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IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF GRAMMAR LESSONS FOR THE
SECOND GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP LAB IKIP NEGERI
SINGARAJA THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INQUIRY
LEARNING MODEL: A CONTEXTUAL TEACHING IN A
COMPETENCY-BASED CURRICULUM SETTING
By
Ni Nyoman Padmadewi and I Putu Ngurah Wage Myartawan
Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris
Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, IKIP Negeri Singaraja
ABSTRACT
The research aimed at improving the quality of grammar lessons of
the second grade students of SMP Lab IKIP Negeri Singaraja. By applying
the action research procedure, the results of the study showed that the
implementation of the Inquiry Learning Model which focuses on the
empowerment of students’ self-directed learning, such as learning to
discover concepts themselves, could improve the students’ understanding of
the grammar concepts. Their grammar mastery was categorized good at the
end of the third cycle.
Key words: grammar lessons, inquiry model, contextual approach
ABSTRAK
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kualitas pengajaran
gramatika (grammar) pada siswa kelas 2 di SMP Lab IKIP Negeri
Singaraja. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian tindakan kelas. Hasil
penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penggunaan Model Pembelajaran Inkuiri
yang menekankan pada pendayagunaan pembelajaran mandiri, seperti
belajar menemukan konsep sendiri, dapat meningkatkan pemahaman siswa
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terhadap konsep-konsep gramatika. Pemahaman mereka terkategori baik di
akhir Siklus III.
Kata kunci : pengajaran gramatika, model inkuiri, pendekatan kontekstual
1. Background of the Study
Competency-based Curriculum insists that learners are able to use
the target language they learn in real-life communication in the context of
the actual use of the language. In line with that, the government, i.e. the
Directorate of Senior High School Education (2002) introduced Contextual
Teaching and Learning (CTL)-based instruction. CTL is a learning concept
that suggests teachers to relate the lesson learnt and the students’ real life.
Teachers are required to encourage students to be able to make a relation of
the knowledge that they have and its application in their everyday lives.
Based on the above concept, language learning must be directed to
the mastery of the four language skills, which include listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Besides the four language skills, such supporting
factors as vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation also play an important
role. Without the inclusion of those language aspects in learning, language
skills which become the emphasis of learning cannot be reached.
Grammar, which is one of the important aspects in learning, should
be mastered by the students because without sufficient understanding and
mastery of that aspect, one cannot use the target language learnt in both
written and oral communication. In other words, understanding on the
correct grammatical rules is a prerequisite for someone to be considered as
having communicative competences.
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Widowson (1975) says that a learner can be said as mastering a
language (having competences) if he fulfills two main requirements,
namely accuracy (correctness), which refers to the mastery of grammatical
structures, and fluency, which indicates that the learner can use the target
language. Hence, correctness (i.e. grammar) is one important aspect or
requirement to sufficient communicative competences.
This notion is also supported by some other experts, like Canale and
Swain (1980:27) who consider the grammatical concept as a basis of the
communicative competence, Swan (1985: 5) who emphasizes the
importance of grammar mastery to support the good use of language,
Larsen-Freeman (1986:31) who mentions three components of linguistic
knowledge which have to be integratively taught, such as linguistic forms,
meanings, and functions, and Harmer (1991: 22) who states that
grammatical knowledge is very important for learners who want to have
communicative competence. With good understanding on grammatical
concepts, learners can avoid the use of incorrect structures.
Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1988) adds that teaching grammars is one
of the requirements for the learners of English as a second or foreign
language to pass either the national or international standard examination,
in order to be able to continue their study to higher education levels. This
also applies to the learning situation in Indonesia in which grammatical
competence is always included in the test items in the National
Examination (UAN).
Rivers (in Arnold, 1991: 3) argues that a misconception related to
grammar teaching often happens in the field. Many teachers think that by
the use of communicative approach, the learners do not need to be given
any grammatical knowledge. According to River, it is the understanding on
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grammars which plays an important role in order to be able to communicate
well, as can be seen from this quotation: “It is crucial to support good
language use. It is a means to an end” (Rivers in Arnold, 1991:3). Without
sufficient grammatical understanding, a learner is said by Rivers, as a
chicken which walks without bones.
