SPELLING BEE GAME IN TEACHING NARRATIVE TEXT.

CONTENTS

STATEMENT……… i

PREFACE... ii

ACKNOWLEGEMENT……… iii

ABSTRACT... v

CONTENTS……….………... vi

LIST OF TABLE ………... ix

LIST OF CHART………... x

LIST OF APPENDICES ……… xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background………. 1

1.2 Research Questions………... 4

1.3 Aims of the Study………. 5

1.4 Limitation of the Study……… 5

1.5 Hypothesis………... 5

1.6 Research Methodology……… 6

1.6.1 Research Design……… 6

1.6.2 Population and Sample………. 7

1.6.3 Data Collection………. 7

1.6.4 Data Analysis……… 8

1.7 Clarification of Terms………... 8

1.8 Organization of the Study………. 9

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 2.1 Reading………. 10

2.1.1 Definition of Reading……… 10

2.1.2 Reading Comprehension……… 11

2.2 Narrative……… 12

2.2.2 Generic Structures and Language Features……… 14

2.2.3 The Importance of Teaching Narrative Text……… 15

2.3 Spelling Bee……….. 17

2.3.1 Definition of Spelling Bee……… 17

2.3.2 The Use of Spelling Bee………... 18

2.3.3 Spelling Bee in the Classroom………. 18

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction……….. 20

3.2 Research Design……… 20

3.2.1 Data Collection………. 23

3.2.1.1 Population and Sample………. 23

3.2.1.2 Research Instrument………. 24

3.2.2 Research Procedure……….. 27

3.2.2.1 Organizing Teaching Procedure………... 27

3.2.2.2 Administering Pilot-test……… 28

3.2.2.3 Conducting Treatment……….. 28

3.2.2.4 Administering Pre-test and Post-test……… 29

3.2.2.5 Administering Questionnaire……… 30

3.2.3 Data Analysis……… 30

3.2.3.1 Scoring Technique……… 30

3.2.3.2 Data Analysis on the Pilot-test………. 31

3.2.3.3 Data Analysis on the Pre-test and Post-test……….. 34

3.2.3.4 Data Analysis on the Questionnaire………. 40

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Introduction………... 41

4.2 Research Findings………. 41

4.2.1 The Pilot-test Score Analysis……… 41

4.2.1.1 The Validity Test……….. 41

4.2.1.3 The Discrimination……… 44

4.2.1.4 The Reliability Test……….. 45

4.2.2 The Pre-test Score Analysis……… 45

4.2.2.1 The Normal Distribution Test………. 46

4.2.2.2 The Homogeneity of Variance Test……… 47

4.2.2.3 The Independent t-test……… 47

4.2.3 The Post-test Score Analysis……….. 48

4.2.3.1 The Normal Distribution Test………. 49

4.2.3.2 The Homogeneity of Variance Test……… 49

4.2.3.3 The Independent t-test ……… 50

4.2.3.4 The Calculation of Effect Size……… 50

4.2.3.5 The Dependent t-test ……….. 51

4.2.3.6 The Calculation of Effect Size……… 52

4.2.4 The Research Findings of Questionnaire……… 53

4.3 Discussion……… 54

4.3.1 The Effectiveness of Using Spelling Bee Game………. 54

4.3.2 The Obstacles Found in Using Spelling Bee Game……… 58

4.3.3 The Advantages and Disadvantages in Using Spelling Bee Game 59 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Introduction……… 64

5.2 Conclusions………. 64

5.3 Suggestions………. 65

BIBLIOGRAPHY………. 67 APPENDICES

SPELLING BEE GAME IN TEACHING NARRATIVE TEXT (An Experimental Study at SMAN 5 Cimahi)

A RESEARCH PAPER

Submitted to the Department of English Education of Faculty of Languages and Arts Education, Indonesia University of Education in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

By:

Jeani Shinta Rahayu 054556

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS EDUCATION

INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION 2009

1 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Nowadays, students of junior and senior high school in Indonesia often face genre in their language class, especially English. Their learning activities were based on what genre which is studied. According to Gerot and Wignell (1994, p.17), a genre can be defined as a culturally specific text-type which results from using language (written or spoken) to help accomplishing something.

Furthermore, students must deal with so many kinds of text, and one kind of text which has to be learnt is narrative. According to Anderson (1997, p. 6), the narrative text is a text that tells a story whose purpose is to present a view of the world that entertains or informs the reader or the listener. Narrative text has its own characteristics, such as language or lexicogrammatical features and its generic structure which differentiate narrative with other kinds of text. According to Anderson (1997, p.8), the language features usually found in a narrative text include characters, time words, verbs, and descriptive words. Accordingly, students not only need to understand or read the text but also deal with words or vocabulary.

Teachers in the classroom used to teach a text by asking the students to read it and to do the task after reading. Those techniques do not give a major change to the

2 students’ understanding about the text. Their reading mastery does not seem raise as well. Many students do not understand the text because their vocabulary skill is low. According to those explanations, students’ reading comprehension is highly related to their vocabulary skill. To increase students’ reading comprehension, teacher must find the way to increase their vocabulary skill as well.

Furthermore, most of the students feel burdened when learning vocabulary in class. They have to memorize a lot of words and their meaning in order to build up their vocabulary. This memorization makes the students feel burdened when learning vocabulary because the teacher does not provide them with a good technique to memorize the words. Whereas, memorizing the words plays an important role in improving students’ vocabulary mastery. In addition, vocabulary skill also plays an important role in improving students’ reading comprehension.

The way to teach vocabulary can vary; it depends on the students’ need, characteristics, motivation, and also media. One of the objectives of varying vocabulary teaching techniques is to make it easier for the students to grasp the materials given. According to Candlin (1990 c.f Zatnikasari, 2008), “vocabulary is central to language teaching and learning.” In line with that statement, Wilkins (1972, c.f Zatnikasari, 2008) stated that “…without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” In other words, the more vocabulary can be mastered by the students, the more materials which will be mastered by them.

3 As a teacher, we need an activity which can help the students to develop their vocabulary and to stimulate a desire to communicate. We need an activity in which students will not feel bored and burdened. One way to gratify teaching and learning process, especially teaching vocabulary is using games.

The using of games provides a unique opportunity for students self-assess their progress in learning professional vocabulary and for a teacher to assess students’ progress informally, without causing stress and anxiety (Kavaliauskiene, 2000 c.f Lestariningsih, 2008)

According to Ellis and Brewster (2002, p.172) games are not only motivating and fun but can also provide excellent practice for improving pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and the four language skills. Ellis and Brewster (2002, p.173) stated that some games are competitive, with teams or individuals working towards being the ‘winner’. Other games are cooperative, where teams or pairs work together to achieve a common goal, such as drawing a picture or solving a puzzle.

Game which will be used in this study is Spelling Bee. Spelling Bee belongs to the competitive games. According to the National Spelling Bee, the purpose of spelling bee is to help students to improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives. Karen (2008) said that one of the winners in Spelling bee competition, Chase Brown, had studied every night since winning the Anderson County Bee. He also stated that he like to get to learn new words. Spelling bee is more than memorizing words or letters which form a word, but it is a complicated thinking process. Students receive

4 several clues to answer or to spell the words correctly, such as definition, alternative pronunciation, kinds of words (noun, adjective, verb, etc), until the example of sentence which using those words. That is in line with Wintarto’s statement (2007) that the speller thinking process is as complex as Hercule Poirot’s cells brain in linking every single facts so that final estimation about the killer and the way he or she kills the victim can be achieved. If they have a bad shot they will be failing.

