verb mastery. For the reason, the subject who was observed in this study was the eighth grade of SMP N 3 Klaten. The researcher chose the students of VIIIB which consisted of 16 girls and 22 boys. The research was conducted from February until March 2013. When conducting the research, the researcher taught the students once a week. The researcher began to conduct an observation to know the real condition which happened in the class. When conducting the observation or preliminary study, the researcher discovered that most of the students in VIIIB class faced difficulties in doing an exercise and a test related to the use of the past forms of irregular verbs in filling in the blanks. It could also be seen from their responses when the researcher asked them about the meaning of verbs in their reading passage, such as spend, put, swear, and find. Furthermore, the researcher found out that most of the students did not know the past forms of irregular verbs. They faced difficulties in filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. As a result, most of the students only added the verbs with –ed/d in the end of the verbs.

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C. Research instruments

The instruments of this research were field notes, test, and interview. 1. Field Notes

Field notes enable the researcher to record and reflect systematically upon classroom interactions and events. According to Burns (1999), field notes as a description and account of events in the research context in a written form. The field notes were used to know the students’ behavior and teacher’s performance in the teaching and learning process. Besides, the field notes showed some notes taken in each action of the teacher and the students. By employing field notes, the researcher would be helped in reporting the information objectively. It is because the field notes provided the best way of describing every event which was happening in the class. The research provided ten questions as a field note guide consisted of the teacher’s performance, students’ behavior, and students’ responses toward learning process.

In this research, the field notes were used to record the responses and participation of the eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Klaten toward the action which happened in the classroom before and during using the flash cards. The researcher would observe the learning process twice before implementing the flash cards and during implementing the flash cards.

2. Test

The action research was carried out into the preliminary study and two cycles. The tests aimed to measure the students’ progress and result in understanding the past forms of irregular verbs in the teaching and learning

process. In this research, the researcher used the test which was only about filling in the blanks in some sentences related to the use of the past forms of irregular verbs. The researcher took the test score in the preliminary study, cycle 1, and cycle 2. Test score was helpful as a research tool to compare the students’ achievement in learning irregular verbs before and after implementing the flash cards.

The test had been done three times by the students in the preliminary study, first cycle and second cycle. In the preliminary study, there were 10 sentences. Meanwhile, in cycle 1 and cycle 2, there were 20 sentences. In the preliminary study, the researcher used the verbs which had been taught by the teacher in the observation time. In the cycle one and cycle two, the researcher used more verbs was compared than the previous meeting. However, the researcher applied those verbs in the flash cards, so the students could know easier the past forms of verbs before doing a test. Finally, the researcher used a table to make it easier in analyzing the result of the students’ test score in each cycle. The example of table in analyzing the students’ test score is presented below.

Table 3.1 The Result of Students’ Test Score

No Name of the students Total Score Score X 10 1

2 3

3. Interview

In this research, an interview was also applied. According to Wallace (1998), interview can be utilized to obtain many different kinds of data, such as

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the personal perceptions, experiences, opinions, and ideas. In other words, the data from the interview exactly based on the interviewee’s perception, experiences, opinions, and ideas. The researcher conducted the individual interview in this research. Burns (1999) states that individual interview could enable the researcher to follow up in more detail specific cases which have been identified. The interview was addressed to three students who gained the highest score, medium score, and lowest score in the preliminary study and two cycles. In conducting the interview session for those students, the researcher divided the interview into two sections before and after using the flash cards. There were 10 main questions to get the students’ opinion about their irregular verb mastery improvement before applying the flash cards in the end of the preliminary study. Then, there were 7 main questions which were different from the previous one. It was used to know the students’ opinion about their improvement after applying the flash cards in the end of the cycle one and two. The objectives of the interview were to find out the students’ interest and opinion in learning the past forms of irregular verbs.

D. Data Gathering Technique

In gathering data for the research, the researcher provided the six steps before and after the research implemented. Firstly, before conducting the research, the researcher conducted the observation to know the materials which were delivered by the researcher and the students’ responses in the teaching and learning process. The researcher identified the process from the beginning until

the end of the class. As the result, the researcher found that most of the students did not know the meaning and the past forms of irregular verbs in doing an exercise or a test. From those, the researcher concluded that the students did not master simple past tense especially filling the past forms of irregular verbs in the blanks in a recount text. The researcher also used less attractive media in the teaching process, so that students were bored when the researcher explained the lesson although the researcher had delivered the lesson well.

Secondly, the researcher gave a test to the students. It was aimed to know the previous students’ knowledge of irregular verbs. The test score which was obtained from the test could be helpful to compare the results of the test before and after implementing the flash cards. Thirdly, the researcher made a lesson plan to solve the major problem which was raised in class. Fourthly, the researcher implemented the lesson plan in the teaching and learning process. During the teaching and learning process, the researcher also noted the data through field notes to gather the data. It consisted of the students’ participation, students’ improvement, and students’ interest during the flash cards implemented. Besides, the researcher also used the test after implementing the flash cards. The test was done in whilst activity which was included in a lesson plan.

Fifthly, at the end of the teaching and learning process, the researcher conducted the interview. The interview was addressed to three students who gained the highest score, medium score, and lowest score. The interview aimed to know the students’ opinion after learning the past forms of irregular verbs by using the flash cards. Lastly, the researcher reflected what was going on during

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the learning process. At this step, the researcher could make the reflection based on the data which was obtained from the field notes, tests, and interviews. In addition, the researcher also shared with the teacher to know the teacher’s view in the teaching and learning process. Those could be helpful for the researcher in making a reflection. From all the data which was reflected on by the researcher, the researcher could make the next planning of the action for the next cycle which was better than the previous one.

