




































62 

 ELT FORUM 3 (1) (2014) 

 

Journal of English Language Teaching 
 

http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/elt 

 

 

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SNAKES AND LADDERS GAME TO IMPROVE 

STUDENTS’ MASTERY OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE IN CONSTRUCTING 

RECOUNT TEXTS (A Quasi-Experimental Research of the Eighth Grade 

Students of SMP N 2 Demak in the Academic Year of 2013/2014) 

 

Ulil Albab   
 

English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Semarang, Indonesia 

 

Article Info 

________________ 
Article History: 

Received in April 2014 

Approved in Mei 2014 

Published in Juni 2014 

________________ 
Keywords: 

Snakes and Ladders Game, 

Students’ Mastery of Simple 

Past Tense, Constructing 

Recount Texts, Quasi-

Experimental Research 

____________________ 

Abstract
 

___________________________________________________________________ 

This study concerns with the use of snakes and ladders game as a medium to improve students’ 

mastery of simple past tense in constructing recount texts. The purposes of this study are to show 

whether snakes and ladders game gives contribution to improve the students’ mastery of simple past 

tense in constructing recount texts and to find out whether snakes and ladders game gives the 

significant difference or not. Quasi-experimental research was used. The population of this study was 

the eighth grade students of SMP N 2 Demak. The experimental group consisted of 30 students and 

the control group also consisted of 30 students. There were four meetings during the experiment. 

Before the experiment was conducted, a pre-test was given to both groups. A post-test was given after 

the experiment was done. To find out the significant difference statistically, t-test formula was used. 

Before applying the formula, the data were checked by using normality and homogeneity. The result 

shows that the data have normal distribution and homogeneity. The result of t-test is 3.41, for α = 

5% with df = 58, t-table = 2.002. It means that the t-value is higher than the t-table (3.41 > 2.002). The 

purposes of this study are achieved because the students’ mastery of simple past tense in constructing 

recount texts improve. Then, the t-value of the post test is higher than the t-table; it means that the use 

of snakes and ladders gives the significant difference. In fact, based on this study the use of snakes 

and ladders game is effective and applicable enough as a teaching medium to be used in improving 

the students’ mastery of simple past tense in constructing recount texts. 

 

© 2014 Universitas Negeri Semarang 

 
 Correspondent Address:  

   B3 Building,  FBS Unnes  

   Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229 

   E-mail: uuliilalbab@gmail.com 

 

ISSN 2252-6706 



 

Ulil Albab / Journal of English Language Teaching 3 (1) (2014) 

63 

INTRODUCTION 

 

Grammar is very important in spoken and 

written language. As a result, students are not 

supposed to understand only the theories and 

knowledge of grammar, but in practice, they also 

have to know how to apply it in both oral and 

written form. As a matter of fact, written 

communication is partly different from spoken. 

In written, students generate their ideas and 

thoughts into readable texts and they also have to 

pay attention to spelling, punctuation, word 

choice, and so on. However, in spoken, they 

express their ideas and thoughts orally. 

In the level of eighth grade students, there 

are text types or genres that have to be learnt by 

the students in English writing. Two main 

categories of text types that have been learnt by 

them are literary and factual texts. For instance, 

narrative belongs to literary texts; whereas, 

factual texts include descriptive, recount, and 

procedure. Each text has its own language 

features, such as tenses that are used in different 

texts. Simple present tense is used in the form of 

descriptive and procedure text; on the other hand, 

simple past tense is used in recount and narrative 

text. In fact, students have already been familiar 

with writing text in learning English. However, 

they sometimes face some difficulties. They 

understand the generic structure in certain text 

types and have many ideas to express in written 

texts, but they feel difficult to write because their 

mastery of tenses in certain text types or genres is 

weak. In conventional teaching, teachers usually 

have explained the generic structures of the text 

and tenses of the language features before starting 

writing. In fact, there are still some errors that can 

be found from their result of writing practice, 

such as the grammar construction of the tenses in 

sentences. 

In order to solve the problems of the 

students’ grammar in writing, especially in 

constructing a text, the writer has an innovative 

and attractive method, especially for teachers in 

teaching English. Harmer (2001:1) stated that 

“they should make their lessons interesting so 

you do not fall asleep students.” Thus, teachers as 

the main actors in the classroom can look for 

other methods of teaching to design an interesting 

and attractive learning activity. As a result, the 

writer tries to combine teaching using some 

methods; they are pictures, videos, or games. By 

using one of those attractive media, students will 

be enthusiastic and they also will understand the 

lesson easily.  

In this research, the writer would like to 

focus in improving student’s mastery of simple 

past tense to construct recount texts by using 

snakes and ladders game. As we know, simple 

past tense belongs to language feature of recount 

text. In addition, snakes and ladders grammar 

game is used in this research through a quasi-

experimental research to find out how effective it 

contributes in improving the students’ past tense 

competence. Hopefully, their writing skill, 

especially in writing recount text will be 

improved. 