Considering to those explanations above, this study is conducted to observe the use of spelling bee game in teaching narrative text, to find out the obstacles, advantages and disadvantages, from the students’ perception in using Spelling Bee game in learning about narrative text.

1.2 Research Questions

This study is conducted to reveal the following research questions:

1. Is using Spelling Bee game effective in improving students’ reading comprehension on narrative text?

2. From the students’ perception, what are the obstacles found, if any, in using Spelling Bee game in learning about narrative text?

3. What are the advantages and the disadvantages in using Spelling Bee game in learning about narrative text?

5 1.3 Aims of the Study

The aims of this study are as follows:

1. To find out the effectiveness of using Spelling Bee game in improving students’ reading comprehension on narrative text.

2. To find out the obstacles from the students’ perception in using Spelling Bee game in learning about narrative text.

3. To find out the advantages and the disadvantages in using Spelling Bee game in learning about narrative text.

1.4 Limitation of the Study

This study will put the emphasis on the effectiveness of using Spelling Bee game in improving students’ reading comprehension on narrative text. The study will be conducted in SMAN 5 Cimahi by selecting two classes in same level as a control and experimental group. Moreover, this study is hopefully able to give an alternative teaching model in teaching narrative text.

1.5 Hypothesis

According to Hatch and Farhady (1982), hypothesis means a tentative statement about the outcome of the research. It can also be assumed as a question that must be

6 answered by doing an experimental or series of observation. Two hypotheses are formulated as follows:

In other words the hypothesis in this study is in the form of null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis. The null hypothesis states that there is no difference in mean adjustment level between those who receive Spelling Bee and those who do not. Whereas the alternative hypothesis states that there is a difference between those who receive Spelling Bee and those who do not.

1.6 Research Methodology

1.6.1 Research Design

The method of analysis which will be used in this study is Experimental Design with using Quasi Experimental Design. Experimental design is also known as longitudinal or repeated-measures studies, for obvious reason. It also referred to as interventions, because you do more than just observe the subjects (Hopkins, 1998). This research design relies less on interview, observation, small number of questioners, focus group but it is much more focused on the collection and analysis of numerical data and

7 statistic (Hopkins, 1998). According to Hatch and Farhady (1982), there are two common true experimental designs: posttests only control group and pretest posttest.

1.6.2 Population and Sample

Kanzler and Moursund (1999) stated that population is a large (sometimes infinitely large) group about which some information is desired and sample is a subset of a population; smaller group selected from the population. Based on that definition this study will take the students in the first grade of SMAN 5 Cimahi as the population of the study. For the sample, this study will take two classes of the first grade of SMAN 5 Cimahi.

1.6.3 Data Collection

Pretest-posttest control design will be the focus of this study in which the experimental Group 1 and the control Group 2 are selected without random assignment. Both groups take a pretest and a posttest, and only the experimental group would receive the treatment. The pretest will be conducted to find out the basic skill of the students. According to Hatch and Farhady (1982), the formula of pretest posttest control group design is:

G1 (random) T1 X T2

8 Note:

G1 = Experimental Group

G2 = Control Group

T1 = Pretest

T2 = Posttest

X = Treatment

Based on the second question in this study, observation and questionnaire will also be used to gather the data from the experimental group. The data were collected from observation and recorded by using video tape recorder. Having been recorded, the data will be transcribed and analyzed based on the teacher’s perception. Moreover, to get the data from students’ perception, the questionnaire will be given to the students.

1.6.4 Data Analysis

The analysis of the data will be divided in two analyses, quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative data of written test will be analyzed by using the scoring criteria to answer the first question in this study. Later the pretest and posttest score will be analyzed by using the t-test.

7 There will be two kinds of t-test which will be used in this study, independent t-test and dependent t-test. Independent t-test will be used to compare means between posttest score of experimental group and posttest from control group. Whereas dependent t-test will be used in control and experimental group to compare means between their pre-test and posttest score.

In addition, the qualitative data from the process of observation and questionnaire will be analyzed by using inductive analytical analysis in which the data will be transcribed, categorized, labeled and analyzed. The qualitative data will be finally showed in a form of chart, and the data were compiled from the highest obstacles until the lowest one. Those analysis processes will be conducted to answer the second question in this study.

1.7 Clarification of Terms

In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding, some terms are clarified as follows:

Spelling : Forming words with the correct letters in the correct order.

(Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary, 2008)

Spelling Bee : A competition in which the winner is the person or group who is able to form correctly the highest number of the words they are asked to form.

8 (Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary, 2008)

Games : An activity or sport in which people compete with each other according to agreed rules.

(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2004)

Narrative : A piece of text which tells a story and, in doing so, entertains or informs the reader or listener.

(Anderson, 1997)

Text : A piece of writing when words are put together to communicate a meaning.

(Anderson, 1997)

1.8 Organization of the Study

This study will begin with preface, abstract and will be divided into five chapters, namely (1) Introduction, (2) Theoretical Foundation, (3) Research Methodology, (4) Findings and Discussion, (5) Conclusion and Suggestion.

Chapter one will provide the background of the study, research questions, aims of the study, limitation of the study, research methodology, research design, population and sample, data collection, data analysis, clarification of terms, and organization of the paper.

9 Chapter two will focus on the review of related theories and literatures related to Spelling Bee games, narrative text and vocabulary.

Chapter three will contain further explanation about methodology of the study that has been briefly introduced in Chapter 1.

Chapter four will cover data collected, data analysis and the interpretation of the findings from the study by using certain statistical formula so that it would be easier to discuss.

Chapter five will explore the conclusion of the study and also suggestion for further study.

10 CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

2.1 Introduction

This chapter consists of theoretical foundation of the study. Those theories serve as a basis in investigating the problem of this study. In detail, this chapter describes about reading which consists of definition of reading and reading comprehension. In addition, it explains narrative which consists of definition, kinds, generic structures, language features, teaching narrative text and reason for teaching narrative text. Spelling Bee which stands as the main focus of this study is also elaborated in this chapter, which includes definition of Spelling Bee, the use of Spelling Bee, and the explanation of Spelling Bee in the classroom.

2.2 Reading

2.2.1 Definition of Reading

Croft (1972) affirmed that the skill of reading English as a foreign language requires improvement in terms of reading speed, vocabulary recognition, comprehension and complete reading selection. There are two major aspects that are involved in the activity of reading namely mechanical aspect and comprehension aspect.

11 The mechanical aspect of reading covers letter recognition, linguistics comprehension which includes phoneme, word, phrase, clause, and sentence, distinguishing the relation of spelling pattern with sound and of course reading speed in slow level. Tarigan (1998) emphasized that the comprehension aspects of reading covers lexical, grammatical, understanding the significance of meaning, evaluation and flexibility of reading speed.

In addition, Mcginnis and Smith (1986) stated that reading is more that just a set of skills, because reading is a complex process. Reading is depended on one’s language development, experiential background, cognitive, ability and attitude towards reading. On the same issue McGinnis and Smith (1986) affirmed that reading skill is the result of applying those factors as the individual identifies, interprets and evaluate ideas from written materials.

