IMPROVING THE YEAR VIII STUDENTS’ TENSE ACHIEVEMENT BY GIVING NON VERBAL REINFORCEMENT AT SMPN 1 BALUNG IN THE 2011 / 2012 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

This classroom action research was intended to improve the year eight students‟ tense achievement by giving non verbal reinforcement at SMPN 1 Balung in the 2011/2012 academic year. The preliminary study was conducted in the form of interview and class observations. Based on the interview done with the English teacher, it was found that the students of class VIII-D still had difficulties in comprehending tenses. It was supported by the students‟ mean score on the previous tense test that was 67. Besides, based on the class observations done in preliminary study, it was found that the students were fairly passive during the tense teaching and learning process because they were lack of interest and motivation to learn tenses. Thus, the research subjects of this research were the students of class VIII-D. In this research, the researcher tried to overcome the problem by applying a different technique in reinforcing the students in the classroom that is giving non verbal reinforcement. It was under the reason that non verbal reinforcement can be used as motivational device to encourage the students‟ interest and motivation, since the English teacher only administered the verbal reinforcement in the classroom. She claimed that she did not have enough time to prepare non verbal reinforcement. In delivering verbal reinforcement, the teacher always used the same words to appreciate the students‟ work, for examples „Good!‟, „Great!‟, and „Clever!‟. She did not try to use more various words in reinforcing the students. As the result, the students were not interested on the teacher‟s verbal reinforcement and regarded the reinforcement given as a joke by counting the words used by the teacher. It showed that the verbal reinforcement that the teacher used was not successful in encouraging the students‟ interest and motivation in learning English especially tenses. Thus, the researcher used a different technique in reinforcing the students‟ behavior that was giving non verbal reinforcement. In this research, the non verbal reinforcement used was in the form of gestures, physical contact, symbols or things. The reinforcement was delivered by using a schedule that was variable ratio schedule in which non verbal reinforcement was administered by using ratio. This research was done in two cycles in order to achieve the objectives of this classroom action research. Each cycle consisted of four stages of activities namely the planning of the action, the implementation of the action, observation of the action and reflection of the action. The data collection methods used were tense test and classroom observation which were done to get the primary data, while interview and documentation were used to get supporting data. The actions were implemented in three meetings including the tense test. Based on the result of the classroom observation in Cycle 1, it was known that there were 18 out of 35 students or 51% who actively participated in the first meeting. In meeting 2, there were 23 students or 66% students were active in the tense teaching and learning process. It showed that there was an improvement on the students‟ active participation from the first meeting to the second meeting. Concerning with the tense test, the results showed that the students‟ mean score on tense test was 73. In addition, there were only 22 out of 35 students or 63% students could achieve the standard score that was 75. In other words, the results of both classroom observation and tense test had not achieved the target requirement yet. Therefore, the action was continued by revising the weaknesses found in Cycle 1. The revisions made were the size of the stickers and the ratio used in administering non verbal reinforcement to the students. It was intended to make the non verbal reinforcement worked more effectively, and then finally it could improve the students‟ tense achievement and active participation. Having conducted the actions in Cycle 2, the results of class observation and tense test showed an improvement. The result of observation showed that there were 26 out of 35 students or 74% who were active in the first meeting and it increased to 83% or 29 students in the second meeting. Furthermore, the percentage of the students who got the score at least 75 also increased that was 83% or 29 students. The students‟ mean score on the tense test also improved from 73 in Cycle 1 to 82 in Cycle 2. Based on the results, it could be concluded that the actions in Cycle 2 were successful because the results of classroom observation and tense test fulfilled the criteria of success of the research. Finally, the results of actions in Cycle 2 led to conclusion that giving non verbal reinforcement could improve the students‟ tense achievement and active participation in the tense teaching and learning process at SMPN 1 Balung Jember. Therefore, it is suggested to the English teacher to apply this technique that is giving non verbal reinforcement in English teaching learning process in order to help the students who have difficulties in learning grammar especially tenses to improve their tense achievement and active participation.