1 ELT FORUM 4 (1) (2015) Journal of English Language Teaching http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt IMPROVING STUDENTS’ MASTERY OF THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE BY USING CHINESE WHISPERS AND GROUP GRID TECHNIQUE Yenny Dwi Nugraheni English Department. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State University of Semarang Aticle Info ________________ Article History: Received in Juni 2015 Approved in Juli 2015 Published in Agustus 2015 ________________ Keywords: Teaching the simple past tense, Chinese whispers, cooperative learning, group grid technique, action research. ____________________ Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ The eleventh graders of PGRI 2 Private Vocational School Salatiga were obliged to master the simple past tense since one of the basic competences in school-based curriculum was about telling activities or works in the past and future work plans. Unfortunately, they still possessed low mastery of grammar and experienced difficulties in learning it. A classroom action research about the use of Chinese whispers and group grid technique aimed to resolve those emerging problems with the foci of the study to investigate how this method could be used in teaching the simple past tense, and how the use of it improved students’ mastery of the simple past tense. Specifically, the subject of this study was 34 students of class XI D at PGRI 2 Private Vocational School Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015. This study was conducted in two cycles in a total of seven meetings. The instruments for obtaining the data were tests, observation sheet, and questionnaire. The observation sheet results showed that students’ behaviors and responses during the learning processes improved and became relatively good. Furthermore, the questionnaire results indicated that students tended to show good judgment on the implementation of this teaching method. The final result of the study revealed that there was a significant improvement in students’ achievement. Their average score in pre-test was 58.65, in formative test 1 was 76.97, in formative test 2 was 79.06, and in post-test was 83.56. Referring to the overall results of the study, the combination of Chinese whispers and group grid technique could be considered as one of alternative and effective teaching methods to improve students’ mastery of the simple past tense. © 2015 Universitas Negeri Semarang  Correspondent Address: B3 Building FBS Unnes Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229 E-mail: yenny.2201411073@gmail.com ISSN 2252-6706 Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 2 INTRODUCTION “The word language is applied to natural language as a system of human communication” (Srijono, 2001:1). This can be interpreted that language is used to communicate with others, to convey thoughts, information, ideas, concepts, or feelings from person to person both in written or spoken form. It certainly consists of sounds, words, and grammatical structures. English as a dominant language of international communication is used around the world. It becomes a global language over time. This is in line with what Crystal says (2003:4-5): The socio-cultural explanation looks at the way people all over the world, in many walks of life, have come to depend on English for their economic and social well-being. The language has penetrated deeply into the international domains of political life, business, safety, communication, entertainment, the media and education. Given the importance of English, education in Indonesia under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Culture is obliged to contain English subject as a foreign language in the implementation of the School-Based Curriculum or the 2006 Curriculum (KTSP). Based on the applied curriculum, English language teaching in Indonesia aims at mastering four basic language skills; those are listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Students are expected to master the four language skills so that they can use English effectively. Language components such as grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation also have an important role in developing those four language skills. Gerot and Wignell (1994:3) state: Why do we need to know about grammar? We need a theory of grammar or language which helps us understand how texts work. As teachers we need to know how texts work so we can explicitly help learners learn how to understand and produce texts—spoken and written in various contexts for various purposes. Here, the existence of grammatical rules is very important in spoken and written language. Students should be able to understand the theories of English grammar, as well as in practice, they also have to understand how to apply them either in oral or in written form. Based on the writer’s observations during the teaching practicum (PPL) at PGRI 2 Private Vocational School Salatiga, it was found that many students faced difficulties in mastering several types of tenses, one of them is the simple past tense which is essential to be used for describing actions which happened before the present time and is no longer happening. They experienced difficulties in applying the correct form of this tense. Sometimes, most of them were confused about when to use the simple past tense and when to use the simple present tense. In addition, they also made mistakes when changing some verbs into the past form of the