2.2.2 Reading Comprehension

Comprehension is defined as the process in which the reader constructs meaning as closely and approximately as possible to the author’s meaning by using cues and prior knowledge to infer the meaning. Comprehension is all about understanding what you read, because without proper understanding, the process of reading will be completely useless. According to Smith (2000), reading is like asking questions to a printed text, and reading with comprehension becomes a matter of getting your questions answered.

12 Anderson, et al (1996) suggested three level of comprehension. The first level is reading the lines. This level relates to the literal meaning of the text. This level is intended to find out what the writer wants to say through the text. A second level of comprehension is reading between the lines. At this level, the reader is expected to be able to interpret the context of the text. The last level is reading beyond the lines. This is the final level of comprehension, in this level the reader is expected to be able to generalize the text.

2.3 Narrative

2.3.1 Definition of Narrative Texts

The main focus in this study is narrative text for it is the most frequently occurred and widely used in language teaching. According to Anderson (2003, p.8), a narrative is a piece of text which tells a story and, in doing so, entertains or informs the reader or listener. Accordingly, the purpose of narrative text based on Anderson (2003, p.6) statement above is to present a view of the world that entertains or informs the reader or listener.

Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan (1983, c.f Talib, 2007) defined narrative fiction as the narration of a succession of fictional events. Additionally, it deals with events that constitute problem for one or more the characters who are motivated to confront the problem and attempt to solve it (Rothery in Tickoo, 1995:285). Therefore, narrative text has a sequence of events that are unusual in an entertaining ways

13 Seymour Chatman (1978: 31 cited from Talib, 2007) defined narrative as a structure which is made up of narrative statements. Narrative statements have something to do with story. Therefore, it always deals with story which shows a set of experience of the world life, it can be an animal or human. For that reason, narrative is aimed to amuse, entertains and to deal with actual or vicarious experience in different ways (Gerot and Wignell, 1994:204).

Narrative text can be a fairy story, fable, science fiction story, romantic story, humorous story, travelogue, ghost story, crime story, thriller, folk-tale, personal experience, and many more. However, it is generally distinguished into two forms, namely fictional and non-fictional.

According to Gorski (2008) a fictional narrative is the “story of the self” that people use to define who they are. Their history, memories, and beliefs are all parts of the fictional narrative. Fictional narrative presents an imaginary narrator’s account of a story that happens in an imaginary world. Fictional narrative is appreciated for its entertainment and educational value, for providing a vision of characters who might exist or might have existed. Fictional narrative can attract the reader due to its ability to rise the whole parts of human emotion, such as to make our mind confused, to give us hope, to make laugh, or to let us experience empathy.

Conversely, non-fictional narrative presents a real life person’s account of a real life story. It retells of a true story in which a series of events come to life. Unless there are reasons for questioning an author’s credibility, it can serve as evidence of

14 what happen in the real world. Based on Humes (2008) statement on his articles A brief Introduction to Narrative Nonfiction, narrative nonfiction imposes structure, theme and subtext to events, place and character. Unlike novelists, authors of narrative nonfiction must live with the fact that real people and real facts seldom conform very tidily to these conventions. According to that statement, non-fictional narrative may include the author’s opinion and feeling. In principle, the author of a factual narrative is accountable for the truth of its statements.

For those two forms of narrative, fictional narrative is usually used in the classroom activities. Therefore, this study will use fictional narrative as the main material in order to facilitate students to understand the narrative text, including its content, generic structure and language features.

2.3.2 Generic Structures and Language Features

In order to understand the narrative text, other aspects of the text have to be considered, that is the generic structure and language features.

According to Anderson (2003, p.8), the steps for constructing the narrative including (1) an orientation in which the narrator tells the audience about who is in the story, when the story is taking place, and where the action is happening, (2) a complication that sets off a chain of events that influence what will happen in the story, (3) a sequence of events where the characters react to the complication, (4) a

15 resolution in which the characters finally sort out the complication, (5) a coda that provides a comment or moral based on what has been learned from the story.

Moreover, the language features that are usually found in a narrative according to Anderson (2003, p.8), are specific characters, time words that connect events to tell when they occur, verbs to show the actions that occur in the story, descriptive words to portray the characters and setting.

In addition, Gerrot and Wignell (1994, p.204) stated that the language features of a narrative text are specific and individualized participants, material process to shows what happened and what someone do or what is done, relational process to identify something or to assign a quality of something, mental process as a process of sensing, temporal conjunction and temporal circumstances that describe time and place, also past tense.

2.3.3 The Importance of Teaching Narrative Text

The 2004 Curriculum has been implemented in Indonesia since 2004. It emerges on the basis of the genre-approach that exposes the students to the use of various text types. This curriculum applies learning cycle (i.e. oral and written cycle) on the teaching learning process. Each cycle consists of four stages, i.e. building knowledge of the field, modeling, joint construction, and independent construction. In Indonesia curriculum of English subject of high school, narrative is the most exposed genre.

16 Narrative is exposed mostly because of its social function and its simplicity. Students have already been introduced to narrative text since they were children.

Narrative has various purposes; Dietsch (2003 c.f Widaningsih, 2009) stated that the purposes of narrative are to reflect, entertain, tell, clarify, or influence. However, using stories or narrative text is a better way to convey teachers’ point or the meaning of what they are trying to teach. They stated that stories afford a more interesting way of getting students information and stories allow the teacher to have something to talk about with the student.

Narrative text also tightens the connection between teacher and students in the classroom.

Stories also show students that we all have similar life experiences. It promotes growth and trust between teacher and student, building rapport. Narrative texts or stories are an excellent group dynamic, bringing people together. It was also stated that stories keep the classroom lively for the teacher - when there is laughter, and then the students are engaged in learning. Stories also expose students to literature and teach vocabulary, Butcher (2006).

Considering on the explanation above, teaching narrative text in the classroom will give a lot of benefit to the student. Hence, a good or creative teaching and learning process is needed to influence the students in getting the best achievement in learning narrative.

17 2.3 Spelling Bee

2.3.1 Definition of Spelling Bee

According to Uranga (2003) spelling bee is a contest in which competitors are eliminated as they fail to spell a given word correctly. It is also called spelldown. It started a decade ago as a way to improve children's reading and comprehension skills. Spelling bee is more than memorizing words or letters which form a word, but it is a complicated thinking process. Students receive several clues to answer or to spell the words correctly, such as definition, alternative pronunciation, kinds of words (noun, adjective, verb, etc), until the example of sentence which using those words. That is in line with Wintarto’s statement (2007) that the speller thinking process is as complex as Hercule Poirot’s cells brain in linking every single facts so that final estimation about the killer and the way he or she kills the victim can be achieved. If they have a bad shot they will be failing.

Based on Kichura (2008) a spelling bee is a competition, usually among children, where contestants are eliminated for misspelling a word. However, spelling bees can be conducted anywhere and anytime. Even adults have their own spelling bee, with the list of words that more difficult to children.

18 2.3.2 The Use of Spelling Bee

Karen (2008) said that one of the winners in Spelling bee competition, Chase Brown, had studied every night since winning the Anderson County Bee. He also stated that he like to get to learn new words. That is in line with Uranga statement (2003) that spelling is a very important part of education, and it's often part of class work and homework as a subject. Organizing a spelling bee in the classroom is a fun way to get the children to brush up on their spelling skills and get everyone involved in the learning fun.

