A.       The Title

TEACHING STRUCTURE THROUGH GAMES of The Eighth grade Students of SMPN 4 Bengkalis”

B.  The Background of the Problem

       Language is an important device and a very beneficial tool for human being to communicate with other people. By using language, people can talk and understand each other. There  are  many  languages  in  the  world.  One  of  them  is  English. English is an International Language, and it is very important nowadays. It is the  language  of  globalization,  international  communication,  commerce  and trade. In   Indonesia,   English   language   has   been introduced  as a foreign language  in Elementary School, Junior High School, Senior High school, and University level.  Teaching  means  the  helping,  giving  instruction,  guiding,  facilitating someone to learn something, providing with knowledge, and causing to know or  to  understand  in  learning  process. English languange have four skill there are speaking, listening, writing and reading while Structure  is  a  part  of  language  and  an important  element  in  English.  Every  language  has  its  structure.  There  is  no language without structure. Structure is needed in mastering English. It is the main  capital  in  studying  English.  It  is  one  of  language  components  beside pronunciation,  spelling  and  vocabulary.  In  addition,  structure  is  the  basis  to learn  English  before  students  write  narrative  text,  descriptive,  news  item, recount text and procedure text. Structure  is  very  important.  Without  structure,  meaning  nuances  can lose  or  cannot  be  submitted.  It  is  difficult  to  create  a  text,  and  learning structure is very important for language learners. It makes students know how to produce good sentences and to express ideas and feelings.   It may be noted that although Halliday (1994:6) and Harmer (2002:12) differentiate the term “ grammar “ and “ structure “, it seems to the writer that  there  is  only  a  slight  difference  between  them.  Accordingly,  the  writer will use “grammar “and “structure “, interchangeably. People  will  agree  that  structure  or  grammar  is  too  important  to  be ignored,  and  without  a  good  knowledge  in  structure  or  grammar,  learners’ language development will be severely constrained. Celce - Murcia (2001: 25) states that grammar is important, and learners seem to focus best on grammar when  it  relates  to  their  communicative  needs  and  experiences.  Most Indonesian students face difficulties in learning structure because the  grammatical  rules  of  Indonesian  language  are  different  from  those  of English. To solve this problems, It needs enrichment by practicing some elements of language through some activities that we call task, and one example of tasks is playing a game.  Games are the examples of task activities. Games are good devices for practicing grammar points, and it can be used to teach structure or grammar. Besides, game can make the teaching learning process fun and enjoyable. It is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun. Games can be an integral part of any language syllabus. It is used as a method and technique in teaching English.  Some  others  have proposed the following characteristics of games:

1.      Celce-Murcia  (2001:  16)  states  that  the  use  of  games,  role-play,  pair work, and other small-group activities has gained acceptance and is now widely recommended for inclusion in language teaching programs. 

2.      Richards  (2006: 19) states  that  there  are  many other  activity  types that have  been  used  in  CLT,  one  of  them  is  task-completion  activities: puzzles,  games,  map-reading,  and  other  kinds  of  classroom  tasks  in which the focus is on using one’s language resources to complete a task.

3.      Agoestyowati  (2007:  13)  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  use  of  games  in  a learning environment will not only change the dynamic of the class, but it  will  also  rejuvenate  students  and  help  the  brain  to  learn  more effectively. She says that games allow students to work co-operatively, to compete with each other, to strategize, to think in a different way, to compare  and  to  share  knowledge,  to  learn  from  others  and  from mistakes, to work in a less stressful and  more productive environment, and to allow the students to have fun,  and to be able to help students use and practice the language in relaxed way. Therefore,  Games  are  activities  created  by  teachers  to  make  the teaching  and  learning  process  more  interesting  so  that  students  enjoy  the materials. Consequently, they will get better achievement.

Based on the resercher’  observation at SMPN 4 BENGKALIS  most of students face difficulties in learning sructure because the  grammatical  rules  of  Indonesian  language  are  different  from  those  of English.  It  is  one  of  the  problems  faced  by  students  of  SMPN  4 Bengkalis.  It  is  obvious  why  they  become  passive,  confused,  shy,  afraid  of making  mistakes,  and  feel  bored  when  they  study  English  structure,  and sometimes they are sleepy in the class when they have lesson. It can lead the learners have negative results; they become unmotivated to learn it and unable to communicate in English. 

Cause of sructure is very important in learning english, in this project paper the researcher’s uses games to help students in learning structure. Based on problems  above the writer is interested in conduction in reserch entitle :

“TEACHING STRUCTURE THROUGH GAMES of The Eighth grade Students of SMPN 4 Bengkalis”

C.  The Reason of Choosing the Title

The reseacher  is interested in this study because some reason :

1.      The reseacher  want to know how far students understanding in structure.

2.      The reseacher want to know the effectiviness of games in  teaching sructure.

3.       The reseacher hopes able to improve their english learning in structure by using games.

4.      As far as the title of this research has not been studied previously, especially in bengkalis.

D.    The Definition of the Terms

This study involves a number of specific terms. The terms are defined

as follows:

1.   Teaching

Teaching is guiding in study of something, facilitating learning, enabling

the learner to learn, setting the conditions for learning.

