Developing Language Games for Teaching Speaking at Eighth Grade MTs An-Nur Bululawang Malang

By Heru Yulianto

According to the curriculum 2006 Competence Standard for speaking skill, junior high school students are expected to be able to express meaningful ideas for both simple transactional (to get something done or get the information) and interpersonal (to get in touch with others for social purposes) to interact with their environment (Depdiknas: 2006).

In consideration of the situation above, it is needed to develop language games for teaching speaking that offer activities in which the students can actively be involved during an enjoyable and interesting teaching and learning process. It is in order to make the students able to speak in a short and simple conversation. Alcantara (1990, p. 33) say that games are activities that can provide intensive language practice because they remove the inhibition that the students usually have formed in a language lesson. Besides, language games can give more chances for students to practice their speaking ability.

The games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work. Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. The learners want to take part and in order to do so they must understand what others are saying, and speak in order to express their own points of view or give information. As a result, to provide input to the answer of the difficulty, a research on developing language games for teaching speaking the second year students of MTs An-Nur Bululawang Malang will be conducted. The researcher has  the certainty that This research is based on language games can provide a positive result on the students’ interest and inspiration in studying English as well as to progress their speaking skill because it provides exposures for students to communicate their opinion, ideas and feelings.

This study is intended to give the theoretical and practical contributions for the English teaching and learning process especially in spoken English. Theoretically is hoped to help the teacher in developing knowledge and method in teaching speaking. Practically is for contributing teaching English in the school. For the institution, the study is intended to develop the teaching and learning process, especially in improving students’ skill in speaking. And for researchers, the study can become more information and references in developing English games for teaching.

As stated in the 2006 standard curriculum content (Depdiknas, 2006), the eighth grade student’s standard of speaking competence is presented below:

Topic	Activities	Competence
Asking, giving and declining service	·   Reviewing vocabularies and expressions related to the topic ·   Questioning and answering ·   Role-playing in front of the class ·   Using the learned expression in the real life situation	To express ideas in oral simple transactional conversations accurately and fluently which involve asking for, giving, and refusing service/ goods; admitting and denying facts; asking for and giving opinions; inviting; accepting and refusing invitations; and agreeing/ disagreeing
Asking, giving and declining things
Admitting and declining fact
Asking and giving opinion
Accepting and declining invitation
Agree and disagree
Compliment	·   Reviewing the previously learned vocabularies ·   Introducing new vocabularies to be learned ·   Questioning and answering using the learned expression ·   Imitating the conversation practiced by the teacher ·   Performing the provided conversation	To express ideas in oral simple interpersonal conversations accurately and fluently which involve admiring and congratulating
Congratulation
Invitation text	·   Questioning and answering about the content of the functional text in the form of invitation ·   Creating simple sentence related to the invitation: ·   Practice inviting people orally,       either in pair or in  group.	To express ideas in oral short simple functional texts accurately and fluently
Massage
Announcement
Descriptive text
Recount text

Harmer (1990:, p. 94) states that games are vital part of a teacher’s equipment, not only for a language practice but also for the therapeutic effect they have. They can be used at any stage of a class to provide an amusing and challenging respite for another classroom activity, and more especially useful at the end of a long day to send the students away teaching cheerful about their English class.

There are various types of picture games in which the use of pictures plays a major part. Wright (2004, p. 6) defines that picture games involve the learners in the relatively free use of all languages at their command. Broadly, they involve comparing and constructing picture, describing key features so that someone else may identify them or represent them in similar way. Specifically, pictures contribute to: (1) interest and motivation, (2) a sense of the context of the language and (3) a specific reference point or stimulus.

To get the effective selection of games, Mei and Yu-Jing  (2002, p. 46) proposed a set of criteria, like: (1) a game must be more than just fun, (2) a game should involve “friendly” competition, (3) a game should keep all students involved and interested, (4) a game should encourage students to focus on the use of language rather than on the language itself, (5) a game should give students a chance to learn, practice, or review specific language material.

In line with the statement above, Kim (1995, p. 35) states that there are  many advantages of using games in the classroom, namely (1) games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class, (2) they are motivating and challenging, (3) learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning, (4) games provide language practice in the various skill-speaking, writing, speaking, and reading, (5) they encourage students to interact and communicate, (6) they create a meaningful context for language use.

In short, learning language through games is an effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classroom. Games allow students to work cooperatively, compete with each other, strategist, think in different way, compare and share knowledge, learn from others, learn from mistakes, work in less stressful and more productive environment and allow people to have fun. Language games do not only provide supportive activities and practice that can motivate students to interact and communicate, but also they can create opportunity for students to acquire the language in a meaningful way.