verbs. Moreover, English grammar over there is frequently taught in a conventional way, such as explaining it orally, and then giving students some exercises about the materials. This certainly will make them feel sick and tired of learning English grammar. It will be good if the English teachers could create alternative games, techniques, or media in teaching so that they are interested in what they are going to learn and to get rid of boredom. Hence, the writer will focus on improving students’ mastery of the simple past tense by combining Chinese whispers game with one of cooperative learning techniques called group Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 3 grid in their learning processes, so a good team work with active students’ participation is needed here. “Chinese whispers (or telephone in the United States) is a game played around the world, in which one person whispers a message to another, which is passed through a line of people until the last player announces the message to the entire group” (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Chinese_whispers). Chinese whispers is chosen because when this game takes place in the classroom, all students will be assisted in mastering the simple past tense because they will be indirectly challenged to memorize the form of regular and irregular verbs, and learn about the formula of the simple past tense from the given sentences in this game. Whereas, the group grid technique will be used as a means of carrying out the group tasks in order to check students’ understanding of the simple past tense. According to Barkley, Cross, and Major (2005:211), “group grid is probably most useful in introductory-level courses where students are building basic schema, learning a large number of new terms, and trying to understand the categorization rules of the discipline”. Hopefully, by ordering them to work collectively in groups, categorize any scrambled items, and play Chinese whispers in the classroom, their mastery of the simple past tense will be improved. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In an effort to resolve the emerging research problems, the researcher conducted a classroom action research as the research design in class XI D-AP at PGRI 2 Private Vocational School Salatiga which consisted of 34 students who still possessed low mastery of grammar. Research Design According to Pollard and Triggs (1997:65) “action research involves researchers, with teachers or other practitioners, in a cyclical process of planning, action, observation, and reflection before beginning the whole process all over again”. Such cyclical process has become a noticeable characteristic of action research all this time. Below is a model of stages in doing the action research by Kemmis and McTaggart (Burns, 1999:33). Figure 1. Action Research Spiral by Kemmis and McTaggart In this research, the researcher applied the spiral of cycles of self-reflection illustrated by Kemmis and McTaggart above which include planning, acting, observing, and Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 4 reflecting, also played important roles as a teacher who patiently taught the materials to the students and checked their mastery of the simple past tense through tests; as a data collector who collected all research data; and as a data analyzer who then analyzed the collected data in order to be able to draw any conclusions based on the end results. Planning At this phase, the researcher planned a detailed set of decisions about how to take the action in the future and how to improve an action. What is the actual problem arises in the class? Who will do the action? When will it happen? What are the proposed changes to the learning process? How does the researcher intend to apply my revised teaching methods? This is because it is so much important to find out if the plans are able to be done and to consider how students’ reactions to the implementation are. Acting At this phase, the researcher implemented the arranged plan in the class. After answering questions at planning phase, the researcher tried to give the treatments to the students in the hope of improving their learning achievements. The researcher also had to make sure that any deviations from the plans had been recorded since reality sometimes could be unpredictable. Observing Observing phase ran along with acting phase. There was a detailed observation, monitoring, and recording during the treatments were given in the classroom. This was used by the researcher to assess how much the improvement of the action was. Reflecting At this phase, the researcher reflected the overall learning process considering the results of the observations. By reflecting, the researcher could make a strong decision whether a replan for the next meetings or cycles was truly needed or not. Procedures of Analyzing Data All instruments’ data were analyzed after being gathered. The researcher then was able to draw any conclusions of the study based on the outcomes of the analyzed data. The following were the methods for analyzing the research data. Test (Pre-test, Formative-tests and Post-test) The results of the pre-test, quiz 1, quiz 2, and the post-test were calculated by using specific formulas as follow: Formula of the student’s score Table 1. Formula of Student’s Score Student’s score = The number of right answers The number of questions x 100% Formula of the mean of students’ scores Table 2. Formula of the Mean of Students’ Scores = mean ∑ = summation sign