CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Research

English is language spoken by people in English speaking countries or in
international events among countries all around the world. English as an
international language is also used to communicate, to strengthen and to fasten
relationship among all countries in the world in all fields. Considering

the

importance of English, people from various non- English speaking countries

including Indonesia learn Engllish. Having proficiency in English, people will be
able to face this overcharging world easily. So, it is not surprising if the number of
people who are interested in learning English is getting increased from time to
time.
Learning English as a second or foreign language covers for language
skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In mastering the skills, English
learners firstly have to master English grammar as a weapon to learn English
faster. Mastering grammar in learning a foreign language is very important
because grammar is an essential component of any language teaching program
and plays an important role in language teaching.1
Grammar can be defined as the way of words are put together to make
correct sentence in a language. It can also be defined as the rules of a language
that govern the different ways in which words are strung together tu produce
1 Rudheford, Grammar in the Second Language Classroom, (New York. London:
Prentice hall, 1987). P.9

meaningful sentence. A sentence is grammatical if it follow the rules of grammar,

and ungrammatical if it doesnt.. For example, these seats are taken is
grammatical but these seats is taken is not grammatical. They is plural, so it
takes the verb are and not is, which is used to the third singular person subject.
Learning grammar plays important role in the field of language teaching
and learning. By having good knowledge about the grammar of the language we
are studying, we will be able to use the language properly as it is said if you
knew the grammatical rules of the language, you would be able to use if for
communication2. The role of grammar is perhaps one of the most controversial
issue in language teaching. In the early parts of the twentieth century, grammar
teaching formed an essential part of language instruction, so that other aspects of
language learning were either ignored or downplayed.
In recent years, grammar teaching has regained its righhful place in the
language curriculum. People now agree that grammar is too important to be
ignored, and that without a good knowledge of grammar, learners lenguage
development will be severely constrained. There is now a general consensus that
the issue is not whether or not we should teach grammar. The issue now centers
on which grammar items learners need most and how we go about teaching
grammar items in the most effective way.
In order to use a language well, learners should learn the rules of a
language or to know how they work. They cannot avoid errors because errors
mostly occur in learning process. It happens because the used different forms to
2 Renandya, A. Willy and Richards C. Jack. Methodology in Language Teaching. (USA:
Cambridge University Press, 2002). P.145

deliver their ideas, feeling or messages so they need considerable amount of time
to be able to master the target language well. Besides, by making errors, learners
will build their new knowledge to use the target language, Making errors during
studying the second language can be considered as a means of building learners
abilities because they can something from makin errors3.
In term of teaching grammar, Teaching the grammar of English is not
simply a process of presenting clear linguistic information to the learners 4. If this
is the case, teaching language would be an easy job. Somehow a teacher has to
induce and persuade his students into really accepting and mentally creating
wonderful sentences.
Based on the researcher observation in MTsS Ulumuddin Lhokseumawe,
the researcher found that the students get difficulties to understand English
grammar, especially passive voice form in simple present tense as follows: the
students are not able to mastery fully the passive voice materials were given by
teacher because less practicing, the students feel bored when the teaching learning
process running because the teachers just used the conventional method and
strategy to conduct the teaching learning process. It is hoped that the
changing of paradigm in teaching and learning process from
teacher-centred learning to be student-centred learning is hoped
3 Littlewood, W. Communicative Language Teaching. (Cambridge: University Press,
1992). P.182

4 Mario and Davis Paul. More Grammar Games, (Berlin: Cambridge University Press,
1997). P.1

it will be able to motivate the students to involve actively in

building their own knowledge, behaviour and attitude. Studentcentred learning requires that our planning, teaching, and
assessment focus on the needs and abilities of our students how
they learn, what they experience, and how they engage with
their learning. The teachers problems found that the teacher
confuse to select the way of learning to teach the students
especially in teaching passive voice, and the teacher got problem
with the result of students, the students got the result under the
criteria of success that determined with the teacher, the criteria
of success score is 70, but 80% students got under the score, it is
proved by the students result with the teacher.
Based on the explanation above the researcher chose headless sentence
game to induce the students in learning passive voice. While that games can help
the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful 5.
The student, who take part in the activities, must understand what others are
saying or have written, and in order to do so. The students then must speak or
write in expressing their own point of views or give information.
Therefore in this research, the researcher would like to apply headless
sentence game as the technical solution in teaching grammar particularly in
teaching passive simple present which is believed can help the students learn more
in learning English grammar. So, the researcher conducted the research entitle
5 Wright Andrew. Game for Language Learning. English Journal, (online), jilid 3, No.2,
1984 (www.teflgames.com, accessed on 18 March, 2013).P.34.

Increasing Students Ability in Mastering Passive Voice through Headless

Sentence Game (A Collaborative Classroom Action Research at the Third Year
Student of MTsS Ulumuddin).

B. Identification of the Research

Based on the reason above, the researcher can identify some problems in
this research, these are:

1. The students get difficulties to understand English grammar, especially in

simple present tense (passive voice form) as follows: the students are not
able to mastery fully the passive voice materials were given by teacher
because less practicing.
2. The students feel bored when the teaching learning process running
because the teachers just used the conventional method and strategy to
conduct the teaching learning process
3. The students got the result under the criteria of success
that determined with the teacher, the criteria of success
score is 70, but 80% students got under the score.
C. Problem of the Research
Based on the background state above the researcher puts together some
problems explained above as follows:
1. How can Headless Sentence Game increase the students ability in
mastering passive voice?
2. How is the class atmosphere when teacher uses Headless Sentence
Game in teaching passive voice?
D. Purpose of the Research

The Purpose of the Research are as follow:

1. To know Headless Sentence Game increase the students ability in
mastering passive voice.
2. To know the class atmosphere when teacher uses Headless Sentence
Game in teaching passive voice.
E. Scope of the Research
In order to a scientific and better result of this research, it seems important for the
researcher to limit the discussion of this research. Therefore, the research is
limited on improving students ability in recognizing simple present and changing
them into passive simple present.
F. Significant of the Research
It is expected that the result of this research will be helpful in many ways.
1. Theorically, the finding of this research will enrich theories about teaching
grammar by using games.
2. Practically, that the English teachers at the school will use the finding of the
research and improve the students achievement in mastering grammar
especially about passive simple present.
G. Operational Definition
To avoid misunderstanding between writer and reader, the writer will
give explanation terms used in this research.
1. Passive Voice is describes clauses in which the noun normally expected to
appear as the direct object of a transitive verb is expressed as the subject ,
while the usual subject argument

is optionally expressed obliquely.

Usually, this means that the noun which is the patient becomes the
subject, while the more agent like noun becomes optional.6
The grammar is really important both in written and spoken if the students dont
have this knowledge, they will not speak well. Whenever one learn a language,
like English, we learn the sound which is use in the language, the basic unit of
meaning, such as words and rules to combine to this form in new sentences.
2. Headless Sentence Game is one of competitive games introduced by
Davis in his book More Grammar Games which has been approved as a
good game in teaching passive simple present.7
Game is one ways in learning especially in learning English subject to make the
teaching learning process fun and interactive with the students and teacher. Based
on this reason many teacher need to learn and apply the game in teaching English.

6 Safia Rangguti Hasibuan, English Structure, (Jambatan: A Complete Reference Book,

1978) p. 13.

7 Zdybiewska. The Use of Games for Grammar Presentation and Revision. (Forum Vol
36 No.19, 2002). Accessed on 18 March 2013. P..87