A preliminary observation in the field tended to indicate that
learning on English grammars, which is complex in nature, had not yet
obtained serious concern. The observation proved that the teachers of SMP
Lab IKIP Negeri Singaraja put more priority on reading skill in their
lessons, with more emphasis being given to the mastery of vocabularies
related to the reading texts and on the comprehension of the reading
contents. In the learning processes, the teachers mostly used questionanswer technique to lead the students to understand the reading texts and
also translation technique to help students to understand the vocabularies.
The next learning activity was then directed on the accomplishment of the
tasks embedded in the reading texts. After that, the students were asked to
write their answers on the white board. Whenever the students made
mistakes in their written answers, especially the ones related to grammar,
the teachers usually self-corrected the mistakes (teacher-correction),
followed by an explanation on the grammatical mistakes. In order words,
the teachers tended to use deductive technique to give explanation about the
students’ mistakes, i.e. by firstly giving an account about grammar rules,
followed by the examples of how to use the rules in sentences. The
learning, which is created in such a routine, tends to lead to the students’
boredom so that they become unmotivated in learning. As a result, the
learning then cannot be maximized.
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The above problems happened due to some factors, namely: (1) the
teachers did not create varied learning activities, especially in grammar
learning, which gave more challenges for the students to learn to find by
themselves the concepts based on any given contexts; (2) the students were
not required to learn to solve the grammatical problems encountered in their
sentences by themselves; (3) the students did not have sufficient knowledge
and understanding about grammatical rules.
Referring to the above problems, Inquiry Learning Model was
considered the appropriate method to be implemented in order to help the
teachers solve their problems related to grammar learning. The aim was to
motivate the students in learning to find concepts and solving problems
related to grammatical rules by themselves.
The use of Inquiry Learning Model was based on the argument
stating that Inquiry is a learning method that generates students’ critical
thinking skills to analyze and solve problems systematically. It is an
effective learning method because it can be applied to teach certain
materials, to solve problems, to practice critical thinking skills, and to make
decisions (Kindsvatter et.al, 1996: 258). Inquiry which is commonly known
as problem solving can help students to reach their goal in learning, that is
to understand the learning materials.
Kindsvatter et.al (1996: 258) mentioned three main aspects in
inquiry learning model, i.e.: (1) problem, constituting the main component
in the model, (2) analysis, meaning that the problem is divided into its
constituent parts which are going to be learnt, (3) systematic, meaning that
the problem is methodically learnt through some procedural steps. Thus,
students learn and experience inquiry in a process which requires them to
solve their problems through reflective thinking.
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According to Kindsvatter et.al (1996: 259), there are 8 steps in
implementing inquiry learning model, namely: (1) identifying and
clarifying the problem, (2) forming a hypothesis, (3) collecting data related
to the problem, (4) analyzing and interpreting the data to test the
hypothesis, and (5) drawing conclusion.
The Department of National Education introduces some steps in the
Inquiry Learning Model, i.e.: (1) developing a belief that the students will
learn in a more meaningful way by working independently, discovering by
themselves, and constructing their knowledge and skills by their own, (2)
applying inquiry model to all learning activities, (3) developing students’
curiosity through questioning, (4) creating a learning society, (5) providing
examples as learning models, (6) making a reflection at the end of the
lesson, and (7) conducting assessment by all means.
Kindsvatter et.al (1996: 260) furthermore mention three types of
inquiry learning model, namely guided inquiry, open inquiry, and
individualized inquiry. In guided inquiry, there is still the teacher’s
involvement to some extent in the process, in the sense that it is the teacher
who prepares the data and gives questions to the students as the basis for
the students during their inquiring process. Thus, the students are given less
opportunity in initiating and directing their learning experiences. In open
inquiry, however, it is the students who are responsible for their own
learning. Different from guided inquiry, the learning process is rooted from
the students’ own questions in the open inquiry. Then the students
themselves collect the data to solve their own questions. The teacher only
serves as a facilitator in informing the sources to be learned and helping
decide important sources. In the last type of inquiry, personal interest is
emphasized. Basically it is the same as open inquiry but here the students
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involved are those who achieve well in the learning and who are interested
in getting benefit from independent learning.
