I.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Research
English grammar is the body of rules describing the
properties of the English language. A language is such that its
elements must be combined according to certain patterns. English grammar is
concerned and restricted to morphology, the building blocks of
language; and syntax,
the construction of meaningful phrases, clauses and sentences with the use of morphemes
and words.
In addition, as a part of grammar, the past perfect is used
to express the idea that something occurred before another action in the past.
It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past.
The past perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of
the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb. The
past perfect refers to a time earlier
than before now. It’s function is to make it clear that one event
happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is
mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.
This kind of tense is
very important to the students who still learn English at the third grade of
Senior High School. Therefore, the teacher has to use the suitable method in
teaching past perfect tense. Winkle (1987:34) said that among
other things that greatly influence the result of English teaching is method.
It is often considered that the most important thing is the process of
teaching. The student found the difficulties caused by the unsuitable method
used by the teacher; both teacher and students will get unsatisfactory result.
To anticipate the problem above, a serious attention in presenting the suitable
method in teaching skill is needed.
However, based on the
preliminary study conducted by the researcher in SMA N 1 Peusangan Selatan
while researcher was on teaching practice, the researcher found that the
teaching and learning process of this tense is still run by using usual method.
The teacher just gave the formula and the example of past perfect tense on
textbook to students and then the students is asked to compose their own past
perfect tense. The students seemed unmotivated and uninterested in learning
reading. They did not active and seemed bored in the class.
Therefore, the teacher should
consider making the students active in learning. One of the alternatives is
using the technique that actively involved all of students in the class. The
technique that could be used by the teacher is queue technique. In this
technique of learning, the students learned together to accomplished the task
given by the teacher. They can discuss the questions with their friend by
making some groups in the class. In accomplishing the task, they make the queue
to come to the board in front of class. If one student failed to answer the
question, he/she could be help by another student in his or her group. The
student who had the turn came to the back of the queue line. Through this way,
the students were more interested in teaching and learning
process (Kagan, 1992:256).
Based on the explanation
above, the researcher interested to conduct the research dealing with one
aspect of English teaching and learning. The research title is:
“Improving students’ ability in the
concept of past perfect tense through queue technique (A collaborative classroom
action research to the third year students of SMA N 1 Peusangan Selatan). It is
hoped that the result of this research can help teachers and students of in
teaching and learning past perfect tense.
1.2 Problems of the Research
Based on the background presented above, the researcher
formulated the problems of the research as
follows:
1. How does queue technique increase
the students’ ability in mastering past perfect tense to the third year
students of SMA N 1 Peusangan Selatan?
2. How is the classroom’s atmosphere when the
queue technique applied in teaching past perfect tense to the third year
students of SMA N 1 Peusangan Selatan?
1.3
Purposes of the Research
Based on
the problems of the research above, the purposes of the research are in the
following:
1. To know how the queue
technique increases the students’ ability in mastering past perfect tense to
the third year students of SMA N 1 Peusangan Selatan.
2. To find how the classroom’s atmosphere is
when the queue technique applied in teaching past perfect tense to the third year
students of SMA N 1 Peusangan Selatan.
1.4
Significance of the Research
This research is hoped to
give meaningful knowledge both for theoretically and practically concerns.
-
Theoretically, the research gives logical
advantage in describing the students’ achievement in mastering past perfect
tense through queue technique, especially to the third year students of SMA N 1
Peusangan Selatan.
-
Practically, the finding of the research is
expected to give a priority measures in teaching reading for teacher. Meanwhile
for the students, it is hoped to be able to enrich their competence in
mastering English grammar, especially past perfect tense.
1.5 Scope of the Research
In this research, the
researcher would like to gives the scope of the research for limiting the focus
of the research. This research focuses on improving students’ ability in
mastering past perfect tense through
queue technique to be implemented to the third year students of SMA N 1
Peusangan Selatan.
1.6 Definition of Key Terms
1.
Past perfect tense is a tense to
emphasize that an action in the past finished before another action in the past started. This tense is also used
in reported speech, third conditional sentences, or to show dissatisfaction
with the past (http://www.englishtenses.com/tenses/past_perfect).
