81

Journal  of  ICSAR
ISSN (print): 2548-8619; ISSN (online): 2548-8600
Volume 1 Number 1 January 2017

THE EFFECT OF SCRAMBLE GAME TOWARDS 
THE ABILITY OF COMPOSING SENTENCES FOR 
STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY 

Noverita Surya Dewia, Agung Kurniawanb

aDepartment of Special Education, State University of Malang, Indonesia
bFaculty of Sport Science, State University of Malang, Indonesia

Email: kurniawan1974agung@gmail.com

Abstract: Children with intellectual disability have limitations in language acquisition mainly in processing 
vocabulary that is less functioning as it is expected, that is why they fell difficulty in preparing sentence. 
The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of the scramble games toward capability of sentence 
composition for students with intellectual disability. The method used is a quasi-experimental design 
with time series design. This study showed there was a difference capability of sentence composition for 
students with intelllectual disability before and after treatment with scramble game. It is shown from the 
results of t arithmetic < t table at significant level of 0.05 is 0 <1. The conclusion of this study was the 
scramble game affect toward capability of sentence composition for students with intellectual disability. 

Keywords: scramble game, sentence composition, intellectual disability

According Branata in Efendi (2006:88) someone who 
is categorized into intellectual disabilities or mental 
retardation, if he has a level of intelligence is so low 
(below normal) to pursue development tasks requiring 
specific assistance or services, including in the 
educational process. Retarded children have limitations 
in language acquisition. They have difficulty in 
articulation, the processing center (vocabulary) works 
less properly. For that reason, they need concrete 
words that are often heard. Besides, the differences and 
similarities must be shown repeatedly. Simple exercises 
to teach concepts such as big and small, hard and weak, 
first, second, and last, it is necessary to use concrete 
approach (Soemantri, 2007:106).

Suparno in Dames (2012:4) states that the scramble 
method is one of the language games. Basically, the 
language game is an activity to acquire specific skills 
in a way of encouraging. Budinuryanto in the Guntur 
(2013:21) states that the technique scramble is a game 
development or sorting a language structure that 
previously has been confused arrangement deliberately. 
Fitriyah in Saputra and Fatmasari (2015:173) states 
that in this scramble game, the students’ activeness and 
creativity are  important because these two components 
make the students not growing. The game is also able 
to optimize the students to think more creatively to 
define and construct a new thing or structure so that 
it can increase knowledge and understanding because 
students are active in the game. The accuracy and speed 
of thinking in answering the question becomes one of 
the key games in scramble learning methods.

At the time of observation in retarded students of 

class VIII in SLB Lawang, researchers discovered the 
problem as follows: students find  difficulties  to make 
simple sentences based on the pictures in textbooks. 
To overcome this difficulty, the researchers took the 
initiative to facilitate the students to do the work by 
writing down all of the objects in term of the pictures in 
textbooks. For example, in the picture there are flowers, 
cat, house, yard, and others. Then the researchers asked 
the students about one of the objects. What was the cat 
doing? And the student answered the cat was eating. 
Then the researchers asked where? Then students 
answer on the terrace home. From that question then 
the students can make sentences based on the pictures 
in textbooks. Therefore, the researcher conducted 
a study with a titled “The Effect Of Scramble Game 
Towards The Ability Of Composing Sentences For 
Students With Intellectual Disability In The Grade VIII 
in SLB Pembina Nasional,  Lawang”.

The purpose of this study was to describe the Effect 
of Scramble Game towards the Ability of Composing 
Sentences for Students with Intellectual disability of 
the Grade VIII in SLB Pembina Nasional,  Lawang”. 
This research is expected to be a reference for teachers 
and schools to solve the problems in learning activities 
in the classroom.

METHOD

Sugiyono (2014:72) mentions that experimental 
research is defined as research methods used to 
find a specific treatment effect towards the other in 



82 Journal of ICSAR; Volume 1, Number 1, January 2017: 81-84

uncontrolled conditions. So, this study was aimed at 
investigating the effect of the game scramble usage 
towards the ability of composing sentences.

 The quasi experimental method was used in 
this research with time series design. It was given eight 
tests before and after the intervention. The 4 test before 
the intervention (O1, O2, O3, O4) was called a pre-test 
and the 4 test before the intervention (O5, O6, O7, O8) 
called a post-test. The subjects used in this study were 
5 students with mild mental retardation of class VIII in 
SLB Pembina Nasional C, Lawang.