In the research, the inquiry model used was guided inquiry. It was
due to a consideration that junior high school students were still at the
beginning level of studying English so that the teacher’s interference was
still considered a need.
By using the Inquiry Learning Model, CTL concept introduced by
the Directorate of Senior High School Education (2002) can be realized, in
the sense that: (1) the students actively get involved in the learning process,
i.e. by learning the materials on grammar by themselves as well as finding
out grammar concepts on their own, (2) the students use their critical
thinking ability, fully involve themselves in creating an effective learning
process, are responsible for the effective learning process to happen, and
bring their own schemata in the learning process.
Through the
implementation of Inquiry Learning Method, it was hoped that the active
participation of the students would bring about maximum outcome, that is,
the improvement of their ability and mastery on grammatical rules which
become the base for communicative competence.
Based on the problems stated previously, the research was
conducted to investigate whether the Inquiry Learning Model could
improve the quality of grammar lessons of the second grade students of
SMP Lab IKIP Negeri Singaraja in their Competency-based Curriculumbased learning.
2. Research Methods
The research was conducted in an action-based research design. The
subjects were the second grade students of SMP Lab IKIP Negeri Singaraja
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who were in Class II.1. The subjects were 39 altogether. The class was
chosen since the problems occurred in that particular class.
The study was done in collaboration with the English teacher
teaching in the class under study. The teacher had been involved in various
activities starting from the identification of problems, the planning, and the
making of teaching scenarios, research instruments, the decision on the
learning materials used, the investigation, until the research report writing.
This was done based on a purpose of giving the teacher as much
opportunity as possible on how to conduct an action-based research.
The research used some instruments to collect the data needed. To
gain information about the students’ mastery on grammar, two kinds of test
were used, namely pre-test and post-test. Furthermore, non-structured
observation sheets were also used to record the learning processes, whether
or not the teaching scenario was carried out based on the plan, and to note
the students’ attitude during the lesson. The last instrument was
questionnaire. To obtain the general response of the students towards the
learning process under the proposed model and to gain information
holistically about the learning processes, four questionnaires were
administered, namely (1) questionnaire on self-teacher assessment of his
teaching, (2) questionnaire on the teacher’s teaching skills for the students,
(3) questionnaire on the students’ assessment of the learning processes, (4)
questionnaire on the group work. The questionnaires used Likert-type
rating scale, which ranged from 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree).
The data were analyzed descriptive-qualitatively. The data from the
test results were analyzed by calculating the main score. The results were
then qualitatively interpreted to give a description about the students’
qualification on their grammar mastery.
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To analyze the results of the questionnaires, the formula used was:
The number of students choosing the item
Percentage =
x 100%
The number of the students
The results of the questionnaires were interpreted qualitatively by inferring
the general response of the students on the items questioned.
The minimum success indicator for the research was 80% in which
the mean score of the students was categorized good, using the conversion
scale of Criterion Referenced Evaluation Type I as introduced by Masidjo
(1995: 153). If the students could have achieved this mean score, it means
that they had already had good mastery on grammar.
3. Findings and Discussion
3.1 Research Findings
The research was conducted in three cycles, in which there were 3
sessions in each cycle. The first two sessions consisted of the teachinglearning processes in which the Inquiry Learning Model was implemented;
and the third session was for the post-test administration.
In the research, Inquiry Learning Model was implemented in a
process in which the students worked in groups in finding out the
grammatical concepts or rules, applied the rules in sentences and solved the
problems related to the use of those concepts/rules in sentences. After that,
the students were asked to report the results of their group work discussion
in front of the class.
After the Inquiry Learning Model was applied in the learning
processes based on the scenarios planned, it was found out that the mean
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scores of the students were increasing from one cycle to another cycle, as
can seen in the table 1 below.