Based on Kichura (2008), spelling bee encourages students to study their spelling words, as well as to learn how to compete with one another. If students are encouraged to study their spelling words, it means that they will increase their vocabulary which soon will be able to raise their understanding on a certain text, especially on narrative text.

2.3.3 Spelling Bee in the Classroom

Before playing any game with students, especially in the classroom, it is important to practice so that students can understand the procedure clearly. The game can then be demonstrated in front of the class so that everyone understands how to play. Establish rules for playing the games. Let the students realize the rules. Accordingly, to make Spelling Bee works fluently in the classroom we need to make the procedure clear by explain it to the students.

19 According to Herrera and Zanata (2000) there can be several ways to conduct Spelling Bee game in the classroom, because Spelling Bee requires no preparation and is therefore easy to set up. This study adopted one of Spelling Bee techniques from Herrera and Zanata (2000), before we start Spelling Bee, teacher give the students a narrative text, let them read two or three times, asks students to understand the text, then Spelling Bee can be started. Every meeting has different material, accordingly the words that were used in Spelling Bee also different. For example, if we talk about past tense, the words that are asked to the students would be in the form of past tense.

20 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the methodology of the conducted study to answer the two questions previously stated in chapter one. It covers research design, data collection, research procedure, and data analysis.

In conducting the study, research methodology is very essential as a guideline to get the answer to the problem proposed in the study. According to Nunan (1993, p.3) research is a methodical investigation that consist of three elements, namely a question, a problem or a hypothesis, and analysis or interpretation of data. In addition, according to Fraenkel and Wallen (1990, p. 481) research is the formal and systematic application of scholarship, disciplined inquiry, and most often the scientific method to the study of problems.

3.2 Research Design

The design used in this study was quasi experimental design by using pre-test and post-test nonequivalent groups design. Experimental research is one of the most powerful research methodologies that can be used by the researcher. It is the only type of research that directly attempts to influence a particular variable, and it is the

21 only type that can really test hypothesis about cause and effect relationship (Fraenkel and Wallen, 1990, p.230). Besides, according to Hatch and Farhady (1982, p.22) the pre-test post-test nonequivalent groups design is often used in classroom experiments when experimental and control groups are such naturally assembled groups as intact classes which may be similar.

The formula is represented as follows:

G1 (random) T1 X T2 G2 (random) T1 T2 Notes:

G1 = Experimental Group G2 = Control Group T1 = Pretest

T2 = Posttest

X = Treatment (Spelling Bee)

Two classes were selected in this study. They were categorized as different groups. First class was selected as an experimental group (G1) and was given Spelling Bee game as the treatment (X). The second class was selected as a control group (G2) which was not given treatment. Pre-test (T1) was administered before the

22 implementation of Spelling Bee game as the treatment, and then at the end of the treatment period, post-test was held to evaluate students’ understanding on narrative text.

The design of this study above was arranged to answer the research questions. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1990, p.40) a research question is often restated as a hypothesis. Hypothesis is a prediction of some sort regarding the possible outcomes of a study. It can also be assumed as a question that must be answered by doing an experimental or series of observation. Two hypotheses are formulated as follows:

In other words the hypothesis in this study was in the form of null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis. The null hypothesis states that there is no difference in mean adjustment level between those who receive Spelling Bee and those who do not. By using null hypothesis, every possibility of the study can be shown. If the null hypothesis is rejected, it can be concluded that the experiment works. While, if the hypothesis is accepted, the experiment does not work. Whereas the alternative hypothesis states that there is a difference between those who receive Spelling Bee and those who do not.

According to the explanation above, it can be assumed that the hypothesis of a study indicates the relationships expected between the variables that are being

23 investigated. Fraenkel and Wallen (1990, p.36) stated that a variable is a noun that stands for variation within a class of objects, such as chair, gender, eye color, achievement, motivation, or running speed. Variables are the condition or characteristics which the researcher can manipulate, control, or observe. There are two variables in this study, independent variable and dependent variable.

Fraenkel and Wallen (1990, p.39) said that independent variable is the variable which was chosen by the investigator to the study in order to assess their possible effects on one or more variables. In this study, the Spelling Bee game as the teaching technique was the independent variable and became the major variable to be investigated. Still, According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1990, p.39) dependent variable is the variable that the independent variable is presumed to affect. Moreover, Fraenkel and Wallen (1990, p.39) assumed that the nature of the dependent variable is depends on what the independent variable does to it, how it affects it. Accordingly, the variable that was influenced by the independent variable in this study was the students’ understanding on narrative text.

3.2.1 Data Collection

3.2.1.1 Population and Sample

According to Sudjana (1983) a population is an entire group of people, objects or events which all have at least one characteristic in common, and must be defined special an unambiguously. Thus, the population in this study is 370 students of the

24 tenth grade of SMAN 5 Cimahi which consist of nine classes, enrolled in academic year 2009/2010.

In addition, the sample of this study was selected randomly by using cluster random sampling technique. The researcher identified naturally occurring units, such as schools, classes, not individual subject and then randomly selected some of these units for the study. (Fraenkel and Wallen, 1990, p.72). Cluster sampling was employed since it was difficult to select a random sample of the individuals. It was also easier to implement in school and it was less time-consuming (Fraenkel and Wallen, 1990, p.73).

With the reason above, two classes were selected for the study. The classes were X1 and X2, in which the experimental group was X1 and the control group was X2. X1 as the experimental group has 40 students, besides the X2 as the control group has 40 students. Both classes were chosen as the sample with a consideration from the English teacher of SMAN 4 Cimahi that the classes have the same level of English competence.

3.2.1.2 Research Instrument

According to Arikunto (1996, p.136), instrument is a media used by the researcher in collecting the data. The instruments were used to collect data in order to answer the research questions. It was aimed to see the students’ reading achievement before and

25 after treatment. There were two kinds of instrument used in this study namely test instrument and non test instrument.

Test instrument was used in the pre-test and post-test for both control and experimental groups. The test instrument was a reading comprehension test. Pre-test was given to the experimental and control group to find out the initial ability of students’ understanding on narrative text. The pre-test was undertaken on September 9, 2009.

After conducted several treatments, researcher administered the post-test to both experimental and control group. This post-test was given to find out whether there is any difference between those groups as a result of the treatment given. The items of the post-test were same as those in the pre-test. The test was administered to both classes on October 16, 2009. The items in pre-test and post-test were composed based on the standard in Indonesia curriculum of teaching English for the first grade of Senior High School.

Table 3.1

The Competencies and Indicators of Items in Reading Test

Aspect Standard

Competence

Basic Competence

Indicators Number of

Item

Reading 5.

Understanding the meaning 5.2 Responding the meaning Determining social

function and

moral value

26 of short

functional text and simple essay in the form of narrative in daily life context to access the science and the rhetorical steps of the written text in the form of narrative accurately, smoothly and acceptable in daily life context to access science from narrative text Identifying

the generic

structures of the text which include

theme, plot,

and

characters.

1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 23, 24, 28

Identifying simple past tense as one of the language features of the narrative text

5, 6, 8, 21, 30

The non test instruments used in this study was a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to find out the aspects which contribute to the effectiveness of Spelling Bee game in teaching narrative text. It consisted of three questions about their respond to Spelling Bee game. Accordingly, the questionnaire was used only for the experimental group.