E. Data Analysis Technique

Bogdan & Biklen (1982:164) state that data analysis is the collected data which are analyzed by the researcher since the researcher begins and develops the reflection and result processes. In the data analysis, the researcher evaluated all the actions in every cycle which had been carried out in the implementation of flash cards to obtain what had been done well and what needed to be improved. The researcher also analyzed the data gathered in the research in order to get the answer to the questions as stated in research problem. In analyzing the data from the instruments, the researcher used triangulation techniques. Campbell & Fiske (1959) state that triangulation may be defined as the use of two or more methods of data collection in the study of some aspects of human behavior. The data are collected from the result of the field notes, test, and interview.

The first technique was conducting the observations. The researcher observed three times before and during the implementation of flash cards in teaching irregular verbs because the research was conducted in the preliminary

study and two cycles of CAR. Through the field notes, the researcher could see what happened in the learning process, consisted of the students’ response, students’ participation, and students’ feeling when flash cards were implemented in teaching the past forms of irregular verbs. This data would be gathered exactly from the field notes about the students’ actions in class. The data which was obtained from the field notes described the researcher acted out based on planning and the students responded positively in the learning process. It could be seen that the implementation of flash cards was done well.

The second technique was giving tests. After the researcher observed the class situation and described the process when the implementation of flash cards was done to improve the students’ irregular verb mastery through field notes, the researcher applied the test for the students. The researcher asked VIIIB students to do the test because the test was aimed to know the improvement of the students’ irregular verb mastery. Therefore, the test score was very important to see the students’ progress in understanding the past forms of irregular verbs after the researcher implemented flash cards. For instance, if the test score in the first cycle was better than the test score in the preliminary study, it was concluded that the improvement of the students’ irregular verb mastery happened. However, the test would be done again in the second cycle because the test score was used to know whether the students really improved their irregular verb mastery or not. If the test was done once, it could be concluded that the students’ improvement was not valid. In fact, the researcher used the test score which were gained before and after the implementation of flash cards as a comparing tool to see the

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improvement of the students’ irregular verb mastery. Then, the researcher used a table or list to make it easier in analyzing the test score in each cycle. Through a table or a list, the researcher could put all test scores and see the students whom gained the highest score, medium score, and lowest score easily.

To find the degree of the students’ achievement in each activity, the score of each student was counted individually by using the following formula:

The score = Number of right answer x 100 Number of item

While the average of students’ result was counted by using the following formula: The average of students’ test result = Total of the score

Number of the students

The last technique was conducting the interviews. Interviewing the students aimed to make a reflection by seeing their opinion and their feelings toward the implementation of flash cards. The researcher chose three students who became the interviewees. The interview was addressed to three students who gained the highest score, medium score, and lowest score in the class before and after implementing the flash cards. Through interview, the researcher could also reflect on what the students’ opinions toward their problem in learning the past forms of irregular verbs. Therefore, the result of interview would be useful to have information in gathering the data which was used to make a planning in the next cycle.

F. Research Procedures

There were eight steps in conducting this classroom action research. The steps were asking for the school’s consent, conducting the preliminary observation, finding the problem, planning, implementing an action and observing, testing, collecting the data, and reflecting. The brief discussion of each step would be described in the following sections.

1. Asking for the School’s Consent

The researcher asked the permission from the school’s side to conduct the research. The researcher explained to the headmaster of SMP N 3 Klaten about the background of the research, purpose, and reason why the researcher wanted to conduct this research in SMP N 3 Klaten.

2. Conducting the Preliminary

After asking the permission, the researcher did the preliminary study to know how VIIIB class situation generally, including the teacher’s performance in delivering the materials, and students’ participation in the learning process. In preliminary study, the researcher had to identify the problems which occurred in the learning process.

3. Finding the Problem

When the problems occurred in the learning process, the researcher discussed the major problem with the teacher. Then, the researcher tried to identify the cause of raising the problem and found an appropriate strategy to solve the problem. In this study, the researcher chose the flash cards as a teaching media which became the strategy to solve the problem. This strategy must be

V1 V2 V3

Know Knew Known Make Made Made Has/Have Had Had Feel Felt Felt

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Go Went Went Steal Stole Stolen Drive Drove Driven Take Took Taken

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Get Got Gotten Give Gave Given Buy Bought Bought Eat Ate Eaten

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Hang Hung Hung Hold Held Held Hide Hid Hidden Bring Brought Brought

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Leave Left Left

Be Was/Were Been

See Saw Seen

Fly Flew Flown

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Find Found Found Feel Felt Felt Sell Sold Sold Meet Met Met

Clap Clapped Clapped Stop Stopped Stopped

Do Did Done

Draw Drew Drawn

Rise Rose Risen Send Sent Sent Speak Spoke Spoken Spend Spent Spent

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Swim Swam Swum Teach Taught Taught Forget Forgot Forgotten Put Put Put

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Come Came Come Cut Cut Cut Drink Drank Drunk Grow Grew Grown

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Keep Kept Kept Ring Rang Rung Write Wrote Written Wear Wore Worn

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Shine Shone Shone Blow Blew Blown Feed Fed Fed Win Won Won

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Drive Drove Driven Ride Rode Ridden Swing Swung Swung Choose Chose Chosen

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Stop Stopped Stopped Clap Clapped Clapped Show Showed Shown Camp Camped Camped

Sample of the Photos of

Implementation Flash Cards