Table 1. The Average Scores of the Students’ Mastery on Grammar
PRE-TEST
POST-TEST 1
POST-TEST 2
POST-TEST 3
22.18
39.74
65.77
83.46
Very poor
Very poor
Sufficient
Good
From the above table, it can be seen that the students’ grammar
mastery was categorized very poor before the treatment was given, with a
mean score 22.18. After the Inquiry Learning Model was implemented, the
students’ mean score increased into 39.74 in Cycle 1, even though the
increase was not significant because the mean score was still categorized
very poor. After making some modifications in Cycle 2 and Cycle 3, the
mean score of the students increased significantly into 65.77 in post-test 2,
which was categorized sufficient, and 83.46 in post-test 3 which was
considered good.
To gain a more detailed picture pertaining to the students’
achievement on their grammar mastery, table 2 below is presented. It
showed the results of the tests under each category in the conversion scale
used.
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Table 2. The Number and Percentage of the Students in Each Category in
the Conversion Scale Used
Categories
Pre-test
Post-test 1
Very good
-
1 student = 6 students = 15 students
2.56%
15.38%
= 38.46%
Good
-
-
Sufficient
-
2 students = 10
5.13%
Post-test 2
Post test 3
5 students = 14 students
12.82%
= 35.90%
students 7 students
25.64%
= 17.95%
Poor
-
5 students = 8 students = 2 students
12.82%
20.51%
= 5.13%
Very poor
39 students 31 students = 10 students = 1 students
=100 %
79.49%
25.64%
= 2.56%
From table 2 above, it can be seen that before the Inquiry Learning
Model was introduced, all students had very poor grammatical competence,
showed by their means which was 22.18. In Cycle 1, the Inquiry Learning
Model implemented had been able to improve the students’ grammatical
mastery, even though it was not significant yet. It was proven by the
decreasing number of the students who obtained very poor scores. There
was 1 student (2.56%) who was categorized good, 2 students (5.13%) who
was categorized sufficient, 5 students (12.82%) categorized poor, and the
rest, 31 students (79,49%) were still categorized as very poor.
After some modifications were done such as by giving handouts
consisting of sentences with grammar rules to be filled in, and list of verb 1
and verb 2 in Cycle 2 and giving additional handouts consisting of
grammatical rules that should be completed in Cycle 3, the students’
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mastery on grammar could finally be improved as proven by the increasing
number of students who obtained good and very good scores in those two
cycles. In post-test 2, there were 6 students (15.38%) obtaining very good
scores, 5 students (12.82%) obtaining good scores, 10 students (25.64%)
obtaining sufficient scores, 8 students (20.51%) obtaining poor scores, and
only 10 students (25.64%) categorized very poor. In Cycle 3, the number of
students obtaining very good score increased to be 15 students (38.46%), 14
students (35.90%) obtained good scores, 7 students (17.95%) gained
sufficient scores, and only 2 students (5.13%) who still obtained poor
scores and only 1 student (2.56%) obtained very poor score.
At the end of Cycle 3, 74.36% students had gained the targeted
scores, i.e. those which were under good and very good category. Since the
means achieved by the students was 83.46 (under good category), the
research was then worth terminating. It also means that Inquiry Learning
Model could improve the students’ mastery on grammar.
3.2 Discussion
The research results on the pre-test revealed that all of the students
obtained scores under 55 and thus, their grammar mastery (means 22.18)
was categorized very poor. The analysis of the results showed that the
students still had problems related to simple present tense and simple past
tense although in fact, these two tenses had been taught by the teacher in
the previous meeting. Subject-verb agreement was revealed to be the
biggest problem for the students. In terms of simple present tense, most of
the students failed to use –s/es in positive sentences, failed to use do/does in
negative and interrogative sentences, and could not make use of adverbs as
clues in recognizing the tense. When making sentences using simple past
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tense, they often used verb 1 and even verb-ing instead of verb 2 (freterite)
in positive sentences. They also often used do/does in negative and
interrogative sentences. Even, they used verb 2 and often verb-ing instead
of verb 1 in negative and interrogative sentences which had used auxiliary
did.