Questionnaire is basically a tool to gain information and answers directly from the respondent. Moreover, according to Arikunto (2007, p. 27-30), a questionnaire is a method used to gain answers from the respondent in a one-way communication. This means that the respondent is not permitted to question the

27 investigator, while the investigator is not allowed to help the correspondent to answer the questions.

Questionnaire was used as a non test instrument in this study as regards on its advantage. The most advantage of the questionnaire is that they can be mailed or given to large numbers of people at the same time (Frankel and Wallen, 1990, p.100). For that reason, questionnaire was used in completing the data of the study.

3.2.2 Research Procedure

3.2.2.1 Organizing Teaching Procedure

The writer performed as teacher and facilitator in both experimental and control group. In preparing the teaching process, the writer carried out two steps. The first step was preparing the appropriate materials for teaching and learning process during the experiment. The second step was organizing teaching procedures in the control and the experimental groups.

Moreover, in the experimental group, the teaching materials and procedures were highly related to the implementation of Spelling Bee game in teaching narrative text. While in the control group, conventional narrative reading materials and teaching procedures were applied.

28 3.2.2.2 Administering Pilot-test

The pilot test was conducted before the instrument used in this study. It was conducted to investigate the validity, level of difficulty, discrimination and reliability of the test-instrument. The items were pilot-tested to 40 students taken from a different class out of the sample on August 28, 2009. The test consisted of 30 multiple choice items.

3.2.2.3 Conducting Treatment

In conducting the treatment, Spelling Bee game was used in teaching narrative text only in the experimental group. The treatment was conducted in five meetings. In every meeting, students were asked to read a narrative text then played the Spelling Bee game. The details of the activity in the classroom can be seen in the following table.

Table 3.2

Schedule of the Study

No. Experimental Group Control Group

Date Material Date Material

1. 9th September 2009

Pre-test

Introduction of narrative text and Spelling Bee Game

9th September 2009

Pre-test Introduction of

29 2. 2nd October

2009

Spelling Bee Game using words that indicate social function and moral value of

narrative text

5th October 2009

Social function and moral value of

narrative text

3. 7th October 2009

Spelling Bee Game using words that indicates theme, characters, events or structures

of narrative text

7th October 2009

Theme, characters, events or structures

of narrative text

4. 9th October 2009

Spelling Bee Game using words that indicate theme, characters, events or structures of narrative text (review of the previous meeting) and also simple past tense as a feature of

narrative text

12th October 2009

General structure of narrative text and simple past tense

5. 14th October 2009

Spelling Bee Game using words that indicate simple past

tense as a feature of narrative text (Review)

14th October 2009

Review of simple past tense

6. 16th October 2009

Post-test and administering questionnaires

17th October 2009

Post-test

3.2.2.4 Administering Pre-test and Post-test

Pretest was conducted to investigate the students’ initial ability. It was given to both experimental and control groups. Afterwards, to investigate the effectiveness of spelling bee games in teaching narrative text, at the end of the program post-test was administered to both groups.

30 3.2.2.5 Administering Questionnaire

Questionnaire was administered to the experimental group in order to find out the obstacles from the students perception in using Spelling Bee game in learning narrative text. Furthermore, the questionnaire was used to answer the second and the third questions of this study.

3.2.3 Data Analysis

3.2.3.1 Scoring Technique

After collecting the data by using the instruments, the data from pretest and posttest of experimental and control groups students were analyzed. The pre-test and post-test data were multiple choices. In this study the formula which was used to analyzed pre-test and post-pre-test data is as follows:

S = R Where, S: score R: right answer

31 3.2.3.2 Data Analysis on the Pilot-test

The data obtained from the pilot test were analyzed to calculate the validity, reliability, level of difficulty, and discrimination level of the instrument.

Validity Test

One of the important things to be considered when researcher prepared or selected an instrument used is validity. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1993, p.139) validity refers to the appropriateness, meaningfulness and usefulness of the specific assumptions that researcher makes based on the collected data. For that reason, it is necessary to try out the test and compute the result with appropriate formula of validity. In order to measure the criterion-related validity of the test, the Person product Moment was used in this study. Pearson product moment can be used to analyze the validity of each item. The data were calculated by SPSS 16 for windows. The criteria for the validity test were as follow:

Table 3.3

r Coefficient Correlation (Validity)

Raw score Interpretation 0.800 – 1.00

0.600 – 0.800

Very High High

32 0.400 – 0.600

0.200 – 0.400 0.00 – 0.200

Moderate Low Very Low

(Arikunto, 2007: 147)

Difficulty Test

A good test is a test which contains items which are not too difficult or too easy. According to Fulcher and Davidson (2007), difficulty is defined simple as the proportion of test takers who answer an item correctly. It is generally assumed that items should not to be too easy or too difficult for the population for whom the test has been designed. Item with facility values around 0.5 are therefore considered to be ideal, with an acceptable range being from around 0.3 to 0.7 (Henning, 1987: 50 cited from Fulcher and Davidson, 2007).

Discrimination

According to Heaton (1995, cited from Cakrawati 2009), the level of discrimination indicates the extent to which the item of the test distinguishes between the participants, separating the more able participant from the less able one. The most commonly used method of calculating item of discrimination is the point of biserial correlation. This is a measure of association between responses to any specific item

33 and the score on the whole test (Henning, 1987 cited from Fulcher and Davidson, 2007). The formula to compute discrimination will look as follows:

r

pbi

=

Where

rpbi = point biserial correlation

= mean score on the test for those who get the item correct = mean score on the test for those who get the item incorrect = standard deviation of test scores

p = the proportion of test takers who get the item correct (facility value) q = the proportion of test takers who get the item incorrect

Items with rpbi of 0.25 or greater are considered acceptable, while those with a lower value would be rewritten or excluded from the test (Henning, 1987 cited from Fulcher and Davidson, 2007)

34 Reliability Test

Another important thing in preparing an instrument is reliability. According to Hatch and Farhady (1982, p.244), reliability is the extent to which a test produces consistent result when administered under similar condition. Reliability is defined as the consistency of the obtained scores. It showed how consistent the scores for each individual from one administration of an instrument to another and from one set of items to another.

Reliability is always dependent to the context in which an instrument used. Depending on the context, an instrument may or may not submit reliable scores. If the data unreliable, they cannot lead inference. In this research, the reliability of instrument would be measured by Cronbach’s alpha formula in SPSS 16 for windows. According to Vaus (2002, p.21) from others reliability test Cronbach’s alpha is the most widely used and is the most suitable. An alpha of 0.7 is normally considered to indicate a reliable set of item.

3.2.3.3 Data Analysis on the Pre-test and Post-test

Normal Distribution Test

The normality test in the study was conducted by using Kolmogrov-Smirnov test in SPSS 16 for windows. According to Field (2005, p.93) Kolmogrov-Smirnov compares the scores in the sample to a normally distributed set of scores with the

35 same mean and standard deviation. The steps of normality distribution analysis were as follows:

1. Stating the hypotheses and set the alpha level at 0.05 (two tailed test)

H0: the score of the experimental and the control group are normally distributed H1: the score of the experimental and the control group are not normally distributed

2. Analyzing the normality distribution using Kolmogrov-Smirnov test in SPSS 16 for windows.

3. Comparing the Asymp Sig. (probability) with the level of significance to test the hypothesis. If the Asymp Sig. is more than the level of significance (0.05), the null hypothesis accepted; the score are normally distributed.

