




































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) 

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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) 

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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) 

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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
er

ce
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]  