In the first two sessions of Cycle 1, the students were introduced
with Inquiry Learning Model. They worked in groups to find out the
grammatical concepts or rules, applied the rules in sentences and solved the
problems related to the use of those concepts/rules in sentences. After that,
the students were asked to report the results of their group work discussion
in front of the class.
The research results indicated that the students’ mean score
increased to be 39.74 in Cycle 1. However, this increase was not significant
since the mean score was still categorized very poor.
After being analyzed, the above result was considered reasonable
due to the fact that the grammar learning by using Inquiry Learning Model
was relatively new for the students, as showed by the observation results.
Even though the students were relatively active and cooperative during the
lessons, they were still confused with the new learning model. They did not
understand what to do when they were asked to find out the grammatical
rules of the text they read. They were confused when they were asked to
discuss the sentences with grammatical mistakes because they did not know
what to do and what sentences to be corrected. Furthermore, when it was
time to report their work in front of the class, only a few students who were
ready and could do it. They said that it was difficult to make a presentation
in English even the teacher had given some tips about it. Another finding
was that some students, especially who sit at the back, were less attentive
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and a bit noisy. In this cycle the teacher tended to use Indonesian in giving
explanation since many students did not understand what they had to do.
The factors above would be used as a basis to make some modifications in
the next cycle.
One thing that should be noted is the effect of the new learning
model used for the students. Related to this, the results of the questionnaires
administered showed that most of the students felt that the lessons were
interesting for them (92%). They mostly said that the technique used could
make them better understand the grammatical concepts learnt (97.44%).
These indicated that the students had a good response to the Inquiry
Learning Model used.
An interesting point was also revealed from the results of the
questionnaires. When being asked to write down the points that they liked
from the lessons, some of them said that the interesting aspects were the use
of songs in the teaching (46.15%) and game (30.77), the teacher’s reward in
the forms of gifts and candies for any correct answers (23.08%), the group
work and discussion session (20.51%), and the question-answer session
(12.84%). Towards this result, these aspects of teaching would be retained
in the next cycle.
However, they also wrote some points they did not like during the
lesson in response to the open statements that asked for that aspect, such as
that some students were noisy in the class (10.26%), that the teacher was
too fast in speaking (15.38%) and in giving explanation (10.26%), that the
teacher gave explanation in English (15.38%). These aspects served as
good feedback for the next cycle.
Related to the group work, most of the students believed that group
work could make the grammatical concepts easy to be understood (97%)
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and could make their understanding on those concepts stand longer in their
long term-memory (93%). These results indicated that the students had a
good response towards the use of group work in their learning.
One important thing which is also worth considering is the
effectiveness of the group work in the lessons. The results of the
questionnaire on this aspect showed that they were involved in such
activities as giving opinions (58.97), summarizing their friends’ opinions
(20.51), and clarifying their friends’ opinions (23.08%) during their group
work. To further explore this point, they were asked to write down the
concepts/ideas shared by them in their group work. The results showed that
46.15% students shared their opinions about positive, negative, and
interrogative sentences in simple present and past tense. These results
proved that the students were relatively active to get involved during the
lessons. However, it was also revealed that some of the students, as a matter
of fact, did nothing because they did not understand the topic (28.21%).
This was used as a basis for further improvement in the next cycle.
Based on the findings in Cycle 1, some modifications were
conducted, namely (1) the teacher needed to maximize her teaching in the
sense that she should not speak too fast when speaking and giving
explanation to the students, and speak more Indonesian in explaining
something, (2) to avoid the students from getting noisy, before the reporting
time, the students were asked to return to their own seats, (3) to anticipate
that there would possibly be some students who did nothing because they
did not understand the topics discussed, the teacher provided handouts
consisting of sentences with grammar rules to be filled in by the students
and list of verb 1 and verb 2 to direct and help their understanding to the
grammatical concepts learnt.