Afterwards, still in line with Field (2005, p.93), if the is non significant (p > .05) it tells us that the distribution of the sample is not significantly different from a normal distribution. On the contrary, if the test is significant (p < .05) then the distribution in question is significantly different from a normal distribution.

36 The Homogeneity of Variance Test

The research of Homogeneity of variance test was conducted to test whether or not the score of research was homogeneous variance. The testing carried out was Lavene test formula in SPSS 16 for windows. The procedures of test were as follows:

1. Stating hypothesis and setting the alpha level at 0.05 (two-tailed test)

H0: the variance of the experimental group and the control group are homogeneous.

H1: the variance of the experimental group and the control group are not homogeneous.

2. Analyzing the homogeneity of variance by using Lavene test formula in SPSS 16 for windows.

3. Comparing the significant value with the level of significance for testing the hypothesis. If the significant value is more that the level of significance (0.05) the null hypothesis is accepted; the variance of control group and experimental group are homogeneous.

The Independent t-test

According to (Kranzler and Moursund, 1999, p.89), the primary purpose of t-test is to determine whether the means of two groups of scores differ to a statistically

37 significant degree. There are some requirements of the data that must be considered before conducting t-test. The data should: (1) be in formed of interval ratio; (2) be homogenous or formed in the same type; and (3) have a normal distribution (Coolidge, 2000, p.143).

To investigate the significant differences between the two groups, an independent t-test was applied. It was applied to the groups whose members are independent of each other. Since the experimental and control groups in this study were not paired in any way, an independent sample t-test in SPSS 16 for windows was conducted. The procedures of the test were as follows:

1. Stating the hypothesis and setting the alpha level at 0.05 (two-tailed test)

H0: there is no significant difference between the pre-test/post-test means for the experimental group and for the control group.

H1: there is significant difference between the pre-test/post-test mean for experimental group and for the control group.

2. Finding the t value with the independent sample test computation in SPSS 16 for windows

3. Comparing the significant value with the level of significance for testing the hypothesis. If the significant value is less than the level of significance (0.05) the null hypothesis is accepted; the two groups are equivalent.

38 The Calculation of Effect Size

Coolidge (2000, p.151) stated that the calculation of the effect size is used to determine the effect of the influence of independent variable upon the dependent variable. Effect size was calculated to investigate how important the effect of the independent variable in practical terms. If the treatment works well then there will be a large effect size. The formula of effect size is:

r = Where: r = effect size

t = tobt or t value from the calculation of independent t-test df = N1 + N2 – 2

After the value of r has been obtained, then the score was matched with the following scale to interpret the effect size.

39 Table 3.5

Effect Size Value

Effect size r value

small

Medium

Large

.100

.243

.371

(Coolidge, 2000: 151)

The Dependent t-test

To investigate whether or not the difference of the pre-test and post-test means of experimental group’s score is significant, the researcher analyzed the pre-test and post-test scores using dependent or matched t-test (Hatch and Farhady, 1982, p.114). The steps are as follows:

1. Stating the hypothesis and setting the alpha level at 0.05 (two-tailed test) H0: there is no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test score H1: there is significant difference between the pre-test and post-test score

2. Finding the t value with the dependent sample test computation in SPSS 16 for windows

40 3. Comparing the level of significance from the calculation of dependent t-test with

the level of significance for testing the hypothesis. If the probability is more than or equal to the level of significance, the null hypothesis is accepted. In other words, if the probability is less than the level of significance, so the null hypothesis is rejected.

3.2.3.4 Data Analysis on the Questionnaire

The formula percentage was used to analyze the questionnaire. All of the data were listed and coded based on the data obtained. Afterwards the data were categorized according to the data that have similar characteristics in order to produce a smaller category of data. Then data were interpreted based on the categories. The formula is described as follow:

P = F0 x 100% N

Where, P = Percentage

F = Frequency observed N = Number of sample

41 CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Introduction

This chapter deals with describing and discussing the research findings from the statistical computation in SPSS 16 for windows, and questionnaire. It consists of two main parts, namely findings and discussion. The findings are divided into four parts, which are the pilot test score analysis, the pre-test score analysis, the post-test score analysis, and the research findings of questionnaire. Those findings are then analyzed and interpreted in the discussion part.

4.2 Research Findings

4.2.1 The Pilot-test Score Analysis

The pilot-test was administered to make sure that the instrument used is appropriate in this study. To maintain the data from the pilot test, several tests such as validity, level of difficulty, discrimination and reliability tests were then conducted.

42 4.2.1.1 The Validity Test

The data obtained from pilot-test were analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation. This test was intended to investigate the validity of the test items. The result of statistical computation of pilot-test can be seen in the following table.

Table 4.1

Test of Validity Instrument

Item Number Raw Score Interpretation 4, 17, 18, 20, 25, 27, 29, 0.000 – 0.200 Very Low 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 19,

26, 0.200 – 0.400 Low

1, 3, 9, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22,

23, 24, 28, 30 0.400 – 0.600 Moderate

7, 0.600 – 0.800 High

__ 0.800 – 1.000 Very High

Table 4.1 shows that 23 from 30 questions were appropriate to be used for research instrument. Seven items (4, 17, 18, 20, 25, 27, and 29) were invalid, so they could not be used for the instrument.

43 4.2.1.2 The Difficulty Test

Table 4.2

The Result of Difficulty Test

Interpretation Item Number

Index of Difficulty

Acceptable 1, 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30

Non-acceptable 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 22, 24, 27

Table 4.2 shows that 18 from 30 items were appropriate to be used for research instrument. Eleven items (2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 22, 24, and 27) were non- acceptable, so they could not be used for the instrument because according to Henning (1987 c.f Fulcher and Davidson, 2007) the item with facility values around 0.5 were therefore considered to be ideal, with an acceptable range being from around 0.3 to 0.7.

44 4.2.1.3 Discrimination

Table 4.3

The Result of Discrimination Test

Interpretation Item Number

Index of Discrimination

Acceptable 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30 Non-acceptable 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11,

13, 20, 25, 27

Table 4.3 shows that 20 from 30 items were acceptable to be used for research instrument. Ten items (2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 20, 25, and 27) were unacceptable, so they could not be used for the instrument.

According to the test results above, some changes were made in writing the appropriate instrument because the items with rpbi of 0.25 or greater are considered acceptable, while those with a lower value need to be rewritten or excluded from the test. Moreover, ten items (2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 20, 25, and 27) were excluded from the arrangement of the instrument. However five new items were added in the instrument to fill the item.

45 4.2.1.4 The Reliability Test

Cronbach’s Alpha in SPSS 16 for windows was used to check the instrument reliability.

Table 4.4

Test of Reliability Items

Cronbach’s Alpha N of Items

.72 30

Table 4.4 shows that the reliability of the instrument (Cronbach’s Alpha) was 0.72. According to Vaus (2002, p.20) an alpha obtained is interpreted as a reliable set of item. Accordingly, the instrument was used as an instrument in this study.

4.2.2 The Pre-test Score Analysis

Table 4.5 shows the mean and standard deviation of the student’s scores from the experimental and the control groups in the pretest.