 

REVIEW RELATED LITERATURE 

 

2.1 Snakes and Ladders Game 

In Science and Technology Education book, 

the definition of “snakes and ladders is a popular 

game for children in many countries of the world. 

It is easy to make from basic materials and can be 

adapted to suit many learning situations.” This 

game also “can assist in developing basic 

arithmetic such as counting, addition and 

subtraction, communication, as well as the 

concept for which a game has been developed” 

(Lowe, 1988:27). 

 

2.2 Simple Past Tense  

In Modern English book, the definition of 

simple past tense is explained that “both forms 

(simple past tense and past progressive tense) of 

the past tense represent definite past. They refer 

to events that were completed before the 

statements is made. They are often accompanied 

by such expressions of definite past as yesterday, 

last year, two weeks ago” (Frank, 1972:49). 

 

2.3 Recount Text 

In Text Type in English 1 book, the 

definition of recount text “is a piece of text that 

retells past events, usually in the order in which 



 

Ulil Albab / Journal of English Language Teaching 3 (1) (2014) 

64 

they happened. The purpose of a recount is to 

give the audience a description of what occurred 

and when it occurred” (Anderson and Kathy, 

1997:48). 

 

RESEARCH DISCUSSION 

 

3.1 Research Design  

The research design that was used in this 

study was an experimental research and it was 

conducted in the classroom. Ross (2005:3) stated 

that “experimental research is used in settings 

where variables defining one or more ‘causes’ can 

be manipulated in a systematic fashion in order 

to discern ‘effects’ on other variables.” 

Furthermore, specifically the writer chose quasi-

experimental research in the form of non-

equivalent control group design.  

This design is often used in classroom 

experiments when experimental and control 

groups are such naturally assembled groups as 

intact classes, which may be similar.  Best 

(1993:151) stated that “quasi-experimental design 

provides control of when and to whom the 

measurement is applied, but because random 

assignment to experimental and control 

treatments has not been applied, the equivalence 

of the groups is not assured.” 

The design of quasi-experimental research 

can be described as the following: 

 

𝑂1          X        𝑂2

𝑂3          C        𝑂4
 

              (Best, 1993:151) 

 

in which: 

O1   = pre-test for the experimental group 

O2   = post-test for the experimental group 

O3   = pre-test for control group 

O4   = post-test for control group 

X. = exposure of a group to an 

experimental by giving treatment using snakes 

and ladders game 

C     = exposure of a group to the control  

 

3.2 Theoretical Framework  

In this study, the writer wants to find out 

how effective snakes and ladders game to 

improve students’ mastery of simple past tense in 

constructing recount texts. Hence, the research 

design that is going to be used this study is a 

quasi-experimental research.  

The writer will use two classes from the 

population. One class will be the control group 

and the else will be the experimental group. 

Before the treatments are conducted, first, the 

writer gives pre-test for the students. Then, the 

treatments are given for the students. There are 

two meetings for each the control and 

experimental groups during the research. The 

experimental group is the group which is the 

treatment of snakes and ladders game will be 

delivered. After all the treatments were 

conducted, the writer gives post-test for the 

students. The last activity, he analyses the result 

of pre-test and post-test by comparing the mean 

using t-test formula to find out the significant 

different of the experimental and control groups. 

The scheme of the quasi-experiment can be 

described as the following diagram: 

 

Diagram 2.1 Scheme of Quasi-Experimental 

Research 

 

3.3 Pre Test 

After conducting the try-out test and 

revising the instrument, the writer gave the pre-

test for the experimental and the control groups 

for the next activity on March, 27th 2014. In the 

instrument of pre-test, there were 20 items of 



 

Ulil Albab / Journal of English Language Teaching 3 (1) (2014) 

65 

sentence constructions and picture-cued story 

sequences in constructing recount texts. In doing 

the test, the writer gave 40 minutes for the 

students. The following is the chart of the result 

from the pre-test of the control and the 

experimental groups: 

 

Chart 4.1 Pre-test Comparison of Experimental 

and Control Groups 

 

Based on chart 4.1, there were 6 students 

who got 31-40 in the control group and in the 

experimental group was just 1 student. Then, 

there were 2 students in the control group and 5 

students in the experimental group who got 41-

50, 11 students in the control group and 9 

students in the experimental group who got 51-

60, 14 students in the control group and 7 

students in the experimental group who got 61-

70, 4 students in the both groups who got 71-80, 

and 4 students in the experimental group who got 

81-90. As a result, there was no significant 

improvement between the scores of the students 

in the control and experimental groups. 

 

3.4 Post Test 

After the treatment was done in the 

experimental and the control group, the writer 

gave a post-test for both groups on April, 19th 

2014. The instrument was the same test item as 

the pre-test. This last activity was done to find out 

the result of the students’ achievement of simple 

past tense in constructing recount texts after they 

were given treatment of snakes and ladders game. 