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The results of post-test 2 showed that there was significant
improvement achieved by the students, indicated by their mean score
(65.77) which was categorized sufficient. This proved that the students had
better understood the learning model used and that their understanding on
tenses was getting better even though there were still 10 students (15.64%)
who obtained very poor scores and 8 students (20.51%) who obtained poor
scores.
The significant improvement was also revealed in the learning
activities as showed by the results of the observations conducted during the
cycle. In the pre-activity, when the teacher gave three grammatically
incorrect sentences, the students were very attentive to listen to the teacher
and some of them raised their hands to correct the sentences. Similarly, in
the whilst-activity the students looked serious in filling in the sentences
consisting of grammatical rules. They were also motivated in finding out
the grammatical concepts in their groups. When the reporting time came, all
groups enthusiastically raised their hands to report the results of their
discussion. To prevent the class from being noisy, the teacher asked the
groups to take turn in reporting their discussion results and that each group
would be represented by one student. Finally, in the post-activity, when the
teacher concluded the lesson, the students also seemed very active in
responding to the teacher’s questions.
Related to the students’ response to the lessons using Inquiry
Learning Model, the results were relatively the same as those found in
Cycle 1. Most of the students (97.44%) stated that the material was very
interesting and that the technique used could enable them to understand the
grammatical aspects better. Furthermore, the students also noted some
aspects that they liked from the lessons, i.e. that the teacher’ way of
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teaching was interesting (48.72%), the teacher’s reward (gifts, candies) for
correct answers (15.38%), group work (20.51%), and question-answer
session (10.26%). The above results indicated that the students’ response
towards Inquiry Learning Model was good.
With respect to the group work, like that in Cycle 1, most of the
students (80%) responded that group work could help them understand the
lessons more quickly. They mostly said that group work was very
effectively used in helping the students finding out concepts by themselves
(87.18%). Furthermore, most of them (97.44%) also said that the technique
could make the concepts about grammatical rules become easier to be
understood and could make their understanding on the concepts last longer
in their memory.
To assess the effectiveness of the group work, the results of the
questionnaire were analyzed. The results of the questionnaire showed that
most of the students stated that they actively participated in their learning
(97.44%). The results also noted the activities done by the students during
the lessons, i.e. actively sharing opinions (66.67%), summarizing their
friends’ opinions (20.51%), and clarifying their friends’ opinions (17.95%).
It was also detected that there were still some students (7.69%) who did
nothing during the group work because they did not understand the topics
discussed. But, if compared with the result in Cycle 1, this result on this
problem indicated an improvement because the number of the passive
students in Cycle 2 was decreasing.
To know whether the students were really involved in the group
work, they were asked to write down the topics that they discussed. The
results on this aspect showed that 46.15% students discussed about positive,
negative, and interrogative sentences in present simple and past tense,
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5.13% students discussed verb 1 and verb 2, and 2.58 shared opinions about
adverbs. These results proved that the students really got involved in their
group work and they had already understood what to do in their learning.
Based on the findings in Cycle 2, there were some points that
needed more attention before the next cycle was conducted, especially that
which was related to the 18 students who still obtained poor and very poor
scores. Possibly, the students who did nothing and felt that the tasks given
were difficult as revealed in the questionnaires might come from this group
of students. Therefore, some additional treatment was given in the next
cycle. The 18 students were asked to sit at the first two front rows in the
class. Also, when it was time for the question-answer session and reporting
of the discussion results, they were the ones who were prioritized by the
teacher. This was meant to give them a challenge in learning and
understanding the materials learnt. The teacher also closely noticed them
while working and examined their work attentively. Besides the special
treatment to those students, the teacher also gave additional handouts
consisting of grammar rules to be completed by the students. The purpose
was to facilitate the students in learning so that they better understood the
grammatical concepts learnt.
As showed by the research results, the students mean score
increased significantly to be 83.46 and it was categorized good. Another
finding was that the number of students who obtained low scores could be
decreased into the most optimum degree to be 3 students (7.69%), in which
only 1 student who still obtained very poor score and 2 students who still
obtained poor scores.
