THE
USE OF GAME (CIRCLE GAMES) IN TEACHING VOCABULARY TO THE THIRD GRADE OF SENIOR
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
The increasing need caused by developing era is demanded
in the global society to enhance their human resources quality in order to
compete to the other countries. In responding this situation, the role of
communication had become a part that could not be separated from this
condition. As English had become very powerful language in the world, it became
one of international languages; most global community used English as a media
of communication with another. Mohammad Reza Talebinezhad & Mohammad
Aliakbari (2007) said that English as an International Language referred to the
use of English by people of different nations in order to communicate with one
another.
As the important of English in communication, it is not
something difficult to see that the language are frequently used either to
formal or informal places such as foreign companies, embassy office, tourism sector and many other places. Different from Singapore, Bangkok, Malaysia and
India, they put English as their second language as their language
communication while Indonesia put English as its foreign language. It is used as
an instrument of utilizing modern sciences and technology for national
development and it is also used as a mean of communication when Indonesian
wanted to communicate to people from overseas. No doubt that only few
Indonesians mastered of it, most of them tended to ignore it, they used to
think that foreign language not something useful for their daily life and learned
of it.
However, nowadays, the assumption is gradually scraped
off by the developing era that demanded the society to be more competitive and
to be able to enhance their human resources quality. Therefore, the role of
English are needed to face the era of globalization, where it would be many new
things happened in our nation. Since English recently are treated as foreign
and important language for Indonesian, it had a major portion in Indonesian
educational system and became a compulsory subject to study either in junior or
senior high schools in today’s Indonesian educational system. Ricardo Schutz
(2007) said that English in its role as a global language that it had become
one of the most important academic and professional tools. The English language
is recognized as undoubtedly the most important language for the increasingly
mobile international community to learn. This is a fact that seemed to be
irreversible. English had become the official language of the business and
scientific worlds.
The massive trend of learning English are not without a
reason. The development of the country’s economy, science and technology that
tended to be influenced by many English speaking countries had put people who
understood English in more advantageous position, especially in job finding.
Many Indonesian people started to believe that English would help them so much
in finding a job than those who did not.
As the most important foreign language in Indonesia,
English became one of the compulsory subjects taught in junior high school,
senior high school and some semesters at university. The government always made
effort to improve the quality of English teaching. By improving the teachers’
quality and other components involved in educational process, the English
teaching in Indonesia improved time to time. In line with the government’s plan
to have nine compulsory studies, it is possible to teach English in the third
grade of senior high school. By applying the foreign language to early level (the
third grade of senior high school students), the students’ language mastery are
expected to be satisfactory although it is only in simple English.
In teaching a language, a teacher might realize that he
could not apply only one or two strategies to all levels. In reverse, he is
required to be able to recognize the characters of his students and to select
an appropriate strategy to them. It is not something different from teaching
English to the third grade of senior high school students, the teacher is
supposed to know that children are so closed with something fun and enjoyable. So
whenever he taught, he had to be selective in choosing a strategy to introduce
a learning material. A good teaching strategy would automatically facilitate
him to get students’ interest in learning process.
To improve the English educational system, the
government had been seeking to a system which is really in line with the
students’ need. In this case the teaching process could be started from
earliest step, by using simple things without trying to introduce language
components explicitly before they are really ready.
After all of the material of the pre-level are clearly
taught and understood. The language components could be little by little
involved in their study as a continuity of their learning, such as phonology,
spelling, structure and vocabulary.
One of the most important language components are
vocabulary. The mastery of it would be very helpful when one is learning
foreign language a great mastery on it; it would also facilitate him to
comprehend the subject learn in which it is in English. Research concluded that
the quality of one’s language skill depended on the quality and the quantity of
vocabulary mastered, the more he mastered the vocabulary the better he used the
language skill. This study would present a vocabulary teaching strategy to the
third grade of senior high school students. In which it is going to be very
pleasant and interesting for young learners. The teaching strategy are about
“The Use of Game (Circle Games) in Teaching Vocabulary to The third grade of
senior high school Students” conducted within a set of rules in the objectives.
By providing game as a media in teaching vocabulary to the
third grade of senior high school students, Research hoped that it would make
them felt something pleasant and felt it different from what they used to get
in the class. The use of game would stimulate them to be more active and it is really
matched with the students’ world where pre-level students liked to study
through movement. By the activity, they are given an opportunity to express
their mind, emotion, feeling and attitudes when they are involved in it. Reviewed
at the explanation above, research assumed that the use of game.
