The implementation of flash cards to improve irregular verb mastery among the eighth grade students of SMP N 3 Klaten - USD Repository

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

2013

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

2013

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

2013

  

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

  

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 through Christ who lives in

me.”

  Ricardo Kaka.

  This thesis is dedicated to: Jesus Christ, my family, and my friends

  

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 Wilda Prandika

  

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.

  Keywords: flash cards, irregular verb mastery, the eighth grade students

  

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.

  Kata kunci: flash cards, irregular verb mastery, the eighth grade students

  

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.

  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.

  Wilda Prandika

  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 b.

  12 Principles of Teaching Grammar ......................

  1) Integrating both Inductive and Deductive Approaches ................................ 12

  Definition of Teaching Media ................................ 16 b. Kinds of Media ....................................................... 17

  6. Classroom Action Research ......................................... 21 a.

  Definition of Flash Cards ........................................ 19 b. Possible Case of Implementation of Flash Cards ... 20 c. Flash Cards in Teaching Irregular Verbs ................ 20

  5. Flash Cards .................................................................. 18 a.

  18

  Reason of Using Media ....................................

  2) Technical Media ................................................ 17 c.

  1) Non – Technical Media .................................... 17

  4. Teaching Media............................................................ 16 a.

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

  3) Grammar Practice Activities ............................. 15

  2) Written Exercises .............................................. 15

  1) Drills .................................................................. 15

  14 d. Models of Teaching Grammar ................................ 15

  Nature of Grammar...........................................

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

  Communicative Form ........................................ 13 3)

  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 B. Theoretical Framework ................................................. 23

  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 REFERENCES ........................................................................................... 81

  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

  4.8 The Average Score of the Students’ Results in the Cycle Two....... 75

  LIST OF FIGURE

  Figure Page

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

  McTaggart’s Model 1988: 14).............................................................. 26

  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 Appendix 18. Samples of the Photos of Implementation Flash Cards ........ 171

  

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

  1

  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, f or 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 imp lemented 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.

  6 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 studen ts’ 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.

  7 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
• –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

  8 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.

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

  

9

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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

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  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.

  12 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

  13

  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.

  14 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