X = student’s score N = number of scores Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 5 Observation The observers of this study were the English teacher and three other observers. The researcher used the data from their observation sheets to determine how Chinese whispers and group grid technique improve students’ learning behaviours and mastery of the simple past tense. Questionnaire As soon as all questionnaires were filled in by the students, the researcher analyzed their answers to gather more information from the outcomes of the questionnaires. The data were used to infer the success or failure of the implemented method. Chinese Whispers Tasks For Chinese whispers task 1 and Chinese whispers task 2, the scores were in the form of points which were added with extra points (5 pts, 10 pts, 15 pts, 20 pts, 25 pts, and 30 pts) based on the time they spent to complete each Chinese whispers task. So, the final point was obtained from the obtained points of each task which had been added with the extra points. The formulas of Chinese whispers’ scores could be seen in the following table. Table 3. Formula of Chinese Whispers’ Scores Task 1 of Chinese Whispers Task 2 of Chinese Whispers Final points = Obtained points + Extra points Final points = Obtained points + Extra points Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 6 Group Grid Task For group grid task 1, group grid task 2A, and group grid task 2B, the points obtained by each group were converted into scores. The formulas of group grid’s scores could be seen in the following table. Table 4. Formula of Group Grid’s Scores Task Total Points Formula of group grid’s scores Task 1 60 points Group’s score = The obtained points The total points (60) x 100% Task 2A 56 points Group’s score = The obtained points The total points (56) x 100% Task 2B 36 points Group’s score = The obtained points The total points (36) x 100% Mean of group grid’s score = mean ∑ = summation sign X = group grid’s score including task 1, task 2A, and task 2B N = number of scores (3 scores per group in each cycle) RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Test Results The test results included the results of students’ pre-test, formative test 1, formative test 2, and post-test during the research from the date of March 18th, 2015 up to April 8th, 2015. Those were presented as follows: Pre-Test Before starting research activities in cycle 1, the pre-test which was used to measure students’ basic knowledge of the simple past tense was given to a total of thirty four students in class XI-D AP on March 18th, 2015. After collecting students’ pre-test score, the researcher calculated students’ average score by using the following formula: x ̅ = ∑X N = 1994 34 = 58.65 The result showed that the average of students’ pre-test score was only 58.65. It was obviously still unsatisfactory and hereafter needed to be improved in the next meetings. Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 7 Formative Test 1 The formative test 1 or quiz 1 was given in the last day of the first cycle of the research on March 31st, 2015 to monitor students’ progress in mastering the simple past tense after the treatments were given in cycle 1 and to recognize which students who needed extra assistance in learning simple past tense. Students’ average score in formative test 1 was 76.97. It was gained from the calculation of the formula below: x ̅ = ∑X N = 2617 34 = 76.97 Compared to the average of students’ pre-test score (58.65), the increasing point was 18.32. It was quite good. Although this score improvement showed the success of the learning method to improve student mastery of the material simple past tense, the second cycle was needed for a better learning outcome since there were several unsatisfactory scores of Chinese whispers tasks and group grid tasks gained by certain groups in cycle 1. Formative Test 2 The formative test 2 or quiz 2 was given sequentially with the post-test in the last day of the second cycle of the research on April 8th, 2015 to monitor students’ progress in mastering the simple past tense after all treatments had been given. The researcher calculated students’ average score in formative test 2 shortly thereafter using the following formula: x ̅ = ∑X N = 2688 34 = 79.06 The average of students’ formative test 2 score was 79.06. It increased by 20.41 point from the average of students’ pre-test score which was 58.65. Post-Test The final session of this classroom action research was to conduct a post-test for a total of 34 students immediately after correcting the formative test 2 with the students. This test was used to measure students’ learning achievement as a result of the given treatments. Below was the formula for calculating the average of students’ post- test score: x ̅ = ∑X N = 2841 34 = 83.56 The result showed that the average of students’ post-test score was 83.56. It increased by 4.5 point from the average of students’ formative test 2 score which was 79.06. If it was compared to the average of students’ pre- test score which was 58.65, the increasing point was very significant. It was 24.91 point. From those data, it was very satisfying to know that the learning method using a combination of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique was a success and very useful to improve students’ mastery of the simple past tense. Up to the seventh meeting of the study, the writer decided not to continue the study in cycle 3 due to a satisfactory learning outcome acquired up