Improving the Eighth Year Students' Tense Achievement and Active Participation by Giving Positive Reinforcement at SMPN 1 Silo in the 2013/2014 Academic Year

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: (1) to improve the eighth year students’ active participation in the teaching learning process of tenses by giving positive reinforcement at SMPN 1 Silo in the 2013/2014 academic year, and (2) to improve the eighth year students’ tense achievement by giving positive reinforcement at SMPN 1 Silo in the 2013/2014 academic year. Positive reinforcements used in this method were in the form of material and social reinforcement. The material reinforcement used in this research was in the form of candies, snacks, pencils and notebooks and for the social reinforcement used was in the form of praise and gestures. The results of this research showed that there were improvements on students' tense achievement and active participation from Cycle 1 to Cycle 2 after giving positive reinforcement. Students' participation increased from 76.34% to 80.13% and students' tense achievement increased from 75.67% to 81.08%. Based on that result, the hypotheses of this research were accepted.