In this research, the researcher will teach past perfect tense through queue
technique to the third year students of SMA N 1 Peusangan Selatan.
2.
Queue
technique is a technique of teaching that is the practice activity
designed gets students to finish the task given by the teacher in a queue line
to come to the board in front of class (Harmer, (2007:65). In this
research, it means the technique used by the researcher in the teaching and
learning process of past perfect tense to the third year students of SMA N
1 Peusangan Selatan.
This
part focuses on the review or related literature in the present study. The
discussion includes the concept of past perfect tense and using queue technique
in improving the ability of mastering past perfect tense.
2.1
Definition of
Past Perfect Tense
The past perfect tense is often used in English when
we are relating two events, which happened in the past. It helps to show which
event happened first (Nilsson, 1989:98). Besides, we use the past perfect tense to emphasize that
an action in the past finished before
another action in the past started. This tense is also used in reported speech,
third conditional sentences, or to show dissatisfaction with the past.
The basic form of past perfect tense is: “Subject + Had +
Verb (past participle form)”. The example of past perfect tense in sentences is
as follows:
·
I
had written the letter before you came home.
·
If
she had studied hard, she would have passed the English language exam.
·
I
wish I had been brave enough.
·
Mary
looked as if she had not slept for 48 hours.
The
function of past perfect is that the past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one
event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is
mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.
In these
examples, Event A is the first or earliest event, Event B is the second or
latest event:
|
Event A
|
Event B
|
|
John had gone out
|
when I arrived in the office.
|
|
I had saved my document
|
before the computer crashed.
|
|
When they arrived
|
we had already started
cooking
|
|
He was very tired
|
because he hadn't slept
well.
|
Past perfect + just. 'Just' is used with the past perfect to
refer to an event that was only a short time earlier than before now, e.g.
a.
The
train had just left when I arrived at the station.
b.
She
had just left the room when the police arrived.
c.
I
had just put the washing out when it started to rain.
2.2 The Use of Past Perfect Tense
Past
perfect tense is used to emphasize that an action in the past
finished before another action
in the past started. This tense is also used in reported speech, third
conditional sentences, or to show dissatisfaction with the past (Sullivan,
1979:267). The explanation of each use are in the following.
-
A
completed action before another action in the past
The first use of this tense is to emphasize that one action
in the past happened before another action in the past.
- I had finished my homework before I went playing football.
- John had never been to London before we went there last year.
For
good information to know, people (especially native speakers) do not use the Past Perfect in above
sentences very often. For example, they will say:
- After I washed my car, I went to fill up.
Rather than:
- After I had washed my car, I went to fill up.
This
is because "after" and "before" tell the listener which
action happened first. Still, keep in mind that it is better to use the Past
Perfect, especially in written English or when writing exams.
-
Third Conditional
Use
the Past Perfect with third conditional sentences.
- If we had gone by taxi, we wouldn't have been late.
- If Mary had studied harder, she would have passed the exam.
This
use is the so-called hypothetical past: we are talking about things that
never happened.
- I wish I had fixed my umberella. (but I didn't)
- If only I had known the answer to that question. (but I didn't)
-
Reported Speech
Use
the Past Perfect with sentences in reported speech.
- Mary said she had already seen this film.
- He asked if I had read Harry Potter.
-
Dissatisfaction with the Past
We often use the Past Perfect to show our dissatisfaction
with the past. Such sentences typically start with "I wish ..." or
"If only ...".
- I wish I had taken more food. I'm hungry now.
- If only I had taken more food. I'm hungry now.
The Past
Perfect is also used with expressions such
as "as if" and "as though":
- John looked as if he had done something terrible.
- She looked as though she hadn't slept all night.
2.3 Using Queue Technique in Improving the
Ability of Mastering Past Perfect Tense
There are many ways in teaching English
grammar, especially Past Perfect Tense. One of them is by using queue
technique. The queue technique is one of the technique in teaching English grammar.