46 Table 4.5

The Pretest Scores

Group N Mean Std. Deviation

Experimental 40 47.8 9.49

Control Group 40 48.5 9.29

The table shows that the mean for the experimental group is 47.8, while the mean for the control group is 48.5. From the table, it can be seen that the mean scores from both experimental and control group pre-tests are not too far. However, it can not be assumed that the difference between experimental and control group score was significantly different. To investigate whether the difference between the scores of pretest from experimental group and control group were significantly different, the data from experimental and control group pretest must be normal and homogeneous. Moreover, to see whether the distribution of the pretest was normal, the calculation of normally distribution was conducted.

4.2.2.1 The Normal Distribution Test

Kolmogrov Smirnov test was used to calculate the normal distribution of pretest score. The test statistics for the Kolmogrov Smirnov test is denoted by D. The

47 percentage on SPSS 16 for windows obtained that D (40) = .133, p > .05 and D (40) = .129, p > .05, were both normal. The numbers in bracket are the degrees of freedom (df) from the table. The table of the normal distribution test result can be seen at the appendix F.

4.2.2.2 The Homogeneity of Variance Test

Levene Statistics in SPSS 16 for windows was used to calculate the variance homogeneity of the experimental and the control group pretest score. Levene’s test can be denoted by the letter F and there are two different degrees of freedom. From the calculation of Levene test, it can be seen that the variances are equal, F(1, 78) = .032. The value of F is higher than the level of significance (0.858 > 0.05). In other words, the null hypothesis of the pretest score is accepted because the variances of pretest scores in both groups are equal. The table of the homogeneity of variance test result can be seen at the appendix F.

4.2.2.3 The Independent t-test

The independent t-test was conducted to see whether there is significant difference between the experimental and control groups’ scores on pretest. The result of the independent t-test on pretest score indicated that on average, control group students had a better reading score (M = 48.5, SE = 1.468) than the experimental students (M =

48 47.8, SE = 1.501). However this difference was not significant because t (78) = -3.33, p > .05. In addition, two-tailed value of p is 0.74, which is greater that 0.05. Therefore it can be concluded that there is no significant difference between the mean for the experimental and the control group. The table of the independent test on pretest score result is provided at the appendix F.

4.2.3 The Post-test Score Analysis

The following data were obtained from the posttest that was held after conducting several sessions of treatment.

Table 4.6

The Posttest Scores

Group N Mean Std. Deviation

Experimental 40 76.0 7.07

Control Group 40 60.5 8.31

The table shows that the mean for the experimental group is 76.0, while the mean for the control group is 60.5. From the table, it can be seen that the means from both experimental and control groups pretest is rather different. However, to prove

49 that the means of both groups were significantly different, several tests were calculated. The following explanation was the result of several tests on posttest score.

4.2.3.1 The Normal Distribution Test

Kolmogrov Smirnov test was also used to calculate the normal distribution of posttest score. The calculation of the experimental and control groups’ posttest score on SPSS 16 for windows obtained that D (40) =0.125, p > .05 and D (40) = 0.126, p > .05. it can be concluded that the distribution was normal. The numbers in bracket are the degrees of freedom (df) from the table. The table of the normal distribution test result can be seen at the appendix F.

4.2.3.2 The Homogeneity of Variance Test

Levene Statistics in SPSS 16 for windows was used to calculate the variance homogeneity of the experimental and the control group posttest score. Levene’s test can be denoted by the letter F and there are two different degrees of freedom. From the table at the appendix, it can be seen that the variances are equal, F(1, 78) = 0.415. The value of F is higher than the level of significance (0.476> 0.05). In other words, the null hypothesis of the pretest score was accepted because the variances of pretest score in both groups are equal. The table of the homogeneity of variance test result can be seen at the appendix F.

50 4.2.3.3 The Independent t-test

After the normality and homogeneity of variances were analyzed then the data from posttest scores were analyzed by using t-test formula to check whether or not the mean between experimental and control groups’ scores was significantly different.

The result on the independent t-test showed that on average, the experimental groups students had a bigger reading score (M = 76.0, SE = 1.11) than control group students (M = 60.5, SE = 1.31). This difference is highly significant t (78) = 8.982, p < 0.05. In addition, the two-tailed value of p is 0.000, which is less then 0.05. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a significant difference between the mean for the experimental and control group posttest scores and the null hypothesis of this research is rejected. The table of the independent test result on posttest scores can be seen at the appendix F.

4.2.3.4 The Calculation of Effect Size

In order to find out the effect of the independent variable influence upon the dependent variable the calculation of effect size was conducted. It was conducted to see how well the treatments work. The following calculation is the calculation of the effect size

51 r = effect size

t = tobt or t value from the calculation of independent t-test df = N1 + N2 – 2

The result represented effect size with the value of r = 0.74. According to Coolidge (2000, p.151) the r obtained represents a large effect size, because a large effect size is more than 0.371. It means that very large effect size was observed in implementing Spelling Bee game, in other words there was a major effect of Spelling Bee game in improving students’ understanding on narrative text.

4.2.3.5 The Dependent t-test

The dependent t-test was administered to analyze whether or not there is a significant difference between experimental group’s pretest score with their posttest score. The result of dependent t-test on experimental scores showed that on average, the experimental groups students have a bigger reading score on the posttest (M = 76.0, SE = 1.11) than their score on the pretest (M = 47.8, SE = 1.50). This difference is highly significant t (39) = 15.148, p < 0.05. In addition, the two-tailed value of p is 0.000, which is less then 0.05. In other word, this finding does not support the hypothesis of no significance difference in terms of students reading comprehension on narrative text in experimental group. The means of experimental group pretest and

52 posttest scores show a higher improvement from 47.8 (pretest) to 76.0 (posttest), therefore several sessions of spelling bee game in teaching narrative text improve students’ reading comprehension on narrative text. The table of the dependent t-test on experimental group’s score can be seen at the appendix F.

4.2.3.6 The Calculation of Effect Size

The following calculation is the calculation of the effect size

r =

r = effect size

t = tobt or t value from the calculation of independent t-test df = N1 + N2 – 2

The result represented effect size with the value of r = 0.86. The result of the effect size above shows that the r value represents a large effect size. It means that there is a large effect in the experimental group. In other words, there is a significant effect on experimental group students in improving their reading comprehension on narrative text.

53 4.2.4 The Findings from the Questionnaire

The questionnaire was given to the experimental group after receiving the treatment in order to find out the obstacles the students faced during learning about narrative text using Spelling Bee game, also the advantages and the disadvantages of using Spelling Bee game in learning narrative text. The students’ answers on the questionnaire are depicted on the following table.

54 Chart 4.2

55 Chart

4.3

From the chart 4.1, it can be concluded that there are six obstacles in using Spelling Bee game in learning narrative text. Based on the students’ answers, spelling was the very disturbing thing in playing Spelling Bee game. In addition, it can be seen from chart 4.2 that students thought that their spelling and vocabulary skills had improved because of Spelling Bee. However, they still found the disadvantages of this game. From the chart 4.3, it can be drawn that limitation of time and the different level of difficulty in the words given were the disadvantages that mostly faced by the students.

56 4.3 Discussions

4.3.1 The Effectiveness of Using Spelling Bee Game

The result of calculation in SPSS 16 for windows shows that initially students of experimental and control groups had a similar ability in understanding narrative text. The mean between the experimental and control groups’ students did not signify that there was a significant different between them. However, the scores of posttest showed that the experimental group students actually performed better because they got better scores in test.