The students’ activities in Cycle 3 were relatively the same as in
Cycle 2, as showed by the results of the observations. They were very
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participative and active in all of the activities conducted. They were very
active in answering the questions related to the grammatically incorrect
sentences exposed by the teacher in the beginning of the class. They were
also very active in their group work discussion. They were also very
enthusiastic and raised their hands when they were asked to report the
results of their discussion. But here, the teacher mainly prioritized the 18
students who obtained low scores. As a result, the other students seemed a
bit dissatisfied and jealous because they actually wanted to take turn and
participate. This signaled that the students were interested in the learning
activities conducted.
The students’ response to the learning model used is one thing that
should be taken into account. Related to this, the results of the
questionnaires revealed that most of the students (89.74%) stated that the
technique used could make their understanding on the grammatical
concepts learnt get better. This proved that the Inquiry Learning Model had
good effect for the students.
With regard to the group work conducted, 97% of the students
stated that group work could make the students understand the materials
and could make them find the grammatical concepts from the texts more
quickly. Besides, they also stated that group work could make their
understanding on the concepts they leant stay longer in their memory.
To the question that asked about their participation in the group
work, all of the students stated that they had been actively involved in the
discussion within their own group. This showed that the group work done
was effective.
The other findings also need to be noted. To the open question that
asked what the students liked from the lessons, it was revealed that most of
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them liked the use of group work (95%) and the reward given by the
teacher (gifts or candies), as well as the feeling that they were not afraid
when answering any questions.
Another interesting point was that the students did not make any
comments on the open question asking about the aspects that they disliked
from the lessons. This indicated that they liked the lessons using the Inquiry
Learning Model.
From the discussion of the findings above, it can be inferred that the
implementation of Inquiry Learning Model, also known as problem solving,
could improve the students’ mastery on grammar. From the results of the
observations, it was also revealed that the students actively participated in
the lessons designed by using group work activities. They were actively
involved in a process where they were required to work in groups in finding
out the grammatical concepts learnt by themselves, to use the concepts to
solve their own problems, and then to report the results of their group work
discussion in front of the class. Thus, it can be said that during the lessons,
the students themselves who were very active (not the teacher) in finding
the grammatical concepts by themselves, working in groups to solve the
problems related to the grammatically incorrect sentences, and then
reporting the results of their group work discussion. This way of learning
where the students were much required to do something rather than to be
passive in listening the teacher’s lecture proved to be effective in improving
the students’ mastery on grammar, as stated by Sheal in his research’ report
(Balitbang Depdiknas, 2002) which says: “We learn 10% from what we
read, 20% from what we listen to, 30% from what we see, 70% from what
we say, and 90% from what we do.”
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4. Conclusion and Suggestions
4.1 Conclusion
Related to the results of the research, some conclusion can be drawn
out, i.e.: (1) the inquiry learning model could effectively improve the
grammar mastery of the second grade students of SMP Lab IKIP Negeri
Singaraja. This was proven by the increase of the students’ means from
22.18 (very poor) in the pre-test to be 39.74 (very poor) in post-test 1, 65.77
(sufficient) in post-test 2, and 83.46 (good) in post-test 3. Thus, the learning
model which required the students to find grammatical concepts by
themselves, to correct sentences with grammatical mistakes within group
work, and to report their discussion results in front of the class could help
their understanding on the grammatical rules; (2) the students had a good
response towards the learning activities using Inquiry Learning Model. The
results of the questionnaires revealed that the students believed that the
learning model could help them understand the grammatical concepts
better. It was also revealed that the students actively participated in the
group work. These indicated that Inquiry Learning Model was interesting
for them.
4.2 Suggestions
There are some points that can be suggested related to the use of
Inquiry Learning Model, namely: (1) the English teachers in the second
grade of SMP Lab IKIP Negeri Singaraja are advised to implement the
model in order to give the students more opportunity to learn
independently, especially in learning grammars, (2) students should be
much attempted to find out grammatical mistakes and correct the mistakes
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by themselves so that their understanding on the grammars gets better and
can be retained much longer in their memory.
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