2.   Structure

Richards Jack et al (1985:276) states that structure refers to a sequence of

linguistic units that are in a certain relationship to one another.

3.   Game

 Games are activities with rules, a goal, and an element of fun.

E.      The Problems of Study

1. The Identification of  the Problems

a.       Why most of students have difficulties in study structure?

b.      Why students become passive, confuse and feel bored when they study english structure?

c.       How students can easy and pleasant in study english structure?

d.      What factors that caused students feel bored when study sructure?

e.       How is  studying stucture by using games?

2.      The Limitation of the problem

                 Structure is the basic material in learning English, and it is always used and  must  be  learned  by  students  when  they  make  or  develop  spoken  and written  texts.  The  language  will  be  acceptable  if  the  structure  is  correct. However, students sometimes feel difficult and  bored when they study it. In this research, the researcher tries to apply teaching structure through games to overcome the students’ problems. There  are  many  kinds  of  grammar  or  structures.  In  this  project paper,  the writer  discusses  the  structures  that  are  relevant  to  syllabus  or  curriculum  of SMPN 4 Bengkalis , such as simple present tense,  simple past tense,Games used in the research were  structure or grammar  games,  or  the  emphasis  is  game  on  structure  by  which  the students can learn it better and easier.

3.      The Formulation of the Problem

Base on the background of the problems, identification of the problems, and limitation of the problems of this research can be formulated as follows :

1.   Is  teaching  structure  through  games  effective  for  students  of  SMPN 4 Bengkalis?

2.   Are  there  any  significant  differences  in  the  results  of  teaching  structure

using games and without games?

F.     The Objectives and Needs of  the Research

1.      The objective of the research

In accordance with the formulation of the problem, the objective  

of the research are:

1.   To  shows  the  effectiveness  of  games  for  the  teaching  of  structure  in

SMPN 4 Bengkalis.

2.   To  shows  the  significant  differences  in  the  results  of  teaching  structure using games and without game.

2.      The Need of the Research

     The need of this research  are as follows :

1.  To made students more fun in study structure.

2.  To help students understand about structure.

3.  To tell students that study structure is not confusing and scaring.

4.      Readers, will know how the effectiveness of games in teaching structure. This research will give contribution for educational world especially for teaching methode or teaching technique.

5.      To give solution to students in study structure.

C.  The Population and Samples

The  researcher  had  determined  the  object  of  the  study  consisting  the population  and  samples.  The  explanations  on  the  object  of  the  study  are  as

follows:

1.      Population

A population is a complete set of individuals or subjects having common  observable  characteristics.  The  population  may  be  all  the individuals  of  a  particular  type  or  a  more  restricted  part  of  that  group. The  population  of  interest  can  vary  widely  depending  on  the  research question  and  purpose  of  the  study.  According  to  Best,  (1977:  267) population   is   any   group   of   individuals   that   have   one   or   more characteristics  in  common  that  are  of  interest  to  the  researcher.  The population  may  be  all  the  individuals  of  a  particular  type  or  a  more restricted part of that group. Population  is  all  individuals  from  whom  the  data  are  collected. The  population  of  this  research  is  the  students  of  SMPN 4 Bengkalis.  It  consists  of  79  students  of  the  third grade, 69 students of the second grade, and 77 students of the first grade. The total population is 225 students.

The Population of SMPN 4 Bengklis, 2011-2012  as follows:

No	Class	Total
1	VII	77
2	VIII	69
3	VIIII	79
Total  of population		225

2.      Sample

Getting  sample  is  very  important  in  scientific  research  because the total number of population is usually too many. Because of the large number of population, the researcher took samples as the representative of  the  population.  According  to  Best,  (1977:  268)  a  sample  is  a  small proportion  of  a  population  selected  for  observation  and  analysis.  The researcher  would  like  to  take  samples  to  make  the  research  more  effective and efficient.  The  sample  of  this  research  is  all  of  the  students  in  VIII  class  of SMPN 4 Bengkalis,2011-2012.  The  total sample  is  79.  It  was  divided  into  two  groups.  The  first  group  is  the experimental  group  (EG)  consist  of  40  students,  and  the  second  one  is the control group (CG)) consist of 39 students. The both groups have the same ability. 

The sample of the Experimental Group (EG)

No	Class	Sex		Total
		Male	Female
1	IX A	18	22	40
Total		18	22	40

The sample of the Control Group (CG)

No	Class	Sex		Total
		Male	Female
1	IX B	13	26	39
Total		13	26	39