The result indicated that Spelling Bee as the independent variable in this study was effective in improving students’ understanding on narrative text. That was also supported by the large effect that students in experimental group received from the implementation of Spelling Bee game in learning about narrative text. An improvement of students in the experimental group’s scores can be a result from many aspects.

Spelling Bee could be effective due to several reasons. First Spelling Bee can stimulate students’ motivation in reading. Spelling Bee in this context was a technique that supported an English teaching and learning process, especially in teaching narrative text. The words that were used in the Spelling Bee were the key words from narrative text and also would be discussed after the game. Accordingly, students automatically motivated in reading the text, since they wanted to be the

57 winner in the Spelling Bee. Therefore, students’ comprehension on narrative text improved because they got a deeper comprehension on the keywords.

Second aspect that could be a causal factor in Spelling Bee game effectiveness was students’ awareness toward the words used in the Spelling Bee game. It could also be a causal factor to their success in comprehended the narrative text. It can be seen from the students’ ability in guessing the meaning of the text after playing the Spelling Bee game. Therefore, they could guess the meaning of the narrative text given only through the words used in the Spelling Bee. Students were able to make a prediction concerning the meaning of the text without translate all the words in the text. Moreover, students’ ability in guessing the meaning of the text, drawing the conclusions from the text, and predicting what will come next in the text were evidence that the students’ ability in reading comprehension on narrative text has improved.

Students felt that they could not comprehend the text because they did not know the meaning of some words. Therefore, Spelling Bee was conducted to optimize students understanding on the words from the text, especially narrative text since Spelling Bee facilitated students to learn the words with the meaningful and enjoyable activity.

All this time, students have been accustomed to reading and translating most of the words from the text. They have been accustomed to find out the meaning of the difficult words by opening the dictionary or asking the teachers. Accordingly, a third

58 factor that caused Spelling Bee game effective in improving students’ reading comprehension on narrative text was its technique that can gratify teaching and learning process. Game is fun and students like to play the game. Playing games is a vital part in learning. Games, especially Spelling Bee game added variation to a lesson and increase motivation by reasonable incentive to use the target language, in this context was English. In addition, organizing spelling bee in the classroom is a fun way to get the students to brush up on their spelling skills and get everyone involved in the learning fun.

Spelling Bee game encouraged an English teaching and learning process to become more attractive. Students were motivated more in learning, especially learning narrative text because they wanted to play well in the game. The variation in teaching and learning activity was believed to encourage students’ enthusiasm to the material. An important factor to the success of teaching and learning process can be seen from the students’ interest during the process. If students seemed attracted to the material, and follow the activity without any compulsion, then they will be more able to absorb the material.

Another possible factor to the effectiveness of Spelling Bee game in improving students’ reading comprehension on narrative text was the competitiveness between the students. Spelling Bee game was able to build competitiveness between the students in the classroom. It can be seen during the treatment, they actively involved in the game. Moreover, they paid attention to every aspect, such as the words, and the instruction given by the teacher. Spelling Bee game was easy to set up

59 and the rules of the game was also set clearly. The key to a successful language game is that the rules are clear and the ultimate goal is well defined. Accordingly, teacher as the facilitator gave the students a very simple instruction. Therefore, every student in the classroom could be followed the game easily and the lesson objective could be achieved as well.

4.3.2 The Obstacles Found in Using Spelling Bee Game

There were several obstacles found from the students’ answer on the questionnaire, namely students’ problem on their spelling, students’ lack of listening skill, nervousness, student’s difficulty in vocabulary, limited time allocation, and the classroom condition that did not support the learning process.

The most dominant obstacle during the learning process using Spelling Bee game was students’ inability in recognizing an English alphabet. They did not have a good spelling skill. Therefore, most of them failed at the game. The longer words did not mean the more difficult to spell. It was proven from the treatment that most of the students misspelled the words, especially the words that cover the letter of A, E, H, G, and J.

Students’ failure in recognizing an English alphabet might be caused by their difficulty in listening. Therefore, in Spelling Bee, recognizing the words not only means recognizing how to listen correctly, but also how to spell accurately. Those skills were highly related, because students’ ability in recognizing the alphabet that

60 covers the word was depended on their spelling and listening skill. In order to minimize students’ error at spelling, the teachers also need to facilitate the students with giving them a good pronunciation. As a result, students will hear a correct word, and then they will spell it correctly.

Besides, from the students’ point of view, there was also a problem with the classroom condition. Since, playing game is a fun activity that can make the classroom condition relatively uncontrolled. Therefore teachers as the facilitator need to be more creative in arranging the class. They have to manage the students for not making any noisy during the game. In addition, teachers need to ascertain that students can hear the word they are asked to spell without being bothered from other students. Therefore it was important to give a job to the students who have eliminated from the game. It would be better if they are asked to write the words used in the game on their book, since after the game those words would be discussed as the material.

The all obstacles that had been discussed above were interconnected of each other. Classroom condition influenced student’s listening skill toward the words given from the teacher. Moreover, student’s listening and spelling skill influenced students’ ability in recognizing an English alphabet that covered the words.

61 4.3.3 The Advantages and Disadvantages in Using Spelling Bee Game

The reasons why Spelling Bee was effective in improving students’ understanding on narrative text can also be seen from the students’ answer of the questionnaire. Since Spelling Bee game is dealing with spelling the words, students felt that their skill on spelling and vocabulary had improved.

In every meeting students received one different text. They should be able to read the text without asking the meaning of each word from the text to the teacher. Afterwards, students followed the Spelling Bee game and were asked to spell the words from the text especially the keywords. Students were allowed to ask the clues from the teacher. There were two kinds of clue in this game namely definition and word usage in the sentence. That technique of Spelling Bee game can be the important factor of students’ spelling and vocabulary improvement. Students who had low spelling and vocabulary skills were motivated to learn more about the words and how to spell them. That was one of the essential aspects to get the deeper understanding of narrative text.

Therefore, based the students’ answer on the questionnaire, Spelling Bee game was not only motivating and fun but can also provide excellent practice for improving pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and the four language skills. It encouraged students to study their spelling words, as well as to learn how to compete with one another.

66 For teachers who are interested in using Spelling Bee game, it is suggested to ensure that the students’ do not have problems with spelling. Recheck their spelling skill by ask them to spell a number of words, pay attention to their spelling especially at the letter A, E, H, G, and J. According to the observation during the experiment, students frequently misspelled at the words that have those letters.

Double check that you have everything you need. Try and get into your classroom before the students arrive. Choose the best sitting arrangement to facilitate the activity. That effort can make the lesson work better without having to interrupt the flow of the lesson.

In addition, teacher is suggested to give an opportunity to the students to watch the movie or video that explains Spelling Bee before playing. Since the movie or video can describe more about Spelling Bee and also can motivate and encourage students to play the game better.

On the other hand, some arrangements and improvements for further study are necessary in implementing this technique in the classroom. For further study, it would be very excellent if the Spelling Bee game can be used in other genres. Besides, the researcher would like to suggest for further study to investigate the effectiveness of Spelling Bee game in improving other language skills such as writing and speaking. Moreover, the further study is suggested to apply Spelling Bee game in other level of students, such as elementary or junior high school students.

67

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