 The instruments were 10 points the written 
test. The test was given before being given intervention 
(pre-test) and after being  given intervention (post-
test). The data analysis was quantitative data with non 
parametric technique. For determining differences 
of the ability to compose sentence for  students  with 
intellectual disability before and after the Scramble 
game usage  with Wilcoxon  rank test.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Findings

From this research, it was obtained two kinds of 
data such as beginning and final capabilities for students 
with intellectual disability to compose sentences. The 
preliminary data is a data that shows the ability of the 
students before being given interventions.  Students’ 
initial capability that was  obtained from the pre test 
was done before the given intervention. The pre test 
were 10 questions. The pre test was done four times 
in order to get stability. Then, the final data was the 
student’s ability to construct a sentence after being 
given the intervention. The data that was obtained 
from the ability of the student’s final post-test results 
are being given after intervention. The post test were 
4 times with the aim to determine the effectiveness of 
interventions.

Table 1. Pre Test and Post Test Value
No N a 

me
Pre Test Value S

U
M

Post Test Value Sum
I II III IV I II III IV

1 ZM 7 8 7 8 30 8 8 8 9 33
2 TA 3 4 3 4 14 7 7 8 8 30
3 FA 5 5 5 5 20 7 7 8 9 31
4 RJ 3 4 3 4 14 7 7 8 8 30
5 FR 9 9 9 9 36 10 10 10 10 40

average 5,7 Average 8,2
From the above table, there was only one of 5 

students who get very good value. The average value 
of the initial capability class was 5.7. The result of post-
test from 5 students was a very good. The average value 
of the final capability was 8.2. 

Graph 1. The value result of Pre Test and Post Test

From the above graph, it can be seen that there is 
an increase learning outcomes of the students’ ability 
to compose sentences after being treated by using a 
scramble game.  The data obtained from the pre-test 
and post test was then analyzed by using the Wilcoxon 
signed rank test as follows: 

Table 2. Wilcoxon Test
No P r e 

test
P o s t 
test

diff Absolut 
diff

Rank dif 
absolut

S i g n e d 
ranks

1 7.5 8.25 0.75 0.75 2 2
2 3.5 7.5 4 4 4.5 4.5
3 5 7.75 2.75 2.75 3 3
4 3.5 7.5 4 4 4.5 4.5
5 9 10 1 1 1 1
T (positive) = 15
T (negative) = 0

From the table 4.2, t table with for 5 samples 
with significance level of 0.05 is 1 and t counting is 
0 of the smallest rank.  T counting  <t table so that  
Hi is received. Based on the above results, it can be 
concluded that there are differences in students’ ability 
to construct sentences between before and after using 
the scramble game. Thus, the scramble game was 
affected the ability to compose sentences for students 
with intellectual disability in the grade VIII. 

Discussion

Based on the results of the pre-test before being 
given treatment there are some students who have 
difficulty to make sentences. This is evident from 
the results of the students are judged less than 6. The 
students with intellectual disability have a low memory. 
Related to memory, Somantri (2007:112) states that the 
retarded children are different from normal children on 
a short term memory. A retarded child does not seem 
different from normal children. But evidence suggests 
children with mental retardation are different from 
normal children in terms of immediate recall.

In this study, children with intellectual disability 
do problem in constructing a sentence without using 
the learning methods for a given test prior to the 



83Noverita Surya Dewi, Agung Kurniawan, The Effect of Scramble Game Towards . . .

treatment using the scramble game. Learning to make 
sentences for children with intellectual disability is 
difficult without the use of learning methods. Somantri 
(2007:105) mentions the learning capacity of children 
with intellectual disability especially that such abstract 
learning sucha as arithmetic, writing and reading is 
also limited. Therefore, the ability to construct phrases 
for retarded students of class VIII in SLB Pembina 
National Lawang before being given learning of game 
scramble getting less value.

The ability to construct phrases for students with 
intellectual disability in grade VIII of SLB Pembina 
National Lawang after being given treatment namely 
using scramble game get better results than before. 
The students are no longer experiencing difficulty in 
preparing sentence. This is in line with Harjasujana in 
Suratno (2014:29) through the scramble technique, The 
students are not only invited to train the mind to predict 
the way the original authors but also encouraged to be 
creative with a new arrangement and it is better than the 
original arrangements. It is concluded that the learning 
techniques scramble is learning techniques that provide 
insight into the development and improvement of an 
organization preparing students in writing so that it 
becomes an intact article. In addition to train students to 
be more creative to find phrase better than the original 
arrangement.

The usage of scramble games in learning to 
compose sentences make the students more aware of 
the learning rather than merely explained in the abstract 
without learning methods. With the Scramble game, 
students can understand the material being taught 
teachers to make sentences. Use of games in learning in 
line with the Trisanti’s opinion in Saputra and Ratnasari 
(2015:173) states that the game media is media that can 
reduce the saturation of the students, giving pleasure 
and knowledge. So the game is a fun activity that can 
make students happy in the process of learning so that 
students are not saturated in receiving information from 
the teacher.

