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

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

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.

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

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 Wintartos statement (2007)
that the speller thinking process is as complex as Hercule Poirots 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?

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

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

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
G2 (random) T1 T2
7

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 teachers 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.

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 Learners 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.
7

(Cambridge Advance Learners 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.

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.