to the second cycle. Analysis of the Improvement of Students’ Score The whole test results of this study ranging from cycle 1 to cycle 2 indicated the success of this method in achieving the learning objective to improve students’ mastery of the simple past tense. For more details, the test results during the research could be seen in table below: Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 8 Table 5. The Test Results during the Research The following chart clearly showed the average scores of all kind of students’ tests that had increased periodically during the research. It flushed the students with pleasure as they can prove to themselves and others that they were able to develop themselves to be better both in the field of achievement as well as attitude before and after the treatments were given. No. Students’ Code Students’ Scores Pre-Test Quiz 1 Quiz 2 Post-Test S-01 63 67 70 80 S-02 57 67 70 80 S-03 57 53 60 73 S-04 63 80 77 90 S-05 63 67 83 90 S-06 63 80 77 90 S-07 53 67 77 83 S-08 67 87 90 90 S-09 57 80 83 87 S-10 57 73 80 83 S-11 53 73 80 83 S-12 53 80 87 80 S-13 50 77 80 77 S-14 60 83 83 93 S-15 60 63 73 77 S-16 57 87 83 83 S-17 60 80 73 73 S-18 67 87 83 90 S-19 57 83 77 87 S-20 57 83 83 83 S-21 63 87 80 90 S-22 60 83 87 90 S-23 57 67 80 83 S-24 60 83 83 87 S-25 57 83 83 83 S-26 60 80 77 83 S-27 53 73 77 80 S-28 57 83 83 83 S-29 57 67 73 80 S-30 63 80 83 80 S-31 60 80 80 83 S-32 63 77 80 87 S-33 57 80 80 80 S-34 53 77 73 80 Total 1994 2617 2688 2841 Average 58.65 76.97 79.06 83.56 Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 9 Figure 1. The Improvement of Students’ Score OBSERVATION SHEET RESULTS The observation of the learning process in the classroom during the treatments was carried out by 4 observers; they were Mr. Yunus as the English teacher of class XI D-AP and three friends of mine. Based on the observation data of students’ behaviors in cycle 1 from item number 1 to 6, items number 2 and 5 or 33.33% of all items were categorized into low, while items number 1, 3, 4, and 6 or 66.67% of all items were categorized into medium. No items belonged in high category. Therefore, students’ behaviors during the treatments still needed to be improved in order to be even better in the next cycle as well as in the future, especially in terms of giving comments or questions about the teacher’s explanation and helping motivate their friends either when they did the group tasks or learned the materials together. Henceforth, the writer had to be able to stimulate students to be more active in the classroom. In cycle 2, it could be viewed clearly on the following table that there were improvements in all items of students’ behaviors except for item number 3 about being enthusiastic with the teacher’s instructions which still categorized into medium, but this categorization was good enough to be achieved. All students strived to follow the instructions step by step because if they did not do that, they could not apply this learning method properly. The whole observation data of students’ behaviors in cycle 2 from item number 1 to 6 showed that no items belonged in low category. In addition, items number 2, 3, and 5 or 50% of all items were categorized into medium, while items number 1, 4, and 6 or 50% of all items were categorized into high. The percentage of both was balanced. Their behaviors were socially acceptable so far. Until the learning processes in cycle 2, the writer was able to teach them to behave in a better controlled way, and stimulate them to be more active and focused on their study. The final results of the classroom observation in cycle 1 and cycle 2 could be seen in the following table. 50 53 60 73 58,65 76,97 79,06 83,56 67 87 90 93 Pre-Test Formative Test 1 Formative Test 2 Post-Test The Improvement of Students’ Score Lowest Score Mean Highest Score Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 10 Table 6. Students’ Behaviors during the Learning Process by Using Chinese Whispers and Group Grid Technique in Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 N No. Number of Items Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Final Category Criteria Final Category Criteria 1. Giving attention to teacher’s explanation. Medium Almost (or) a half of the whole students pay attention to the teacher’s explanation about the lesson. High Almost all students pay attention to the teacher’s explanation about the lesson. 2. Giving comments or questions about the teacher’s explanation. Low Only several students give comments or questions about the teacher’s explanation. Medium Almost (or) a half of the whole students give comments or questions about the teacher’s explanation. 3. Being enthusiastic with the teacher’s instructions. Medium Almost (or) a half of the whole students pays attention to the teacher’s instructions. Medium Almost (or) a half of the whole students pays attention to the teacher’s instructions. 4. Doing their work according to the instruction. Medium Almost (or) a half of the whole students do their work according to the instruction. High Almost all students do their work according to the instruction. 5. Helping motivate their friends. Low There are only few students who motivate their friends. Medium There are some students who motivate their friends. 