In the teaching and learning process, learning 
activities can run without tools, but without the learning 
method, the learning will hinder the teaching learning 
process. Teachers are expected to take advantage of 
learning methods in teaching and learning. The key 
to successfully learning is the teacher. When learning 
to construct phrases scramble teachers can utilize the 
game as a learning method.

The game scramble in learning to make sentences 
influence on student achievement for mild mental 
retardation in class VIII of SLB Pembina. Based on 
the results of hypothesis testing showed that there was 
different usage of Scramble game on the ability to make 
sentences. From table 4.5 discovered that the average 
pre-test was 5.7 and post test was 8.2 by comparing 
the average value of the ability to make sentences 

before and after being given scramble game. In table 
4.5 it can be concluded, the use of the game Scramble  
have influence on the ability to construct phrases for 
retarded students of class VIII. The average of post test 
was better than the pre test because after being given 
pre-test, the teacher can analyze the weaknesses of the 
students. Referring to the analysis of the results of the 
pre-test teachers can provide treatment using Scramble 
game to overcome weaknesses in preparing sentence.

The results of this study was using the formula 
of Wilcoxon test, to determine differences in the 
use of the game Scramble on the ability to construct 
phrases retarded students of class VIII in SLB Pembina 
National. The result showed that the value of T obtained 
in the count is 0 of rank smallest whereas for T table at 
0,05 significant level is 1 for T count is smaller than 
T table then the null hypothesis is rejected and the 
working hypothesis is accepted. This means that there 
was an increased ability to make sentences for retarded 
students of class VIII using scramble game in SLB 
Pembina National.

Based on research results using Wilcoxon test 
stated that Ho refused and Hi accepted, it indicated 
that there was a significant difference in the ability to 
construct phrases for retarded students of class VIII 
in SLB Pembina National using scramble game. The 
statement can be proved by the increase in the results 
of tests that have been given, from the recapitulation 
of pre test and post test increased during the post-test 
after being given treatment. Therefore it is proven 
that the use of a game scramble in preparing sentence 
is the appropriate treatment to optimize the ability to 
construct phrases for retarded students of class VIII in 
SLB Pembina National.

The results of this study can complement and 
support the research conducted by Fatmasari (2015) 
with the title “The Effect of Scramble Method 
Implementation towards Capabilities of Composing 
Sentence for students with hearing Impairment in 
grade V of SDLB Class-B Dharma Wanita Sidoarjo”. 
Research results showed that there were differences 
in learning outcomes of constructing a sentence using 
the scramble. Basically the use of scramble method in 
learning to make sentences in previous studies almost 
the same except that the subjects used in the study are 
different, if in the previous research use students with 
hearing Impairment as research subjects, this study 
used the retarded students as research subjects.

Learning construct a sentence using the Scramble 
game can improve the quality of learning for the 
learning process does not feel bored and boring. From 
the use of games scramble in learning makes students 
more improving learning achievement. The subject 
matter is usually only the abstract will be more easily 
understood by students when utilizing the game in 
learning.



84 Journal of ICSAR; Volume 1, Number 1, January 2017: 81-84

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION

Based on the research that has been done can be 
concluded that the ability to make sentences for eighth 
grade students with intellectual disability in SLB 
Pembina National before being given scramble game 
get average value of 5.7, which means less. Only one 
student who received score pre-test is very good. The 
ability to construct phrases for eighth grade students 
with intellectual disability in  SLB Pembina after being 
given scramble game has increased. It can be seen from 
the average value of post test of 8.2, which means good.

There is a scramble game influence on the 
ability to construct phrases for retarded students of 
class VIII in SLB Pembina National Level. Based on 
the hypothesis testing results indicate that there are 

significant differences between the ability to make 
sentences before and after being guven scramble game 
that is value of T count <T table then Hi is accepted Ho 
is rejected.

Suggestions can be submitted is for the researchers 
can complete the deficiencies in the study of which may 
modify the procedures for this game according to the 
material to be delivered. For Teachers are encouraged to 
apply learning to use the games in particular scramble 
in language learning with materials to construct phrases 
to improve learning achievement so that students are 
interested to participate in learning. Then, for the school 
are expected to make use of the training program the 
game scramble for teachers with the aim to provide 
supplies to teachers.

REFERENCES

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Efendi, Mohammad. 2006. Pengantar Psikopedagogik 
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