The following is the chart of the result from the 

post-test of the control and the experimental 

groups: 

 

 

 

Chart 4.2 Post-test Comparison of Experimental 

and Control Groups 

 

Based on the chart above, there were 4 

students in the control group and there was 1 

student in the experimental group who got 41-50. 

There were 5 students and in the experimental 

group was just 1 student who got 51-60. Then, 

there were 10 students in the control group and 3 

students in the experimental group who got 61-

70, 7 students in the control group and 11 

students in the experimental group who got 71-

80, 4 students in the control group and 7 students 

in the experimental group who got 81-90. The 

last, there were 7 students in the experimental 

group who got 91-100. Thus, based on the data of 

the result of the post-test in both groups, it can be 

concluded that the scores of the students of 

experimental group were higher than those of 

control group.  

 

3.5 Test of Significance 

The following table is the mean scores of 

the pre-test and the post-test from the students: 

 

Table 4.4 Mean of Pre-test and Post-test 

Based on the table above, it can be seen the 

means of pre-test and post-test for the 

experimental and the control groups. After that, 

the writer compared between the two means. The 

post-test of experimental group was higher than 

that of the control group. The difference between 

Group The Mean  

Score of  

the Pre- 

Test 

The Mean  

Score of  

the Post- 

Test 

Experimental 

Group 

Control Group 

63.08 

 

56.75 

81.25 

 

67.83 



 

Ulil Albab / Journal of English Language Teaching 3 (1) (2014) 

66 

the two mean is (81.25 – 67.83 = 13.42). It 

indicates that the treatment is effective because 

there is an improvement in the experimental 

group than in the control group. However, the 

writer could not conclude that the difference 

between the two means above were significant. 

Thus, to make the analysis be more reliable; the 

writer proved it by using t-test formula to 

determine whether the difference between the 

two means was statistically significant. 

The writer analyzed the data using t-test. 

Before applying the t-test formula, S had to be 

found out first. The step of the computation is as 

follows: 

𝑆 =  √
(𝑛1 −  1)𝑠1

2 +  (𝑛2 −  1)𝑠2
2

𝑛1 +  𝑛2 −  2
 

  

 =  √
(30 −1) 119.90+ (30 −1) 36.97

30+30 −2 
 

   =  √
3477.1+1072.13

58
 

   =  √
4549.23

58
 

   =  √78.44 = 8.86 

After getting the standard deviation (S), the 

computation of t-test can be done as the 

following: 

   
𝑡 =  

𝑋1− 𝑋2

𝑆 √
1

𝑛1
+ 

1

𝑛2

 

     

   =  
18.17 −10.33

8.86 √
1

30
+ 

1

30

 

  

   =  
7.84 

8.86 ×0.26 
 

   =  
7.84

2.30
 = 3.41 

Before the computation above was 

concluded by the writer, the final result of t-test 

would be compared to the critical value of t-table 

to prove whether the difference was significant or 

not. In this experiment, the writer used α = 5%. 

Furthermore, the number of samples in this 

experiment for the experimental and the control 

group were 30 students with the degree of 

freedom (df) that was (N1 + N2 – 2 = 30 + 30 – 2 

= 58). For α = 5% and df = 58, the writer checked 

the degree of freedom in the t-table. The result was 

2.002. 

The t-value was 3.41 and the t-table was 2.002. 

Thus, the t-value was higher than the critical value, 

(3.41 > 2.002). It can be concluded that the result 

of the test after getting the treatment between the 

experimental and the control group was 

significantly different. Furthermore, teaching 

simple past tense by using snakes and ladders 

game in order to construct recount texts was more 

effective and got higher grades than the students 

who were taught without snakes and ladders 

game.    

 

CONCLUSION 

 

According to the result of this research, the 

writer can conclude as the following: 

(1) There were improvement of scores after the 

students were taught by using snakes and 

ladders game. It is proven by the t-value which 

is higher than t-table, (3.41 > 2.002). 

(2) This game makes the students active in 

discussing simple past tense because there is 

an interaction and communication while 

they are playing the game. 

(3) Snakes and ladders game is a new game for 

the students in learning simple past tense; 

thus, the students are enthusiastic to study 

grammar, especially simple past tense.  

(4) This game can ease the students to correct 

and find out some common errors in making 

simple past tense. 

(5) This game provides language practice in 

various skills – listening, speaking, reading, 

and writing. 

 

REFERENCES 

 

Anderson, M. and Kathy A. 1997. Text Type in English 

1. South Yarra: Macmillan Education.  

Best, J.W. and J.V. Kahn. 1993. Research in Education. 

New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India. 

Frank, M. 1972. Modern English: Exercises for Native 

Speakers. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 

Harmer, J. 2001. How to Teach English. Edinburgh: 

Longman. 

Lowe, N. K. 1988. Games and Toys in the Teaching of 

Science and Technology. Paris: UNESCO. 



 

Ulil Albab / Journal of English Language Teaching 3 (1) (2014) 

67 

Ross, K. N. 2005. Educational Research: Some Basic 

Concepts and Terminology. Paris: UNESCO. 