6. Being enthusiastic with Chinese whispers and group grid technique. Medium Almost (or) a half of the whole students enjoy doing Chinese whispers and group grid technique. High Almost all students enjoy doing Chinese whispers and group grid technique. Going to the next observation data of students’ responses during the treatments in cycle 1, it was proved that from item number 1 to 8, item number 2 or 12.5% of all items were categorized into low, items number 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 or 62.5% of all items were categorized into medium with one negative item in number 4 about making the classroom become noisy during Chinese whispers game, while items number 1 and 5 or 25% of all items were categorized into high. The writer inferred that their responses in learning were less unsatisfactory as expected before. For the next cycle, the students should be better controlled to cultivate enthusiastic responses in any learning situations. In accomplishing Chinese whispers tasks, everyone in each group truly helped each other because if it was not so, the game would not run smoothly and they could not get a lot of points. However, the writer should discipline them during the game in order to make the class become quieter and make the students become more serious in memorizing the words and sentences. The final results of the classroom observation in cycle 1 and cycle 2 could be seen in the table below. Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 11 Table 7. Students’ Responses during the Learning Process by Using Chinese Whispers and Group Grid Technique in Cycle 1 No. Number of Items Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Final Category Criteria Final Category Criteria 1. Being enthusiastic in making a group for doing Chinese whispers game and group grid technique. High All students have been in group of four less than three minutes. High All students have been in group of four less than three minutes. 2. Being serious in memorizing the words and sentences during Chinese whispers. Low Only several students seriously memorizing the words and sentences. Medium Almost (or) a half of students seriously memorizing the words and sentences. 3. Interested in whispering the words and sentences. Medium Almost (or) a half of students are interested in whispering the words and sentences. High Almost all students are interested in whispering the words and sentences 4. Making the classroom become noisy during Chinese whispers game. Medium Almost (or) a half of students make the classroom become noisy. Low Only several students make the classroom become noisy. 5. In group, helping each other to accomplish Chinese whispers task. High All group members help each other to accomplish Chinese whispers task. High All group members help each other to accomplish Chinese whispers task. 6. In group, helping each other to accomplish group grid task. Medium Almost (or) a half of group members help each other to accomplish group grid task. High All group members help each other to accomplish group grid task. 7. Filling in the blank cells of the grid cooperatively as a group project. Medium Almost (or) a half of group members fill in the blank cells of the grid cooperatively. High All group members fill in the blank cells of the grid cooperatively. 8. Being active in discussing how the items should be sorted. Medium Almost (or) a half of group members actively discuss how the items should be sorted actively. Medium Almost (or) a half of group members actively discuss how the items should be sorted actively. Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 12 Whereas, based on the observation data of students’ responses in cycle 2, only 1 item which was item number 4 about making the classroom become noisy during the game was categorized into low. It proved that the writer successfully disciplined them during the game so that they became more serious in memorizing the words or sentences and the class became quieter too. Items number 2 and 8 or 25% of all items were categorized into medium, while items number 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 or 62.5% of all items were categorized into high. In cycle 2 with the exception of item number 4 of students’ responses, there was no improvement for items number 1 and 8, but the rest of the items of students’ responses showed the improvements as expected. Overall, these results were better than those in cycle QUESTIONNAIRE RESULT After completing all research activities up to cycle 2, the researcher distributed the questionnaires to students on April 8th, 2015 and asked them to submit it no more than April 29th, 2015. The questionnaires were anonymous, given in Indonesian to facilitate students in filling in all questions, and combined closed and open-ended items which would show how successful the implementation of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique in improving students’ mastery of the simple past tense. There were 25 closed items in the section A of the questionnaire. The following was the percentage result of the section A: Figure 2. The Percentage Result of the Section A of the Questionnaire Based on the biggest percentage of each question in the section A of the questionnaire, it could be inferred that (1) 70.59% of students liked English, (2) 88.24% of students felt that English subject was important, (3) 67.65% of students felt uncertain whether or not English lesson all this time was easy to be understood, (4) 61.76% of students felt that English learning processes all this time were fun, (5) 58.82% of students felt that English learning processes all this time were not boring, (6) 64.71% of students felt uncertain whether or not they knew the meaning of the