Its function is to make the concept of English grammar understandable or easy
to memorize the pattern. In this practice activity, the instruction material
designed to get students using the language of description, and also an artificial information gap is created by getting the
students to look at the different sentences (Harmer, 2007:235).
The teacher starts by explaining the pattern
of Past Perfect Tense and its use. The students pay attention to what is being
taught by their teacher. They can ask te question to the teacher if they get
the problem in understanding the teaching instruction. After the students
comprehend the concept of Past Perfect Tense, the teacher give a task to them
to compose a sentence in form of Past Perfect Tense to each student.
The next step after the students accomplish
the task is applying the queue technique in improving the mastery of Past
Perfect Tense. The teacher divided the class into four groups. Each group have
the task to complete the sentences in form of Past Perfect Tense in the board.
The board were made in four parts. In each part of board, the teacher have
written the question of completing the Past Perfect Tense.
In addition, the students make a queue line
in each group. Therefore, there are four queue lines in class because there are
four groups formed by the teacher. In each group, a student came to the board
to complete the question in their own part of board. If the student fails to
complete the sentence, he/she go back to the line of the queue. His/ her friend
will come to the board to try accomplishing the sentence.
When the student have answer the question
correctly, then they continuo to the next question in their own part of the
board. The teacher will give a good appreciation to the group who can finish
the task as quick as possible. What the students can get from this technique is
the togetherness value. They work in group to accomplish the tasks given by the
teacher. Thus, this technique will improve the ability of the students in
mastering the English tense of Past Perfect.
As a conclusion, it is known that the queue technique makes the
foreign language immediately useful to the students. It brings the target
language to life. Finally, the students need more list of verb in their mind but
it would not be easy for them to increase their ability if the teacher does not
use the suitable technique in the teaching and learning process. Finally, it
can be concluded that the queue technique should be one of alternative ways to
improve students’ grammar acquisition, especially Past Perfect Tense.
III.
METHODOLOGY
The part focuses on the
research methodology employed in this research. The discussion includes the
research design, the setting and the subject of the research the data
collecting technique and the data analysis and reflection.
3.1 Design of the Research
This
research is designed as Classroom Action Research (CAR). Asrori (2008: 100) says that there are some
steps in this research. The first is planning an action. In this step, the researcher
will design lesson plan for teaching past perfect tense through queue technique,
prepare instrument and prepare the criteria of success. The second is
implementing the action. In this step, the researcher will teach English grammar,
especially past perfect tense to students by using queue technique. This step
will be done in three meeting for each cycle.
Moreover, the third is
observing the action. In this step, the researcher will observe and collect the
data about the implementation impact of the action. And the final step is
analyzing and reflecting the research findings. In this step, the researcher
will analyze the result of the observation. If the result of the research has
met criteria of success, the researcher will stop the action. Otherwise, if the
result of the research has not been satisfied, the researcher will implement the
action in the next cycle.
To be more detail, the researcher
in includes a figure of the procedure in classroom action research as follows:
|
RECONNAISSANCE
· The teaching and learning
problems in past perfect tense.
|
|
ANALYSIS AND FINDING
· The students have low
ability in past perfect tense
· The strategic used in
the teaching and learning process are still in conventional way.
|
|
PLANNING THE ACTION
· Designing a lesson plan
for teaching past perfect tense through queue technique
· Preparing instrument,
field notes and criteria of success.
|
|
IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN
Carrying out the
teaching and learning process on the lesson plan.
|
|
OBSERVING
Observing
and collect the data about the effect of implementations of the action.
|
|
REFLECTING
ON THE ACTION
·
Analyzing the collected data
·
Determining whether the action is
successful or unsuccessful
|
|
Successful
|
|
Report
|
|
Revised
Plan
|
|
Conclusion
|
|
Unsuccessful
|
|
Figure
1.6.1 Classroom Action Research Model (adapted from Kemmis & Taggart,
1998)
|
1.8.2. The Population and
3.2 Setting and the Subject
of the Research
This research is conducted at
SMA
N 1 Peusangan Selatan which is
located in Peusangan Selatan Sub-District,
Bireuen District. The sum totals of the class in the school are nine classes.