term ‘grammar’ in English, (7) 67.65% of students felt uncertain whether or not they knew the various forms of the English verbs, tenses, or sentence patterns, (8) 47.06% of students felt uncertain whether or not they were pleased to study the various forms of the English verbs, tenses, or sentence patterns, (9) 47.06% of students felt uncertain whether or not studying the various forms of the English verbs, tenses, or sentence patterns was difficult. Furthermore, the result of the questions about Chinese whispers game proved that (10) 41.18% of students did not know anything about Chinese whispers game before, (11) 100% of students had already understood the procedures of playing Chinese whispers game, (12) 35.29% of students experienced difficulties in playing Chinese whispers with their friends in the classroom, (13) 85.29% of students felt that Chinese whispers game was suitable to be applied in English learning Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 Q19 Q20 Q21 Q22 Q23 Q24 Q25 No 5,88 2,94 26,5 0 58,8 8,82 0 14,7 8,82 41,2 0 32,4 0 29,4 0 26,5 0 0 0 5,88 0 0 0 0 0 Uncertain 23,5 8,82 67,7 38,2 41,2 64,7 67,7 47,1 47,1 20,6 0 32,4 14,7 47,1 20,6 35,3 5,88 20,6 14,7 73,5 0 0 0 41,2 0 Yes 70,6 88,2 5,88 61,8 0 26,5 32,4 38,2 44,1 38,2 100 35,3 85,3 23,5 79,4 38,2 94,1 79,4 85,3 20,6 100 100 100 58,8 100 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% P e r c e n ta g e The Percentage Result of the Section A Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 13 processes. Next, the result of the questions about group grid technique proved that (14) 47.06% of students felt uncertain whether or not they had already known anything about one of cooperative learning techniques called group grid technique before, (15) 79.41% of students had already understood the procedures of implementing group grid technique in English learning in the classroom, (16) 38.24% of students felt uncertain whether or not they experienced difficulties in implementing group grid technique in English learning in the classroom, (17) 94.12% of students felt that group grid technique was suitable to be applied in English learning processes. At last, the result of the questions regarding to the use of the learning method using a combination of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique in English learning processes proved that (18) 79.41% of students felt that the learning method using a combination of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique was suitable to be applied in English learning processes, (19) 85.29% of students enjoyed learning the simple past tense by using a combination of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique, (20) 73.53% of students felt uncertain whether or not they experienced difficulties during learning the simple past tense by using a combination of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique, (21) 100% of students felt that the learning method using a combination of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique helped them learning the grammatical structures of the simple past tense, (22) 100% of students felt that learning the simple past tense became more fun when the learning method using a combination of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique was applied in the classroom, (23) 100% of students felt that there was an improvement in understanding and using the simple past tense before and after applying the learning method in the classroom, (24) 58.82% of students felt that the learning method using a combination of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique should be applied in every English learning process, especially in learning English grammar, and (25) 100% of students felt that there were some benefits that they got during learning the simple past tense by using a combination of Chinese whispers game and group grid technique. CONCLUSION Based on the analysis and discussion of the results of the whole research data in chapter four, the researcher eventually drew several conclusions. The first purpose of conducting this classroom action research in two cycles to the eleventh graders of PGRI 2 Private Vocational School Salatiga was to investigate how Chinese whispers and group grid technique was integrated and then applied as an alternative method in teaching the simple past tense in the classroom. During the research, the combination of those was able to grab students’ attention, promote their engagement, and relieve their boredom and drowsiness in the learning processes. Furthermore, this teaching method enhanced students’ spirit of learning English grammar since a good team work with active students’ participation was required during the treatments. Indeed, teaching the students in unconventional way made them become interested in what they were going to learn and were motivated to achieve optimal academic performance. By reading, memorizing, whispering, and then writing the word, phrases, or sentences related to the simple past tense down on the provided paper in a fun learning experience; the students were indirectly encouraged to practice and internalize two types of past forms in English, the verbal and nominal sentence patterns of the simple past tense, and the use of the simple past tense. Moreover, Chinese whispers game trained students’ basic language skills; those are listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, including the internalization of English language components such as grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation which Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 14 were considered as essential components for developing their language skills. The implementation of group grid technique also offered the opportunity to learn actively based on group cooperation and developed students’ analytic and organizing skills when they analyzed the correct categorization of the scrambled items which covered all sub topics of the simple past tense. Learning two types of past forms in English, nominal and verbal sentences, and the use of the simple past tense became more explicit when it was taught repeatedly through grids than just monotonously memorizing a list of regular and irregular verbs and the formula of nominal and verbal sentences. The second purpose of conducting this research was to investigate the improvement of students’ mastery of the simple past tense by using Chinese whispers and group grid technique as well as students’ learning behaviors. As discussed in the previous chapter, this teaching method successfully improved students’ mastery of the simple past tense. It was proved by the improvement in students’ achievement after the treatments were given. Students’ average score in pre-test was 58.65, in formative test 1 was 76.97, in formative test 2 was 79.06, and while in post- test was 83.56. Moreover, the results of Chinese whispers and group grid tasks which were ever-increasing from cycle 1 to cycle 2 indicated that they understood the lessons well through this method. Referring to the questionnaire results, the students tended to agree that this method facilitated them to learn the lesson better and effectively improved their mastery of the simple past tense. In addition, the observation sheet results showed that students’ positive behaviors and responses during the learning processes improved to be relatively good. They were more active, attentive, enthusiastic, and more able to control themselves not to be noisy in certain situations in the classroom during the learning process. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Alhamdulillahirabbil’alamin, first and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Allah SWT the Almighty for the endless blessings and mercy, the health and the power given to me, so that I could maximally complete this final project and get my graduation this year. I would like to address my heartfelt gratitude to Sri Wahyuni, S.Pd., M.Pd., my one and only advisor, for her incredible advice, encouragement, guidance, patience, and suggestions so that I was able to finish this final project; Prof. Dr. Dwi Rukmini, M.Pd. as the first examiner; and Seful Bahri, S.Pd., M.Pd. as the second examiner for their constructive advice which enhanced the completeness of this final project contents. I also take this opportunity to express my thankfulness profusely to the head of the English Department and all lecturers of the English Department of Semarang State University for equipping me with lots of priceless knowledge and experiences since I entered this study program. I sincerely expressed my profound gratitude to the headmaster of PGRI 2 Private Vocational School Salatiga, Heriyanta, S.Pd., for his permission to conduct the research there; the English teacher of SMK PGRI 2 Salatiga, Mahmud Yunus, S.Pd., for his guidance and support during the research; and the students of class XI D-AP in the academic year of 2014/2015 for their great cooperation during the research. My special gratefulness beyond all disputes goes to my dearest father and mother, Yudianto and Samini; my beloved brother and sister, Sandi Apridiasto and Yumna Oktaviana; and Wisnu Adi Nugroho for their extra patience, prayers, support, and unconditional love during my ups and downs all this time. Finally, I am so grateful to all of my best and exceptional friends at the English Department 2011; at Kanaya House especially Khuswatun, Mawar, Uchaida, Dea, Kamla, Kholida, Sayli, and Resya; at home especially Yenny Dwi Nugraheni / Journal of English Language Teaching 4 (1) (2015) 15 Hera, Lusi, Alda, Cahyani, Resiana, Andro, Jerry, Monica, Maesya, and Kharisma; my PPL team at PGRI 2 Private Vocational School Salatiga; and my KKN team at Karangmalang, Mijen, Semarang, for all of their assistance, jokes, laughs, motivation, support, tears, and togetherness up to this point. You are all extremely amazing. I realize that a lot of shortcomings might be found in this final project. Therefore, any suggestions and criticisms are always needed for betterment. At last, I really hope this final project will provide much benefit to all readers. REFERENCES Barkley, E. F., K. P. Cross, and C. H. Major. 2005. Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Burns, A. 1999. Collaborative Action Research for English Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Crystal, D. 2003. English as a Global Language (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Depdiknas. 2006. Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) untuk SMK. Jakarta: Depdiknas. Gerot, L. and P. Wignell. 1994. Making Sense of Functional Grammar. Sydney: Gerd Stabler Antipodean Educational Enterprises. Pollard, A. and P. Triggs. 1997. Reflective Teaching in Secondary Education: A Handbook for Schools and Colleges. London: Cassell. Srijono, D. 2001. An Introductory Course of Linguistics. Surakarta: Muhammadiyah University Press. http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Chinese_whispers [accessed on March 24, 2015]