It has four classes for first grade, two for second and three for the third.
The subjects of the research were the third year students of SMA
N 1 Peusangan Selatan. The researcher chose class
XII/IPA1 as the subject of the research. This class consisted of
thirty students. The reason why the researcher chose one class only is that classroom
action research is conducted in one class. Classroom is the place where a group
of students in the same time receives the same lesson from the teacher
(Suharsimi in Asrori, 2008:5).
3.3 Technique
of Data Collection
In order to collect the data, there were some techniques
used by the researcher. The researcher had observation (both for teacher and
students), questionnaire and test. The researcher and collaborative teachers implement
all the techniques for each meeting in each cycle.
3.3.1
Observation
To get the data about the process of teaching and learning
English, students’ observation sheets and teachers’ observation sheets were
made. Observation sheet is a list of things that an observer is going to look
at when observing a class. This list may have been prepared by the observer or
the teacher or both. Observation sheet give an observer
a structure and framework for an observation to get specific information on
aspects of the class. In this research observation sheet is used to obtain data
about how the practitioner implement the action and gather data about the
students’ activity during the teaching learning process.
In addition, students’ observation sheets and teachers’
observation sheets were made to get the data about the process of teaching and
learning English. Each observation sheet consisted of some items or aspects to
be observed. Each item consisted of four columns categories. The categories were:
0
= Very poor (No one did) (with the percentage
level of 0%)
1
= Poor (Only some students did) (with the percentage level of 25%)
2
= Fair (About half of students
did) (with the percentage level of 50%)
3
= Good (Most of students did) (with the percentage
level of 50%)
4
= Very good (All of students did) (with the percentage level of
100%).
3.3.2
Questionnaire
In order to get the data about the students’ impression
towards the implementation of the strategy used in teaching and learning
process, the questionnaire is used. It consists of 10 items. It is prepared and
distributed to the students at the end of the learning process. The aspects
observed is divided into three forms of answer. The students only tick one of
some categories; there were like or yes, dislike or no, and no comment. To make
students easy in answer the questions, questionnaire is written in Indonesian
language.
3.3.3
Test
Test is sequence or list of questions to measure, skill,
ability, intelligence, owned by individual or group. Test is given
to the students to know their improvement in mastering past perfect tense. There
are two test in this cycle, namely test in cycle I and test in cycle II. The
test is written test in completion form. There are 20 (twenty) items of question
in the test. The students answered the question by completing the blank in the
sentences in the answers sheet. The details of scoring system are as follows:
1. The
score for each correct answer = 5;
2. Maximum
score = 100;
3. The
students’ score =
x 100
4.
The class’ average score =
= the class’ average score
=
the total of students’ score
n =
the number of students
This test is given to the
students in order to know the progress of students and the success of the queue
technique application in teaching and learning process of past perfect tense.
The students’ achievement of the two tests is compared. The researcher expected
the students’ score in cycle II would be higher than the score in cycle I.
3.4 Data
Analysis and Reflection
In the data analysis the researcher compared the results of
the action during the teaching and learning process. The data obtained through test
and observation then collected and analyzed them. In reflection, the researcher
evaluated the result of the action in the first cycle in order to know whether
it has met the criteria of success or not. There are three major indicator of
success formulated, namely the improvement of the students’ achievement in each
cycle of the process, the student’s final products, and the student’s responses
toward the implementation of the action.
3.5 Criteria of Success
The criteria of success reflected the areas of concern that
is emphasized in research. The criteria were set up in order to judge whether
the implementation of the action is effective or not dealing with the objective
and the scope of the research. There are some criteria of success formulated by
the researcher and collaborator teacher, namely:
-
the improvement of the students’ ability of mastering
past perfect tense in each stage of the process is significant,
-
the student’s final products that has to be achieved by
the students is 70,
-
the teaching and
learning process is conducted based on the good lesson plan,
-
the teacher has a good performance in implementing queue
technique and carried out the procedure as planned at previous step, and
-
the students are enthusiastic and actively involved
during the learning and teaching process of past perfect tense.
